Analyzing And Comprehend Works Of Literature And Math

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the end of the second quarter. Half of my junior year has passed by and the AP Language Composition exam is only a short one-hundred and eighteen days away. But in the past four months, I have been able to develop the skillsets needed to analyze and comprehend works of literature and conquer the AP exam. This second quarter has definitely brought growth in my ability to analyze and comprehend literature; however, I also experienced some stagnation in my writing abilities. Throughout the second quarter, I wrote several different essays in which I was able to develop and see my writing abilities. However, as the quarter progressed, I did not see a clear development in my writing abilities. Instead, my writing abilities fluctuated up and down like a roller coaster cart going up and down the hills. At the end of the first quarter, I had slowly improved my abilities in writing rhetorical analyses. In the last rhetorical essay of the qu arter (Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv), I was able to recognize and express the rhetorical devices that I found in the article. My explanation for the author’s purpose for a rhetorical device was clear and well worded as shown in the following sentence. â€Å"When people hear this question, they will notice how they don’t watch nature anymore and then realize how they have grown apart from it.† However, there were still lapses in my diction and prose. At some points, my prose was not as elegant as itShow MoreRelatedEffectiveness Of Interactive Online Algebra Learning Tools1502 Words   |  7 Pagesthe observed differences were not significant enough to conclude a real difference between using interactive graphing tools and not using these tools. To be honest, the discussion of the data obtained from the study is difficult to follow and comprehend because of the terminology used such as â€Å"skewness and kurtosis values,† â€Å"negatively skewed and leptokurtic,† and â€Å"ANOVA using the Type III SS set.† Aside from the research that I did to understand the terminology, I also found that the graphs andRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 4511113 Words   |  5 Pagesstruggle and hardship. Montag attempts to read books and see what they really mean, but he struggles to comprehend it to due to the lack of literature all his life. This is a perfect representation of how true learning needs the path of sufferance and acknowledgement to truly understand. This is similar to my own experience last year in my Algebra 1 class. It was a relatively a different class than math 8 and I was struggling due to the difficult content. However, after going through the struggle of stayingRead More Philosophy Ess ay1556 Words   |  7 Pagesperforming science experiments, students are more apt to excel when involved in learning experiences that allow them to put their interests and skills to work. Once a teacher realizes the interests and aptitudes of a student, she should encourage her to pursue them while continuing to stress the importance of basic subjects such as reading, writing, and math. I believe this scenario forms a solid foundation for a well-rounded person. The world we live in today is relative--knowledge is ever growingRead MoreA Teacher s Pedagogic Creed1608 Words   |  7 Pagesstudents; it seems like they play an active role in their students learning by finding a balance between developing a relationship with students but also not getting too involved with students lives. Through this style students proceed to do course work and then the teacher incorporates activities that encourage a students performance directly. The student’s have an active engagement in the classroom by social interactions and problem solving. When incorporated students also take an effective partRead MoreEssay on Being Unprepared for Adult Learning1693 Words   |  7 Pagessome of its students by not teaching them the correct set of models that will employ to be successful at the collegiate level. Completing some assignments may be difficult for the aforementioned student because they lack skills in rhetorically analyzing and critically thinking. Skills like these play a huge role in the adult education world. For example, we’ll use these skills to complete classes with satisfactory grades, then continue to use these skills after we graduate and move into the workingRead MoreTeaching Methods : Banking And Problem Posing1580 Words   |  7 Pagesof personal experience. There are many reasons why Freire claims that problem-posing is the better of the two. The problem-posing technique, which is a liberating education, overall helps not only the students, but the teachers as well, because they work together. Since problem-posing is a liberating education, it acts as cognition, not just the idea of â€Å"depositing† the information into students (Freire, 1993). In the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, it stated that the teacher-student and the student-teacherRead MoreEffectiveness Of Interactive Online Algebra Learning Tools1693 Words   |  7 Pagesthe observed differences were not significant enough to conclude a real difference between using interactive graphing tools and not using these tools. To be honest, the discussion of the data obtained from the study is difficult to follow and comprehend because of terminology used such as â€Å"skewness and kurtosis values,† â€Å"negatively skewed and leptokurtic,† and â€Å"ANOVA using the Type III SS set.† Aside from the research that I did in order to understand the terminology, I did find that the graphsRead MoreComputer Science Is Not A Basic Complexity1808 Words   |  8 Pagesand math classes have increased in the past 20 years, the number of students enrolled in computer science has actually decreased. This can be attributed to the neglect exhibited by schools on computer science. In these 20 years, 1 billion computers have been built which makes computer science â€Å"integrated†: so baked into human life that it is not surprising to encounter, with social, technological, and futuristic aspects of the world. Unlike other integrated disciplines such as English or math, computerRead MoreAre Tee ns Magazines Be Considered As Academic Writings?1819 Words   |  8 Pagesperson view. Therefore, the strengths of the arguments are stated assertively, using language that is impersonal, not aggressive or indifferent. Diction refers to the choice of words an author uses and is heavily considered when writing a scholarly work. Awareness of the words used in the paper is vital in an academic writing because words that have almost the same denotation, a dictionary definition, can have unalike connotations, a slang definition. This is true in academic writing because wordsRead MoreMeta-Cognitive Process1794 Words   |  8 PagesCognitive strategies are the basic mental abilities we use to think, study, and learn (e.g., recalling information from memory, analyzing sounds and images, making associations between or comparing/ contrasting different pieces of information, and making inferences or interpreting text). They help an individual achieve a particular goal, such as comprehending text or solving a math problem, and they can be individually identified and measured. In contrast, metacognitive strategies are used to ensure that

The Everlasting Child Wuthering Heights - 1832 Words

The Everlasting Child Wuthering Heights’s Catherine Earnshaw is infamous for her complex character, some arguing that she is manipulative, others sympathizing with the difficult choices she is faced with. However, there is no doubt that she is innately childish. As Catherine grows older, her character is not changed; she remains juvenile and selfish, making everything a game that revolves around her. In a sense, her mindset never progresses past one of a child. As Sigmund Freud wrote in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, â€Å"What makes an infant characteristically different from every other stage of human life is that the child is polymorphously perverse†. Children are dominated by what Freud†¦show more content†¦Catherine s relationship with Nelly, her maid, fully demonstrates her childlike characteristics in that she is selfish, and will do anything to obtain what she wants, in addition to having no perception of othe r people s feelings - as Nelly observes and experiences. Having been a part of each stage of her life, Nelly watches Catherine grow up and sees the relationships she forms and how they develop. Therefore, Nelly is both a part of and a spectator of Catherine’s entire selfish life, in which we can clearly see Catherine’s lack of maturity and selfishly childish behavior. As a child, Catherine has an â€Å"inability to conceive any other viewpoints except her own† (Thromahlen, 5). According to Nelly, she has â€Å"never [been] so happy as when [authoritative figures] were all scolding her at once, and she defying [them] with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Brontà « 43). She continues to harass her father and Nelly for no reason other than for personal pleasure - a selfish, childlike action. Furthermore, as she grows older her egocentric behavior towards everybody does not change. Mimicking a child, Catherine behaves spoiledly and irrationa lly when she is upset, embarrassed, or does not receive what she wants. When Nelly would not leave the room after

