World Religions – Buddhism

The idea of a â€Å"union of opposites† pervades Taoist writings and exerts a tremendous influence over the root philosophical concepts of Taoism, encompassing issues which may be considered metaphysical or even mystical, but also influencing issues of applied ethics and personal behavior.The idea of conjoined opposites begins at the root, metaphysical level of Taoist thought which asserts that â€Å"being and non-being give rise to each other†; a stark departure from Christianity which posits that God is eternal and so has always been (Chen, 1989, p.  55).This metaphysical assertion continues from the macrocosmic (universal) to the microcosmic (personal) levels, where opposites are seen to give rise to the world of motion and being: â€Å"The difficult and easy complement each other, The long and short shape each other, The high and low lean on each other, Voices and instruments harmonize with one another, The front and rear follow upon each other† (Chen, 1989 , p. 55).Following up on the universally derived union of opposites from a macrocosmic level, the Taoist asserts a union of opposites, also, within the self and in regards to personal conduct: â€Å"the sage manages affairs without action,† and therefore should practice â€Å"creative quietude† in pursuit of personal wisdom and even ambition. The idea that opposites are, in nature, united through the Tao means that moral divisions are also damaging and artificial.The true sage accomplishes merit † without claiming merit† and since â€Å"he does not claim merit, His merit does not go away† (Chen, 1989, p. 55). Such seeming paradoxes are often difficult for Westerners to understand The idea that the universe itself could be comprised of a union of opposites, rather than a pervading and omnipotent single-Creator is not compatible with idea of Christianity which elevates a dualistic vision of the universe with good and evil at odds with one another and a single, benevolent God.Taoism seems to reflect a much more organic and complete of vision, at least in my opinion although the extension of Taoist philosophies into western religion is probably not something which will happen any time soon, such a â€Å"union of opposites† would provide a rich synthesis of spiritual and philosophical ideas. References Chen, E. M. (1989). The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation with Commentary (1st ed. ). St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.

