Technology Management And Social Media Management Essay

Technology Management And Social Media Management Essay The world is changing and the changes that are taking place are having an impact on business organizations all over the world. One big change is the advancements in technology. New technologies such as social media are changing or improving the way business gets done. (Module SHRM, 2004, p.g.2-6) According to the Garavan, et al., (1999), p.g.174 other big changes may include product or market changes, external and internal labour market changes, changing skill requirements within industries and the availability of skilled workers from outside the organization. Furthermore, the size of these changes can be big and the speed of these changes can be fast. How are organizations responding to such changes? Organizations have to change along with the environmental changes. One way they can change is to change the way they think about people. It has often been said that people are an organizations most important asset. On the surface, this saying seems to be consistent with one of the most important ideas of SHRM-that an organizations competitive edge and ability to succeed is derived from its intellectual assets, which are found mainly in the people working at an organization but in the face of the big environmental changes, the saying does not seem to be totally correct. The reason is that the value of the assets is not likely to stay constant in the turbulent environment. For example, in order to use the new technologies that are now available, the people of an organization will have to have the right skills. Organizations with the right peopl e will have the ability to take advantage of the new technologies while those that do not may eventually lose out. According to the assignment Standard Chartered Bank case study illustrates the employees into five categories which are high-potentials, critical resources, core contributors, underachievers, and underperformers. The reality is that there are underperformers in practically every organization and they cannot be rightly considered as assets, and as suggested in the Standard Chartered Bank case study, the underperformers may have to be managed out. An organization can get the right people through several ways. One way is to hire but this could turn out to be an expensive option. Another option is to upgrade the existing human assets through human resource development (HRD) activities. HRD activities are concerned with the training and development of people as well as their education. Such activities can be formal or informal and all may be categorised more or less as learning. According to Garavan, et al., (1999), p.g.174 HRD practitioners dream of creating learning organizations-organizations that learn adapt and innovate as cohesive units. HRD practitioners are strong supporters of learning organizations because they believe, as one management guru puts it, that the ability to learn faster that ones competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. In short, sustainable competitive advantage is an important HRD outcome. Garavan, et al., (1999), p.g.174 stated that another important outcome is organizational innov ative capacity, but before competitive advantage and organizational innovative capacity can come about, learning has to happen first. HRD can play several key roles in helping organizations achieve learning. To illustrate how HRD can help companies do well in the current environment, I will use the case of a fake but nevertheless believable Malaysian company. This Malaysian company has a relatively large presence in the region and it has decided to introduce teams as part of its response to the environmental changes. The main reason for doing so is because the top management felt that teams are able to respond more quickly to customers and their frequently changing needs. It should be pointed out that for a long time, the company has been hierarchical and bureaucratic in its management style, so adopting a new organizational form is quite a big change as well as a big challenge. HRD can help the fake Malaysian company in several ways. Firstly, it is obvious that the workers need to learn new skills in order to remain effective in the new team environment. HRD can help to identify the skill gaps and address those gaps at the individual, team and organizational levels or whatever level that is relevant (Module SHRM, 2004, p.g.291-293). In the case of the Malaysian company, part of the learning has to include hard technical training. That is because it has offices all over the region so it has no choice but to go virtual and its workers need to learn how to use information and communication technologies effectively to make the teamwork work. In addition, the learning will have to include cross-cultural communication and teamwork. Many nationalities work in that company and different nationalities communicate and do things differently. Therefore, the people at the company need to be trained so that they can communicate and work effectively as a cohesive multi-cu ltural team. Secondly, according to the module SHRM, (2004), p.g.291-293, HRD can act as catalyst for change and in the case of the fake Malaysian company, cultural change may be especially critical. Culture is the way people do things at a particular organization. Culture can also be considered as the wisdom and knowledge that an organization has accumulated throughout the years of its existence. The change from a hierarchical, bureaucratic style to a team-working style is in part a cultural change. Culture is however difficult to change partly because it has contributed to the organizations past successes. Imagine telling a 20-year veteran in the fake Malaysian company who has risen to a fairly high level, a person who is so used to the hierarchical and bureaucratic style of working, that he now has to work in a team. It is very likely that he will resist the change. So, the veteran needs to learn to accept the need for change and ultimately change himself. In this case, training may not the be st learning solution. More informal HRD activities such as coaching or counselling may be more appropriate in this sort of situation. Indeed, the correct choice of HRD activities is critically important in ensuring that learning really takes place. In this particular context, learning means that the skills picked up by the participants of a training programme are immediately put into use at the office. It can also mean people showing the behaviours that an organization considers highly desirable and important for organizational success, such as teamwork. The transfer to the workplace however does not happen automatically