...Jack A. Adams’ A Closed-Loop Theory Of Motor Learning attempts to explain the process of how motor learning is achieved in humans. He argues that a sufficient motor learning theory should cover how verbal and motor processes work together to produce learning and also how errors are detected and corrected. In this paper it will be shown that Adams fails to do this as there are numerous flaws incorporated into his argument. Adams tends to overlook necessary details and his theory fails to explain how motor learning is achieved in individuals who do not possess a “verbal capability”. The central components to Adams theory are the concepts of knowledge of results or KR, the perceptual trace, and the memory trace. In order to understand the flaws of Adams theory, a brief explanation of each is fundamental. According to Adams (1971,p. 122), KR is information about a movement’s error that is used to solve a problem. KR is the verbal component of Adams theory, which according to him, is key for motor learning to occur. Next, is his idea of the perceptual trace. According to Adams (1971, pg. 123) in order to move a limb, a reference of past movement is necessary (i.e. the perceptual trace), KR, and sensory feedback. The perceptual trace is almost the “memory” of past movement. It is weak in the beginning of a new movement, and strengthened as the number of correct trials increases. Adams asserts that KR is vital to forming a strong perceptual trace since KR gives information on...
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...Transformational change in organisations: a self-regulation approach Transformational change in organisations 143 Purpose – The purpose of the present paper is to advance a testable model, rooted on well-established control and self-regulation theory principles, explaining the causal links between change-related sensemaking, interpretation, readiness and subsequent behavioural action. Design/methodology/approach – Following a review of the two motivation theories and clarification of change-related sensemaking, interpretation, and readiness concepts, the paper proposes a series of research propositions (illustrated by a conceptual model) clarifying how these concepts interact with self-regulating mechanisms. In addition, the feedback model exemplifies how cognitive processes triggered by new knowledge structures relate to behavioural action. Findings – The model expands upon other existing frameworks by allowing the examination of multi-level factors that account for, and moderate causal links between, change-related sensemaking, interpretation, readiness, and behavioural action. Suggestions for future research and guidelines for practice are outlined. Practical implications – The variables and processes depicted in the model provide guidelines for change management in organisations, both for individuals and for groups. By eliciting important self-regulating functions, change agents will likely facilitate sensemaking processes, positive interpretations of change, change...
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...way the person relaying the information will transmit it. It’s upon him or her to decide if to treat it as positive or negative feedback. The person who treats it as positive feedback has the ability to change the areas that need change without much resistance and while the person who perceives the feedback as negative will tend to bend low with a dwindled self-esteem and may end up reacting in a depressing manner. When the information being communicated is a critique, the recipient is also the determinant as to whether, the feedback will bring a change in the person or he or she will react to the information. Openness to feedback is a challenge to many people today since when one speaks about their personal experiences they fear being judged inappropriately. In the work place, workers are afraid of getting back information because they fear being perceived as weak, uncertain and deficient of confidence. Therefore, they tend to evade returning information that would result to change and that would bring about positive outcome in the organization (Reeves, D. B., 2006). Some factors that may make an individual to react negatively is lack of self-esteem and the inability to pick out their strengths and utilize the information they get about their mistakes to build more vigor on them. The moment a person incorporates a negative attitude during feedback, the intended impact is distorted. Willingness to disclose information is inherent within a person. When a person decides to give...
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...Course name: Managing Operations Assignment 3 A BRIEF DISCUSSION ON LEARNING CURVE Definition: In General, Learning Curve Theory or Experience Curve Theory is defined as the following: A learning curve is a graphical representation of the changing rate of learning (in the average person) for a given activity or tool. Typically, the increase in retention of information is sharpest after the initial attempts, and then gradually evens out, meaning that less and less new information is retained after each repetition. The learning curve can also represent at a glance the initial difficulty of learning something and, to an extent, how much there is to learn after initial familiarity. For example, the Windows program Notepad is extremely simple to learn, but offers little after this. On the other extreme is the UNIX terminal editor vi, which is difficult to learn, but offers a wide array of features to master after the user has figured out how to work it. It is possible for something to be easy to learn, but difficult to master or hard to learn with little beyond this. The concept of the Learning Curve basically states that there is less and less learning as more repetitive steps are taken. The Boston Consulting Group conducted some empirical studies and below are the conclusions from that study: 1. The time required to perform a task decreases as the task is repeated, 2. The amount of improvement decreases as more units are produced, and 3. The rate of...
