Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Question - Essay Example The Contingency Theory was particularly relevant in the 1970s, with the developing new role of technology in organizational analysis.(Hickson et al, 1969). However, with the passage of time, the validity and applicability of the Contingency Theory has been challenged by other researchers like Carroll (1988) who offers the view that the Contingency Theory is dead and that other approaches need to be considered, such as transactions cost, interdependence of organizational resources or population ecology. Weick’s organizational model views the entire process of organizing as a social process, where the normal order of working is periodically interrupted by shocks, where individuals are forced to rethink the traditional way of doing things.( Miller, 2005:84). As a result, there is a need for constant reappraisal of the need for sense-making of a situation where an organizational rupture of sorts takes place and serious or drastic measures must be taken. This model may be relevant to an organization during a time of acute crisis, however its relevance may be limited in everyday situations. The Open Systems model of organization on the other hand is based on the belief that all organizations are unique and are subject to general and environmental influences. Each organization should therefore be uniquely structured in such a manner that it is best able to respond to the problems and changes in its environment. To be successful and profitable, an organization must interact well with elements in the environment such as suppliers, distributors, government agencies and customers. This model appears to offer the best means of understanding how organizations work, because each organization must accommodate itself to specific influences in a changing environment and learn to function effectively within it. 2. In a process based organization, the activities of the Company are defined in terms of groups

Gender relationships in one of the two course plays Essay Example for Free

Gender relationships in one of the two course plays Essay Show how gender relationships in one of the two course plays is used by the playwright to throw light on our understanding of the main character, and the overall themes of the play. A view from the bridge is based in Brooklyn, an Italian community set in the 1950s. This particular part of the 20th century was seen as a rather sexist era. Men were a lot more dominant, women were known to stay at home cooking and cleaning-like every wife seems to do today! However aside from that, men felt like they had to be men all the time. They felt like if they expressed their feelings, talked about their troubles or cried, these men would be laughed at and ridiculed. Eddie Carbone is a hard working longshoreman who works on the docks in his local area. Eddie is a typical bloke; he is a proud and stubborn man but is a loving husband to his wife Beatrice and a caring father figure to his niece Catherine. To the audience in the first part of the play Eddies comes across as the typical over protective father, however as the play progresses his feelings for Catherine become obvious that they are a lot heavier than what we are led to believe. Throughout the play we discover Eddie has fallen in love with his niece but his feelings are not sexual, in my opinion it is an obsessive need that cant be controlled as realized by Alfieri, Something perversely pure calls to me from his memory not purely good, but himself purely, for he allowed himself to be wholly known. Alfieri realizes his feelings for Catherine are exceptionally powerful and that their would be nothing that Eddie could do to control them or dissolve them. Eddie tries to open up to Alfieri but cant quite get the words out of what he wants to say. There is also one other particular part of the play when Eddie goes to see Alfieri in his office. Eddie goes to seek advice in order to prevent Catherine from marrying Rodolpho. Alfieri subtly mentions Eddies feelings but doesnt quite mention them in so many words. Alfieri says, When the law is wrong its because it is unnatural, but in this case it is natural and a river will drown you if you buck it now. Let her go. Alfieri is saying that it is illegal for Eddie to get involved with Catherine sexually. It goes against the natural order. However the only advice Alfieri can give is to turn Rodolpho and Marco in to immigration, but with them being family it wouldnt be a wise move. Eddies love for Catherine is so strong that he is willing to go to any means necessary to stop her marrying Rodolpho, making the call to immigration the only way out of the predicament. Eddie calls immigration, aware of his betrayal to Beatrice but he is doing it out of love for Catherine. Beatrice also realizes Eddies feelings for Catherine, in one [particular scene Eddie ad Beatrice have a slight disagreement over Catherine which later leads to an argument over lack of sex. Beatrice wants to know, When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie? Beatrice says it in this context rather than come straight out and says when are we going to have sex again. This way avoids embarrassment but still gets the point across without having to actually say it. Beatrice wants to talk about what is happening but she cant get Eddie to open up to her. Eddies feelings are putting a strain on the marriage, sexually, physically and emotionally. But Eddie,

Employment Among Peoples With Disabilities Social Work Essay

Employment Among Peoples With Disabilities Social Work Essay Companies decisions to hire and retain employee can be influence of variety of factors. The study examines factors that influence companies decision to hire a person with disabilities in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. While not denying the fact that there are numerous factors contributing to the companies decisions to hire disabled people. According to the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia, persons with disability is any person who is unable to obtain for himself/herself, fully or partially, the normal requirements of an individual and / or is unable to participate fully in the community due to shortcomings either physically or mentally and whether it occurred since birth or later in life. There are six categories of disabilities that are identify and registered in the department that is first hearing disability including deaf and mute, second is vision disability including blind that is eyesight less than 3/60 for the good eye even with vision support equipment (eye glasses) and low visi on/partially sighted that is eyesight less 6/18 but equal or better than 3/60 for the good eye even with vision support equipment (eye glasses), third is physical disability such as Polio, Amputee, Muscular Dystrophy, Myopathy, Neuropathy, Osteogenesis Imperfecta and others, fourth is Cerebral Palsy such as Hemiplegia that is Cerebral palsy that affect half of the body, Diplegia that is Cerebral palsy that affect both legs and Quadriplegia that is Cerebral palsy that affect all limbs, fifth is learning disability that is Global Development Delay (for children age People with disabilities are often being socially excluded in our Malaysian Society (Malaysian Care Organisation). Negative attitudes towards persons with disabilities has been identified as a barrier them to particiapte fully in society (Hasnah Toran et al., 2009). Without a concerted effort and awareness from companies and public as well, there is no improvement for this people to participate fully in society. Malaysia passed the Person with Disability Act (PWDA) in 2008 as part of its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN convention). According to this Act, those persons with disabilities shall have equal access to public facilities, amenities, services and buildings, public transport, education, employment, information, communication and technology, cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport (www.thenutgraph.com). This Act as a basis for equalization of opportunities for person with disabilities, to eliminate discrimination and harrasment against them and to promote their full participation as equal citizens of this country (Zulfikri Osman, 2003). 