and HRD practitioners can play a role to ensure that the transfer will eventually take place. HRD can do so by getting things right from the start, by making sure that the content and delivery are right, which is HRDs third role in helping an organization achieve learning. Take training as an example. In most organizations, some of the training can be conducted by in-house experts but not all of it. So HRD practitioners will have to source for training solutions from the outside and they will also have to perform some sort of quality control on the solutions. That is the content side of things. Great trainers complete the picture by giving great delivery. Some people think training equals HRD, but is that true and is training always the best solution? The truth is this, training is not the only solution and it is not always the best solution. Lets look again at the 20-year veteran case. As mentioned, I do not think training is the best solution in that case. What may be more appropriate for the veteran is one-to-one coaching or counselling. Coaching, counselling and mentoring can be considered as delivery mechanisms. Other delivery mechanisms include e-learning or formal education. HRD practitioners need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each mechanism and make the right choice. In addition, HRD practitioners cannot assume managers automatically know how to train, coach, counsel or mentor. HRD practitioners can help the people involved get trained in both content develo pment and delivery. At the end of the day, HRD practitioners need to know what works best in any given situation and give their recommendations and they should never forget that the learning outcomes of the selected content must be in alignment with the organisational objectives and that the delivery should be good so that the transfer of learning is likely to occur. Finally, HRD can play a role in the creation of a learning climate or environment. This is important because a learning climate can help embed learning within an organizations culture. Learning can take place anytime, anywhere. However, as implied above, learning may not be an easy thing for some people and if we look back at the 20-year veteran, some people may even resist learning. In that particular case, it is probably more of an unwillingness to learn than an inability to learn but in the case of the fake Malaysian company, they are now told more or less that their way of working is no longer good enough. The implication is that they are incompetent, an implication that will likely hurt the self-esteem of many a veteran. Therefore, in order to encourage learning, organizations have to make it safe to learn. The safety that we are talking about is psychological safety. HRD practitioners have a less direct role to play here. It is the top management, the leaders, who will have to play a major role. They will have to lead the way. For example, leaders have to find ways to encourage people to take risks. As pointed out by Garavan, et al., (1999), p.g.174 innovation will only take place in organizations where the organizational culture empowers individuals and accepts risk taking. In the same way, when people learn, they may in fact be taking risks but risk-taking can result in failures and when people fail in their attempts at learning, they become open to attacks, especially from their bosses. For instance, the 20-year veteran may need relatively more time to learn the new technologies and he may well experience some hiccups along the way. So before people are willing to learn, people must be confident that they wont be punished when they fail, that they wont be attacked when they are down. In short, learners have to place great trust in their bosses, especially during times of failures. So leaders have to somehow show that it is OK to make mistakes and fail. It is easier said than done, but the adoption of this leadership style may pave the way towards innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. All in all, HRD can play four roles in helping companies achieve SHRM and organizational outcomes and the most important outcome may well be learning itself.

Prejudice and Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

Racism in Heart of Darkness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Joseph Conrad develops themes of personal power, individual responsibility, and social justice in his book Heart of Darkness. His book contains all the trappings of the conventional adventure tale: mystery, exotic setting, escape, suspense, and unexpected attack. Chinua Achebe concluded, "Conrad, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the great stylists of modern fiction and a good story-teller into the bargain" (Achebe 252). Yet, despite Conrad's great story telling, he has also been viewed as a racist by some of his critics. Achebe, Singh, and Sarvan, although their criticisms differ, are a few to name. Normally, readers are good at detecting racism in a book. Achebe acknowledges Conrad camouflaged racism remarks, saying, "†¦ Conrad chose his subject well - one which was guaranteed not to put him in conflict with psychological pre-disposition..." (Achebe, 253). ***CAN YOU TELL US SPECIFICALLY WHAT THIS MEANS? THE READER DOES NOT KNOW WHAT PSYCHOLOGICAL PRE-DISPOSITION IS*** Having gone back and rereading Heart of Darkness, this time reading between the lines, I discovered some racism Conrad felt toward the natives that I had not discovered the first time I read the book. Racism is portrayed in Conrad's book, but one must acknowledge that in the eighteen hundreds society conformed to it. Conrad probably would have been criticized as being soft hearted rather than a racist in his time. Conrad constantly referred to the natives, in his book, as black savages, niggers, brutes, and "them", displaying ignorance toward the African history and racism towards the African people. Conrad wrote, " Black figures strolled out listlessly... the beaten nigger groaned somewhere" (Conrad 28). "They passed me with six inches, without a glance, with the complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages" (Conrad 19). Achebe also detected Conrad's frequent use of unorthodox name calling, "Certainly Conrad had a problem with niggers. His inordinate love of that word itself should be of interest to psychoanalysts" (Achebe 258). Conrad uses Marlow, the main character in the book, as a narrator so he himself can enter the story and tell it through his own philosophical mind. Conrad used "double speak" throughout his book. Upon arriving at the first station, Marlow commented what he observed. "They were dying slowly - it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloom" (Conrad 20).

