...Assess the usefulness of micro sociology to our understanding of society (33marks) Micro sociology focuses on the actions and interactions of individuals and is a bottom-up approach. Such micro approaches, see society as shaped by its members, who possess agency, in other words, the ability to act as free agents. Micro approaches, also known as action theories, include social action theory, symbolic interactionism, phenomenology and ethnomethodoly. However, macro sociologists take a deterministic approach, as they believe that our actions are determined by society. Macro theories include Functionalism and Marxism, who see individuals as puppets, under the control of social structures. One micro approach to sociology is Weber’s social action theory. According to Weber, in order to understand human behaviour, we must take into account both the level of structural cause, and the level of subjective meaning that individuals attach to their actions. Weber argues that there are an infinite number of subjective meanings that actors give to their actions; however he attempts to classify actions into four types. Instrumentally rational action refers to action that is driven by a given goal, in order to achieve through the most efficient means. Value rational action involves action towards a goal that the actor regards as desirable, for example worshipping god in order to get to heaven. Unlike instrumentally rational action, there is no way of calculating whether the means of achieving...
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...article is that it is very difficult to understand, especially for public readers. A lot of professional terms and concept have been use in this article. I find the text reliable because the author is a professor of public policy who has expertise in public policy and organization studies. Dr. Whitford, the author of this article is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and lectured or conducted research in numerous countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, and the United Kingdom, among others. Hence, I find his works reliable and trustworthy. Reflection: This text provide very supportive information to my essay. Discussion about the application of bureaucracy on politics has enriched my understanding about the working of bureaucracy....
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...Critique of Blakely, Gerald L., Eleanor H. Blakely, and Robert H. Moorman. 1995. “The Relationship Between Gender, Personal Experience, and Perceptions of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 8(4):263-274 by Saoussen Dhamna for Sociology 3000 Section 401 Professor Angelia G. Adams University of North Carolina at Pembroke April 25, 2014 THESIS Research has shown that sexual harassment has been a growing issue in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has developed guidelines to address this type of harassment. The EEOC considers sexual harassment to be a form of sex discrimination, defining it as any pressure to perform acts in order to receive pay, promotion, or other opportunity. The second part of the EEOC’s definition refers to any actions purposely taken with the intent of creating a hostile work environment. The researchers in this study focus their efforts on the difference in perceptions about sexual harassment. The focus being what is considered sexual harassment and what is not as well as the factors that influence such a perception. Factors such as gender, experience with sexual harassment, and employee relationships with regards to position are examined. The thesis would be supported if the study concludes that those who have been victims of sexual harassment are more likely to view arguable sexually oriented acts in the workplace as more harassing. The thesis would also be supported if...
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...conversation in organisational change Steve Ryan, 17 Aug 15 INTRODUCTION Change is often forces upon organisations, be it through internal forces (e.g. a change in organisational strategy) or external forces (a change in government legislation or customer demand) (Jabri, 2012, p. 4). No matter the reason, it is important that managers, leaders and change agents are able understand the change process, predict issues and react appropriately. In an effort to further our understanding of organisational change, this paper will discuss how change is relational and, therefore, the product of mundane conversations. In achieving this, the paper will consider the meaning of organisational change, the meaning of conversations and social construction, and the role of conversations within change. In discussing these definitions and examining the role of conversations within organisational change, we will be able to highlight fictions within the change process and identify methods of negating them. UNDERSTANDING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE The definition of change is one that has been discussed and debated by philosophers throughout the ages. An ancient criterion of change states that an object, x, changes if and only if there are distinct times, t and t’, and property p, such that x has p at t and fails to have p at t’, or vice versa (Lombard, 1978, p. 63). This criterion looks at change in the widest sense. To understand organisational change, we need look deeper into what creates...
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...3/27/12 English 90 The hunger games In the book by Suzanne Collins “The Hunger Games”, Katniss goes on to achieve atonement because she was “at-one” with her new self and life. In her journey Rue, one of the tributes that became Katniss’ ally, was killed. Katniss had to absorb the changes caused by the journey and she was fully reborn, after Rue’s death. This made Katniss balance herself by understanding, accepting, and realizing what she had to do. I believe this made katniss a hero because of the atonement. First of all, Katniss starts to understand what Haymitch wanted all along. In this quote, “one kiss equals one pot of broth.”(p.261) Katniss realizes that Haymitch wanted her to give the audience more. She had to show romance between herself and Peeta. This made her more powerful in a way because she just had to kiss Peeta and show romance. Then she would receive a gift. Katniss understood what Haymitch wanted her to do. Second of all, Katniss starts to trust and she starts to accept Peeta. In this quote “This is the first kiss where I actually feel stirring inside my chest” (p.298) and she realizes that she wants another kiss. This means that she is starting to accept Peeta in a romantic way. In this other quote, “No one has held me like this in such a long time.” (p.299) she feels like she is beginning to trust him because no one had ever held her like that in a...