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT There are 15,409 PWDs registered with the State Welfare Services Department in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah as at July 2010, including those with physical or mental disabilities, hearing and vision impairment, cerebral palsy as well as intellectually challenged according to Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun in the Daily Express( 10 October 2010). According to her, there are many other PWDs out there have not registered to the department and urges to do so and the society must adapt to their needs and accord them the same right. There are some approaches and campaign done by government to improve the standard of living disabled persons. In general, the reaction of the private sector towards employment of disabled people may be due to misperception about people with disabilities. Hooi (2000a, p. 4) quotes Bathmavathi Krishnan, a senior disabled librarian in Kuala Lumpur: Most employers are reluctant to employ the disabled because of concerns regarding safety regulations, the need to modify premises such as installing ramps, disabled-friendly toilets and extra medical costs. Mariah Abdul Rahman (Hooi 2000a, p. 4) a web-lab manager in MIMOS Bhd, cites prejudice and the fear of uncertainty among employers as the main reasons why people with disabilities find it difficult to seek employment. In this era of globalization and digitization where competitive pressures of the new economy spill over into the lives of the rich, poor and disabled people, the need for a decent job is even more fundamental to a life of dignified existence: The work that we do has a crucial impact on our social and material well-being, in terms of income, class, status, influence, social relationships and personal identity (Barnes, Mercer Shakespeare 1999, p.1 10). The purpose of this study is to investigate companies attitudes towards employment of persons with disabilities in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah . 1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 1) The objective of this study is to investigate factor that influence companies attitudes toward the employment of persons with disabilities. 2) To recommend suitable employee for the private company. 1.3 SCOPE OF STUDY The scope of the study covers a few selected Private companies in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (Sembulan, Tanjung Aru, Lintas, Inanam and Likas). 1.4 SIGNIFICANT OF STUDY This study is significant because it seek to measure the companies opinions and view in hiring persons with disabilities. This study will benefit the government, disabled people, employers and local universities as there were few empirical studies in this area. Hence the findings from this study can be used by the government and employers to develop better effort in developing disabled people to live in better living conditions and in the workplace. 1.5 DEFINITION OF TERMS The terms used in the study are defined for ease of understanding 1.6.1 Disability person Those who have long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society (Social Welfare Department of Malaysia). Disability is defined according to the American Disability Act: 1) A person who has a physical of mental impairment, which substantially limits a major life activity, 2) Has record of that impairment that is used by the employer to discriminate against the individual, and 3) Is regarded by others as having such an impairment, whether impaired or not (this category includes AIDS/HIV) (Fersh Thomas, 1993; Spechler, 1996; Presidents Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, 1993). 1.6.2 Private Company Business firm in the private (non-public) sector of an economy, controlled and operated by private individuals (and not by civil servants or government-employees) (retrieved from businessdictionary on 18 October 2010). 1.6.3 Attitude` An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistent favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object (Schiffman Kanuk, 1994). Attitude is a combination of beliefs and feelings that influence behavior (Brostrand, 2006). author (Brostrand, 2006). While Triandis, Adampoulus, and Brinberg (1984) also defines attitude as an idea or belief is driven by feelings and produce a certain behavior in a social situation. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Hiring People with Disabilities A 1994 study by Ford attempted to determine where employers received information about the ADA and their training in hiring people with disabilities. Participants were also asked what services they needed to employ people with severe disabilities and in what areas they were lacking information. Responses included lack of information about supported employment, disability, building modifications, employer benefits, laws, funding, rehabilitation technology devices and services, and service providers. When participants were asked whether they were able to provide the rehabilitation technology necessary to employ an individual with a disability, 74% said they were not. When asked to state why, 23% said lack of funds, 22% indicated lack of expertise, 19% did not know where to go for training, and 14% stated it was due to low priority, lack of time, lack of feedback, or personal constraints. Twenty-six percent of employers surveyed said they had never made a referral to a vocational rehabi litation agency for an employee with a disability. When asked why, 36% said they did not even know it was possible, 24% did not know where to refer to, 26% said it was not their job, and the remaining 14% stated it was not in their best interests or in the best interests of the employee with the disability (Ford, 13 1994). The results of this study indicate that employers need more information and assistance in employing people with disabilities. Employers Attitudes While some studies have explored the need employers have for information, other studies have investigated employers attitudes towards hiring people with disabilities. One study on employers attitudes made use of a scale developed by Kregel and Tomiyasu (1994) This scale measured the attitudes of 170 employers toward workers with disabilities and towards the ADA. The results of this study found that while 96% of the 170 employers interviewed knew of the ADA, only 36% said they would support mandated quotas for hiring people with disabilities. The employers were asked about their satisfaction and previous experience with people with disabilities in the workplace; 73% had previous experience. Of that 73%, 78% were satisfied with the performance of the worker with a disability, 11% were somewhat satisfied. Overall, this study found employers to have a positive attitude towards people with disabilities. The employers did acknowledge that in order for the transition into the workforce to be successful they needed to provide a good effort. On the other hand, employers did not feel they had to create jobs or employ persons with disabilities themselves. They did feel assistance would be necessary to hire a person with a disability, but few felt it would be too expensive. In addition, although these employers saw people with disabilities favorably, they believed the hiring of a person with a disability would depend on the extent or severity of the disability. The employers also expressed some personal concerns, which included fears of not being able to communicate with the employee and fear of the employee with a disability making special demands (Kregel Tomiyasu, 1994). Building Relationships Developing relationships between vocational rehabilitation agencies and employers will increase communication and benefit both. Employers will receive assistance in the logistics of hiring an individual with a disability and VR will more successfully place clients into open positions within those companies. Accommodation is one area where employers struggle to know what is necessary and how to implement it. When accommodating workers with disabilities it is important for companies to realize that they do not have to do it on their own. It is suggested that companies take a proactive approach. Some suggested guidelines are: 1) Designate a company representative to oversee ADA compliance. 