From Taco Bell to Tanzania Essay example -- Graduate Admissions Essays

From Taco Bell to Tanzania I lived until the age of 18 in Lacey, Washington, a small town made up mostly of the strip malls and Taco Bell fast food restaurants that line Interstate 5 from Portland to Seattle. Very few of my high school classmates left this town, and instead moved back into the service industries and lower rungs of state bureaucracy where their parents had worked before them. For those of us who wanted to leave, the only routes, at the time, seemed to be the military or higher education. Since, by middle school, I had been tracked into college prep courses, I assumed that I would go to college but did not know where or what to study. In our garage, my grandfather kept back issues of National Geographic dating to the 1920's. The summer before starting high school, he paid me to dust them and it was then that I discovered something called "Anthropology" which, when studied, appeared to lead to a more interesting life in a more interesting place. For my Freshman Physical Science course's "SCIENCE CAREERS DAY," I wrote "Anthropology" down as my career goal, though I knew nothing at the time about the discipline besides the name. I likewise chose a college which I knew nothing about - Lewis and Clark in Oregon - because the brochure mentioned that there were several dozen overseas programs available through the school. Though I could have gone to India, Indonesia, Ecuador, Australia, Korea or many other countries, I decided to apply for Kenya because the year before I had read a book about nomads and the program included a unit on nomadic pastoralism and ecology. After rereading this book much later, I discovered it to be an incredibly sappy, melodramatic and condescending ... ...conflicts in other areas of social life. In the summer of 1994, I had the opportunity to travel to Tanzania on an SSRC Predissertation Grant to begin to establish affiliation, research clearance and possible fieldsites. I have also made contacts at the district level with officials and academics in the area. Though I already speak Kiswahili, the national language of Tanzania, I also have made arrangements to study Maa, the language of the Kisongo Maasai and WaArusha who live in the district in which I will be working. I am looking forward to working in Tanzania not only because of its political stability and unique history as a nation, but also because of the opportunity to generate information about children and education in pastoral communities there, a topic which is still under-researched despite the restructuring of national curriculum in recent years.

Human Facial Expressions and Emotions Essay

To accept that the implications of human emotions are universal is indeed very extensive. It speaks to an issue that is deeply entrenched in human nature and it is by no means a trivial question. Much research has been conducted in this field of emotions through the analysis of facial expressions, categorizing evidence into two primary categories: those in favor of the universality of emotions, known as the Universality thesis, or those in favor of cultural influence on emotions. While it has been largely accepted that there is a basic universal language in the field, the bulk of the debate centers on where exactly factors controlling expression of facial expressions lie on this spectrum. There is undeniably overwhelming evidence in support of the universality thesis with both qualitative (judgment studies) and quantitative (muscle unit measurements and brain mapping techniques) data; however, one could not overlook the behavioral and anatomical evidence in favor of culture-specific expressions. Therefore, universal emotions may serve as a very fundamental framework among all humans; yet, it is cultural differences that fine-tune this structure into the emotions each individual expresses. Introduction to Universality Thesis: The Darwinian Hypothesis Principles for the Expression of Emotions The Work of Charles Darwin. Many of the ideas that Darwin formulated in his 1872 book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals have led to this field of research. On the book’s most basic level, he defended that emotion expressions are evolved and adaptive (Hess & Thibault, 2009). However, Darwin also posits three crucial principles from which many of the subsequent fundamental questions and debate over emotions and their purpose stem. The Principle of Serviceable Habits. As Hess and Thibault (2009) note, this first principle takes a Lamarckian view of the inheritance of emotions genetically through the force of habits. Darwin explicitly underscores the concept and force of habit. It also speaks very much to the functionality of emotions and their expressions, although most of them are vestigial. However, these traits could still be observed in animals because the civilization of humans would suppress such instinctual tendencies. A common example is that of rage and aggression as a â€Å"playful sneer† or â€Å"ferocious snarl† (Darwin, 1872) reveals animal descent. The Principle of Antithesis. In a reversal of the first principle, the second principle asserts that some expressions are so directly opposite to nature that the only means is that of expressive communication (Darwin 1872). This makes the expression almost analogous to the voice for the purpose of intercommunication. It is worth noting, however, the Darwin extends this principle to not only states, but to traits as well (Hess & Thibault, 2009). For instance, Darwin (1872) postulates that the enigmatic action of a gaping mouth could indicate a feebleness of character. Such actions eventually become ingrained through habit. The Principle of the Direct Action of the Excited Nervous System on the Body.  