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...Problem Solution: Intersect Investment Services Intersect Investment Services (IIS) is a financial services industry company which has been struggling to survive in a market which has been in constant state of flux, never certain and always chaotic (University of Phoenix, 2008). IIS has “barely managed to survive, but resisted making a drastic, strategic shift” (University of Phoenix, 2008, p. 1). The changed market conditions have led to the changed vision of IIS which is: “Provide a broad set of products and services to consumer and small business customers using a model of customer intimacy that will build long-term relationships based on trust and value to the customer” (University of Phoenix, 2008, p. 1). This new vision has not been realized yet and therefore, the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales has been released of his duties and was replaced by Janet Angelo as new Executive VP of Marketing and Sales. A number of reasons contribute to the fact that why the transformation of IIS was not successful and these reasons are (1) no clear communication about how the change should take place, (2) no explaining and reinforcing on why the change should take place, (3) resistance to the change of key personnel, and (4) the goals to achieve were not aligned with the new strategy. No clear communication has been identified by Kreitner and Kinicki (2004) as one of the main reasons why organizational change initiatives fail. The communication of organizational change...
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...First – order cybernetics adheres to a set of principles that we can name and define as follows: 1. Recursion: Recursion can be defined as “ relating to or constituting a procedure that can repeat itself indefinitely or “ one step of a procedure involves invoking the procedure itself “.( Wikipedia 2015). If we translate this principle to simple cybernetics we can say that this theory does not seek a linear cause of a situation like in A occurs and then B occurs because of A. But sees, for example, people in a family influence each other and each other’s behaviours and this is a constant flow of influence. So the reciprocal relationship is important : “ …meaning is derived from the relationship between individuals …. as each defines the other “.(Becvar and Becvar 2014 8th ed , p 70 ). The use of this principle prohibits that we only see part of what is happening in a family but focus on the whole. 2. Feedback: When a process is in action we want to evaluate what is happening. In first-order cybernetics we do not look for a good or bad result. We talk about positive and negative feedback. If a family goes through life changes for example a baby is born the roles of the father and mother...
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...senior students were chosen randomly to respond to a questionnaire investigating their beliefs about immediate grammatical error correction. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to answer this question: what is the effect of grammatical error feedback on students’ accuracy? Results related to the questionnaire that was delivered to the participants proved that immediate error correction enhances and has a positive effect on their accuracy. Introduction Accuracy, in its simple view, is the ability to produce grammatical correct sentences (Gower et al. 1995). Since its vital role in acquiring the English language in Palestine, grammar should seize a wide distance in EFL classrooms and should be taught either inductively or deductively. Nevertheless, the process of teaching and learning does not guarantee that all learners are expected to produce grammatical sentences, so the role of the teachers, here, is to respond and give immediate feedback. The erroneous utterances may interfere with the intelligibility of what is said. When the feedback provided during a conversational interaction, the acquisition process is facilitated (Rahimi & Dastjerdi 2012) and the direct treatment of errors helps learners learn better. The feedback and correction of errors are parts of the process of learning and teaching....
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...Running heading: Organizational Change Process Presentation Cornelius Bowman LDR 531 Dr. C Introduction This paper focuses on the various strategies of organization change based on the leaders’ pet peeves. It has researched articles from various authors. One of such author is Kowaski, Robin M. in his book, “Complaining, Teasing and other Annoying Behaviors”. The paper has gone further to provide the recommendations on how these organizations changes are carried out. The paper has reviewed the case scenario of a C.E.O who wants to bring about change, but is concerned by the large size of the employees and a company’s long history without change. In the first section of the discussion, the paper highlights data observed on the graph which will be followed by a detailed recommendation. Also included are factors that hinder organization change, as this will help one understand the whole concept of organization change. Discussion One of the company’s goals is to have an organization that appreciates all employees. However, the data shows that the workers do not feel appreciated since only thirty five percent agree they fell appreciated. Appreciating employees is paramount as it makes them feel special (Senior & Swailes, 2010). This actually motivates them to work hard resulting to increased production and enhancing employer-employee relationship. The company can make the employees feel appreciated by doing little things. This may include, knowing...