Department of Social and Decision Sciences †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Department of Social and Decision Sciences. Answer: Introduction: Currently, there is little clarity regarding the costs and benefits of climate change to the world economy. An economic analysis helps understand the impact of climate change on the economy of any country and to make decisions regarding sacrificing present economic growth for long-term benefits to the economy. This paper helps provides an understanding on how climate change is a relevant economic phenomenon since it represent a market failure. Additionally, it outlines how consumption in the future and uncertainty regarding the consumption growth of future generations affects the decision-making process of limiting emissions in the present time. It also provides a brief understanding on how a national policy on climate is tied to its growth as well as to global growth. It is important to note that throughout the paper, it is assumed that economic growth (represented by consumption) is dependent on availability of environmental resources which are limited. Climate change is often described as market failure. This is simply due to the fact that policy intervention is required to correct the possible harmful effects of climate change. If countries had to face the effects of climate change proportional to their emissions, then there would have been a market driven response to the problem and countries would have acted to reduce their emissions. However, given that climate change does not have isolated effects and there is no natural mechanism to correct this problem and given that its negative effects are felt by the world as one community, there must be social mechanisms or policy interventions to correct climate change.(Stern, 2007)(Thomas, 2017) Climate change is a result of the market not considering some social costs into valuation. Some of these non-valuations include: Some of the forms of market failure of climate change are: The impact on climate due to warming caused by Green House Gas emissions. : Non- Valuation of Clean Air, water etc. as economic goods Subsidies on Fossil Fuels The lack of any policy levers will lead to the failure of climate change adaptation and innovations to reduce the social costs of climate change since policy levers drive the market to pay for the social costs or impose checks (quotas) on the externalities of every economic activity. In the absence of adaptation measures, effects of climate change such as floods, droughts etc. would have serious impact on growth and GDP. The consequences of this market failure would be felt on the society, specifically, the increased health care costs due to the effects of global warming and lack of clean air, the amount of impact on more vulnerable communities, loss of future growth due to diminishing availability of natural resources, disruptions caused in the economy due to extreme temperatures etc. (Thomas, 2017) Climate change is an example of market failure because pricing of economic activities do no take into account the negative externalities to the environment. A Negative externality or a diseconomy is, mathematically, a (negative) deviation of Marginal Private Cost (MPC) from the marginal social cost. According to Lipsey Chrystal, (2011) Private costs are those costs that are incurred by parties that are involved directly in the Economic activity and Social costs are those costs that are borne by the society . Hence, the marginal private costs refers to the private cost of the last producing the last unit produced or providing services to the last consumer serviced. The Marginal Social Cost is a valuation of the impact borne by the society in the production of the last unit of good or services. Negative externalities decrease the social good i.e. they have harmful effects or cause inconvenience to the public, in general. (Lipsey Chrystal, 2011) The following is a diagram of the negative externalities and the loss of social good resulting from it. The Marginal Private Costs in the cost of mining coal from around the area. This cost does not include the costs that society has to bear due to the mining. The Marginal social Cost includes the valuation of losses resulting from the mining of coal in the area. The loss of social good is the difference between the two.(Riley, 2005). Reduction or phasing out subsidies: A 2015 IMF report estimated that subsidies advanced towards fossil fuel have an annual cost of $5.3 Trillion dollars to consumers and tax payers. Pricing the consumers of fossil fuel at actual will help get rid of this distortion. (Stern, 2007)(International Monetary Fund, 2015) Carbon Pricing and Carbon Pricing: Taxing emissions based to the aggregate negative externalities caused will help reduce extent of the market failure. This is known as carbon pricing. Apart from pricing carbon, all Green House Gas can be calculated in terms of carbon units (similar to converting all currencies into dollar terms) and all economic activities must minimize their carbon units like they would minimize costs. In order to exceed the quota of carbon emissions, carbon credits would have to be purchased by producers. This is known as carbon trading.(Stern, 2007)(Holderhead, 2016) Carbon pricing will help remove losses depicted in the above diagram. Encouraging innovation in technologies that help solve he problem of climate change: The problem of climate change is that of providing better technology. Hence, subsidizing innovation is important.(Stern, 2007) Arrow, in his analysis, treated the Green House Emissions resulting from economic activities as an environmental good. If Green House Gas Emissions are goods, then the problems caused by Greenhouse Gas Emissions then the social costs are the costs and the benefits of reducing GHG emissions are the benefits. According to Arrow The benefits of reduced GHG emissions last for centuries, but mitigation costs are borne today.(Arrow K. J., 2007) This implies that investment in the benefits of mitigation of greenhouse gases for the future must be borne and made by present generations. However, for the utility (assuming this to be the benefits of current economic growth) of today, to be substituted for the utility of tomorrow, the benefits accrued from the GHG reductions must be greater than the utility foregone today. This is akin to making savings in the present, in order to ensure growth in the future (Frederick, 1999). Additionally Arrow Stated that is the rate at which society (i.e., the social planner) discounts the utility of future generations i.e. the rate at which the rate at which society would trade consumption in year t for consumption in the present (measured by Net Present Value of Consumption.(Arrow, et al., 2011) According to Arrow, utility of consumption is similar to the dimi nishing marginal utility concept. Very simply put, the more of consumption (total consumed in a society) that a generation has, the less social benefit (utility) they may derive from it. In the diagram, the curve is concave to the origin because this rate of returns gained from sacrificing consumption (i.e the rate at which present gains are transformed in future gains) in present for the future consumption keeps diminishing. In the context of a society, as consumption rises, its social benefits tend to diminish and the total social value of consumption tends to have diminishing returns. When the values of are high, it implies that future social utility (benefits) is declines at greater rate with an increase in consumption. Hence, is the slope of this curve also known as Marginal Rate of Substitution (MRS). If g is higher, it means that the real growth of consumption is higher i.e the future generations are wealthier (for example, in the context of natural resources availability, they have a greater availability of resources for growth). Higher g for the future, implies, higher growth rate in the future. If is high, then it would imply that the future benefits may be preferable than future consumption and would make the case for a greater sacrifice in the present. The effect of an uncertain g to a great extent relies on whether the utility of future generations is evaluated at a constant rate or at a declining rate. The impact, therefore, is based on assumptions and is a matter of practice and policy. (Arrow, et al., 2011) Uncertainty comes from various factors such as how long a time horizon is being taken into account and the actual growth of consumption over that time horizon. In an interpretation of Ramseys formula, uncertainty regarding g would imply that there would precautionary effect i.e. society would tend to prefer present consumption and it would reduce the discount rate (Arrow, et al., 2011). According to Arrow, uncertainty about g would imply that any shocks in consumption would have a greater impact. In case of a catastrophe, there will be a greater impact on g, if there is uncertainty. However, if the supply shock is positive, the effect might be reversed i.e. if there are new renewable resources discovered that would help increase the growth potential of the future consumption, then supply shocks are negatively correlated. Hence, in order to maintain g, the society must take greater precautions. The certainty equivalent discount rate will decline. The more uncertainty there is regardin g g the more will the value of discount rate decline over a period of time. The article talks about the trade offs between giving up the benefits of giving up on fossil fuel based electricity i.e. lower emissions versus the costs of giving up on consumption of fossil fuel based electricity i.e. higher electricity prices in the present and its effect on growth. (Morton, 2017) A decrease in the supply of fossil fuel in the current times due to coal power plants become obsolete or due to the presence of moratoriums on gas production. This has led to an aggregate reduction in electricity in supply of electricity from fossil fuels. (Morton, 2017) This implies that the discount rate for future consumption i.e. is high and the availability of the consumption utility for future generations of Australia is high. The saving rate of natural resources is high in such a case. However, there must be an evaluation to understand whether the benefits accrued from such heavy discount are worth the returns. Such a trade off can be evaluated on various parameters. For example, growth in population could be one parameter. Australia is expected to grow at a rate of 3% in 2018 while its population is expected to grow at 1.4 % per annum. (Roca, 2013)(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2017).The trade-off is to maintain the current consumption and maintaining a saving rate to ensure optimal economic growth for the future population. A slow down in the natural resources sector coal, gas etc. will drag the present economic growth rate down.(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2017). However, the population of Australia is also expected to grow. (Roca, 2013)Hence, consumption and production of goods are expected to grow. This implies that the level of electricity generation must cope up with the growth in demand for electricity due to increased growth rate, in the present. Hence, the present value of electricity consumption is high. This may diminish since NPV of electricity is high. The above diagram depicts that electricity related emissions in Australia are set to be lower because of relatively flat demand for electricity in the country and decrease in intensity of electricity production.(ACIL Allen Consulting, 2016) Hence, decreasing electricity related emissions is not a priority . In this analysis, it is also important to take into consideration that the population of Australia. The population of Australia is expected to be at 38.5 million.