This final principle that Darwin outlines could be considered the direct product of the nervous system. Therefore, some expressions occur to balance excess emotions. For instance, consider the absurd nature of laughter (Hess & Thibault, 2009). Heckler (1873) proposed that laughter could in fact be a protective reflex that compromises the excess of the circulatory and respiratory systems through the irritation of vasomotor nerves. The work of Darwin and universality thesis will later by revived in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the judgments studies of Paul Ekman. Evidence in Support of Universality Evidence derived from Judgment Studies Introduction. The universality thesis is most contingent upon judgment data, evidence of observers seeing the same emotions in all faces (Russell, 1994). Paul Ekman is largely considered to be the pioneer and preeminent scholar in the field of emotions, and his judgment studies with overwhelming evidence supporting the universality of facial expressions are frequently cited in subsequent studies on this topic. The earlier view before studies conducted by Ekman and Friesen from the late 1960s was that facial expressions completely differed from culture to culture (La Barre, 1947). With Ekman and Friesen’s groundbreaking work on the constancy of facial expressions throughout cultures in 1971, however, the tremendous evidence has persuaded much of the psychology world to accept the universality thesis although skeptics still remain (Ekman & Friesen, 1987). Pan-cultural udgment studies. Among the first of these pan-cultural judgment studies was conducted by Ekman, Sorenson, and Friesen (1969) in New Guinea, Borneo, Brazil, the United States, and Japan where they found evidence in favor of pan-cultural elements in facial displays; observers in these cultures were able to recognize similar emotions in the a standard set of photographs. They first obtained samples of photographed facial expressions that were free of cultural differences. The subjects, too, were carefully selected as data needed to be collected from virtually isolated preliterate societies to eliminate the variable of mass media (Ekman et al. , 1969). Photographs of Caucasians—male and female, adult and children—were used, all of whom were professional and amateur actors. The observers observed primarily the preliterate societies from New Guinea and Borneo, two isolated communities that required translators. 1] The emotion Happy (H) was most universally recognized with tremendous accuracy in responses—United States: 97 H; Brazil: 97 H; Japan: 87 H; New Guinea: 99 H (Pidgin) and 82 H (Fore); and Borneo: 92 H. Fear (F), however, seem to generate a more varied response between different cultures, with Surprise (SU) and Anger (A) as answers as well—United States: 88 F; Japan: 71 F, 26 SU; New Guinea: 46 F, 31 A (Pidgin) and 54 F, 25 A (Fore); Borneo: 40 F, 33 SU. There were also variations within Disgust-Contempt (D) with some mixtures of A and in the Borneo society, even H; A included some D and F; SU included F and A, which these variations occurring primarily in the isolated societies; and finally, Sadness (SA) was sometimes interpreted as A, with A being the only given response in the Fore group of New Guinea. While there is certainly evidence for some basic universality, Ekman, Sorenson, and Friesen attributed the discrepancies to language barriers and task unfamiliarity in the illiterate societies. Flaws and how they were subsequently addressed. Ekman and Friesen (1987) later published a study in which they acknowledge some flaws of previous judgment studies. With respect to the study above, three problems that limited them are: (1) there has only been one such study, (2) not all six emotions were accurately recognized, and (3) the facial expressions were posed as opposed to spontaneous (Ekman & Friesen, 1987). In response to the last criticism, Ekman and Friesen (1972) designed a study of facial expressions shown by Japanese and Americans while watching stress-inducing films of body mutilation and neutral films of natural andscape. When subjects from each of the two cultures viewed the films in the absence of a scientist with a hidden video camera, the facial expressions from both groups were virtually identical; when viewing the same films in the presence of a scientist, however, the Japanese tended to mask negative expressions with smile, lending support to the presence of cultural display rules when different cultures ma nage and mask universal expressions. The primary criticism, however, was (1) again, there has only been one such study, and (2) the films only elicit two emotions (disgust and fear)—other universal expressions were not determined for (Ekman & Friesen, 1987). Later studies, however, involving photographs of facial expressions shown to observers of across 12 literature cultures found very high agreement by multiple researchers including Ekman, Friesen, Sorenson, and Izard (Ekman et at. , 1969; Izard, 1971). The multiple replications of this design lends to its credibility (Ekman & Friesen, 1987). Universality of the recognizing intensity. Ekman and Friesen (1987) sought to further extend their basic judgment studies by testing for four different hypotheses of cross-cultural agreement for (1) single-choice judgment tasks; (2) the strongest emotion; (3) the second strongest emotion; and (4) strength of emotion. The nations that were chosen included 8 different languages from both Western and non-Western countries. In (1), the single-choice judgment task that replicated previous studies, once again, produced accurate results in terms of the percentage of subjects in a country correctly identifying with a predicted emotion. For instance, two examples include Happiness, in which the percentage ranged from 98% (Scotland) to 69% (Sumatra); for Surprise, 94% (Japan) to 78% (Sumatra), while Sadness, ranged from 92% (U. S. ) to 76% (Turkey). Overall, the emotional term chosen by the majority of the subjects in each culture was accurate 178 out of 180 times. Hypothesis (2) was also supported: 177 out of 180 times, the emotion that was judged to be the most prominent by the majority of each culture was also the predicted emotion. Hypothesis (3), which predicted the universality of the secondary emotion, was sustained as well: in every culture, there was complete agreement about the secondary emotion signaled by expressions of disgust and fear. The results for sadness and surprise, however, were too infrequent to be conclusive (5 out of 30 opportunities and 8 out of 30 respectively). Further research needs to be conducted to determine the cause for this discrepancy (Ekman & Friesen, 1987). Hypothesis (4) required subjects to judge the intensity of emotions on an 8-point scale (1-slight, 4-moderate, 8-strong) to predict the universality of judging. This, according to Ekman and Friesen (1987) however, led to inconclusive results. Using a one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), F(54,2743)=3. 95, signifies a moderate association between culture and intensity judgments. However, instead, the six univariate tests ranged from 2. 3 in Sadness to 6. 