2) Create and maintain cooperative relationships with other companies and community resources. 3) Ensure that all company policies are compatible with ADA prescriptions 4) Consult rehabilitation professionals to assist in the formulation and review of accommodation options, and preparation of work and non-work environments. (Mullins, Rumrill, Roessler, 1994, p. 16) Attitudes of Society and Employers Due to attitudes or society and, more specifically, employers, job placement and job development for individuals with a mental disability can be challenging in itself; add the concept of job development, and you have an even more complicated situation. In job placement, the job placement specialist works with individuals with mental illness in various types of vocational environments, finds out that they may be more like a salesperson attempting to sell a product to community employers. The product that the job placement specialist is promoting to community employers is his or her clients abilities and skills. The motivation for this action is that community employers have what rehabilitation professionals and their consumers want-a job in an integrated community setting. However, acquiring this vocational goal is not as easy as it sounds-get the job (University of Wisconsin-Stout, 1983). The placement to specialist needs to be persuasive, because if he or she is not able to promote their clients to employers in the community, the unemployment rate may stay the same or even worsen (Fabian Waterworth, 1993). In order for this event to take place, the job placement specialist must create a working relationship with the employer in order to create a positive working environment for his or her client. Malaysian empployers attitude A study by Zulfikri Osman (2003) on Malaysian employers attitudes toward hiring persons with disabilities found that Malaysian employers are found to be discriminative in hiring disabled workers. Jobs offered to disabled workers are normally for lower position. The Ministry of National Unity and Social Development thhrough its working group on legislation had drafted a proposed Act to be called Person with Disabilities Act. However, these federal initiatives, as important as they are, have not changed the way many employers feel about hiring the disabled people. The study also found that, those surveyed perceived their organizations had been unfair in offering jobs while at the same time do not provide special training programs tailored for disabled workers. On the positive side though, organizations gave the same benefits and salary schemes, equal opportunity for advancement and are socially responsible in term of employment oppotunity given to disabled workers. However, employers d o not really care about disabled people involvement in building. Moreover, organizations seemed to prefer normal prospective employees, during selection and recruitment, to disabled people. The cross tabulations revealed that the private sectors employment of disabled workers declined sharply. The three hypotheses were then tested and found that training and development policy and the legal and ethical environment were proven to have significant relationships with employers attitude individually. However, an organization unique workplace environment was not. Although the strengths of each relationship were not established the significance of two out of three, are thought to be good for future research and prediction on employers attitude. Finally, the findings raised the need for a review of existing legal provisions to ensure equal employment opportunity for all. A study by Noraini Mohd Salleh, Khalid Abdullah and Nor Aishah Buang (2001) on Job Opportunities for Special Needs Poplulation in Malaysia found that the special needs populations short comings or their handicapping factors were not the stumbling blocks of their career development and education has played a major role towards their success. Seven hundred fourthy six special needs individuals (blind, low vision, deaf, mentally retarded, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, epileptic, stutter, physically disabled, spastic, and with speech problems) with jobs were identified and some of the jobs undertaken by the special needs population are classified as: professional, semi-professional; skilled non-professional and unskilled non-professional. Hundred fourty government agencies and private companies were located. These employers or potential employers suggestions for their clients or potential clients training to be more specific and suitable for the job market; in line with the countrys nee ds; business bias; inclination towards industrialization: electronic, information technology; food and tailoring. A study by Prabha Ramakrishnan (2007) on Critical Factors Influencing Employment of Disabled Persons in Malaysia. There are four factors covered by the study that are namely, the organisational commitment to employment of disabled people, attitude attitude towards disabled workers, the organisational policies on disability, and the employment opportunities for the disabled people. The first three factors constitute the independent variables, and the last one, the dependent variable. The first variable organisational commitment to employment of disabled people. The second variable is attitude towards disabled workers. The third variable organisational policies on disability. Overall, these three independent variables significantly explain the variance in the dependent variable, i.e. employment opportunities for the disabled persons. The findings of this study show that the organisational commitment to the employment of disabled people is fairly favourable. This is indicated by a highe r organizational commitment by companies that employ disabled workers; it is also shown by a higher emphasis for training employees towards disability issues. However, there is no significant difference in the recruitment of disabled workers between organisations that employ no disabled persons and those that employ disabled persons. The overall attitude towards employment of disabled people is not actually favourable, although the co-workers perception of disabled staff is fairly favourable. While the organisational perception on the need for supervision of disabled employees is somewhat favourable, the organisations that currently employ disabled persons are of the opinion that greater supervision is needed. The general perception on the current organisational policy for employment of disabled persons is not really favourable, although organisations that employ disabled people perceive themselves to have a more favourable policy. Findings on the barriers to employment of disabled people indicate that Malaysian organisations perceive the lack of related experience in managing disability issues as the most significant barrier. Other barriers, in descending order, are the lack of education