Leadership Imperatives in the Arab-American University Essay

Leadership in a school of higher and advanced learning such as the Arab-American University requires collaborative and confrontational challenges with a number of issues, typical but not limited to that of any educational institution. Such issues as cultural diversity, inclusivity, intellectual activities such as research and instruction, social involvements such as community extension services, students affairs, finance, marketing, strategic business models, organizational theories, profitability and shareholder value, political and social congruencies and differences, among others, often create deep chasms to and between the various school sectors that are ironically bound by a common purpose – quality education. This is made more demanding when Arab and American views are integrated in a single community. What unique leadership and management model therefore would apply under such a sensitive configuration? What risk management intervention would constantly prevail? What residual risks or synergy, if any, would be evident? Leadership and management in an educational institution are perhaps among the most formal, sensitive and confrontational roles a professional can assume. Business organizations established for profit are far easier managed and led as there is that environment and mandate of compliance required of every employee based on employment contracts and agreements. This compliance system gives the manager the elbow room to adopt an organizational approach under a theory x or y scenario. Admittedly, discipline under an entrepreneurial undertaking is demanded primarily to meet shareholder value targets and for survival secondarily. Universities are considered more complex than most organizational systems as they demand the most professional processes than any other institution. Schools are assumed to be the fount and cradle of learning, hence a strong exemplary modeling of instructors and administrators are always the subject of intensive scrutiny among other sectors. Would this university therefore require a business-like management style or an organization leadership mix that is as fluid as the socio-cultural and political dimensions? . In an age where socio-cultural and political diversities are characterized with the widest spectra and extremes, the establishment of an Arab-American intellectual Mecca can be expected to require the most intense professional and socio-cultural leadership anywhere. This study would be interested in identifying areas of collaboration while addressing confrontational issues and risks along the process. Similarly, the relevance of this study along multicultural settings in complex and diverse forms and in highly professional environment would transcend, even revolutionize all assumptions, hypothesis and even all forms of propositions about multicultural biases. Brief history of the Arab-American University The Arab-American University (AAU) was established in 1973 as non-sectarian, non-profit and non-government institution of higher learning. Its primary purpose is to address the educational needs of Arab-Americans starting from preschool to basic, secondary, higher education, to graduate and post-graduate levels. Among its goals and objectives include providing full scholarships to families of indigent but intellectually capable members of the Arab-American community in a specific area with a relatively high density of Arab-American families. While the university accepts Muslim students, it also caters to students from other religious and cultural denominations and groups.. The university is primarily a combination of a business college strongly oriented towards information technology and engineering courses, both technical and baccalaureate degrees. The university is composed of seven schools: the Schools of Business Management, Hospitality Management, Accountancy, Nursing and Midwifery, Medicine, Arts, Political and the Social Sciences, Polytechnic Institute composed of the Departments of Architecture, Computer Science, Electronic Communications Engineering, Civil and Mechanical Engineering and Fine Arts, its flagship programs includes Accountancy where it ranks among the top 50 business schools in the United States, Electronics Communications Engineering, Nursing, Hospitality Management and Mechanical Engineering. All seven schools are verticalized with their respective graduate schools. As of the year 2008, the university boasted a population of 30,000 highly selected students and scholars from 25 states and 15 countries mostly from the Middle East and Asian countries. Its student population increases by an average of 15 per cent and expected to hit 50,000 by 2012. Presently, it maintains two campuses – the Chicago and Urbana Campuses, each with its own charter and separate sets of faculty. All courses are offered in both campuses. For the last three years, AAU has garnered a number of academic awards, including twelve top researches awards in Accountancy, Computer Sciences, Nursing, Electronic Communications Engineering Awards. As of December 31, 2008, the school started to become consistent in its passing rate for the Accountancy, Nursing and Engineering courses all averaging about 80 per cent against the national norm of 40 per cent. For nursing, AAU has started to register a 100 per cent passing rate in the Nursing Board Examinations. All colleges and schools in the university are headed by a Dean of the College and are assisted by a Vice Dean with a pool of Academic Chairs for each of the courses or majors within the college. A Faculty secretary is the administrative officer of each college or school and must be a holder of a doctor’s degree in any of the courses in the college where he or she is assigned. The faculty secretary is the point person of every college but maintains a built-in six units of academic load in addition to his full-time administrative work. The university boasts of complete state of the art facilities for all of its laboratory classes including its basic education department. Its library is one of the most complete, up-to-date libraries in the world with the most comprehensive collection of traditional and electronic materials. During the last five years, the university has been the recipient of awards for excellence in community involvement and extension services. Its research center laboratory enjoys an endowment fund from where it trains and maintains its pool of researchers from the ranks of the faculty. Leadership Efficiency and Effectiveness and the primary key concepts adopted in the university Just like any school of advanced learning, the university is a complex organization that adheres to the mission, vision, goals and objectives it has demanded from itself and its academic and non-academic employees the highest standards of professionalism, responsiveness, community involvement, strong, visible and dynamic research-orientations and the disciplinary but compassionate relationship maintained with the students of all levels. To be effective and efficient, the university periodically asserted its need to formalize and communicate its strategic, tactical and operational plan in the same other successful organizations do. (Robbins, 2003). Looking ahead and beyond the current situations in the industry, (in this case the education sector) brings uncertainties and risks into the open and allows the organization a clear means of managing, confronting and even avoiding those uncertainties and risks. (Shaw,2003). The university makes sure that it conducts its strategic planning session annually before the onset of the succeeding year in time for translating the strategic level into the tactical component as well as operationalizing the tactical level. (Anthony & Govindarajan, 2001). Similarly, AAU never fails to conduct an evaluation and assessment of its preset plans as means of determining where it is and what constraining and enabling factors it is experiencing. (Atkinson et al, 2003). This evaluation additionally renders the university an effective means of addressing change (Koller as cited by Robbins, 2003). These planning and change management processes articulates AAUs assertion of leadership under inherent socio-cultural complexities through clear visioning and communication initiatives to all its stakeholders that for many years, have been encouraged to actively participate in the planning sessions. This has greatly contributed to the overwhelming atmosphere of professionalism in the university. The senior administrators of AAU may not have formal training on complexity management, but their organizational leadership styles enable the attainment of an enviable cohesiveness as a team with a common purpose of being; that of addressing ignorance and mediocrity where they are needed. AAU’s uniqueness stems from its capability to harness its management with the leadership character to instill regulatory and policy compliance without having to assert authority and power in between (House cited by Robbins, 2003). It is surprising that even under intense pressure to compete and manage the scarce resources provided endowment; the AAU is able to integrate the sensitive and complex balance scorecard approach in its strategic decision making. (Kaplan & Norton, 2004). The university attributes this success factor on its priority for choosing its leaders under the trait theory that focuses on the personal qualities along charisma, exemplary modeling, attitude, enthusiasm and even personal traits common to both cultures as courage and determination. (Robbins,2003). Despite rigorous studies on identifying leadership traits for its management, supervisory and staff positions, the university correlates traits such as drive and ambition, integrity which includes honesty and sincerity, competence along knowledge and skills and even sense of sacrifice. (Robbins,2003). The university however, continues to experience a dearth of this type of managers with the leadership dimension due to the expansion and establishment of similar institutions outside of the United States. Thus, aware of this constraint, AAU emphasizes its executive and management development training programs to prepare the transition of its key people towards the great demand for exemplary modeling (DelaTorre, 2006); that is, managers and leaders who took initiatives to address the personal needs of the employees as means of making them more productive in the process. (Robbins, 2003). The university seldom experiences the risks of the groupthink factor (Shafritz & Ott on Janis,1992) as it respects the need for all decision makers to be extremely knowledgeable and skilled in the decision making processes. Being a part of its strategic objectives, the annual development programs encourage AAU employees to be continuously motivated, through the behavioral theory approach, effectively deciding as a team in addressing organizational objectives. This motivational drive expands the employees horizons and capabilities towards job satisfaction and sustainable learning and growth of its human capital (Kaplan & Norton, 2003). As a result, AAU has achieved in just 25 years what other universities tried to accomplish in a century and under the most challenging multicultural scenarios. On one hand, the leadership and management mix being adopted in the university guarantees and assure empowerment of units and people towards autonomy and self-regulation. This is granted after intensive training on decision making and university processes that includes appreciation and utilization of marketing researches and theories in support of policy formulation and implementation. The immense authorities and power given especially to the respective heads of offices, primarily the Deans of Colleges and Schools, are always tempered with management control systems to guide all decisions towards achievement of goals every inch of the way. The resultant good governance, control and transparency outcomes of this empowerment initiatives unburdens the senior management with operational concerns, thus allowing this level a clear focus on the strategic direction of the university and strengthening its social and political influence through good governance and risk management processes (Shaw,2003) On the other hand, the administrative efficiency has been excellently adopted through specialization and responsibility accounting that enables units to address issues at every level strengthening the span of control while focusing tasks towards a specific class of clients, concerns and even the university campus designated purposely for the educational services. (Shafrits & Ott on Simon, 1992). The leadership styles and practices exercised by the AAU stakeholder group are creating new levels of efficiency and effectiveness in the hierarchy and creating precedents as well as new theories to emerge in the realm of university value-based (Koller, 1994) management and organizational leadership. These new learning and growth perspectives have revolutionized the balanced scorecard (Horngren et al, 2000) and stakeholder principles (DelaTorre, 2006) with an exemplary mix of leadership innovations. Despite the control risks that mix might be spawned by the staff turnovers experienced during the last few years, the university has maintained a loyalty index of more than ten years among its people. This is a sustainability plus factor in human resource management of the school. Other key principles and concepts adopted In the area of instruction, research and extension services for example, excellence in the classroom is primarily driven by a strongly motivated select members of the faculty pool whose training and development focus is based on aligning the needs of the teachers with the needs of the university. This congruency theory in objectives (DelaTorre, 2006) allows for mutual and beneficial relationship between faculty providers and students. The intervention theory (Shafrits & Ott on Argyris, 1992) in organizations demands a strong psychotherapy approach (Rogers & Roethlisberger, 2000) to communications. The theory presupposes the presence of a special relationship between people to enable openness and transparency among constituents. Teachers display this practice in terms of open and complementary student advising and counseling sessions not only as part of the intervention process but a critical part of the formation process in education. Students need and demand attention in the form of interventions especially in difficult and complex scenarios they find themselves in the process of earning a degree. Thus this psychotherapy theory helps in providing a strong motivational environment in the classroom opens avenues for students to be creative and enthusiastic about their career plans. Secondarily, this special attention given to student clientele becomes a strong promotional and marketing tool for the university in attracting students even from those school already established. The need for any intensive advertising and marketing efforts to project the identity of the schools are addressed by the students themselves who become informal marketing and testimonial proofs of quality education. This has expanded the market of the university even to those non-Arab-Americans who appreciate the philosophy that the school articulates and manifests through its graduates. Managing and leading a university in the current socio-economic environment becomes problematic even under the various principles of organization (Shafritz and Ott on Cohen and March, 1992). These anarchic ambiguities of purpose, power, experience and success can render even the most competent university president to fail in some circumstances in due time. Thus the management and organizational leadership mix is both critical and mandatory. This allows the president to grab the appropriate management and leadership tool at a given situation and scenario and exert and even allow certain precedent-setting decisions to effect changes with the least minimum resistance or optimum cooperation. Thus, inability along this line runs the risk of getting confused with his leadership character or manager authority or some hybrid in between. For AAU, the consultation process with the constituents and stakeholders becomes the medium by which decision critical to every office head’s functions are articulated. This explores the best idea possible while addressing and dissipating potential resistance to any innovations and measures not easily understood or appreciated.

Analysis of Erik, Phantom of the Opera Using Two Contrasting Personality Theories