66 in Surprise, indicating that there are significant differences among cultures in this respect. These differences, according, to Ekman and Friesen, could have 2 possibilities: (1) politeness and a greater uncertainty about a foreigner or (2) the language barrier, as observers had make judgments in language other than English (Ekman & Friesen, 1987). Nevertheless, with three of these hypotheses confirmed, the evidence for universal facial expressions is undeniably overwhelming despite these flaws. Evidence based on Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and Action Units Introduction. Based on the evidence for the presence of six basic emotions across cultures,—happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise—qualitative descriptions of facial muscles associated with each of them have been identified. For instance, happy expressions include tense lower eyelids, raised cheeks and lip corners pulled up, while sad expressions include inner eyebrows raised and drawn together, and lip corners pulled down (Kohler et al. 2004). Based on such observations, Ekman and Friesen (1978) developed the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) by identifying the presence of action units (AU). They serve as the standard set of facial expressions. Target AUs in universal emotions. Kohler et al (2004) sought to identify which AUs characterized the four universal emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. A total of 128 images of emotional expressions were used in a sample of 105 sub jects from Drexel University. Of these subjects, 63 were men and 42 were women. There were also 71 Caucasian, 9 Africa-American, 4 Hispanic/Latino, and 21 Asian-American participants, indicating ethnic diversity. They were then asked whether each facial expression matched the target emotion. FACS ratings revealed that uniquely absent and present AUs were found for each emotion (Kohler et al, 2004). In Happy, the presence of AU 6, 7, and 26 was ositively associated with happy recognition, and determined that the presence of 6 increased recognition four times; in Sad, AU 4, 17, and 25 were positively while 15 was negatively associated; in Anger, AU 4, 5, and 16 were positively while 23 was negatively associated[2]; and in Fear, AU 5, 1, and 26 were positively while 4 was negatively associated. By defining expressions quantitatively with unique muscle patterns over a diverse subject group, the universality thesis is further strengthened. The 2004 Athens Olympics Game. Psychologist David Matsmoto[3] (2006) conducted a field behavioral study of the facial expressions displayed by medal winners of the judo competition during the 2004 Athens Olympics Games using F F ACS. With judo photographer Bob Willingham, they captured the spontaneous reactions of 84 medal winners from 35 different countries—the most diverse ethnic group in a spontaneously intense emotional field study—at 3 different times: (1) when they completed the match, (2) when they received their medals from the dignitary, and (3) when they posed on the podium. Matsumoto (2006) found that independent of cultural backgrounds, there are very specific facial expressions that occur in emotionally-charged contexts. This study was designed in response to some criticisms of judgments studies and previous field studies conducted in other sporting events including bowling and soccer (Kraut & Johnson, 1979; Ruiz-Belda et al. , 2003). A crucial concern about judgments studies held in laboratories is their posed stimuli and artificial nature because they lack the investigation of the expression within a social context (Matsumoto, 2006). While later field studies were conducted in order to address this concern, there were three flaws that Matsumoto (2006) in turn addresses. The first two are the strength of the elicited emotional response—a factor that is not intense enough with bowling spares and strikes—and the time allowed for expressions to unfold. The third and most important aspect of the study was the type of smile elicited in the social context, something that Kraut and Johnson (1979) had failed to distinguish. Matsumoto determines two types of smiles: the Duchenne smile and the non-Duchenne smile; the former is associated with enjoyment and the latter is associated with pleasantry or social convenience even though the person does not feel positive emotions. While Ruiz-Belda et al (2003) uses the FACS, which detects the muscle movements associated with these smiles, they were not differentiated. In order to isolate photos or victory, Willingham took pictures from the gold and bronze matches (Matsumoto, 2006), the most emotionally intense matches as they both occur at the margin; the former wins the first place while the latter made the cut for a medal. Negative emotions of defeat were searched for in silver medal winners and athletes who placed fifth. Again, as aforementioned, it is important to distinguish the timing of emotions, as the first expressions upon completing a match are often the most instinctual and natural ones. Thirteen out of 14 gold medalists and 18 out of 16 bronze medalists smiled for a total of 31 smiles; of those 31 smiles, 29 were Duchenne and 24 were open-mouthed. In the defeat silver medalists, none smiled and 1 of the 26 fifth placers smiled. Instead, 43% of silver medalists and 35% of fifth placers showed sadness, 29% and 23% showed nothing (respectively), and 14% and 15% showed contempt (again, respectively). Upon receiving the medal, which is a much more public event than initial expressions, 54 of the 56 athletes smiled. All 14 gold medalists (12 open-mouthed), 6 silver medalists (out of the 14), and 20 bronze medalists (out of 28) had Duchenne smiles. Cultural differences were tested for, but none were found. In the final situation, the most public of the three, the athletes’ expressions were taken on the podium. Again, all the gold medalists smiled; only 9 silver medalists of the 14 smiled (only 5 of these were uncontrolled, of which 3 were controlled Duchenne); and 26 bronze medalists of the 28 smiled (13 of which were open-mouthed and Duchenne). Interestingly in this last scenario, cultural differences was evident: gold and bronze medalists from North America-Western Europe and East Asia were much more prone to displaying Duchenne smiles (96%) as opposed to gold and bronze medalists from other countries (47%). This study of facial expressions further reinforces the notion of universal emotions. Because no other emotion other than the Duchenne smile was prominent in these expressions of victory, the data suggests that it may be the only facial marker of the joy of victory (Matsumoto, 2006). Matsumoto then proposed an evolutionary reason why this may be the case along the lines of behavioral ecology: facial expressions provide rapid means of communication, and it may not have been absolutely adaptively necessary to communicate various emotions of enjoyment. However, while this last point is highly speculative, the data that Matsumoto provides for universal facial expressions, which were displayed most prominently in more private settings but still detectable in more public ones using FACS, is very thorough and convincing.