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...relationships among the people serving the company are also important. Disruptive behavior by any employee can seriously challenge teamwork, and reduce productivity and efficiency. It also can damage the effectiveness of a business. first step is to develop a written policy together with my mangers with in full consultation with the employees. The process of the policy development is as important as the policy statement itself. Joint work between employees and mangers helps to show what causes unwanted behavior, involving employees leads to to develops trust and confidence between employees and mangers. Policy awareness: policy awareness can help employees increase awareness of individual responsibilities. familiarity and understanding of acceptable behavior. recognition of continued commitment by senior management. Training: the success of dealing with the unwanted behavior initiative depends on a planned and systematic education and training program. The content of training programs must fit the needs of employees. Knowledge: explain the type of behaviors marked as unwanted behaviors. Describe what is reasonable and what is unreasonable behavior. Skill: how to recognize bad behavior. How to solve it quickly. Promoting healthy workplace environments: tensions can happen in any job, and in healthy organizational cultures those tensions can viewed as a good thing because it help change the working environment as needed. Mangers play an...
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...Alliant Energy is an electrical power company that puts significant emphasis on diversity. It is committed to “creating a workplace that welcomes an individual’s talents, ideas and perspectives”. Alliant believes that by having a diverse workforce they will have more opportunities to succeed. Diversity will benefit this company by providing numerous sources of information for the use of global and social knowledge; positive perception from the media as diversity is a big issue in our world today and ensuring they have fair opportunities in the marketplace. Having diversity in the workplace brings a source of new knowledge, creativity and understanding to a business that makes it unique and brings the benefit of a worldlier point of view. It is important for an organization to recognize the potential of people of differing cultures, genders and lifestyles and the positive effect it can have. For example having an employee from a certain culture can educate a company on how to do business and negotiate with certain countries of the same culture. In a nation of so many different races and backgrounds it is important for a company to be able to cater to all the wants and needs of such a diverse community. The best way to do so is to have a diverse team of employees and managers working together to communicate, teach and understand each other and work on bringing the best service possible to a given market. Alliant understands these concepts and that is why it so committed to workforce...
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...As a nurse one runs into some very saddening/ maddening situations, some that cause not only the individual nurse, but the entire nursing staff to be thrown into conflict with their beliefs of non-maleficense and a patient’s right to autonomy. I always strive to never cause any harm to a patient and treat them kindly despite behaviors that could lead one to not want to act or treat someone is such a manner. Additionally I believe an individual should also have the right and be supported in making decisions about their healthcare, but when the decision is in effect, taken away from them, who has that right? When the nurse and stand staff struggle with the decision that is being made, it complicates the picture, leads to a lot of frustration and nurses feel helpless Several years ago there was an incident of a pt that received a kidney transplant, but during the immediate post operative course the patient, suffered a respiratory arrest, was anoxic for a period of time leaving the pt with anoxic brain damage. This was an individual who, prior to surgery, was a fully functional person. After time in the ICU the patient was able to be on the nursing floor; trached, unable to swallow, g-tube, very limited ability to walk, or transfer to a chair w maximal assistance of typically 2 staff members. The individual also tended, what seemed to be intentional, to try and injure nursing staff, by pinching, kicking and biting.. I was often assigned to this pt, and on several occasions...
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...Category | Example and Key Words (verbs) | THE BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OLD VERSION | | | | Knowledge: Recall data or information. | Examples: Recite a policy. Quote prices from memory to a customer. Knows the safety rules.Key Words: defines, describes, identifies, knows, labels, lists, matches, names, outlines, recalls, recognizes, reproduces, selects, states. | Comprehension: Understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems. State a problem in one's own words. | Examples: Rewrites the principles of test writing. Explain in one's own words the steps for performing a complex task. Translates an equation into a computer spreadsheet.Key Words: comprehends, converts, defends, distinguishes, estimates, explains, extends, generalizes, gives an example, infers, interprets, paraphrases, predicts, rewrites, summarizes, translates. | Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place. | Examples: Use a manual to calculate an employee's vacation time. Apply laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a written test.Key Words: applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces, relates, shows, solves, uses. | Analysis: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes...
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...Is Science in the Bible? The need to answer this very question has come about all too often throughout time. It has at times driven a wedge between men because in order to gain knowledge and understanding of the truths of the world, Science deems it necessary to prove the truths by presenting the facts through a systematic process. The Bible on the other hand is presented to man by God and offers knowledge of the truths of the world through having faith and building a relationship with Him, which brings forth the knowledge needed to understand the world. In fact many times being a Christian can mean it must be impossible to be a scientist at the same time. But what many people do not understand is that Christianity and science are quite compatible. It has also been said that Science and Scripture are in no way at odds with each other but rather two distinct ways of thinking. On one hand are the believers of creation whom take the Bible as the only truth needed to understand the world. While on the other hand stands the evolutionist who seeks to explain and understand the truths of the world created by a God that cannot be seen or touched. For many years man has worked diligently to explain and prove the phenomena of the universe. This field of study as we know it is called Science. In today’s world Science can best be described as a systematic method used by scientists to prove the phenomena of the universe through observations, measurements, testing and documented...