The tremendously popular and well-known Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical production of The Phantom of the Opera was based on the French novel Le Fantome de l'Opera written by Gaston Leroux in1910 (Leroux, 1910/1990). The original novel gave little direct details with respect to Erik’s past; what was abundant however were hints and implications about the character’s life history throughout the book (Leroux, 1910/1990).Erik was actually not his birth name but rather a name given to him by accident, and Leroux had simply called him â€Å"the man’s voice† in the novel; Erik, however, had referred himself as â€Å"the opera ghost† and â€Å"the angel of music† throughout the texts (Leroux, 1910/1990). The history of Erik was revealed in the novel mostly by the character Persia (also known as the Persian or the daroga), a local police chief in Persia that followed Erik to Paris.The character Erik will be described below based on the transl ated work of Leroux (1910/1990), followed by an analysis of his personality using concepts derived from (1) the Freudian theory of psychoanalysis, and (2) the Skinnerian radical behaviorism concept. These two theorists were chosen because they represent polar opposites on how personality is viewed. While Freud maintained that the unconscious is the underlying driving force from which personality develops, Skinner rejected all non-observable parameters such as thoughts, feelings, emotions, and the unconscious in his scientific analysis of human behavior.Freud’s emphasis on personality development was on the continuous struggle between the id and the superego, and how successfully the ego can manage a healthy balance between them. Freud also determined 5 psychosexual stages that must be negotiated and satisfied during childhood development, failure on doing so will result in aberrant personality traits. Skinner, however, believed that all behavior, and hence personality, are le arned as a function of environmental factors.A behavior that is reinforced will likely to be repeated, one that is punished will most likely not. He maintained that genetic predispositions allow humans to react to stimuli within a certain range, and where within that range our behavior falls is determined by how we are shaped by the influence of the environment we find ourselves. In this paper, the major differences in how those two theorists might interpret Erik’s personality will be discussed. The Character Erik Erik was born in a small town on the outskirts of Rouen, France.Hideously deformed at birth, his mother was horrified by his appearance and his father refused to even look at him. Tortured by ridicules and spite from his own mother, he ran away as a young boy and was adopted by a band of travelling Gypsies. He earned his living by performing in freak shows, where he was labeled as the living death. Despite his monstrous appearance, Erik was an extremely talented ind ividual. In addition to possessing a most eerie and supernatural singing voice, he gained great skills as an illusionist, magician, and ventriloquist.A fur trader recognized Erik’s gifted abilities and mentioned it to the Shah of Persia, who then ordered to have him brought to his palace. Erik soon proved to the Shah his knowledge in architecture, and the Shah commissioned him to design and build Mazenderan, an elaborate palace full of trap doors, hidden passages, and secret rooms such that no one could be certain of his/her privacy: someone would be listening or spying at anytime and anywhere. The Shah could practically vanish from a room in an instant and reappear elsewhere in utter secrecy.During Erik’s tenure with the Shah, he was also employed as a political assassin, carrying out the Shah’s orders by strangling his victims using an unique noose known as the Punjab Lasso. Pleased with his work but determined that no other such palaces should be built and ow ned by anyone else (not to mention Erik and his workers were the only ones that had intimate knowledge of the palace’s layout), the Shah first ordered Erik and his workers be blinded but then realized he could build another one even without his eyesight, ordered their executions.By the intervention of the local police chief (the Persian), Erik escaped to Constantinople and was employed by its’ ruling Sultan to build his grand palace of a similar design. Alas, he was later forced to escape Constantinople for the same reason he fled Persia. Erik’s next destination was most likely to be somewhere in Southeast Asia, where he decided that he was tired of his nomadic lifestyle. Eventually, he returned to Paris and successfully bided on a contract to help build the Paris Opera. Using his extensive experiences from the past, the theater was built withtrap doors and secret passageways throughout. In addition, Erik built himself a palace, or a playhouse, of a sort deep wi thin the cellar of the opera house so that he did not have to live amongst the cruelty of humankind. He spent the next 20 years or so in his â€Å"home† writing and composing music of various sorts. At about the same time, a beautiful and technically talented chorus girl by the name of Christine Daae, who had lost all passion to sing and perform due to her father’s passing, somehow heard Erik’s singing and music in her dressing room at late nights.Thinking that must have been an â€Å"angel† sent by her father, Christine took singing lessons from the â€Å"Angel of Music† during the nights and later emerged as a virtuoso singer better than she ever was. By now, Erik was secretly in love with Christine, and one night he revealed himself to her from behind a mirror in her dressing room, wearing a mask, and led her through the mazes and labyrinths into his domain in the cellar of the theater.It turned out that Erik had been composing his masterpiece f or the last 20 years, and realizing his genius, Christine asked if he would play a part from the masterpiece for her, and Erik refused as the piece was yet incomplete. Erik’s original plan upon the completion of his masterpiece was to go to his bed, which was in fact a coffin, and fall into an eternal sleep. Feeling the obvious pain from Erik and yearning to see his face, Christine ripped the mask off, and saw the horrible disfigurement. Another person vying for Christine’s affection was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagney.A childhood friend of Christine, he was captivated by her new-found voice, so unearthly passionate that led Raoul to fall madly in love with her. In the final chapters of Leroux’s novel, Erik kidnapped Christine straight from the stage during one of the performances, showed her the completed masterpiece, and asked her to marry him instead of the Vicomte so that the two of them can live a happy life, rather than him simply slip way into his â€Å"bed † and dies. If she were to refuse, however, Erik would detonate the massive amount of gun powder he had secretly accumulated under the opera house over the years.Christine submitted to his request in order to save herself, unknowing Raoul had fallen accidentally into Erik’s torture chamber while searching the opera house for her with the help of the Persian and the opera house staffs. Acknowledging her acceptance, Erik gave Christine a gold ring and kissed her cheek. He was so overwhelmed with joy that he fell to his knees and cried uncontrollably. Seeing the genius with a tortured soul finding happiness at last, Christine cried with Erik. Erik then surprised Christine by saying that he is now willing to let her go, and she was free to marry Raoul.Erik freed Raoul and let them both leave the dungeon, but not before making Christine promise to come back and bury him upon his death. Christine kissed Erik on his forehead, and disappeared into the night with Raoul. Carrying his most cherished possession, the diary kept by Christine detailing everything that had happened between them, Erik went to the Persian and told him the whole story, with the hand-written diary as proof. Erik died three weeks afterwards. Christine kept her promise and returned to the opera house, but before the burial, she slipped the gold ring Erik had given to her three weeks earlier onto his finger.Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Approach to Erik’s Personality The core concept of psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) is the significant influence the unconscious mind has on the conscious (Burkitt, 2010; Freud, 1923/1990). The unconscious is a vast reservoir of latent thoughts and memories (real, repressed, or false) that are not associated with the activities of the conscious mind, but those activities consciously executed are in fact directed and driven by the unconscious (Burkitt, 2010; Freud, 1923/1990).In the novel, Erik was able to util ize this power of the unconscious to strategically place himself in the mind of Christine, letting her to believe that he was sent by her deceased father and thus masquerading as the â€Å"Angel of Music†. According to Freud, the oral stage is the first stage of psychosexual development (Freud, 1923/1990; van Beekum, 2009). In addition to providing nourishment, the mother’s breasts provide a source of love, pleasure, and security to the infant (Freud, 1923/1990; Wagg & Pridmore, 2004).Weaning would therefore create a stressful situation for the infant: giving up the comfort feelings the mother’s breasts have provided. Some infants are easier than others to succeed in negotiating and resolving this conflict between the id and the ego (Freud, 1923/1990; van Beekum, 2009) by redirecting their psychosexual energy (libido) toward other challenges. For those infants that do not, the psychosexual development theory affirms they will develop into orally fixated adults ( Freud, 1923/1990; van Beekum, 2009; Wagg & Pridmore, 2004).Although it was not detailed in the novel, Erik most likely was never breast-fed as his mother loathed his appearance and his father refused to even look at him. It is therefore reasonable to assume that as an adult, Erik would have an extreme case of oral fixation, constantly seeking for the pleasure and comfort that would have been derived from oral stimulations denied during infancy. In theory, adult manifestations of oral-stage fixation include nail-biting, eating, chewing, smoking, and alcoholism (Wagg & Pridmore, 2004).Similarly, they may derive psychological pleasure from talking and constantly seeking knowledge (Wagg & Pridmore, 2004). Although Leroux did not detail Erik’s personal habits, we can certainly see that he was constantly looking for and acquiring knowledge and skills, being an accomplished magician and ventriloquist, a brilliant architect and master builder, a royal assassin, a music genius with a most haunting, unearthly, yet passionate voice (Leroux, 1910/1990).Instead of talking, Erik’s obsession with oral stimulation was manifested as singing: singing to himself, hoping to seek solace throughout his life; and later to Christine as well as giving her vocal lessons. It therefore appears to me that the desirable, pleasurable substance he chose to keep in his mouth was music in the form of his own voice. The first, and most psychoanalysts would argue to also be the most important, ego defense mechanism identified by Freud was what he called repression: threatening thoughts and ideas are repressed, or pushed back into the unconscious (Freud, 1923/1990; Rosenzweig, 1943; Wagg & Pridmore, 2004).Repression can therefore be viewed as a barrier used by the conscious mind to block out specific (usually painful, unpleasant, or inappropriate) thoughts arising from the unconscious. In the phallic stage (around age 4 years) during which a child’s sexual energy is focused o n the genitals, the aggressive thoughts in the Oedipus complex about the same sex parents are learned to be repressed (but must be resolved later) by the developing boy (Adler, 2010; Rosenzweig, 1943; Wagg & Pridmore, 2004). One of those feelings the boy represses is the fear of castration, which will be discussed below.Base on a Greek legend in which Oedipus, the Thebes king who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, the term â€Å"Oedipus complex† was used by Freud to describe a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and rivalries toward his father (Adler, 2010; van Beekum, 2009). Freud theorized that such thoughts and feelings and the psychological defenses against such thoughts and feelings are of critical importance in personality development as they will become the fundamental reaction pattern the individual relies on throughout life (Adler, 2010; van Beekum, 2009).Freud noted that during this phallic stage when children begin to explore their geni tals – boys with their penises, at the same time they are also concerned with their fathers’ penises and girls who do not have them. Freud theorized that while the boy is struggling with his intense sexual desire toward his mother, he must have also realized that he does not have the physical strength to overpower his father; he fears the father may castrate him as an act of revenge, leaving him without a penis and therefore resembling a girl – Freud termed this unconscious fear â€Å"castration anxiety† (Adler, 2010; van Beekum, 2009).In order to resolve this conflict successfully, the developing boy pledges allegiance to his father. He tries to become a person like his father, and by assuming his characteristics, the boy replaces his father to become the authoritative, father-of-the-household figure and so, by extension, achieves sexual relations with his mother while diminishing the fear of being castrated (Adler, 2010; van Beekum, 2009).In Erikâ€℠¢s case, I believe his total alienation from his family as well as the society at-large led to a totally unresolved Oedipus complex: he felt no love for his mother, he did not know his father at all, and therefore no parent to identify with. Failing to identify himself with one parent, Erik therefore was incapable of moral internalization. He did whatever made him feel good at the time; he neither feared nor knew punishment because it did not matter what he does or does not do, the results were inevitably the same.In other words, his repressive defense mechanism, neither learned nor developed in childhood, was practically non-existent. Having no basic repressive skills and thus letting the thanatos force of the id to freely and repeatedly surface to the conscious and gratified, it is no wonder why Erik experienced frequent negative emotional outbursts, lack of remorse as an assassin, and an irrational, maniacal fixation on whatever he wished for, specifically, Christine. In addition , his obsession with Christine may be a way Erik dealt with impulses that he knew was unacceptable even to himself.I believe he unconsciously identified himself with Christine, both talented and tormented but with the exception of her being accepted publically and he loathed. Because he could never be accepted by the public regardless of how talented he was, teaching Christine all he knew and thus controlling her may be a way Erik thought he could live his imaginary â€Å"good life† through her success. By allowing Erik to kiss her on her cheek, a pivotal moment in the novel was created as Christine appeared to have melted his cold heart.Although Maslow’s self-actualization theory may view Erik’s reaction as a peak experience, I do not believe that to be the case. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs placed self-actualization on the very top of the ladder and can only be achieved after all other needs, physiological, safety, belongingness and love, and esteem, are satisfied (Hanley & Abell, 2002). Clearly, none of Erik’s life needs were even close to being satisfied, and therefore the innate process of self-actualization (Hanley & Abell, 2002) must have been foreign to him.I believe Erik’s reaction was another manifestation of the uncontrolled id surfacing to the conscious. This time, however, it was the eros force of the id that surfaced. This tremendous emotional release of positive energy, or catharsis, was so foreign yet comforting to him that he b roke down and cried uncontrollably. This was most likely the very first time the eros and not the thanatos force of his id was gratified as he was so accustomed to in his life up to that very moment; he finally felt the positive aspect of what it is to be human.The sensation of having the eros drive satisfied was so much more pleasurable than having the thanatos drive satisfied, his ego decide to choose to release Raoul and free Christine, allowing them to be married. B. F. Skinn er’s Radical Behaviorism Approach to Erik’s Personality In stark contrast to personality theorist such as Freud and Jung, Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904 – 1990) viewed personality as a result of previous history of reinforcement (such as rewards and punishments) and that personality is determined and controlled by environmental factors (Moore, 2011).Therefore, in order to understand the behavior of a person, we must first uncover the set of environmental conditions where the behavior is exhibited. Skinner reasoned that in the presence of a discriminative stimulus, a characteristic response is elicited (Moore, 2011). Depending on how the response is reinforced, the behavior of the individual toward that discriminative stimulus is gradually shaped (Moore, 2011). In his principles of operant conditioning, Skinner emphasized how behavior can be changed by manipulating the reinforcing consequence (Moore, 2011).Skinner strongly rejected mentalism; terms such as perso nality, psychical structures (Freud’s id, ego, and superego), needs, and instinct were of no meanings to Skinner and instead, he favored the directly observable behaviors and emphasized on the function of the behavior in his research (Moore, 2011). According to Skinner, there is no free will (Moore, 2011). In Skinner’s view, what we see as personality is basically a group of responses to the environment, and if the responses are rewarded, then they are more likely to be repeated.Freud viewed the id as the instinctual driving force from the undifferentiated core of personality while Skinner asserted that what we see as a driving force is really humans’ innate susceptibility to reinforcement (Moore, 2011). Rather than seeing the ego as how humans respond to the world according to the reality principle, Skinner reasoned that all responses are learned, and different behavior will be exhibited by an individual under different circumstances.Refuting the Freudian conce pt of the superego as a set of internalized social rules and values that guide the ego in the continual struggle and negotiation with the id, Skinner believed that behavior is learned from how the society punishes such behavior: we simply control those behaviors that are not allowed by the society – exhibiting such behaviors will lead to unpleasant consequences. Therefore, Skinner interpreted the Freudian ego defense mechanism as avoidance to conditioned aversive stimulations, or punishments (Moore, 2011).In terms of genetic predispositions, Skinner suggests that genes (biological factors) provide an individual a range of response capabilities, but it is the environment that selects for the type of response that best suits the individual’s survival. Skinner also did not deny the existence of internal processes such as emotions and thoughts; he viewed them as individual characteristics caused by the environment and as such they are irrelevant in the explanation and the understanding of behavior (Moore, 2011).Erik appeared to have been genetically gifted with an extremely wide range of response capabilities as well as a talent in knowledge acquisition. Born grotesquely deformed, the environmental factor that selected him came in the form of a band of wondering Gypsies. Exploiting his deformity for monetary gain, they actually provided Eric a chance to survive into adulthood. Because he was gifted as a learner, he mastered the Gypsies’ many different performing skills and incorporated them into his own routines, further securing his acceptance within the band – the members could reliably depend on him as a money maker.His childhood experience thus far conditioned him to be independent: He could not depend on his family because he was a disgrace to them, he had no friends, and the band of Gypsies took pity on him for the sole reason of being able to make money off him. The more he enriched himself, the more valuable he was to the compan y. The reinforcing consequence was shelter and food, and his learned response to the environment was therefore to learn as much skill as he could and to become as selfish as he could.To Erik, it was every man on his own and for his own. Erik would not have any problem in being an assassin. Within the Shah’s realm, killing as directed by the Shah was rewarded. In addition, I believe that it is more than likely that Erik viewed â€Å"punishment† as normal, and hence his interpretation of â€Å"punishment† was not as an aversive stimulation, but rather normalcy. He therefore had no fear of being â€Å"punished† for being a killer and at the same time, successful killings were repeatedly reinforced with wealth and status.This changed, however, when Christine entered the picture. Erik developed an obsession toward the beautiful, talented, but emotionally devastated (due to the death of her father) chorus girl. Behaviorist view obsession as random acts that are by chance reinforced (Moore, 2011). Christine was fascinated with his genius, and thought that he was an angel sent by her father. Having not seen his disfigurement, I believe Christine did love Erik before that revelation. She respected Erik for his talent, and curiousenough to learn more about this â€Å"Angel of Music†. Erik no doubt was first captivated by her beauty, and when they actually spoke, Erik must have been pleasantly surprised that, for the first time in his life, he was treated as a person with no ill side-effects. These encounters-in-the-shadow made Erik feel good about himself, and together with a lack of negative consequences, he became obsessed with her – having a â€Å"relationship† with Christine made him happy, easing the anxiety within.Under Skinner’s concept of operant conditioning (operant because, in Erik’s case, he did not expect to be reinforced with kindness), I would think that by changing the environment from greed, hate, treachery, and death to that of kindness and warmth provided by the presence of Christine, Erik was able to radically change his behavior from total selfishness, oblivious to the needs of others to one that was more or less compassionate. This radical change, however, did not come overnight.It was through multiple encounters with Christine, each time they learn more about each other, each time his action was reinforced by the increasing level of kindness and respect returned to him, that his behavior was shaped. Erik did not know love, compassion, kindness, or any other behavior that we associate as positive, and clearly those behaviors were not instinctual to him. With Christine, he was being rewarded for â€Å"being good† – a teacher, a nurturing figure, or even, a lover.The need to possess Christine solely for himself, however, proved to be overwhelming. Brief liaisons in the shadows, no matter how frequent, were no longer satisfying. He needed the environmen t created by the presence of Christine all the time. Simply put, Erik had learned to become an addict; he was addicted to Christine. Behaviorists view love as a stimulus that elicits a range of responses (Moore, 2011; Tolman, 1923). Upon experiencing the love stimulus, infants and toddlers may respond by stop crying, smiling, cooing, etc.and the outstretching and flaying of their arms may be interpreted as wanting more of the stimulus (Moore, 2011; Tolman, 1923). Erik never experienced love and yet he felt pleasure from the stimulus. Unlike unpleasant stimuli such as fear and anger that one reacts by removing oneself away from the hostile environment, Erik needed to remain in the environment that gave him pleasure. In order to do so, he must have Christine in order to create an environment that continuously provides him with that stimulus, love.Most likely triggered by seeing her perform on stage that night, Erik resorted to the familiar solution in obtaining reward quickly and easi ly: he kidnapped her, threatened her with her very life if his addiction was not satiated. However, the environment where Christine is present may prove to be the key in his ultimate decision to free her. Skinner viewed that all behaviors are controlled by the environment, and I believe we are seeing this concept consolidate in Erik’s decision. In the presence of Christine, Erik was compassionate, accommodating, and aware of the turmoil within himself and Christine.I believe that in the environment created by her presence, he saw the impracticality and impossibility in the hope of spending the rest of his life with her. Letting her free was the choice he made in order to make Christine happy, for giving her this happiness would be his own greatest reward. Summary In this essay, the personality characteristics of Erik, Phantom of the Opera, were discussed using the Freudian psychoanalytic approach and the opposing Skinnerian radical behaviorism as references.The Freudian appro ach would suggest that Erik’s personality was a manifestation of his unconscious, orally fixated psychosexual development and an unresolved Oedipus complex with no repressive ego defense mechanism. Erik’s life had been devoted to the satisfaction of the thanatos, the id driving force that leads toward aggression, destruction, and death. Without any internalized social rules and values (superego) as a guide to his actions, his ego had very little to resolve between the id and the superego.As such, the id, driven by the thanatos force, repeatedly surface to the conscious and thus repeatedly gratified. The Skinnerian approach would view Erik’s personality as shaped by previous history of reinforcement in his given environment, steadily and progressively as he developed from a severely deformed, ridiculed child to a highly talented but tormented adult with little conscience. Everything that made up the person Erik was learned, and he had no free will to choose other wise. Through operant conditioning, Erik learned to be ruthless, selfish, and hateful.A behaviorist may interpret Erik’s need to possess Christine as a conditioned need for a stimulus, an addiction, and the respect and kindness returned to him by Christine functioned as reinfocers. In total disparity to his personality, the pivotal moment of the story came when Erik chose to let Christine and Raoul free. A Freudian psychoanalyst may interpret this as his unconscious need to re-experience the pleasure he felt when he first unleashed the id eros force when Christine allowed him to kiss her on the cheek, a pleasure far surpassing what a gratified id thanatos force was able to offer him up to that point.Radical behaviorism may view Erik’s decision in releasing Christine and Raoul was environmentally influenced. First in the presence of Christine’s voice alone and later with her physical presence repeatedly created an environment that was pleasurable to Erik – he was rewarded and reinforced with respect and human kindness. In that environment, he behaved compassionately – making Christine happy gave him pleasure in return. It would make her happiest with Raoul, and so the decision to free them was made. These two opposing theories provided very different explanations to Erik’s personality.However, I believe elements from both theories may be combined for a more comprehensive analysis on his behavior. It is very likely that Erik’s behaviors were learned and shaped by the hostile environment he constantly found himself since birth. Those behaviors, however inappropriate from a â€Å"normal† person’s point of view, were none-the-less necessary in ensuring his survival. The other aspect of his personality was his unconscious need for love and human kindness, something that he knew not existed until he encountered Christine.This is the turning point for Erik’s personality development and likely to be the first battle between the thanatos drive that he was so accustomed to and the newly surfaced eros drive that his ego now must resolve. At the end, it was the eros force that predominated. Behaviorists would interpret that his act of compassion was defined by the environment with the presence of Christine; in her presence, Erik was able to explore the positive aspects of human behavior, ultimately realizing that he too possessed those qualities all along, just that they were, as Freud would put it, hidden in the unconscious.