on disability topics, lack of required skill and training, cost of supervision of disabled workers, attitude towards and stereotyping of disabled workers, lack of knowledge about accommodation issues, cost of training for disabled employees, and the cost of accommodation for the disabled workers. Although the Malaysian government has provided incentives to the private sector and set quota for the public sector to improve the employment rate of disabled persons, overall research findings show that disability employment and opportunities for such employment is low in Malaysia. Ganapathy (Jayasooria 2000) in 1992 identified five reasons for low hiring of disabled persons in Malaysia; first reason is the absence of a nation-wide register of job seekers among disabled persons because the Government and voluntary agencies were not well coordinated, the second reason is the prejudice existing against disabled people, the third is the poor access to public facilities, the fourth reason is the restricted location of employment more concentrated than distributed, and, the fifth reason is reluctance of employers to modify or adapt machinery and facilities for disabled workers. 2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Independent variables Dependent variable Co-workers perception Companies attitudes Work performance Managements perception on the need for supervision Figure 1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Co-workers perception Co-workers perception towards disabled workers either favorably or non-favorably that affect on companies attitudes in hiring them. Work performance Work performance of disabled workers such as their skills and abilities in performing their task that affect on Companies attitudes. Managements perception on the need for supervision Managements perception on the need for supervision of disabled workers after hiring them that either favorably or non-favorably. DEPENDENT VARIABLE: COMPANIES ATTITUDES Companies attitude is referring to their opinions and views and what factors that influence them in hiring persons with disabilities. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Research Design For the purpose of this study, the research design will be sample survey. The research demands for information from people in five places in Kota Kinabalu which are Sembulan, Likas and Tanjung Aru. It means the administration of questionnaires will be distributed to sample of selected company. Types of approaches being used is by a questionnaire survey. 3.2 Unit of Analysis As this study will address the companies attitudes towards employment persons with disabilities, unit analysis will be the employer and employee of the selected private companies. 3.3 Sample size The sample size for the purpose of this study is 50 respondents which taken randomly in that five places of selected private companies. 3.4 Sampling Technique Five places in selected area will be selected for closer analysis of companies attitudes towards employment of persons with disabilities. The type of sampling is random sampling technique to select the sample. The sampling frame for this study was produced by a compilation of names of corporations and smaller businesses from telephone directories and from the Labour Department List. A list of organisations was tabulated and a number was assigned to each organisation. The organisations were selected using the statistical random numbers table. 3.5 Research Measurement/instrument The variables and their measurement are outlined in the following sections. Co-workers perception Co-workers perception towards disabled workers either favorably or non-favorably that affect on companies attitudes in hiring them. It is interval scale; a set of statement can be developed to assess respondents perceptions. The respondents can agree or disagree using five-point Likert scale: strongly disagree= 1, disagree=2, neutral= 3, agree=4, strongly agree=5. Work performance Work performance of disabled workers such as their skills and abilities in performing their task that affect on Companies attitudes. The respondents can agree or disagree using five-point Likert scale: strongly disagree= 1, disagree=2, neutral= 3, agree=4, strongly agree=5. Managements perception on the need for supervision Managements perception on the need for supervision of disabled workers after hiring them that either favorably or non-favorably that affect on companies attitudes. strongly disagree= 1, disagree=2, neutral= 3, agree=4, strongly agree=5. 3.6 Data collection The data for this study will be collected thorough survey questionnaire. This method was chosen because it easier to deliver and collected. 3.7 Data Analysis For this study, data analysis was done by quantitative methods where statistical analysis was conducted in descriptive of statistic. Descriptive statistics methods were used to compute frequencies, measures of central tendency such as the mean, median and the mode and dispersion such as the range, the variance and the standard deviation. The data collected from the survey questionnaire were analysed using Statistical software tool (SPSS 17.0).

The Great Barrier Reef Essay -- World Heritage Area

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the wonders of the natural world. It was declared a World Heritage area in 1981 and added to the National Heritage List in 2007. Unfortunately, the Great Barrier Reef faces many threats. Pollution caused by direct or indirect human activities are major threats to Australian reefs. (source 1). Two million tourists visit the coral reef every year. This is great for the economy; however it can have huge negative impacts on the coral reef. The tourists are carried around the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) by over 500 commercial vessels which drop fuel, anchors and other forms of pollution that damage the reef. The tourists also break the fragile corals by touching and reef walking as well as contaminating the water with sweat and suntan lotions. (Source 5) Most damage to the reef has occurred in the last fifty years. It coincided almost exactly with an increase in land clearing (source 11) and the disappearance of wet lands (source 1) for coastal development followed by population growth (source 7) and farming (source 11). These disturbances to the environment damage natural habitats and loosened the sediment causing it to be washed into the ocean. The pollutants and pesticides from farming together with a sharp increase in the use of synthetic nitrogen in fertilizers (source 8) in the last fifty years sped up inland pollution. The pollutants bind with the sediments creating a sticky mud that covers the coral algae called zooxanthellae killing the coral. Pollutants and sediments also create a hazy cloud in the water blocking out sunlight and preventing photosynthesis. (source 12) Apart from this there is also an increase in marine based pollution such as ship wrecks (source 3) h... ...ince there will be less demand for everything. Some may have to close down and suffer great losses. The social and economic costs are too great to count. The towns along the Great Barrier Reef will not be as vibrant. Children growing up in these towns will have less job prospects and may not even be allowed to start a new family in their home town because of the population cap. The residents will be furious! On top of that, the proposal doesn’t tackle the major future threats to the Great Barrier Reef – climate change, pollution from farming and tourism. Therefore proposal two is a far more superior management plan for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It has a more balanced approach, taking into consideration all aspects of environmental, social and economic factors. Proposal two is definitely economically more feasible in both short and long term.