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...students is a trying experience for a budding teacher. One may earnestly try to prepare him or herself: read books about teaching methods, attend lectures and take courses on didactics. Yet, in theory everything seems much simpler than in practice. The complexity of a teaching situation can be overwhelming. To deal effectively with it, teachers must not only have a good knowledge of the subject in hand, but also some communication skills such as ability to observe, supervise, lead a discussion and pose questions. Furthermore, a teacher should be aware of how students perceive him or her. This perception is sometimes quite different from the teacher's self-image. It is difficult to self assess one’s own abilities and we benefit from colleagues’ feed back to recognize our strength and identify areas for possible improvement. Evaluation of teaching by students is becoming a common practice, and a constructive feedback could be an effective way to improve one's rating as a teacher. Even the experienced educators may sometimes reflect about strengths and weaknesses of their teaching style. What is microteaching? Microteaching is an excellent way to build up skills and confidence, to experience a range of lecturing/tutoring styles and to learn and practice giving constructive feedback. Microteaching...
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...“I recommend this ebook to anyone interested in engagement.” Benjamin Niaulin, Public Speaker 10 ESSENTIAL PILLARS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Jacob Shriar Director of Customer Happiness TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 About The Author 2 Preface 3 Introduction: The Importance of Emotional Metrics 7 Pillar One: Giving and Receiving Praise 13 Pillar Two: Giving and Receiving Feedback 19 Pillar Three: What Makes Us Happy 25 Pillar Four: Employee Wellness 36 Pillar Five: You and Your Boss 42 Pillar Six: You and Your Co-Workers 48 Pillar Seven: Personal Growth 54 Pillar Eight: Company Alignment 58 Pillar Nine: Career Satisfaction 63 Pillar Ten: Ambassadorship 66 Conclusion ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacob Shriar Director of Customer Happiness Jacob is the Director of Customer Happiness at Officevibe, and is on a mission to make the world of work better. He believes that everyone deserves to love their job, and be happy, healthy, and productive at work. He's passionate about startups and company culture, and believes you should never stop learning. 1 PREFACE Why Did I Write This Guide? I wanted to emphasize the importance of emotional metrics, and how they affect engagement. The HR department has a real opportunity to engage workers on a deeper, more emotional level. I want managers to be able to tell how happy and healthy their employees are. I want managers to be able to measure, optimize...
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...conducted by Group 10 of MGMT1001 Thursday Tutorial. This task required students to form teams consisting of five to six members whose goals were to summit Mount Everest. While it provided us with a rich experience in team dynamics and collaboration, it also enabled us to explore key managerial concepts taught in the course, consisting of: • Communication • Groups and Teams • Leadership In this report, we examine the effectiveness of Face to Face Communication (FTFC) versus Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), and the problems encountered through the utilisation of the virtual medium including efficiency of the feedback system, loss of personal focus and other emergent issues. It includes personal reflections on attitudes and perceptions, as well as group performance and strategies adopted in the second Simulation in order to create a more positive team experience. Theories which relate to interpersonal communication have also been integrated in the report to illustrate its relation to certain situations encountered during the Simulation. Additionally, we provide a multifaceted analysis on the notion of team cohesiveness and how it attributes to better performance outcomes. An overview on the different intragroup conflicts encountered in the Simulation has been included, examining the positive and negative impact that conflict had on team experience and performance, and how mutual agreements were reached through the compromising of personal and team goals. Finally, we conclude...