American History Since 1865: Ashford University Course Overview Essay

HIS 204 Week 1 DQ 1 The History of Reconstruction: Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated. HIS 204 Week 1 DQ 2 The Industrial Revolution: Too much corporate influence in politics; the specter of socialist policies undermining capitalism and individual freedoms; a middle class in apparent decline; waves of immigration which threatened to alter the character of American society; new technologies which introduced new social problems as well as offering new opportunities; and a general sense that the common people had lost control of their government: To a sometimes surprising degree, the issues which troubled Americans in the last quarter of the nineteenth century resembled our own. The past often loses much of its vigor and tumult as it becomes codified as history, and it can be difficult at times to understand how truly revolutionary—tranformative, disruptive, unprecedented, and divisive—an event such as the Industrial Revolution was for the people who lived through it. WEEK 2 COMPLETE WORK HIS 204 Week 2 Quiz HIS 204 Week 2 Paper The Progressive Presidents: Progressive Party The Progressive Party was created as a result of President Theodore Roosevelt. They were mostly focused on getting America’s financial system back to usual and making essential modifications. Progressive Party of 1912 had been called a political party in the United Stateand it was created by a split in the Republican Party. This was created by Theodore Roosevelt when he lost the Republican nomination to the in office President William Howard Taft and drew his delegates out of the conference (Mowry, 1946-1960). After that party is become popular as the Bull Moose Party, later than the party’s symbol and later than Roosevelt’s show off that he was just â€Å"as strong as a bull moose†. HIS 204 Week 2 DQ 1 The Progressive Movement 1.What, in your estimation, were the key principles of the Progressive Movement? 2.What were Progressivism’s most significant successes and failings? 3.Can the First World War be regarded as a particularly Progressive conflict, or did it derail the Progressive Movement—or are both of these statements true? 4. HIS 204 Week 2 DQ 2 America’s Age of Imperialism America’s Age of Imperialism was relatively short-lived, and somewhat anomalous in terms of overall US history. For a few brief years in the 1890s, the US aggressively pursued overseas colonies, holding on to those colonies even in the face of indigenous resistance and, unlike its handling of continental territories, offering the new colonies no pathway toward equal statehood and citizenship. The Filipino Insurrection of 1899 to 1902 provides a particularly unsettling episode in terms of how Americans generally like to remember their past. Having driven the Spanish out of the Philippines, the US ignored the Filipinos’ demand for independence, for which they had been fighting against the Spanish for several years, and  instead took possession of the islands, treating the Filipinos as colonial subjects. For several years, Americans and Filipinos fought over the destiny of the Philippines in a brutal conflict which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands—perhaps e ven more than a million—Filipino civilians. WEEK 3 COMPLETE WORK HIS 204 Week 3 Quiz HIS 204 Week 3 Final Paper Preparation (Native American history) Introduction It has been seen that Native American history extents thousands of thousands of years and two continents. This is a versatilenarrative of full of life cultures that in turn generatedcomplicatedfinancialassociations and multifaceted political unions. In the course of it all, an association of First Peoples to the earth has stay behind a fundamentalsubject. HIS 204 Week 3 DQ 1 Normalcy and the New Deal Normalcy and the New Deal When the First World War ended, Americans welcomed what they hoped would be a â€Å"return to normalcy.† The decades that followed, however, are ones which would rarely be described as normal, in comparison to what came before or after. During these decades, a struggle ensued within the American nation regarding how best to define the nation’s essential character, as groups like the revived Ku Klux Klan fought a rearguard action to define nationhood solely in terms of white skin and Protestant religion against secularists, Catholics, flappers, â€Å"New Negroes,† and others who challenged the traditional order. Immediately thereafter, the New Deal implemented in response to the Great Depression threatened to revolutionize the role of the federal government in lives of the American people, in ways which many Americans believed violated the basic tenets of the Constitution—and others believed were not radical enough. Taken together, the decades from 1920 to 1940 may have transformed the American nation more than any other comparable time period. HIS 204 Week 3 DQ 2 The End of Isolation Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated. WEEK 4 COMPLETE WORK HIS 204 Week 4 Quiz HIS 204 Week 4 DQ 1 A Single American Nation When the First World War began, African-American leaders pressed the government to provide black men the right to go to combat to prove their devotion to their country. Hoping that their service would lay a stake on citizenship which the nation would have no choice but to honor, the â€Å"New Negro† of the 1920s adopted a more militant stance toward civil rights. The civil rights struggle envisioned at the time, however, made few concrete gains. Discrimination and disenfranchisement persisted. HIS 204 Week 4 DQ 2 Cold War After the Second World War, the US embarked on what came to be known as the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Although the two sides never fought against each other directly, the Cold War nonetheless erupted into violence at times in places like Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan. As the US grew more activist and interventionist in its foreign policy, the domestic government also grew in power and in its role in the people’s lives. WEEK 5 COMPLETE WORK HIS 204 Week 5 DQ 1 The Age of Reagan; Most of us have lived much of our lives in the â€Å"Age of Reagan,† a period which dates from 1980 and which may still be ongoing today. Historians  increasingly agree that the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 represented a â€Å"revolution† in American society and, particularly, its politics. Review Reagan’s presidential career to explain what about it precisely was so â€Å"revolutionary.