(Roca, 2013) However, the population of Australia is expected to grow at a diminishing rate which means that the demand for electricity would grow at a diminishing rate. (Roca, 2013). If demand for electricity follows the growth in population as well as growth in consumption, then the demand for electricity g would, also, grow and diminish later on. However, the negative externalities of production of electricity are very large. The shut down of coal plants presents an opportunity for policy intervention as there is an opportunity to take decision on what kind of fuel would be used to generate electricity in the future. The government could reduce the social cost of reducing the component by creating policies that would incentivize the production of clean energy. According to the article, in spite of abolishing a carbon tax on the production of electricity, the prices of electricity have increased. This suggests that demand for electricity has grown at a high rate. To summarize, Australia would need to reduce electricity price, in order to maintain growth in the near term. Hence, the government could increase the supply of fossil- fuel based electricity by increasing the supply of gas-fired electricity plants. (Morton, 2017)The government could, also, adopt an emission intensity based system for production of gas.(Morton, 2017) Emission intensity based system caps the emissions allowed from every sector of economy and provides disincentives to companies that do not follow the caps. According to the scheme, energy producers that produce electricity with carbon emissions that are below the baseline could earn credits which could be sold to other producers who produce electricity with emissions above the baseline. It is a form of carbon trading. (Holderhead, 2016) In Arrows formula p is the term that denotes time preference. According to Arrow, at any given point of time , equals the sum of the utility rate of discount () and the rate of growth in consumption between t and the present (g) weighted by (minus) the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption (). This simply means that how much present consumption growth to consumption would be preferred to consumption in the later generations. In case of a non-ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the policy simply implies that the administration considers the present benefits to be greater than the future benefits. However, it must be added that p adds to the impact of growth but does not affect the sensitivity of the future growth of consumption or the elasticity of the social benefit of consumption. In mathematical analysis, a lower p would have an effect of lowering the component. In order to maintain equilibrium, either the g component would have to be higher or the component would have to be lower. In the diagram below, curves P1 and P2 represent the preference combination or how much is present consumption preferred to future consumption. Curves CDC1 and CDC2, represent the slopes or the Marginal Rate of Time Preference (MRTP) of Future Consumption to Present Consumption. In the diagram below, as the present consumptions is preferred to future consumption, the future consumption is lower as well as the discount rate is lower. This is reflected as a shift from 0 to 1 . The USA in June 2017 took a stance of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 citing the negative effect of such a pact on the economic growth of USA in the nearer term.(Shear, 2017). This policy indicates a high time preference. In case of the policy stance taken by Mr. Trump, the President of USA, the social rate of preference is already set (i.e. a preference for present utility is made instead of being descriptive i.e determined based on research and analysis) and it would be very high. In such a case, the discount rate would be lower. Either the society must allow to be lower or make an effort to increase the total value g component on the right hand side of the equation by increasing the consumption/production frontier.. In the diagram above, the society will shift from P1 curve to P2 curve. In the diagram, the point where 0 and the marginal rate of substitution are equal, is the equilibrium point Eo. This is the point where the society has the right balance of the time preference as well as the future benefits that is wants. However, of the society wants to increase its time preference, then it must accept a lower discount rate (1 ) or function at a higher preference curve (P2 ) with a higher consumption demand curve. One way of interpreting this is that future generations would have to find more innovative solutions to increase g component and to ensure a positive g component and the task of discovering technologies or processes by which the marginal social cost of attaining growth is low (in order to minimize ). In order to increase g, increasing the capacity of production from renewable resources is important because the social costs of renewable energy tend to be low. In addition, there are capacity constraints presented by non-renewable resources since the supply of non-renewable resources cannot be increased. In case there is no increase in capacity for production, future generations would have to be more willing to sacrifice their consumption i.e they must have a lower preference for consumption growth in the future. An implication of this analysis is that that policy interventions act as a platform that would make future consumption easier. If policy interventions have a high time preference then, effectively, we are taking away from the consumption of the future generations since the consumption curve would shift to the left. Given that climate change is a global phenomenon, the values assigned are applicable globally. The implication is that we assign a low value for globally. This implies that countries that might grow in the future (for example, African nations) would have to make proportionately larger compensations in the consumption of environmental goods (here, emissions) for their economic growth as compared to countries like USA, that are responsible for more emissions in the current scenario. Bibliography ACIL Allen Consulting. (2016). Electricity emissions modelling for Australias emissions projections. Brisbane: ACIL Allen. Arrow, K. J. (2007, June). Global Climate Change:A Challenge to Policy. Economists' Voice . Arrow, K. J., Cropper, M. L., Gollier, C., Groom, B., Heal, G. M., Newell, R. G., et al. (2011). How Should Benefits and Costs Be Discounted in an Intergenerational Context? The Views of an Expert Panel. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency. Department of Environment and Energy, Commonwealth of Australia . (2016). Australias emissions projections 2016. Australia: Commonwealth of Australia . Frederick, S. (1999). Discounting, Time Preference, and Identity. USA: Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University. Holderhead, S. (2016, December 5). Energy Intensity Scheme - instead of Carbon Tax pushed for Australia's Struggling Electricity Market. Retrieved August 31, 2017, from The Advertiser: www.adelaidenow.au International Monetary Fund. (2015). IMF Survey: Counting the Cost of Energy Subsidies. Paris: International Monetary Fund. Lipsey, R., Chrystal, A. (2011). Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Morton, A. (2017, March 08). Energy crisis: Wholesale power prices have doubled since the carbon tax was axed. Retrieved August 31, 2017, from The Sydney Morning HEral: https://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/energy-crisis-wholesale-power-prices-have-doubled-sice-the-carbon-tax-was-axed-20170308-gutf8t.html Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2017). Going for Growth : Australia. OECD. Riley, G. (2005). European Economy in Focus. BerkShire (UK) : Tutor 2 u online. Roca, F. (2013, November 27). Australia's Population Set to Double to 46 Million by 2075, Australian Bureau of Statistic Projections Set to Slow. Retrieved August 31, 2017, from ABC News: www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-27/australia's-population-set-to-double-by-2075/511775 Shear, M. D. (2017, June 1). Trump Will Withdraw U.S. From Paris Climate Agreement. Retrieved August 21, 2017, from The New York Times: https//nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-plparis-climate-agreement.html Stern, S. N. (2007, November 29). Stern: Climate Change A 'MArket Failure'. (A. Benjamin, Interviewer) Thomas, V. (2017, July 12). The Danger of Dismissing Market Failures. Retrieved August 30, 2017, from Brookings Insitute: htttp/www.brookings.edu/the-danger-of-dismissing-market-failure

People and Leadership

Abstract During the development of youth employment programs as a pilot project, the Department of Employment faced an issue associated with the ineffective leadership. The project failed because of problems with the work of the team. Several employees quitted participating in the project development after six weeks because of the overwork and exhaustion.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on People and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The analysis of the case demonstrates that the leader set unrealistic deadlines for the project completion, and the schedule was organized inefficiently. Moreover, there were no clear goals communicated to the employees to coordinate their work. The necessity to replace the employees who rejected to participate in the team made the leadership decide on shifting responsibilities, and employees spent much time for adapting to the work for which they did not have enough expe rience. In addition, they did not receive the necessary training. The informal leader of the team became to act as a manager, and his tasks contradicted the previously set objectives. As a result, the project was frozen. To address the leadership and management problems, it is planned to reorganize the project team with the focus on the scope of tasks and concrete goals. Thus, the number of high-skilled employees in the team needs to be increased. The followed leadership style should be improved with the focus on supportive or inspirational leadership. The proposed schedule and deadlines should be set depending on concrete objectives and the working potential of the staff. These actions are necessary to overcome the problematic situation and predict failures in the future. People and Leadership Case Study The development of new programs and policies is typical for such agencies as the Department of Employment. However, there are cases when the development and implementation of the p rogram can fail because of the inappropriate leadership and management. The team working on the youth employment program faced a problem of completing the pilot project because the leader invited the unreasonable number of employees (6 individuals) for the 12-week project. The scope of the tasks was considerable, but there were only weekly meetings, and the final goal was not communicated appropriately. The leader avoided any additional discussions of the projects, but he encouraged the overwork. As a result, two employees quitted the team because of unclear tasks and the increased stress levels. This situation made the leader re-distribute the duties among new team members, but they were expected to demonstrate high results in a week to fit in the schedule. The productivity decreased because they had no enough skills, and no additional training was provided. The lack of communication and motivation from the leader made team members choose the informal leader and insist on freezing the project.