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...Creating a Positive for every Negative --- Rebuilding a healthy organizational culture Introduction Based on the consulting team’s investigation report we can draw that the root of the problems lies in the company’s bad organizational structure and management’s inefficient performance. With the OB theories, I try to discuss how to rebuild Payam Ghanbari’s organizational culture by changing the organizational structure and turn those negative factors into positive incentives and to make it a healthy organizational culture. Organizational structure affects organizational culture The organizational culture of a business reflects the mentality, work ethic and values of the company's owners and employees, while organizational structure refers to the actual framework of a company. Organizational structure directly affects a company's culture due to the placement of individuals within that structure. Examining the relationship between organizational structure and culture change hinges on two premises: First, an organizational culture develops around the organizational structure, and a culture change will be required to change the firm's structure. Second, an organizational structure can remain, but the organizational culture can change if management changes how workers are assigned to roles in the same but more flexible structure. One of the major problems of Payam Ghanbari’s organizational structure as pointed is the rigid departmentalized production lines with...
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...Meaning is derived from the relationship between individuals and elements as each defines and is defined by the other. Each of us, therefore, shares in the destiny of the other (Becvar & Becvar, 2013). Just as every individual is influenced and is being influenced by every other individual, the same can be said for every system. Recursion sees all individuals as members of a world community who are connected at every level of the system. * Feedback - Feedback is the process whereby information about past behaviour is fed back into the system in a circular manner. Two types of feedback occur, namely positive and negative feedback. Positive feedback refers to forces which try to alter the system’s rules, interaction patterns and/or power structures. Regardless of whether these changes are to the benefit or detriment of the system, any change to the system is considered positive. Negative feedback refers to the forces which try to maintain the system’s current rules, interaction patterns and / or power structures. Negative feedback will always cause the system to maintain the status quo....
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...Management Skills Learning Contract Rime El Haddi 1) Skill to be developed To improve my coaching and mentoring skill 2) Assessment of current skills level During my bachelor degree, I was the general event coordinator for almost 4 years for an association that does charity called Hand in Hand Association. We had to organize a yearly fundraising event that was considered to be the biggest event at our university. I had to manage, guide, and mentor 11 committees of 11 coordinators; Therefore, I had to support the coordinator and help them achieve our targeted goal which was to raise an amount of fund by the end of the day of the event. Every year, when the D-day got closer, the coordinator including myself started stressing and panicking, hence as their support, I had to organize some teambuilding activities such as paintballing, hiking, and other activities to help them reduce their stress level and to motivate them stay focused on our targeted goal whatever the obstacles are. Therefore, I can proudly say that at the end of every fundraising event, we were able to raise the amount of money that we had as a goal and sometimes even exceed it. The reason why I chose to work on this interpersonal skill is to help me in my future career because I want to be an HR consultant, and as we all know, a good consultant must master the skill of coaching and mentoring. In a rating out of 10, I would give myself a 5 point in this skill because I believe that I still...
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...as a top salesperson. After a lengthy court case and trial, Fred won a lawsuit in the state of New Jersey for age discrimination and was awarded $8.44 million in 1994. Whether or not Fred’s age was the reason Maiorino was actually a factor is beyond the scope of this paper or the information on hand. The jury that sat for the trial certainly has more details and first-hand accounts of the issues; the jury decided in favor of Maiorino and, with a little faith in our justice system, I will accept their decision. After a review related to motivation, I discuss the actions Schering-Plough took to motivate Fred and the way feedback and age affect job satisfaction and job performance. Motivation Methods of motivating employees is much discussed in management journals. From Herzberg’s KITA (kick-in-the-ass) method (2003) to need- based motivation to reinforcement theory, this issue has raised many questions about what kind of motivation works for companies. In my research, I found that one of the most important things for managers to keep in mind when trying to motivate an employee is that every employee is different and will react differently to the various techniques available (Duening & Ivancevich, 2006; Kolstrup, 2012; Milbourne & Francis, 1980; Deal, Stawiski, Graves, Gentry, Weber & Ruderman, 2013). A lack of absenteeism, putting forth best effort, always working, and directing effort toward accomplishing goals are visible effects of motivation (Duening and Ivancevich...
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