† Compare his approach to politics and foreign affairs with those of his predecessors, and assess the ways that his successors either built upon or attempted to reverse his legacy. Explain why so many Americans opposed Reagan’s policies and those of his successors. Consider also the social and cultural changes which took place during the Age of Reagan. Finally, assess the success of the â€Å"Reagan Revolution† by identifying which problems it ameliorated and which it exacerbated. In your response, consider THREE of the following topics, with regard to how both Reagan and his successors handled or contributed to them: HIS 204 Week 5 DQ 2 The Lived Experience of Ordinary People Especially since the 1960s, historians have sought to understand history not just as a series of major events presided over by generals and statesmen, but also as the lived experience of ordinary people. For this last discussion, begin by reflecting on your own past with an eye toward how American society has changed over the course of your life. In your response, focus less on major political or international events than on the ways day-to-day life in America is different today from what it was when you were younger. You might consider such factors as the cost of goods and services, the forms of entertainment, means of communication, and so forth. HIS 204 Week 5 Final Paper Native American history Thesis statement: Native American history Introduction It has been seen that Native American history extents thousands of thousands of years and two continents. This is a versatilenarrative of full of life cultures that in turn generatedcomplicatedfinancialassociations and multifaceted political unions. In the course of it all, an association of First Peoples to the earth has stay behind a fundamentalsubject. Despite the fact that Native Americans of the areanowadaysrecognizedlike New England  share identical languages and civilizations, recognizedlike Eastern Algonquian, we can say that they are not one political or societalcluster. To a certain extent, history comprises and still comprisesnumerous sub-groups. For instance, the Wampanoag reside in southeastern Massachusetts,the Pequots and Mohegan’s live in Connecticutat the same time as the Pocumtucks dwelt in the middle Connecticut River Valley close to today’s Deerfield, Massachusetts (Bourne, 1990).

Madcap CraftBrew and Bottleworks Company Case Analysis

As this case study begins, Madcap Craftbrew & Bottleworks, Inc. finds itself at the crossroads of having to make critical strategic marketing and promotional decisions regarding its Zebra beer brand.   In this paper, the situation will be evaluated in-depth, and courses of action will be chosen based on the analysis of the available data Problem Statement The problem facing Madcap at the present time is the fact that despite positive consumer feedback and strong results in test markets, the Zebra brand is not as profitable as it could/should be in order to generate sufficient revenues (Rosenthal & Twells, 1999). Primary Critical Issues Madcap has to contend with several primary critical issues, some of which are inherent in the craft brewing industry, as well as some that are unique to Madcap itself.   In summary, these issues are as follows (Rosenthal & Twells, 1999) : Microbrew drinkers are typically not brand loyal, making the development of a strong core market difficult Only a small percentage of beer drinkers are microbrew drinkers Beverage distributors usually do not like to stock large quantities of craft/microbrews in their retail locations, which results in less product available for sale, which keeps volume sales low The Zebra brand is not widely recognized, nor does a large marketing budget exist Current packaging characteristics (the painted bottle, imported from Mexico) have been causing production delays and prompting concerns from retailers who place a higher value on beers with paper labels on the bottles Zebra is priced lower than competitors such as Sam Adams, placing it in a lower perceived value category than competitors’ brews Evaluation of Alternatives Given the challenges posed by the microbrew industry itself, as well as the practical options available to Madcap, the following alternatives, and the viability of each, are as follows: Employ the new marketing strategy that has been successful in Bloomington test marketing efforts, which includes lower product pricing, more distributor incentives, and more advertising expenditures Continue with the current positioning and marketing strategy Proposed Course of Action The course of action that Madcap should take in this situation, from a strictly strategic point of view, is the employment of the Bloomington plan, with the exception of price adjustments.   This choice was made for several key reasons: first, the unconventional and volatile nature of the microbrew industry demands forward thinking and creative marketing; second, price point should be evaluated to avoid pricing the product in such a way as to lower its perceived value in the eye of the consumer.   These strategies hold the potential to achieve the desired goals of Madcap in the short and long term. References (Rosenthal & Twells, 1999) (Rosenthal D W Twells R W 1999 Madcap Braftbrew & Bottleworks Inc: Zebra Beer-It's Not All Black and White)Rosenthal, D. W., & Twells, R. W. (1999). Madcap Craftbrew & Bottleworks Inc: Zebra Beer-It's Not All Black and White. Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration, North American Case Research Association.      