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The discussed issues are important because they indicate how the ineffective planning and communication strategies selected by the leader can affect the success of the whole project because employees are stressed and not aware of the goals (Van Wart, 2014; Yukl, 2014).  The problem was in the fact that the pilot project developed by the team failed because of the leader’s impossibility to make effective decisions regarding the distribution of tasks among employees, planning, setting deadlines, and communicating. Therefore, it is important to propose improvements in the sphere of organizing the teamwork, planning tasks, appointing responsible persons, communicating with employees and motivating them. In addition to summarizing the issues in the case, this paper aims to present the analysis of the situation with the fo cus on the MORETOOLS framework and the leadership role in the project failure. In addition, the solution is proposed, and conclusions are made regarding the case importance for the future practice. The Analysis of the Case Mission and Purpose of the Agency The mission of the Department of Employment is to develop policies and implement programs that are effective to address the employment questions in Australia while creating the advantageous environments for employees. The purpose of the Department’s activities is to improve the current policies and develop new ones to address unemployment issues and protect the vulnerable categories of the population in terms of employment. As a result, the mission is to create the secure and socially friendly workplaces for the Australians (Australian Government Department of Employment, 2015). The mission and purpose are followed while planning and implementing any project oriented to reforming the current policy or proposing a new one. O bjectives of the Manager Guided by the main agency’s mission, each unit of the department has its own management team, and it is responsible for developing concrete projects with specific objectives. The objective of a manager responsible for introducing new employment campaigns for the youth in Australia is to develop programs addressing the mission regarding the secure and advantageous environment and launch them within the fixed period of time. In the near future, the aim is to organize the work of a project team. Therefore, in the critical situation of the project failure, the leader of the unit and team is responsible for completing such short-term objectives as the reorganization of the team and the implementation of the new working strategy to achieve higher results and improve productivity (Felà ­cio, Gonà §alves, da Conceià §Ãƒ £o Gonà §alves, 2013, p. 2140). The team reorganization is necessary to respond to such problems as the exhaustion, impossibility to add ress the deadline, and low-quality outcomes of the project work. The manager’s long-term objective in this case is to create the single unit in the agency formed of experts in the area of the youth and employment.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on People and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Risks and Problems Focusing on the discussed project failure and such manager’s objectives as the organization of the team’s work to address schedules and high productivity, it is possible to prioritize identified leadership risks and problems in the following manner: The absence of the clearly communicated goal and adequate training sessions, team meetings, and discussions of the progress. Ineffective distribution of roles and tasks among the team members that leads to the employees’ exhaustion. The lack of the progress monitoring and coordination according to the observed success. The inappropriateness of the fixed schedule in relation to the scope of the project and tasks that lead to the inability to address deadlines. The performance of the leadership role by more than one team member. The failure of first pilot projects in relation to proposing the effective program in the sphere of youth employment within the fixed deadlines depends on the absence of clearly communicated goal of the project to guide the team members’ activities. Thus, the leader used only the formal approach to informing the team about the project goal. The ideas were shared and discussed during weekly meetings, the additional training was not provided, and the discussion of the progress was limited and irregular. Focusing on the theory of ethical and motivating leadership, the leader failed to demonstrate the supportive communication style to inspire employees to achieve higher results (Schyns Schilling, 2013). The employees lacked the opportunity to be informed of the short-te rm goals and progress, as well as to receive the additional consultation or guidelines.  In addition, the leader distributed the tasks and roles within the project team without referring to the employees’ position responsibilities. Certain team members were not skilled enough to adapt their knowledge to the new area and perform successfully. According to De Vries, Bakker-Pieper, and Oostenveld (2010), such persons experience much stress while adapting to new conditions and cannot demonstrate high results within the short period of time. The leader did not motivate employees to perform better in the new area because of failing to provide opportunities for training and adaptation (Schyns Schilling, 2013, p. 139). In this situation, the schedule was proposed without focusing on such risks as the inability to employees to complete tasks before starting the other project stage. As a result, the lack of the necessary monitoring and coordination led to failures in addressing the project deadlines. The other important problem is the appearance of another informal leader as a result of the lack of the main leader’s communication with the team (De Vries, Bakker-Pieper, Oostenveld, 2010, p. 369). The absence of trust in the leader’s competence and success led to delegating some leadership responsibilities to the informal team leader at the final period of the project development. The reason is that feeling the constant stress, employees need support, and the informal participative leadership works better than the task-oriented formal leadership in this case.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More External and Internal Actors and the Environment While focusing on the approaches to reorganize the teamwork to complete the primary project effectively in contrast to the pilot ones, it is necessary to analyze the role of stakeholders in the process. The most influential actors are the staff of the Department of Employment. To address the problem and predict further failures, it is necessary to organize the collaboration of the team leader and the agency’s human resources coordinators who can provide the additional training for the team members in the context of the project (Yukl, 2014). In addition, the reorganization of the current team leads to inviting other professionals working in the Department to complete set tasks with the focus on their expertise and skills. The external stakeholders include the youth because the project is developed to address their needs and the social organizations working with the young people. It is important to plan more time for analyzing th e statistical information regarding the situation in the sphere of youth employment and collaborate with the Bureau of Statistics. Tools and Constraints The observed project failure can be analyzed in terms of contributing tools and determined constraints. One of the most important tools contributing to the project success is the skilled employees (Van Wart, 2014). The employees were skilled enough in their particular areas, but they needed the additional experience to work in the areas determined by the leader. As a result, the potential tool became discussed as a constraint. At the current stage, the available tools include the required number of the high-quality employees, the availability of the skilled workforce, and the increased funds for the project completion. However, barriers to the project improvement and the reorganization of the team are still significant. The observed constraints include strict deadlines, lack of the training, lack of the set time for employees meetin gs, and underdeveloped communication channels. If a leader fails to overcome barriers with the focus on the available tools, the primary projects can also fail. Opportunities In spite of being associated with a crisis in the leadership, the discussed situation provides many opportunities for the manager to develop the new model of the work in the agency. The reorganization of the teamwork associated with projects in the concrete sphere leads to the development of the specific working model or pattern that improves the performance and increases the productivity of the staff. If a new proposed strategy for managing the project is effective enough, the small number of the skilled employees can complete the larger number of tasks within the limited period of time (Felà ­cio et al., 2013). The leader needs to organize the work of the team in such a way that this team can serve as the expert team for providing consultancy in further similar projects to decrease the time and costs associa ted with the training of other employees. Outcomes and Elements of a Stable Solution To achieve the efficient solution to the determined problem associated with the project failure in the agency, it is necessary to focus on the outcomes of the proposed solution to discuss it as stable and sustainable: The team working on the development of programs comprises out of the adequate number of employees that is correlated with the scope of the project. 