Mariujana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Mariujana - Essay Example Reasons why users of marijuana end up being perpetual addicts, the essay answers why it should be legalized. Herein also is a practical check on the repercussions of marijuana abuse. Although most people use marijuana for simply the purpose of getting high, it can also be used as a form of medication. Several medical conditions can be controlled through prescriptions of marijuana or marijuana-based products. For instance, take patients suffering from instances of vomiting or nausea, administering marijuana eliminates these health issues. Dating back from the 70s, over 35 states have resorted to legalizing the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Although this paper supports its legalization, marijuana is surrounded by many controversies. In some countries, this herb is used for medicinal value, as a religious artifact, the textile industry and during recreation. Many refer and see marijuana as the billion dollar plant, probably because those in its peddling business leap millions of money from it. If only the medicinal value was to be actualized, states would not hesitate to make marijuana a legal substance as a curative and protective drug. Government surveys done recently indicate that approximately 25 million people in America alone have had life encounters with marijuana. Out of the 25 million, 14 million still smoke regularly regardless of the beckoning jail penalties and gospels against its use. It can be argued that marijuana is way safer than alcohol and tobacco in that 50000 and 40000 people die from alcoholism and tobacco smoking respectively. Numbers do not lie and by comparison, weed is non-toxic and there is no known cause from its death after an overdose. A government of the people by the people must listen and rest its case on the sarcasm around marijuana myths as deviant and fringe activities engaged by the society who lack vision. This is a recreational hub