Educational Aspiration: High School Education vs College Education

In our current economy, the need for a college education becomes increasingly valuable despite the high cost of tuition and loans. The demand for skilled, college-educated laborers is high. A college education can also determine your future income potential and in many cases, it is the only way a person can climb up the socioeconomic ladder. There are two theories that suggests why the need for a college education has been growing — increased international competition and skill-biased technology. The first theory focuses on the globalization of the U. S. economy. The argument is that increased competition from low skilled labor abroad has decreased the wages of low-skilled workers at home. At first, this theory seems to make sense but the statistics do not make sense. The reason is that only a small portion of the US economy is actually subject to competition from abroad. Also, job competition is growing in both the most and the least trade-affected industries at about the same rate. (Irons, 1998) The second theory for the increase in need for a college education has been called â€Å"skill-biased technological change†. The idea is current technology favors the higher skilled, higher educated workers over lower skilled workers. An example would be the increase use of computer technology has helped in the productivity and wages of the computer users and programmers. But, this increase does not help increase stagnated wages of the â€Å"lesser† educated worker who does not know this new technology. The only problem with this theory is that technological growth is a difficult to measure. There are two many hard to define variables to statistically measure this kind of change. (Irons, 1998) Even if these theories were to be debunked, the idea that a college education is more valuable that a high school education is correct. Statistically, a person with a college education generates a great deal more income in a lifetime than a high school graduate. Likewise, a high school graduate definitely has a higher income than a high-school dropout. The following chart shows a huge numeric difference in economic outcomes as a result of the educational status of the worker. The increase in income between the groups is a direct result of the educational degree attained. No High School 10,236 20,146 68,275 (Diaz-Geminiz, Quadrini, and Rios-Rull (1997) In Dimensions of Inequality, Diaz-Geminiz, Quadrini, and Rios-Rull theorizes the financial inequality in the U. S. according to the labor earnings, income, and wealth among U. S. households. Labor earnings are the amount of salary taken home as a result from working. Total income includes labor earning plus any additional income, such as stocks or savings accounts, and even income from government transfers, like Social Security and Welfare. And lastly, wealth represents the total stock of past savings. According to this theory of financial inequality, the top end of the distribution has seen a growth in their income while those at the lower end have seen their income stagnate. The financial distribution is highly skewed in the U. S. with the top 1% of households owning 30% of the American pie. This is 875 times more wealth that the bottom 40% of the distribution. Increasingly, the only way to obtain a decent piece of the economic pie is by earning a college degree. The higher your college degree, i. e. masters or Ph. D. , the higher your potential income earnings. Rather, education is the most important way in which people can make it into the upper end of the income distribution. Besides the differences in incomes among the college educated and non-college educated, there are also differences in employment opportunities among college educated, high school educated, and high school dropouts. The answer is yes. Your education also holds the key to what kinds of jobs or career you can or cannot obtain. According to the National Center For Education Statistics, â€Å"post-secondary degree attainment is associated with better access to employment and higher earnings. In 1995, on average, male bachelor†s degree recipients aged 25-34 earned 52 percent more, and female bachelor†s degree recipients 91 percent more, than their counterparts with a high school diploma. † On average, a limited education impedes a person†s employment opportunities. Rather, how much education one can obtain will affect how broad their job opportunity outlook will be. According to Youth Indicators, â€Å"Between 1965 and 1992, the percentage of non-college bound high school graduates entering the labor force changed little. The apparent dip in 1970 was caused by the entry of young men into the military rather than the civilian labor force. In contrast, the proportion of college students who were also in the labor force rose from 28% in 1965 to 49% in 1992. † Therefore, there are more job opportunities among the college educated than high school educated. Statistically, the value of a college education can be invaluable for one†s economic future. With this realization, post-secondary enrollments have increased continuously over the years. â€Å"The percentage of high school graduates who enrolled in 2- or 4- year colleges and universities in the October following graduation increased from 49% to 62% between 1972 and 1995. During this same period, the percentage of 25- to 29- year old high school graduates who had completed 4 or more years of college rose from 24% to 28%. † (National Center for Education Statistics) A college education also has a value beyond monetary terms. A college education can open the doors of opportunities for anyone willing to take advantage of that opportunity. High school cannot offer the same opportunity. A university has far superior resources for its students than high school. A person can learn a lot about life by simply being a college student. Most importantly, beyond attaining a degree, is the knowledge one can earn through attending college. The process of learning is a priceless tool that can only be enhanced by the college experience.