80% of assigned tasks are completed at the high-quality level. The productivity of the team increases by 25%. The team works according to the stated schedule, and delays decrease by 30%. The leadership is effective, and the monitoring of the project progress is regular. The degree of cooperation between employees representing different project teams and units of the Department increases by 20%. The level of the stress in employees decreases by 25%. These outcomes of the solution are identified as important because the discussed aspects le d to the failure of pilot projects, and the planned reorganization is aimed to address these issues. Long-Term Improvement The improved approach to organizing the team regarding its size and responsibilities will lead to optimizing the work of the staff and reducing associated costs. Thus, the increases in funds can be required only for the additional training of employees and their compensation. The other long-term benefits include the changes in the approach to the leadership in the organization. It is important to focus on developing the role model of a leader who is flexible, emotionally involved, motivating, communicable, and decisive (Yukl, 2014, p. 121). The currently followed task-oriented leadership style is not appropriate, and the reorganization of the teamwork can also lead to shifting to the supportive and even inspirational leadership styles (Van Wart, 2014). In addition, the long-term improvement involves the enhancement of the work with external stakeholders with the focus on building partnerships with social organizations oriented to the youth well-being and development. Strategies for Actions To solve the identified problems and address the future risks in leadership and management of projects on the subject of youth employment, it is necessary to formulate the clear steps for the solution implementation. The first step is contacting the HRM team, unit leaders, and project coordinators for forming the working team that will include the increased number of skilled employees with the expertise in the sphere of youth and employment programs development. It is also necessary to discuss the opportunities for the training sessions.  The second step is the actual formation of the working group. Those persons who worked on the pilot projects need to be invited to work further. Those employees who experienced the stress and problems in communicating with the leader needs to be replaced with the representatives of other units to increase the workforc e potential. Only high-quality professionals are expected to be invited for the work. This approach guarantees the reasonable distribution of tasks among team members. The third step is the identification of the communication channels to share ideas, visions, tasks, and feedbacks. It is necessary to plan not only weekly meetings but also face-to-face sessions and e-mail reports, as well as training sessions. The next step is the development of the realistic schedule for achieving the goal and completing concrete tasks. It is important to take into account the time for training, meetings, completing tasks, coordinating tasks, revising, and addressing possible barriers while planning the schedule and setting the deadline. The tough deadline is one of the main constraints for this project. Thus, the effective leader needs to develop the schedule while addressing the objectives and responding to the real work potential of the team without leading them to the burnout (Schyns Schilling, 2013). Another point is the correlation of the available workforce and deadlines with the proposed funds. The distribution of resources should depend on the project goals and the number of involved employees. When the communication channels are determined, and the schedule is set, it is important to motivate employees to work at completing tasks for achieving the concrete goal. Therefore, the next step is the building of the cooperating team during the first weeks of the project through the effective communication and supportive leadership. This step also includes the building of partnerships with social organizations and the Bureau of Statistics to receive the outdated information on changes in the sphere.  Ã‚  It is also important to address such constraints as the set short deadlines for projects and destructive leadership. The deadlines need to be set with the focus on the scope of tasks and its priority for the Department. The manager demonstrating the destructive leadership techniques needs to be replaced with the other person, who was discussed as the informal leader during the development of pilot projects (Schyns Schilling, 2013, p. 139). The range of tasks can be delegated according to the partnerships agreement with social organizations and the Bureau of Statistics. Assessment of the Potential for Success The effectiveness of the proposed strategy needs to be assessed in order to guarantee the completion of long-term goals. In this context, the assessment should include the following steps: the weekly monitoring of changes in the team workers’ quality of work and stress levels; the weekly monitoring of the achievements within the set schedule; the monthly monitoring of the performance and progress of the project implementation; evaluations of the individuals’ work with the focus on personal performance assessments. It is important for a leader to evaluate the employees’ attitudes to the work regularly in order to predict po ssible risky situations. Conclusion The Department of Employment faced a problem of developing the effective youth employment programs because the first pilot project failed to be appropriately developed and implemented by the project team. The analysis of the case demonstrated that the problem was in the destructive leadership techniques followed by the manager. As the result of the ineffective leadership, employees had to share responsibilities for which they did not have enough experience; they was not properly informed of the project goal and trained; they suffered from the tension to complete the unrealistic deadlines; and they chose the informal leader among them to address the stressful situation. In order to address similar problematic cases, it is necessary to reorganize the working team according to the project scope and goals. In addition, the selected project leader should follow the supportive or even inspirational leadership style to build a team that can effectively w ork to address the agency’s mission and develop secure and advantageous employment programs for the population, including your people. This case study analysis is important to refer to while discussing similar issues associated with the ineffective leadership, when a leader ignores interaction with the team, cannot communicate the objectives, cannot analyze the project scope, and determine what resources are required to achieve the goal. Moreover, this case study is an example of the leadership that cannot motivate employees, leading to their dissatisfaction. References Australian Government Department of Employment. (2015). De Vries, R. E., Bakker-Pieper, A., Oostenveld, W. (2010). Leadership = communication? The relations of leaders’ communication styles with leadership styles, knowledge sharing and leadership outcomes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(3), 367-380. Felà ­cio, J. A., Gonà §alves, H. M., da Conceià §Ãƒ £o Gonà §alves, V. (2013). Social valu e and organizational performance in non-profit social organizations: Social entrepreneurship, leadership, and socioeconomic context effects. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 2139-2146. Schyns, B., Schilling, J. (2013). How bad are the effects of bad leaders? A meta-analysis of destructive leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 138-158. Van Wart, M. (2014). Leadership in public organizations: An introduction. New York, NY: Routledge. Yukl, G. (2014). Leadership in organizations. New York, NY: Prentice Hall. This case study on People and Leadership was written and submitted by user Finnegan Gallegos to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Venus Inc.

Problem Identification Venus Inc. is a company located in the United States that deals with medical supplies. Having operated in the United States for 12 years, it hopes to expand its operations across the world. The company has four major departments including sales, marketing, supplying and manufacturing all of which work together to enhance the performance of the organization.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Venus Inc. specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The managing director, Kimberly Johnson, has been the manager of the company for the last seven years and has seen diminished growth of the company in terms of productivity and performance. Indeed, the company has recorded losses for the last three years. This has raised concerns for the stakeholders and Kimberly seeks to reverse the trend by enhancing a positive organizational behavior. Particularly, she has explored various reasons that could have led to the do wntrend that the company experiences. At the outset, she notes that the organization has four incoherent departments. The sales department head, Ryan Kiste has steered his department to growth notwithstanding the poor performance exhibited by other departments. Nonetheless, he has always been at loggerheads with other departmental heads owing to his ability to inspire performance within his department. During management meeting with Kimberly, the differences among the managers remained apparent, as they have already created divisions among the employees. Kimberly realized that the problem is deep rooted in the organizational behavior of the company. She therefore seeks to see the solutions that the managers would present to respond to the diminishing performance. It also comes to light that the employees’ motivation has decreased and Ryan pinpoints that lack of a remuneration strategy could have been the major cause of divisions among both employees and managers. Organization al Level Analysis of Venus Inc Organization Culture Organizational culture of an organization refers to the prevalent practices are common within departments of a company (McKenna 2000, p. 56). It distinguishes the organization from other organizations and makes it unique. Normally, organizations use their culture as a competitive edge over their rivals. It fosters common beliefs and practices within an organization and cultivates a sense of the belongingness among the employees. According to McKenna (2000, p. 58), organizational culture is instrumental in ensuring that the practices and beliefs of people remain in line with the organization’s needs and ensures that a company is able to achieve its goals of maximizing on profits and revenues. To that end, all organizational practices and beliefs are synchronized in such a way that they reflect the organizations core values and vision (Black 2003, p. 71).