Effectiveness of various mediums of advertisement in the automobile Research Paper

Effectiveness of various mediums of advertisement in the automobile industry in North American consumer market - Research Paper Example This essay "Effectiveness of various mediums of advertisement in the automobile industry in North American consumer market" outlines different tools of advertisement that the BMW and Audi use and their effectiveness.Television has been used a medium of advertisement since its inception. This has been due to the fact that it can reach mass audience quickly. It also offers numerous advantages by offering very powerful impact of the message it carries to numerous audience. This convenience and flexibility is due to the widespread popularity and ease with which it reaches millions of viewers internationally and nationally. With the audio and visual effects television provides and creates a lasting impact of the product being marketed (Philip, 90). With the interaction of color, drama, sight, sound, and motion it ensures that the message conveyed is persuasive and strong. Addition of some tactics and props could also enhance its impact. The Audi and BMW automobiles utilized this form of m arketing due to its impact. In its marketing through television BMW was able to introduce its very own youtube page known as the BMW TV. This site is used to display numerous BMW television ads and driving and racing videos of all the models created by the company. The Audi automobile in contrast focused in film sponsorship so that it could reach out to the television audience focusing around numerous movies (Jean, 24). The movie â€Å"Iron Man 2† had several product placements of the numerous Audi models which included the Audi A8 and R8 Spyder. iii. Complain Generally, both Audi and BMW could have had innovative and different marketing strategies in promoting their brand, through the use of film and youtube pages as forms of television advertising and product placement (Simon, 63). Both strategies seem to have been effective for both companies in reaching out to their greater customer bases and potentially increased their company sales. iv. Results The BMW TV marketing strategy for BMW has been very effective as youtube is one of the most popular social networking website and has allowed the company to reach out to numerous consumers. Through the creation of the unique youtube page it has helped the company have a very strong brand identity in the customer’s perspective. Audi choice of using movies to reach to their television audience was a good strategy. Through the marketing of the cars on film, consumer choices could be affected as the consumers could be persuaded to buy the car brands since the celebrities in t he movies could be seen to own one of their own. This is an effective and efficient

Debate over Universal Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Debate over Universal Healthcare - Essay Example In some nations like United Kingdom and Spain, the government has highest level of involvement in providing health care to all the citizens based on the residential status where insurance coverage is not mandatory. In Britain, the National Insurance Act 1911 can be considered as the initiative taken towards the provision of universal health care. It covered the salaried employees and their family members who contributed monitorily towards the health care setups. However, it continued up to 1948 when the National Health Service was created and universal health care security was provided to all legal residents. In some other nations, the governments involve insurance agencies to operate the health schemes and the beneficiaries and their employers are asked to pay the premiums for their health care facilities. In several European nations, the efforts for establishing the universal health care systems were launched immediately after the second world war and one shouldn’t forget th e contribution made by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 in this process. However, nations like USA didn’t implement the universal health care system (Armstrong et al., 1999; Institute of Medicine at the National Academies of Science, 2004.). Overall, the universal health care is operated in several nations, what ever the style may be, and we have to see whether it is successful in meeting the health requirement of people. If so, why not this universal health care is implemented in all other nations? This makes us to debate over the advantages and disadvantages of the universal health care system and let us analyse them one by one. Universal health care is a broad concept that has been implemented in many countries and was found to be highly useful for the benefit of the people (Conrad, 2008). The main advantage of this system is to ensure the social security to all the citizens of the country. In other words, health is a

Critically discuss the statement Entrepreneurs who wish to expand Essay

Critically discuss the statement Entrepreneurs who wish to expand their business should first expand their networks - Essay Example At the appropriate times the company sends customized message to the customers with suggestion for flowers and presents. The company gains a world-wide reputation. Therefore, good management information systems fast the business operation and use resource more effective. Basket Company also involves similar business actives we discussed above, by equipping the management information system, will greatly support business operation. Now the competition f basket market is very furious, it is not enough to improve only the product, we should impress the customers as a person who cares them more than their selves. To achieve the goal, we have to identify the trend f customer needs. Like large office goods supplier---Staples. The company system maintains lists f previously ordered items. Over time, Staples learned a great deal about its customers' preferences and use that information to offer new items. We value our employees as they play an important role in company success, but only with the helps f those tools, our employees and managers can easily make the decision on buy from supplier and predicate the profits. Thus, the good management information system plays a more important role in the competition. One f the outcomes f information system is the strategies for competitive advantages. ... t to play in a competitive strategy, cutting the labor and administration cost during business operation, the business can sell goods or provide services at a price that is lower than the competitors. Surveys and feedback sessions will be conducted from detailed transaction records and various data to access the ongoing project. Expanding business network is in fact an expansion f an organization. Franchising is a generic term that describes a way f doing business. In essence a model f business structure that relies on a relationship in which an owner (franchisor) f a business has licensed others (franchisees) to use a business system and trade name to market and sell products/services. Thus it is a marketing concept f delivering products and services that can be applied across a diverse range f businesses. The International Franchising Association has developed 75 different categories describing the businesses f its members. Who is involved Franchising involves two parties: Franchisor - The franchisor is the initial owner f a business system which has been developed and proven to be a successful method f operating a particular business. As owner, the franchisor has the legal capacity to provide licenses to others (franchisees). Typically the owner seeks to expand the business through a relationship with others who have similar objectives. Franchisee - The franchisee is the party that has entered into an agreement with the franchisor to use the trade mark / business name and business system in a defined outlet or territory. How does it work Essentially the franchisee has agreed to be part f the franchisor's operation. In return for fees, the franchisee secures these rights for a set period f time and can expect from the franchisor: Training in business practices -

Reflect on If I could be any historical figure within the time period, Research Paper - 2

Reflect on If I could be any historical figure within the time period, who would I be and why I want this to be on D - Research Paper Example eater importance and long-lasting impact than what a single military commander, philosopher, pop-culture icon, or any other individual within past society has been able to offer. As a function of attempting to prove this point to the reader, the following analysis will be concentric upon providing many of the accomplishments that Martin Luther King realized during his life and draw a clear level of comparison with respect to the fact that these accomplishments, taken as a whole, stood apart from the rest of the individuals during his time, and indeed sense, and represented individual whose strength and perseverance are not only admirable but something which should be desired within the current time. Firstly, it should be stated that few if any individuals in the modern world are able to attain a level of education or expertise at such a young age as did Martin Luther King Junior. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. became an ordained Baptist minister at the age of 18. Whereas it is true that certain individuals within the modern world are able to accrue a great deal of education and expertise at a relatively young age, Martin Luther King was not only able to become an ordained clergyman within his community, he was also the youngest person ever to receive and Nobel Peace Prize for his work in seeking to end racial segregation (Hinds 469). As can readily be noted, the ability to dedicate himself to his studies and to the cause in question allowed for Martin Luther King to be an admirable character that this student seeks to look up to. Yet, one of the largest reasons for why Martin Luther King Jr. is a historical figure that I would like to be is due to the fact that he struggled tirelessly and fearlessly for the rights of his fellow man. Whereas many individuals during the time period were caught up in returning hatred for hatred, Martin Luther King Jr. was focused upon using nonviolent methods and leading a peaceful civil rights that would channel the same ap proach that Thoreau and Gandhi had used to such great effect (King 33). Whereas it might have been easy to fall victim to the desire for seeking revenge and demanding a level of immediate and violent revolution on the part of the disenfranchised population of the United States, King was able to resist this temptation and take the higher path; aspects of character and virtue that are extraordinarily rare and extremely appealing to this individual author. Such as yet, King’s most notable achievement is not with regards to the fact that he was merely a participant in the nonviolent civil rights movement of the mid-20th century; rather, his most notable achievement is with respect to the fact that he led this civil rights movement and carefully and painstakingly sought the ways in which it could be promoted so that it could affect the greatest benefit towards the exhibition of civil rights within the United States. Naturally,