Cattell and Eysenck

Usually when we talk about someone's personality, we are talking about what makes that person different from other people, perhaps even unique. â€Å"The Cattell and Eysenck constructs and theories should be seen, not as mutually contradictory, but as complementary and mutually supportive. † The Late Hans Eysenck (1984). Cattell and the theory of Personality. Mult. Behav. Res, 19, 323-336. This eight page report discusses the work and models created by Hans Eysenck (1916-1997) and Raymond Cattell (1905-1998). Each developed specific theories regarding human personality. Eysenck’s is best expressed in the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) while Cattell’s 16PF or Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire serves as the best representation of his work on personality. Raymond Bernard Cattell (20 March 1905 – 2 February 1998) was a British and American psychologist known for his exploration of a wide variety of substantive areas in psychology. These areas included: the basic dimensions of personality and temperament, a range of cognitive abilities, the dynamic dimensions of motivation and emotion, the clinical dimensions of personality, patterns of group and social behavior, applications of personality research to psychotherapy and learning theory, predictors of creativity and achievement, and many scientific research methods for exploring and measuring these areas. Cattell was famously productive throughout his 92 years, authoring and co-authoring over 50 books and 500 articles, and over 30 standardized tests. According to a widely-cited ranking, he was the 16th most influential and eminent psychologist of the 20th century. Cattell and Eysenck 3 Raymond Cattell and Hans Eyseneck, so prominent were these two men, that their work is now enshrined in the Cattellian and Eysenckian Schools of Psychology, respectively. Cattell's scholarly training began at an early age when he was awarded admission to King's College at Cambridge University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1926 (Lamb, 1997). According to personal accounts, Cattell's socialist attitudes, paired with interests developed after attending a Cyril Burt lecture in the same year, turned his attention to the study of psychology, still regarded as a philosophy (Horn, 2001). Following the completion of his doctorate studies of psychology in 1929 Cattell lectured at the University at Exeter where, in 1930, he made his first contribution to the science of psychology with the Cattell Intelligence Tests (scales 1, 2, and 3). During fellowship studies in 1932, he turned his attention to the measurement of personality focusing of the understanding of economic, social and moral problems and how objective psychological research on moral decision could aid such problems (Lamb, 1997). Cattell's most renowned contribution to the science of psychology also pertains to the study of personality. Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Model aims to construct a common taxonomy of traits using a lexical approach to narrow natural language to standard applicable personality adjectives. Though his theory has never been replicated, his contributions to factor analysis have been exceedingly valuable to the study of psychology. In order to apply factor analysis to personality, Cattell believed it necessary to sample the widest possible range of variables. He specified three kinds of data for comprehensive sampling, to capture the full range of personality dimensions: Cattell and Eysenck 4 Objective, life data (or L-data), which involves collecting data from the individual’s natural, everyday life behaviors, measuring their characteristic behavior patterns in the real world. This could range from number of traffic accidents or number of parties attended each month, to grade point average in school or number of illnesses or divorces. Experimental data (or T-data) which involves reactions to standardized experimental situations created in a lab where a subject’s behavior can be objectively observed and measured. Questionnaire data (or Q-data), which involves responses based on introspection by the individual about their own behavior and feelings. He found that this kind of direct questioning often measured subtle internal states and viewpoints that might be hard to see or measure in external behavior. In order for a personality dimension to be called â€Å"fundamental and unitary,† Cattell believed that it needed to be found in factor analyses of data from all three of these domains. Thus, Cattell constructed personality measures of a wide range of traits in each medium. He then repeatedly performed factor analyses on the data. With the help of many colleagues, Cattell's factor-analytic studies continued over several decades, eventually producing 16 fundamental factors underlying human personality. He decided to name these traits with letters (A, B, C, D, E†¦), like vitamins, in order to avoid misnaming these newly discovered dimensions, or inviting confusion with existing vocabulary and concepts. Factor-analytic studies by many researchers in diverse cultures around the world have re-validated the number and meaning of these Cattell and Eysenck 5 traits. This international confirmation and validation established Cattell’s 16 factors as objective and scientific. Cattell set about developing tests to measure these traits across different age ranges, such as The 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire for adults, the Adolescent Personality Questionnaire, and the Children’s Personality Questionnaire. These tests have now been translated into many languages and validated across different cultures. Hans Eysenck was born in Germany on March 4, 1916. His parents were actors who divorced when he was only two, and so Hans was raised by his grandmother. He left there when he was 18 years old, when the Nazis came to power. As an active Jewish sympathizer, his life was in danger. In England, he continued his education, and received his Ph. D. in Psychology from the University of London in 1940. During World War II, he served as a psychologist at an emergency hospital, where he did research on the reliability of psychiatric diagnoses. The results led him to a life-long antagonism to main-stream clinical psychology. After the war, he taught at the University of London, as well as serving as the director of the psychology department of the Institute of Psychiatry, associated with Bethlehem Royal Hospital. He has written 75 books and some 700 articles, making him one of the most prolific writers in psychology. Eysenck retired in 1983 and continued to write until his death on September 4, 1997. This aspect of personality is called individual differences. For some theories, it is the central issue. These theories often spend considerable attention on things like types and traits and tests with which we can categorize or compare people: Some people are neurotic, others are not; some people are more introverted, others more extroverted; and Cattell and Eysenck 6 so