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if w e can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For Venus Inc., the organizational culture seems to be a major problem. Every department seems to have differentiated practices that have led to a fragmented organization. The beliefs possessed by employees working in Ryan’s department seem to be different from those of other departments. Therefore, Venus Inc. faces challenges in coming with a uniform organizational culture that guides the employees and ensures that the identity of the organization is upheld. Further, the employees seem to be following the respective departments’ practices and have no shared beliefs, norms and practices that guide their code of conduct. Indeed, it is reasonably hard for Ryan to influence and motivate employees belonging to other departments to achieve their goals. Hofstede organizational culture demands that all organization’s employees have a shared mentality and assumptions to guide the identity of the organ ization. This culture entails the ability of the managers to have a mind changing training in which all members get to understand the importance of the organizational culture as a source of belongingness and shared values and beliefs. It is also noteworthy that informal sub cultures have emerged within the organization. McKenna (2000, p. 83) points out that the managers ought to be wary that subcultures that groups form may be detrimental if they deviate from the goals of the organization. Organizational structure Jex Britt (2008, p. 82) articulate that organization structure refers to the job and work design in which all members of the staff have clearly defined roles. Apparently, Venus Inc. follows bureaucratic structures typical of downwards communication since the designation of roles assumes a hierarchical structure. Kimberly is answerable to the board of directors while the departmental heads reports to the managing director. Subsequently, the departmental heads ensure that t he employees in their respective departments are effective and work in line with the envisaged objectives of increased productivity. Not only should the departments work together to enhance the performance of the organization, they should also strive towards establishing common beliefs and attitudes through effective inter departmental communication and sharing (Jex Britt, 2008, p. 91).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Venus Inc. specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is imperative to note that Venus Inc. has had structural problems that have challenged the ability of the managing director to point out potential areas that could be detrimental to the performance of an organization. Apparently, Kimberly realizes a little too late that the ineffectiveness within the organization stems from lack of an organizational structure. Communication seems to be ineffective while the employees seem to have decreased motivation. According to Handy (1993, p.12), an organizational structure should enhance the efficiency of all aspects of the organization including communication and performance. Venus Inc. lacks strategy that would see a regulative superior structure where all departments are able to highlight areas that they feel are not effective as expected and envisaged in the organizational culture. Buchanan Huczynski (2010, p. 45) highlight that horizontal differentiation seems to be the major cause of ineffectiveness within the company since every department performs different roles. Besides, the bureaucratic structure has led to diminished returns since some departments have not performed uniformly with the rest. The conflict arising among the departmental heads are caused by lack of communication and shared vision on how some roles should be divided (Jex Britt, 2008, p. 91). This has resulted to poor identification of problems leading to demoralized employees and divisions within the organization. Group Level Analysis Of organization Behavior In the context of Venus Inc, the there are numerous group dynamics that an individual can pin point being the challenge. At the outset, it is critical to analyze the work groups primarily composed by the employees as a major source of divisions in the company. Group level analysis in organization behavior dwells on the conflicts, satisfaction and motivation of the groups (Handy 1993, p.19). All organizations have groups that allow them to achieve their goals and as such, group dynamics are present. The implication of inability to resolve group tensions and hostilities in Venus Inc seems to the major cause of the perceived divisions among employees.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As Ryan pointed out, the divisions within the company results from the reluctance of the managers to resolve issues surrounding the motivation and heightened by the constant disagreements by the organization’s departmental heads. Besides, lack of a clear strategy to remunerate the employees has resulted to innumerable challenges where employees fulfill their roles without enthusiasm. Group dynamics require the comprehension of the fact that different members of the work groups belong to different stages of maturity. In Venus Inc, only the sales department workers seem to have achieved the maturity phase. Maturity phase demands that a group should be in a position to execute and perform their duties professionally without allowing emotions to dictate their course of action. This is apparent in the company since the workers have been able to perform notwithstanding the reluctance shown by other work groups. Ryan’s department has been the major department that has not rec orded decreased performance and as such, it has played a significant role of propelling the performance of the organization. The rest of the groups seem to suffer from individualism and allow their feelings to overlook the importance of working together in the organization to achieve the goals of the organization (Handy 1993, p.20). To that end, the groups are yet to get to the maturity phase and development strategies should focus on the ability of the organization to have the maturity of the groups. At this level of group analysis in organizational behavior, there should be clear-cut roles for every group to enhance the required cohesiveness within the organization. Teamwork and collectiveness should inspire the work groups of the organization with the aim inspiring improved performance. Individual Level Analysis of the organization Apparently, individual analysis of an organization refers to various aspects of an organization that are central to specific individual (Black 2003, p . 71) Such aspects as motivation, task performance, perception, ethical standpoints, learning as well as satisfaction are just a few aspects of individual level analysis of organization behavior. In this case, leadership style that an organization assumes is important and allows the employees to become motivated in their duties. Venus Inc has an authoritative style of leadership that has severed the ability of the employees to learn during their task performance. In fact, authoritative leadership has diminished impacts in boosting the performance of any organization as the employees begin to feel alienated. Tooksoon Mudor (2011, p. 47) say that authoritative leadership rarely takes into consideration that employees needs support as they fulfill their duties which leads to improved performance and ultimately, to increased customer and job satisfaction. It is important for the managers to understand that authoritarian management style demoralizes the employees and has been a cause fo r decreased job productivity and performance. Ryan and Kimberly have proved to be authoritarian managers who expect performance due to their assertiveness and decisiveness. This has consequently resulted to poor performance due to decreased participation by employees in making important decisions regarding Venus Inc. Further, it is critical to note that majority of the employees receive motivation from the leadership style as well as remuneration and appreciation of their performance (Tooksoon Mudor 2011, p. 47). To that end, Venus Inc has failed to come up with a strategy to remunerate their employees leading to decreased performance of the organization as their motivation has lowered substantially. This implies that an organization should be able to appreciate positive performance and show recognition of individuals with outstanding performance. Recommendations Upon the analysis of the organization behavior in Venus Inc, it is important for the management of the company to device and design a strategy that will lead to improved performance and enriched organization behavior. The strategy ought to guide the human interactions within the organizations and improve the organization’s tendency of decreased performance. At the outset, the organization should be in a position to form a coherent organizational culture in which all employees will have shared values and beliefs. This will lead to a unique identity of the organization, which in turn will give the organization a competitive edge over its rivals (Buchanan Huczynski 2010, p. 67). Besides, Venus Inc should enhance the cohesiveness of the organization by dealing with sub cultures that are apparent within the organization. Second, it is important for Venus Inc. to change its organization structure to enhance superior performance of the company since it is clear that the current bureaucratic structure has led to top down communication, which makes employees to feel alienated. To that end, the managem ent team should assume a contingency or an instructional model that seem responsive to the participative needs of the employees. In fact, contingency approach to organizational structure requires that the management to resolve issues as they emerge rather than anticipating issues. Further, the organization should be able to comprehend the group dynamics that are typical of conflicts and divisions among the work groups. Venus Inc should enhance its ability to address the sources of conflicts within the groups by changing their mentality to coincide with organizations needs and encouraging members to work in teams. This will remove the individualism witnessed in the organization. It is also important to adopt appropriate leadership style in the organization to avoid the risk of demoralizing the employees, which in turn may lead to lowered enthusiasm and ultimately, the performance of the organization. Transformational and supportive leadership styles assist employees to learn and are typical of support and encouragement (Black 2003, p. 91). Finally, Venus Inc ought to devise a strategy of remuneration of employees to avert the risk of dissatisfaction and decreased motivation. It should introduce bonuses for superior performance and appreciate individuals who post exceptional performance. References Black, R 2003, Organizational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success, Oxford University Press, London UK. Buchanan, D Huczynski, A 2010, Organizational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, London. Handy, C 1993, Understanding Organizations, Oxford University Press, London. Jex, S Britt, T 2008, Organizational Psychology, A Scientist-Practitioner Approach, John Wiley Sons, Boston, Massachusetts. McKenna, F 2000, Business Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Psychology Press, New York. Tooksoon, P Mudor, H 2011, â€Å"Conceptual Framework on the Relationship between Human Resource Management Practices, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover,† Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, vol. 2 no. 2, pp. 41-49. This essay on Venus Inc. was written and submitted by user Abigail Dixon to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Future of an Illusion Essays