Hotel Rwanda Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hotel Rwanda - Movie Review Example The Tutsis were traditionally the landholders and the Hutus were the poorer farmers. When the Belgians colonized Rwanda, they gave more power to the Hutus. After Rwanda became independent, the resentment of the majority Hutus started simmering. The Hutus started dehumanizing the Tutsis by calling them "cockroaches". The film begins with a virulent and hate-filled broadcast by the RTLM, the national radio station. "Why do we hate the Tutsis They are cockroaches!" it says, inciting racial violence. The reactions of the different groups of people to the massacre are varied. When the violence starts, some of the Hutu employees of the hotel stop working and keep listening to the radio with its hate filled propaganda. One Hutu employee occupies the Presidential suite and says to Paul, "There is the smell of cockroaches here." The response of the foreign nationals is mainly cynical The UN peacekeepers are incapable of any assertive action, because they have been instructed not to intervene .Their inaction is explained by Col. Oliver's words, "We are peace keepers, not peace makers." Even when the jeering Hutu militia men throw a blood stained UN soldier's helmet at them, reminding them of their murdered Belgian comrades, they can do nothing. When Red Cross workers bring Tutsi children from an orphanage to the hotel to escape massacre by the militia, the Western guests of the hotel do nothing to help them.. The journalists are intent on getting as much footage as possible, including some of the gruesome killings by machete. One journalist says cynically, "If people see this footage, they'll go, 'Oh my God! That's horrible!, and then go on eating their dinner." The final act of callousness by the foreigners is when they all leave under the escort of UN peace keeping force, leaving behind the victims to their fate. There are various reasons why the international community turned the other way when the massacre was happening. The U.S.A and the European nations did not do anything to stop it because Rwanda has neither oil nor any great mineral wealth. Rwanda being an African nation of black people was another reason for the inaction. The harassed Col. Oliver sums up the opinion of the West when he says, "You are dirt!" Finally, Paul also realizes the truth- that the people whom they trusted, have abandoned them. In a poignant scene, after all the whites have left , Paul says to the refugees in the hotel, "We have been abandoned. There will be no rescue. We can only save ourselves" We see Paul's cleverness .in another scene when the Hutu army comes to take away the Tutsi refugees in the hotel by force. Paul telephones the owner of the hotel chain in Belgium., and the owner asks Paul who should be called to stop it. Showing great acuity, Paul says,"The French. They are the ones arming and supplying the army" Very soon, the Hutu general receives a radio message not to disturb the hotel. The hotel owner had talked directly to the French President. A disquieting but uplifting movie, Hotel Rwanda is the portrayal of a courageous man, who, by using his wits,

Economic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Economic - Essay Example For the purpose of maintaining and achieving such stability, however, it uses various tools and strategies which are discussed in the article as well as explained elaborately in the subsequent sections of this paper. Introduction: This article titled â€Å"RBA raises inflation forecast as traders raise rate expectations† written by Michael Boutros, appeared in The Bull, on May 09, 2011 (thebull, 2011). The author is a technical / fundamental currency analyst specializing in the FX markets, and works for DailyFX (fxstreet, 2011). The article discusses the current Australian interest rates stating the RBA's (Reserve Bank of Australia) recent declaration regarding rise in the inflation forecast above the 2-3 per cent target through the year 2013. The Reserve Bank of Australia held rates at 4.75% for a fifth straight meeting. It states that considering the current rates, which are above the expected target, the central bank has very little opportunity to tolerate any further advan ces in its prices. The author predicts that in response to such rising inflation, the RBA might lift its cash rate in the coming months, as the investments in mining and energy sectors rise, which are likely to further accelerate the pace of inflation. Economic concepts and theories to be applied: The article deals with the variation in interest rates and the rising inflation, and discusses the ways and means to control the same. In this regard, the author has suggested tightening the monetary policy, which can be discussed in accordance with the contractionary monetary policy preceded by a brief overview of the monetary policy i.e. both the concept as well as the monetary policy of Australia. The other concepts discussed in this article include Cash Rate, and inflation targeting. Key Definitions: Inflation targeting: According to Bernanke et al., (1999: 4) inflation targeting is a framework for monetary policy characterized by the public announcement of official quantitative target s (or target ranges) for the inflation rate over one or more time horizons, and by explicit acknowledgement that low, stable inflation is monetary policy's primary long-run goal" (in Hufner, 2004: 7) Analysis: Economists often forecast a rise in inflation rates. These forecasts or predictions regarding inflation are based on various factors. One such approach is the standard economic theory which posits that a rise in inflation occurs on account of a downturn in the economy and when the production surpasses the capacity constraints. According to this approach, the measures of an economic downturn, such as capacity utilization or unemployment rates, offer valuable information regarding the manner in which inflation would turn, i.e. rise or fall. However, this is not the only approach to forecasting inflation. The other approach relies on certain key indicators of inflation. These key indicators take into consideration factors such as commodity prices, gold prices, and other composite indicators which are then used to forecast the inflation rates. According to the article, the RBA forecasts inflation to reach 3 per cent by December this year, while the forecast for the year 2013 is estimated to cross 3.25 per cent mark. The following figure indicates the inflation rate

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Psychology - Essay Example This sort of experiment usually helps in finding out the criticality and success of a new technique or process and the effect on individuals. Such experiments are often conducted in understanding the effect of fertilizers on crop yield. Random selected fields are assigned experimental treatment and the ones left are used as Control groups. (Babbie, 2010 pp. 240-244)   Insecure ambivalent attachment: John Bowlby, who described attachment as a lasting psychological connectedness between human beings, developed the earliest attachment theory. This is shown in case of mothers and infants where infants create a sense of security when mothers are available and responsive to their needs. The insecure ambivalent persons are usually overwhelmed with their emotions and often find themselves unable to think rationally about events. Often their ability to bring things to perspective is drowned by their inability to think. This is due to the fact that basic emotional and physical needs are not being met and hence they often show intense anger, enrage, infuriation, frustration and impatience. Fear of conflict or rejection is high among insecure ambivalent adults. In case of ambivalently attached children, they become very distressed when their parent leaves. These children do not depend on their caregiver when they are in need.   This is seen when a child becomes anxious when its mother leaves, however on reunion, it is pleased that the mother has returned but at the same time also angry and doesn’t trust her to stay. (Goodman, 1997 pp.199-207)   Principle of Closure: The principle of closure implies people seek closure as a form of release from tension. People when threatened seek the closure of safety. People anticipate closure for gaining pleasure. Shopping is accompanied with the anticipated completion of purchase that would give pleasure. The mind works to towards seeing that has not already happened or may not be visible yet. This is seen in Gestaltâ€℠¢s principle of closure, which says that the human mind tends to complete figures although a considerable part of the information is missing. The mind matches it with patterns that are already familiar even if it hasn’t received the complete information. This is also speculative of a survival instinct, which takes the form of a predator that can go ahead with incomplete information. In a person’s thinking, closure comes in two places. The first instant is when an individual understands something and derives meaning out of it. The next instant of closure happens when a decision is taken about some pending issues. Closure helps individuals focus on futures by closing doors of confusions of the past. (Osborn & Osborn, 2004 pp.188-190)   Systematic Desensitization: This technique was developed by Joseph Wolpe for treatment of individuals suffering from anxiety related disorders and phobias. It is centered on the principles of classical conditioning and the understanding that whatever an individual had learned can be unlearned. Researches’ have shown that it is an effective method of reducing panic attacks and anxiety that are often associated with fearful situations. The process starts with imagining oneself in fearful situations and using relaxing strategies to counter it. Once an individual can start doing that, he/she gradually starts desensitizing to factors triggering such panic (Ankrom, 2009). The major focus areas in the process to make an individual