on. However, personality theorists are just as interested in the commonalities among people. What, for example, do the neurotic person and the healthy person have in common? Or what is the common structure in people that expresses itself as introversion in some and extroversion in others? If you place people on some dimension – such as healthy-neurotic or introversion-extroversion – you are saying that the dimension is something everyone can be placed on. Whether they are neurotic or not, all people have a capacity for health and ill-health; and whether introverted or extroverted, all are â€Å"verted† one way or the other. Another way of saying this is that personality theorists are interested in the structure of the individual, the psychological structure in particular. How are people â€Å"put together;† how do they â€Å"work;† how do they â€Å"fall apart. † Some theorists go a step further and say they are looking for the essence of being a person. Or they say they are looking for what it means to be an individual human being. The field of personality psychology stretches from a fairly simple empirical search for differences between people to a rather philosophical search for the meaning of life! Perhaps it is just pride, but personality psychologists like to think of their field as a sort of umbrella for all the rest of psychology. Critics of the psychology of individual differences have often claimed naively that the use of factor analysis in test construction has â€Å"only lead to confusion–since Eysenck found three factors, while Cattell found 16 factors† within the personality domain. Yet these ill-informed critics failed to understand that Eysenck and Cattell were talking about personality measurement at different levels within the hierarchical trait model. Cattell and Eysenck 7 Ray concentrated on primary factors, while Hans focused on broader secondary dimensions. Indeed, at the second-order 16PF level, the degree of communality between the Eysenckian and Cattellian factors was striking! It might be nice to start off with a definition of theories of personality. First, theory: a theory is a model of reality that helps us to understand, explain, predict, and control that reality. In the study of personality, these models are usually verbal. Every now and then, someone comes up with a graphic model, with symbolic illustrations, or a mathematical model, or even a computer model. But words are the basic form. Different approaches focus on different aspects of theory. Eysenck’s theory is based primarily on physiology and genetics. Although he is a behaviorist who considers learned habits of great importance, he considers personality differences as growing out of our genetic inheritance. He is, therefore, primarily interested in what is usually called temperament. Eysenck is also primarily a research psychologist. His methods involve a statistical technique called factor analysis. This technique extracts a number of â€Å"dimensions† from large masses of data. For example, if you give long lists of adjectives to a large number of people for them to rate themselves on, you have prime raw material for factor analysis. Imagine, for example, a test that included words like â€Å"shy,† â€Å"introverted,† â€Å"outgoing,† â€Å"wild,† and so on. Obviously, shy people are likely to rate themselves high on the first two words, and low on the second two. Outgoing people are likely to do the reverse. Factor analysis extracts dimensions – factors – such as shy outgoing from the mass of information. The Cattell and Eysenck 8 researcher then examines the data and gives the factor a name such as â€Å"introversion-extraversion. † There are other techniques that will find the â€Å"best fit† of the data to various possible dimensions, and others still that will find â€Å"higher level† dimensions – factors that organize the factors, like big headings organize little headings. Eysenck's original research found two main dimensions of temperament: neuroticism and extraversion introversion. Neuroticism is the name Eysenck gave to a dimension that ranges from normal, fairly calm and collected people to one’s that tend to be quite â€Å"nervous. † His research showed that these nervous people tended to suffer more frequently from a variety of â€Å"nervous disorders† we call neuroses, hence the name of the dimension. But understand that he was not saying that people who score high on the neuroticism scale are necessarily neurotics – only that they are more susceptible to neurotic problems. His second dimension is extraversion-introversion. By this he means something very similar to what Jung meant by the same terms, and something very similar to our common-sense understanding of them: Shy, quiet people â€Å"versus† out-going, even loud people. This dimension, too, is found in everyone, but the physiological explanation is a bit more complex. Eysenck hypothesized that extraversion-introversion is a matter of the balance of â€Å"inhibition† and â€Å"excitation† in the brain itself. These are ideas that Pavlov came up with to explain some of the differences he found in the reactions of his various dogs to stress. Excitation is the brain waking itself up, getting into an alert, learning state. Inhibition is the brain calming itself down, either in the usual sense of relaxing and going to sleep, or in the sense of protecting itself in the case of overwhelming stimulation. Cattell and Eysenck 9 To bring to a close, although Cattell contributed much to personality research through the use of factor analysis his theory is greatly criticized. The most apparent criticism of Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Model is the fact that despite many attempts his theory has never been entirely replicated. In 1971, Howarth and Brown's factor analysis of the 16 Personality Factor Model found 10 factors that failed to relate to items present in the model. Howarth and Brown concluded, â€Å"that the 16 PF does not measure the factors which it purports to measure at a primary level (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1987) Studies conducted by Sell et al. (1970) and by Eysenck and Eysenck (1969) also failed to verify the 16 Personality Factor Model's primary level (Noller, Law, Comrey, 1987). Also, the reliability of Cattell's self-report data has also been questioned by researchers (Schuerger, Zarrella, & Hotz, 1989). Cattell and colleagues responded to the critics by maintaining the stance that the reason the studies were not successful at replicating the primary structure of the 16 Personality Factor model was because the studies were not conducted according to Cattell's methodology. However, using Cattell's exact methodology, Kline and Barrett (1983), only were able to verify four of sixteen primary factors (Noller, Law & Comrey, 1987). In response to Eysenck's criticism, Cattell, himself, published the results of his own factor analysis of the 16 Personality Factor Model, which also failed to verify the hypothesized primary factors (Eysenck, 1987). Despite all the criticism of Cattell's hypothesis, his empirical findings lead the way for investigation and later discovery of the ‘Big Five' dimensions of personality. Fiske (1949) and Tupes and Christal (1961) simplified Cattell's variables to five recurrent Cattell and Eysenck 10 factors known as extraversion or surgency, agreeableness, consciousness, motional stability and intellect or openness (Pervin & John, 1999). Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model has been greatly criticized by many researchers, mainly because of the inability of replication. More than likely, during Cattell's factor analysis errors in computation occurred resulting in skewed data, thus the inability to replicate. Since, computer programs for factor analysis did not exist during Ca ttell's time and calculations were done by hand it is not surprising that some errors occurred. However, through investigation into to the validity of Cattell's model researchers did discover the Big Five Factors, which have been monumental in understanding personality, as we know it today. In summary, Humanists and Existentialists tend to focus on the understanding part. They believe that much of what we are is way too complex and embedded in history and culture to â€Å"predict and control. † Besides, they suggest, redacting and controlling people is, to a considerable extent, unethical. Behaviorists and Freudians, on the other hand, prefer to discuss prediction and control. If an idea is useful, if it works, go with it! Understanding, to them, is secondary. Another definition says that a theory is a guide to action: We figure that the future will be something like the past. We figure that certain sequences and patterns of events that have occurred frequently before are likely to occur again. So we look to the first events of a sequence, or the most vivid parts of a pattern, to serve as our landmarks and warning signals. A theory is a little like a map: It isn't the same as the countryside it describes; it certainly doesn't give you every detail; it may not even be terribly accurate. But it does provide a guide to action.

Assess the Global Role and Local Impact of Multinational Companies.

Assess the global role and local impact of multinational companies. A multinational company is often defined as a corporation whose operations and investments are broaden across a number of countries. They are also referred to as transnational companies. Therefore given this definition it would be expected that if a company operates over such a large territory that it would indeed have many effects and impacts, locally and globally, and its role would also be quite significant as it can have a direct influence on an economy, the environment and general effects on society. However, changing the way they run things in order to accomidate society could break there business down and they could eventually have no impact on society so looking at the situation is they impacts worth the change? ‘Theory has evolved over the years regarding social concerns, society’s expectations and corporate responsibility. Indeed, early management and economic theorists viewed the corporation as having a strong fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, but stopped short of considering any real obligation to other stakeholder groups’ (Friedman 1962; Teece 1984) (Corporate social responsibility, Accountability and Governance; Istemi Demirag). This statement I think is very true, due to the fact that, as time continues people’s opinions of what is deemed socially responsible in both corporate and everyday society varies, as it is a sensitive topic that is very opinion based. Corporate social responsibility is when companies realise that their activities have economic, social and environmental influences. However, to put it simply it can be divided into two broad categories; one-off activities and larger issues of policy and strategy. One-off activities basically cover things such as charitable donations of money and time given to charities or community projects, all of which are at the discretion of the owners of the company. Larger issues of policy and strategy is where the company needs to have a much more devoted awareness to the firms moral, social, ethical and environmental acts within its operations. This requires the company to take a look at other external influences that directly affect the business, such as pressure groups. This could be seen as a type of contingency planning as it helps a firm avoid future conflicting interests with the outside world. Acting socially responsible brings many benefits to both the company and society, if the correct approach is used. So by a firm accepting social responsibility, everyday problems can be reduced such as unemployment and pollution. Therefore you would also see a vast improvement in the quality of life, as society would be factored into the day to day decision making process of the company. A business which includes this approach is most likely to see more of a tangible outcome, as they will probably benefit from increased financial performance from activities such as reduced operating costs from recycling instead of waste disposal. The company could also enhance its brand image from a good reputation and gain the ability to attract capital and trading, so will therefore see the benefits from increased sales and customer loyalty. However, this could also be a case for firms to not accept this responsibility, as they can suffer from lack of customer interest if they haven’t found the right approach for them. This is because various businesses see corporate responsibility being relatively constricting, as in some cases it has lead to products having a lack of sales, or makes the product less profitable. This is due to the fact that introducing some of these socially responsible policies into a firm is very costly, so this can lead to an increase priced products for the customers or a smaller profit margin on the product for the company. However, during the recent economic crisis companies are less likely now more than ever to not act socially responsible as they are more focused on profit and survival. On the other hand there could be a contrasting theory as corporate responsibility can just be used by a firm as a marketing ploy, as a company’s overall strategy is to make profit by responding to what their consumers want, so they may just use this method in order to maximise their product life cycle therefore increasing its revenue. Contradictions of corporate responsibility have been seen many times over the years within companies such as; ‘Barclays Bank CLAIM: We have the skills, resources and determination to make a positive and lasting contribution to the communities in which we operate. ’ (Barclays social review, 1999) ACTION: Barclays bank closed 172 branches in April 2000’ ‘Proctor & Gamble CLAIM: An employee should be able to answer â€Å"yes† to the questions: is this the right thing to do? With this action uphold p&g’s reputation as an ethical company? (Proctor & Gamble code of conduct) ACTION: Proctor & Gamble