Future of an Illusion Essays Future of an Illusion Essay Future of an Illusion Essay Essay Topic: Rebuttal Self Reliance The Future of an Illusion Sigmund Freuds The Future of An Illusion proposes an idealistic form of human culture, one in which human relations are reorganized so that coercion and suppression of instincts are abandoned. The pivotal factor in this reorganization, he believes, is the universal abdication of religion. For the first portion of this response, the text itself will be broken down into chapter-by-chapter summaries. These summaries are written from the Freudian perspective and are not indicitive of the authors standpoint on these matters; this standpoint will be explored in the latter art of this response. Chapter-by-chapter Analysis Freud begins by philosophically examining the origin of culture, for he suggests that the less one knows of the past, the less reliable will ones Judgement of the future prove. Human culture is defined to consist of two things. Firstly, all of the knowledge and power that men have attained to master the forces of nature (Freud, 1928, p. 3) and secondly, the regulation of the relations between citizens so that the distribution of resources is attained. Culture is a human creation that Freud believes protects humanity from its own hostile nature. He then goes on to discuss an optimistic indulgence: his idealistic golden age, in which human instincts would not be suppressed. He concludes the opening chapter by introducing a concept that reappears later on; namely, that it is not in mans nature to be fond of work and as such, culture breeds internal rebellion. The second chapter describes the transition in reasoning from a material basis of culture to that of a psychological origin. : If the attainment of resources by means of labor is strongly opposed instinctually, then culture cannot be the creation of an instinctual process. For if this were the case, culture would be irreparably threatened by rebellion and would cease to exist. Therefore, Freud suggests that culture is the design of psychological motives. The process by which culture is a derivative of psychology follows three stages. To breifly summarize, any instinct that cannot be satisfied leads to frustration, which is the result of a prohibition; the condition produced by a prohibition being a privation. A prohibition primarily suppresses instinctual wishes; the class of men that express this frustration by asocial behavior are known as neurotics. Lastly, the chapter concludes that Freuds contemporary society cannot survive. The suppressed classes will develop a hatred towards culture, for which they provide the majority of labor while only sharing a small portion of its resources. A culture that leaves an entire class dissatisfied and motivated to rebel cannot be expected to survive. Freud has established that the principal task of culture is to protect humanity from the forces of nature. Religion, for Freud, is a creation of culture. It attempts to resolve the damaged self-esteem of man, and its strong urge for consolation. It demands an answer for the inevitability of death and the elplessness that permeates its existence. The answer is found in religion. According to Freud, Gods must exorcise the terrors of nature, they reconcile the cruelty of fate and make amends for the suffering imposed upon man through the communal life of culture. All good will ultlmately De rewaraea, In tnls IITe or tne next, ana all evll will be punished, which relieves the terror and fear that plagues mans consciousness. Gods remain, however, a device, a creation of culture to console the trembling, fearful mind. He then goes on to note that, despite the various differences between religions, t is a device that is held especially valuable. He argues that it is held more valuable than all of our devices for survival, or attaining resources, or preventing disease. Faith in the existence of a God discredits these fears and strips them of their power. With faith being the highest priority, once again, Freud concludes that the reason for culture must be psychological. Thus far Freud has allowed himself to theorize freely, without objection. The fourth chapter is dedicated to some potential rebuttals and is essentially a dialogue between Freud and an imagined opponent who follows my (Freuds) arguments with mistrust (Freud, 1928, p. 33). The first interjection regards the Freuds assumption that it is indeed culture that creates religious ideas and regulates the distribution of products of labor. Freud responds by mentioning that he has already attempted to show that religious ideas have formed in reaction to the same need as all other achievements of culture: from the necessity to defend itself against the crushing supremecy of nature. (Freud, 1928, p. 34). Furthermore, he explains that there is another motive for religion: the strong desire to correct the painfully felt imperfections of culture. The second argument regards what Freud escribed as mans technique of personifying nature. If the forces of nature, such as death, are similar in emotion to man then they are capable of being bribed, exorcised or appeased in order to rob them of their power over us. Frueds opposing voice suggests that man personfies nature due to his own natural disposition, which is likely to serve him well and in fact be correct. This personification of nature is what Freud describes as an infantile prototype. He uses the example of an infant and its parents. The infant learns that the best way to influence something that is supreme to oneself is to form a relationship with it. It is natural to man to personify everything he wishes to comprehend, in order to later control it. (p. 36). Here Freud begins to assess and pick apart the heavy reliance that human culture places upon religious doctrines. religion consists of certain dogmas, assertations about facts and conditions of external (or internal) reality, which tell one something that one has not oneself discovered and which claim that one should give them creedence. (Freud, 1928, p. 41). Yet these claims are not substantiated. Here, Freud uses the example of a common dogma that was sung in school: Konstanz is on the Bodensee if you dont believe it go and see. (Freud, 1928, p. 42). On visiting Konstanz, and noting that it is indeed on the Bodensee, Freud explains that this dogma was substantiated and as such he follows it. Dogmas exact belief in their contents, but not without substantiating their claim to this. If one wishes to substantiate a dogma for themselves, they should be able to do so; as Freud did by visiting Konstanz. Religion does not, as Freud would say, provide such an opportunity: it cannot be substantiated. According to Freud, there are three claims that are ade in order to exact belief in religious doctrines: firstly, because our ancestors have believed it; secondly, because we posses proofs that have been handed down from the period of antiquity; and thirdly, because it is forbidden to raise the question of their authenticity at all. This last claim arouses suspicion and can only be motlvatea Dy socletys awareness 0T tne uncertalnty 0T tnls Deller. Yurtnermore, to disregard this last claim has been met, in the past particularly, with serious penalties: often death. If society did trust the authenticity of these doctrines, then it would not feel threatened by those that question. Finally, this chapter suggests that evidence for the authenticity of religious doctrines should be easily found in the present. This point that Freud puts forth is evaded by the claim that religious doctrines, as Freud puts it, stand above reason. (Freud, 1928, p. 48). Freud concludes that the inherent strength of religious doctrines lies in psychology and are certainly independent of the acknowledgement of reason. Freud claims that religious ideas are not the residue of experience and as such he describes them as the titular illusion. He describes them as fulfillments of mans strongest wishes and it s indeed the strength of these wishes that give religion its strength in culture, not its authenticity or dependence on reason. An illusion is not defined as an error. It is, however, necessarily derived from a mans wish, and it is achieved when that man believes his wish to be fulfilled; the actual realization of this wish is not important. Here, Freud assigns religious doctrines to the category of illusion as they cannot be submitted to proof. Perhaps one of Freuds most crucial assertions is represented as such: Critics persist in calling deeply religious a person who confesses to a sense of ans insignificance and impotence in the face of the universe, although it is not this feeling that consitutes the essence of religious emotion, but rather the next step, the reaction to it, which seeks a remedy against this feeling. He who goes no further, he who humbly acquisces in the insignificant part man plays in the universe, is, on the contrary, irreligious in the truest sense of the word. (Freud, 1928, p. 6) This concept of seeking an answer to ones insignificance is the foundation of religion, according to Freud, and the method of finding this answer, faith in a higher power, is what he objects to. Once again, the text is opened up to the religious rebuttal. The seventh chapter explores the arguement that culture is built upon the foundation of religion and without it there would be chaos as man would revert back to their asoc ial instinctual behaviors. Furthemore, it is a purposeless cruelty to disprove religious doctrines as it would take away the solace that many find in their belief. In response to this, Freud begins by assuring the reader that a devout believer could not be convinced to abandon their faith simply by reading this text. Nor does he pretend that he is the first to put forth these arguments or ideas he has merely put orth a certain psychological foundation to the critique of my great predecessors. (Freud, 1928, p. 60). He goes on to admit that religion has contributed much to restraining asocial behaviors, however, he believes that it has dominated human society for thousands of years and it has been given the chance to show what it can achieve. It has failed. If the greater mass of mankind had found happiness, then there would be no need to strive for social change. As the authenticity of religious doctrines are nibbled at by critics and scientific advancements, religions influence on culture is slipping. In this eighth chapter, the reader is exposed to Freudian theory in its most demanding form. He proposes that religion is the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity. As with a child that goes through a stage of neuroses, so too does humanity. The child grows out of his neuroses and enters