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...societies are different. not all the people live with the same life style! Not all people have big apartments with backyards and its not so hard to understand.if you are willing to take the risk and move to another country,you are taking the risk of giving up on something that you may prefer aswell. Its very easy to understand the fact that if you are moving from another country with another culture, to a country with a totally different culture ,you will have problems getting used to the situation and being adapted; atleast at the beginning of the journey ! in this case ,you should be understanding and patient. the first stage of the cultural shocks are always the hardest part to deal with, therefore being patient is the first “unwritten law” in passing by this level of culture shock . to be short ,if you are willing to experience something new and different, being open and understanding in the differences are as necessary as having a preview or an idea about the whole new situation. the more you are educated about the other countries culture, the faster you will be adapted to the host...
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...Discuss why Joe’s employees need to understand the importance of how people form perceptions and make attributions. I think is because the Joe's employees may be more effective by building relationships of trust with customers. Joe could do an analysis of the organizational culture of his own company with them. Anonymously or directly he could ask their employees what is the perception they have about the Company. After that ask what in their opinion may have generated this perception In this discussion could be approached the way the company does business with its customers. It is an ethical way? We are looking for to meet the customers’ needs and their expectations or we aim solely the benefit of the Company? How the customer sees us? What did we to bring this customer perception towards us? Although it is more difficult to talk openly about the internal environment of the Company, Joe must find ways to understand the internal view that employees have about the Company. Do you feel part of the organization? Yours remarks are heard? How do you assess the degree of autonomy or freedom that exists in your department? What kind of attitudes or standards that the Company has that contribute to this vision that you have on it? Do you feel that the perception you created came from your departament or came from the Company as a whole? Mr. Salatino can show how these perceptions ultimately influence the organization both positively and negatively. He could address the differences...
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...In this essay he will be explaining the different roles metaphors play in helping people understand the concept of artificial intelligence. He will also give his opinion on if the brain is a so-called meat machine, and giving different examples of metaphors that prefer to the function of the human brain. I also will be explaining how Victor Frankl would answer the question, “What does it mean to be human?” The author will give his definition of what it means to be a human, while describing what metaphors Victor Frankl used to communicate his ideas. He will also be discussing the different difficulties of addressing certain characteristics and whether the characteristics are limited to humans. When it comes to metaphors and the roles they play in helping people understand artificial intelligence, they are significant to people who need a demonstration or idea of what’s going on. Artificial intelligence is basically computer created to perform human like activities, so describing a situation such as cars, machine made will make the definition of it more understandable to some. After reading and defining different terms to help me understand the situation, I have come to the conclusion that the brain is a meat-machine because it controls the body and it daily functions. That is similar to a machine because it is set to perform daily tasks to perform a certain goal. Different metaphors that have been used are the spider-web which is delicate and connects many things, it responds...
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...1. I think that it is important for HR to be a strategic partner for a business because HR partners help Motivate, engage and help retain exceptional employees for the company. They also help to do this by having the right Training curriculums to help enhance employee’s current skills or provide them with new skills that are in line with the businesses activities which will help in time improve the company’s capability and functionality. They also help in the design and guidance of creating incentive plans for employees in order to motivate them and help give them a push to improve in the work environment. HR is strategic partners because they are the bridge that lies between the employees and the employers. They are the guidance between the two entities as to how to do things or handle matters in an appropriate matter according to company standards or rules. They also take a great part in incorporating within the company its beliefs on the importance of the corporation’s plans in its entirety. HR is set in place to help the company by instilling in everyone the corporation’s policies and procedures throughout and making sure that it is being followed. In all HR is a great strategic partner in any company because they help keep the company in order and help implement rules and regulations in order within for the company to run properly and according to company standards. They are the backbone you can say to a company that will help them achieve their goals internally by providing...
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...Employees are constantly exposed to a variety of information. They know when leaders are being phony. This information is processed in a person’s, mind and organized to form concepts pertaining to what is sensed or experienced. Different people often perceive a situation differently, both in terms of what they selectively perceive and how they organize and interpret what is perceived, by the employee and their manger (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2011. Pp. 104). The attributions that employees and managers make concerning the causes of behavior are important for understanding behavior. For example, a leader who attributes poor performance directly to his subordinates tends to behave more punitively than does a leader who attributes poor performance to circumstances beyond his subordinates’ control. A manager who believes that an employee failed to perform a task correctly because he lacked proper training might be understanding and give the employee better instructions or more...
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