continues to trade in Burma, while other companies have pulled out because of the appalling record of the Burmese government on human rights. ’ ‘BAT (British American Tobacco) CLAIM: its corporate social responsibility report defines targets for reducing energy use, water consumption and waste products, and describes its commitment to enlightened employment practices. ACTION: it markets its tobacco products ruthlessly to young people – it was caught on television handing out packets of Benson & Hedges cigarettes to teenage volley ball players in the Gambia. ’ (All three examples used is from AQA AS Business studies, John Wolinski & Gwen Coates) Number of companies using corporate social responsibility reporting, 1994 – 2006 Source: EarthTrends, 2008 using data from UNPE, 2008 The chart above does in fact show that business are starting to realise the importance of corporate responsibility and meeting their customers’ needs by adapting to it. As the chart show continuous growth overall from 1994 to 2006 which does show the significance of the topic to society and the business world. Overall, positive externalities are created for society by companies that except corporate social responsibility as well as direct benefits to the firm. However, a lot of multinational companies are based in more of the westernised countries, so there main offices are seen as socially responsible some of which could be just due to the law in which it is governed by. Some of these companies may on the other hand have ‘back offices’ from outsourcing operations in counties such as China and India, where it is not ensured that these socially responsible factors are being kept, which is an increasing problem as more and more companies do it each year. Multinational companies also have to be aware of their global role in terms of business ethics. Business ethics can be defined as the entwining of ‘morals or a principle of what is right or wrong in human behaviour’ (business and society, Edmund Marshall) into a business’s activities. Every company starts with some kind of ethics whether intentional or portrayed by the owners or employees. These ethics are what help structure the way the business is run, even if they are not generally the right ones for society. However, all firms do have to have ethics which coincide with the law of which it is governed by. This does in fact make it trickier for multinational companies to obtain ethics which both abide by the laws of each country its company occupies, and have them be socially correct so that they are morally respected. Although, not doing so could have major effect on the businesses reputation, as multinational companies are more commonly known as they are generally larger. Therefore, it could result in heavy dents in their consumer base which would later affect the company’s revenue. Throughout recent years businesses have been forced to notice their participation and effects on the environment, mainly due to societies pressure to do so. However, responding to such pressures can give a firm many advantages such as, marketing opportunities, financial advantage and human resource opportunities. When a company is being ‘Environmentally friendly’ it portrays t its customers a very good reputation which is a very positive marketing tool. This can help achieve brand recognition more powerfully and even persuade a customer to choose them over a competitor. So could overall increase a business’s sales as well as give them stronger brand loyalty. This could even give a firm the opportunity to increase their products profit margins, so that the costs occurred from the change that would benefit the environment will be covered. However, although this change can have a beneficial effect on a company they do have to make vast changes on their operations so that it doesn’t have adverse effects on the environment. Such as, such as the use of raw materials and energy, many companies use finite resources like coal and oil as they are cheaper, but they will eventually run out and leave negative chemicals behind. So firms need to find more of a renewable energy resource that suits them. Another environmental impact that occurs often is the disposal of waste and by-products. Currently gases may be released into the atmosphere, liquids into rivers and solids into landfills all of which are extremely harmful to the environment. On the other hand, I do see that it is costly to find other ways of disposal so i think the company should focus more on changing the ways the waste is produced so that less is created. Also when obtaining environmental responsibility, a company needs to make a contingency plans, mainly so that negative externalities do not occur. By doing this if an environmental disaster occurs they can minimise risks and costs so that both the company and society will have less of an effect from t. However, if multinational companies are to take this seriously they are also to look at how their day to day operations effect the environment, such as using private jets instead of flying with normal airlines. They could also offer company cars that give out less carbon emissions. Therefore large companies like multinationals will most likely benefit from environmental audits. Overall, over recent years society has began to realise that all businesses have effects on the world locally and globally, even more for multinational companies. Although businesses already realised this, but have just began to take notice more increasingly due to the pressures of society and recent changes in the law. Every aspect of a business has a knock on effect and not just on the economy which some people is lead to believe. The ethics of how the company is run or the ethic they portray are being mirrored on to society. So for the general public to react is not that uncommon whether it is positive or negative. However, I do think that people should force a company to have corporate responsibility; so that they know their actions will not just be affecting society without any consequences. Finally, I think that multinational companies have one of the biggest influences on society as they are both global and local too many countries as they are transnational. Therefore they should respect the people of the community they are in and try there hardest to impact lives positively not negatively. . However, changing the way they run things in order to accommodate society could break their business down and they could eventually have no impact on society at all, so looking at the situation is they impacts worth the change? References Books Harvard Business school press, Harvard business review, business and the environment Edmund marshall, Business and society Hans, gunter, transnational industrial relations Istemi demirag, corporate social responsibility, accountability and governance, global perspectives Sally eden, environmental issues and business, implications of a changing agenda John wolinski & gwen coates, a2 business studies, aqa John wolinski & gwen coates, as business studies, aqa