adulthood, in the same way, Freud believes that humanity will grow out of religion ana Tina a new cultural Tounaatlon tnat Is more Dennclal. Rellglous ooctrlnes are tne neurotic survivals of our ancestors and he suggests that through psycho-analytic therapy, they can be removed as any other neuroses can. As this text is coming to its conclusion, the Freudian contender steps in once again. He reminds Freud that the experiment of a society without religion has already been entertained, during the French Revolution: it failed. Furthermore, it was being explored at the time in Communist Russia. The contender questions whether Freud really believes that humanity can survive without religion. By this stage, it may come as no surprise that he does. He begins by conceding that A man who has for decades taken a sleeping draught is naturally unable to sleep if he is deprived of it (Freud, 1928, p. 86). Specifically, a man that has been indoctrinated by religious ideas may not be able to live without religion. However, the uninfluenced child does not need the consolation of religion to comfort its thoughts. The final chapter begins with a final interjection: Given that personality is formed within the first few years of childhood, religious teachings are the best way to instill a sense of morality into ones personality. Even if religion is an illusion your (Freuds) endeavour reduces itself to the attempt to replace a proved and affectively, valuable illusion by one that is unproved and without affective value. (Freud, 1928, p. 3). To this Freud admits that his idealistic hope for the future of culture may also be an illusion. Yet he makes an important distinction between his illusion and the religious counterpart. His illusion is not incapable of correction or improvement: You must defend the religious illusion with all your might; if it were discredited then your world would collapse, there would be nothing left for you but to despair of everything, of culture and of the future of mankind. (Freud, 1928, p. 94). The foundation of Freuds belief, however, is that it is possible for scientific work to discover something about the world that will e beneficial to mankind. Science has shown through many trials and successes that science is no illusion. But it would be an illusion to suppose that we could get anywhere else what it cannot give us. The final words of this text reveal Frueds underlying contention: the future of the illusion of religion is empty, and it must be abandoned if culture is to continue to develop. Interpretation The text is essentially a Journey from the origins of culture to the necessary denial of religion. If one is to blindly accept the validity of each step on this path, then the denial of religion would certainly follow. It is difficult to challenge the chain of logic that is presented in this text. Yet there are many aspects of it that are certainly susceptible to criticism. For if even one step in this process is flawed, then the chain itself is flawed. The following analysis of Freuds The Future of an Illusion expresses this authors personal reaction to and examination of the text. The incorporation of external resources such as similar analytical essays of the text by other authors are intentionally omitted so that this authors viewpoint is not influenced by anyone other than Freud himself. Freuds initial enquiry into culture is brief, yet it is greeable. The conclusion that culture is a device that serves to protect humanity from the supremecy of nature (Freud, 1928, p. 25) appeals to the common sense of the reader. Considering the lack of physical weapons and defences with which the human body is equipped, strength is found in numbers. The contradiction in Freuds theory lies in his concept of instinctual suppression. One should not contest the concept entlrely, Tor culture certalnly does, to some extent, suppress many aeslres that an individual may have. However, the importance that Freud attributes to this suppression is disproportionate. To suggest that every man is an enemy of culture (Freud, 1928, p. 9) as a result of this suppression is a serious inference. Furthermore, his idealistic vision of a culture without instinctual suppression is based upon the assumption that humanity will act upon rational thought. Herein lies the contradiction, for the issue of instinctual suppression is in fact a product of rational thought. Why does one suppress an instinctual desire? It is the result of a process of rational thought that prohibits acting upon it. This inconsistency is the first issue that one can find within Freuds illusion. The first problem with Freuds dialogue of religion is that it is, in actuality, a monologue. Though he must be commended for his attempt to allow for the imaginary interjections of a fictional opponent, they are still derived from his own viewpoint. To a large extent, Freud uses these interjections as a means of introducing a new point or to strengthen his own argument by discrediting the opposing view. The second issue lies in the nature of religious discussion in general. To publish a text that strongly advocates the denial of religion will be read in one of two ways: firstly, the atheist reader will strongly agree ith the logical chain that leads to the denouncement of religion; secondly, the religious reader will strongly object to the argument and may even stop reading. Neither instance describes any serious influence on behalf of the text. Freud does, however, address this. He himself regards this work as harmless and incapable of actually leading to the denial of religion that he advocates. Then, it must be asked, for what purpose did he write this? Perhaps he sought after a younger audience, one that had not already been indoctrinated by religion. Or perhaps this is simply a prediction, one which he hoped would one day be fulfilled. Irrespective of his motivation, it must be admitted that despite the strong will Freud expresses for social change within this text, it can ironically never inspire such change since the very indoctrination he refers to is already evident in his audience. If it is not, then he is not attempting to change their mind at all. This text presents the concept of an illusion in a new light. It is a definition, however, that this author finds interesting. Any dogma, or even theory, that one believes to be truth without subtantiating it for oneself is an illusion. Freud is misguided, however, in assuming that the existence of God cannot, and has not already, been substantiated. Though he limits religious doctrines authenticity to three claims, there are other means by which one might experience the presence of a God. For example, a personal experience with a God should, according to Freud, substantiate its existence. Without such an experience, though, it should be recognized that he is correct in saying that it is an illusion. Yet this illusion that he refers to seems to be presented in a negative light. There are so many things that are a mystery to humanity, and any theory that an individual entertains will always be an illusion until they can substantiate it. The only way to avoid this is to believe in nothing at all, to doubt any theory that comes ones way. This is more than simply an impractical way to live, it is an empty and purposeless life. Even if one leads a life at the whim of an illusion, it still has direction and Freud seems to disregard the importance of this essential aspect of life. One of the most striking features of this text is its strong philosophical basis. The very large maJorlty 0T It Is an expresslon 0T Freuds personal DelleTs regar01ng numanlty ana religion. Considering his strong advocation of substantiating ones dogmas, the text is mpty of research, physiological explanation or even a single case study. One cannot be so naive to demand accurate statistics on matters as broad as religion and culture in its entirety. However, considering the nature of topics that are discussed, this text cannot be considered a scientific publication. It is the speculation of a psychologist. As such, the most apparent link to the course content of Professor Barrons personality psychology course is found in Freuds description of neuroticism in children and adults. He explains that these neuroses can be removed by psycho- analytic therapy, as explored in class. However, this concept is incorrectly adapted to humanity as a whole. As Freud said, man personifies that which he does not understand. In the same way, Freud has personfied the history of humanity so that he might better describe it according to his own theories of personality development. Beyond this, The Future of an Illusion scarcely enlightens the reader on the development of personality, for that is not its purpose. It is a philosophical piece, advocating social change by means of abdicating religion. References Freud, S. (1928). The Future of an Illusion. Retrieved from https://read. amazon. comn astn=B00D119YAK

China Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

China - Assignment Example My father’s name is Hsin Ta, and he was always happy to be associated with his name. My father was rooted in our religion, and he ensured that he prayed for my mother, especially when she had complications during pregnancy. The survival of my mother and I made my father believe god was on our side, and that is why they gave me the name Aisha (Mulets 2). As I grow up, I came to learn that the house I grew up in has been in existence from one generation to another. It is the house where my mother was brought up in. I learned to be contented with what we had. The house was tiny with a few bedrooms which could only accommodate our family. Our house occupied the last position on our street. As I grew up, I shared a room with my big sister. She is a peaceable person, hence no quarrels arose between us. She made sure that we lived in peace with my brothers and acted as a mediator when fights arose between us. Her name clearly gives a representation of her peaceable character. Today being my birthday, I looked back over the past last year and much has changed. After I was born, my mother discovered that she was pregnant. My parents wanted to have a big family although they were not financially stable. However, our parents ensured that they did all what they could to support us. When we learned that we would have a newborn in our family, we were all excited. Unfortunately, my mother and the baby in the womb did not survive. My sibling died of HIV/ AIDs with my mother. It was a tough experience that happened to me in my life. My mother’s death made life tougher. My father had to take up two tasks, working to provide for his family and taking care of us. Before, my mother had the role of taking cares about us while my father was the bread winner. It was a difficult task for my father to take care of us. As a result, my grandmother moved in with us to