Marketing and Different Vendors Essay Example for Free

Marketing and Different Vendors Essay Having multi-vendor partnerships has its advantages and disadvantages. In the long run, supporting such a partnership would be difficult to maintain. Here are some of the concerns: * Change: Hardware and software requires constant upgrades to keep up with the technology changes. Changes in systems from multiple vendors can cause integration problems and requires a rigid process of testing and configuration. * Knowledge: IT staff must be well-trained in all the systems of the multi-vendor environment. Without a good IT support, the harder it is to find the source of the problem, and the longer it takes for them to resolve it. * Communication: In-house IT staff may have all the knowledge on the systems in the multi-vendor environment, but sometimes support from the vendors is required. In such cases, a support engineer is required to communicate with other support engineer, and it would be easier if it is done within the organization, but this is not usually the case. . Focusing IT on top line requires bringing in revenue for the company by increasing sales, whereas focusing IT on the bottom line requires bringing the cost down by reducing on operating cost. Focusing IT on the top line is more challenging because IT is not able to control who and when someone will actually buy the products and services. On the other hand, focusing IT on the bottom line can be predictable as there are sets of parameters within he organization that can be controlled, for example, reducing the number of employees. 3. Some ways for IT to bring in revenue is by increasing the number of customers and retaining customers. To increase the number of customers, IT systems such as online marketing tools can help to generate sales leads and increase customer awareness by sending out emails or direct mailers to potential customers. Such tools can help in segmenting customer profiles and evaluate the performance of the marketing campaign.

Mental Health And Community Care Report

Mental Health And Community Care Report 1.0 Introduction This report will explore on mental health and community care within the historical view of community care and the impact of ideological perspectives that have influenced it. It will further analyse the benefits and shortfalls since its implementation, taking into account the impact of the 1990 NHS Community Care Act and current reforms will be considered. Again, the effects of poverty and social exclusion for those accessing community Care will be discussed. The author will further consider key aspects of mental health and the gradual transition from insitutionalisation to deinstitutionalisation (community care) since the early 1950s will be discussed. Recommendations shall be made regarding, especially, how the mental health system (including community care) could be improved. HISTORY In the pre-medieval period people believed that mental illness was a result of the possession of the human body (patient) by evil spirits. In order to get these perceived evil spirits out they drilled holes in the skull of such people. Andreasen (2001) tries to give credence to this by mentioning that scientists have found fossils of drilled skulls that are about 10,000 years old. During the middle ages a belief in Europe was that witchcraft was the reason for mental illness. As a punishment such people with mental illness were killed by burning, hanging or drowning. Some were put in government institutions called poorhouses. By the 1500s many European nations had built special institutions to separate the mentally ill from the rest of society. One of the most famous of such institutions was the St. Mary of Bethlehem in London which was built in 1247 and declared a hospital exclusively for the insane by 1547 It is widely known widely known as Bedlam. According to Butcher et al (2009) , inmates suffered from unsanitary conditions, beatings and other harsh treatment. This included violent patients being used for shows display shows for the public to pay and watch, while gentler patients were sent to beg for charity on the streets. A lot has changed in the United Kingdom especially with the relative improvement in the mental health institutions or hospitals and also with the emphasis on community care since the 1950s. In fact some see care in community, usually referred to as community care in as a replacement for hospitalization and any other form of institutionalization of people with mental ill health. However, these historical perspectives of mental illness can stick in peoples minds, and can still cause stigma today. Goffman(1961) Community Care Skidmore (1997) describes community care to be the various services available to help individuals manage their physical and mental health problems in the community with dignity and independence in order to avoid social isolation. Similarly, Clough and Hadley (1996) explained that community care can be means of providing the right level of intervention and support to enable people to attain utmost autonomy and control over their own lives. The author notes that in order for these to be achieved, it will require support by formal and informal carers input The development of community mental health care has evolved over a period of years as opposed to institutional care. Goffman (1961) stated that social and political changes influenced the movement away from isolation of mentally ill in old Victorian asylums towards their integration into the community. Currently, there are various services that have been put in place to support people who have mental health problems and are leaving in the community. These services includes (Sainsbury centre of mental health 2003) HISTORY Community care has historically always been financed through a mixed economy financed by both the state and by users charges, and provided by voluntary sector organisations, commercial profit organisations, the state and the family (Lewis. J). Social scientist have made an association with informal care to family member participation. Informal care has historically been the origins of the present day community care. The origins of the term community care appear too traced back to the Royal Commission on Mental Health and Mental deficiency (1957) which notes The Development of Community Care (Bulmar 1987). However community care has a multiple meaning (Bulmar 1987) and historical official use failed to distinguish these differences. problem as it is a product in part of at least, the impact of political process and policy development. According to Levites et al (2007), Social exclusion is a difficult and multi-dimensional process which involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and services, and the inability to participate in the normal relationships and activities, available to the majority of people in a society, whether in economic, social, cultural or political arenas. Similarly, Townsend (1979) defines poverty as the absence or inadequacy of those diets, amenities, standards, services and activities which are common or customary in society. I will argue from the above definition that, social exclusion and poverty are linked. Pierson (2009) argues that government likes to use the term to hide poverty. Barker (2003) stated that in recent years the government has launched a range of initiatives to help tackle social exclusion and reduce inequalities which has specific objectives relating to education health, employment, crime prevention and wider social well being. These initiatives include the nee d for communities to put into action; supportive and innovative approaches in order to promote local involvement to support people with mental health problems, as this will minimize exclusion. The structure of care in the community (in relation with mental health) can lead to poverty because many people who experience mental distress, experience stigma and discrimination as well. These issues may make it hard for them to find adequate housing or access employment. As a result, people can become seriously isolated and excluded from society. If this also includes being excluded from working life, then this may lead to poverty. Social Exclusion Unit (2004). Usual Mental Health Professional Team There is now a range of more specialist community mental health teams (CMHTs) in the United Kingdom (UK) these includes: Home treatment, Crisis intervention, Early Intervention, First episode psychosis, ABT (assessment and brief treatment), Continuing care, Rehabilitation, Assertive Outreach and Forensic services. These teams are as a reform to government policy to promote community care. They work with people with mental health problems by helping them to become independent, working with them to develop their strengths, working together to resolve problems and many other supports that enables the promotion of wellbeing. A typical mental health professional team include the psychiatrists who prescribe medication, the psychologists who administer and interpret psychological tests, the psychiatric nurses who administer prescription medication and give injections, and the social workers who have specialized knowledge in assessing and planning treatment (Suppes and Wells, 2000). Conclusion/Recommendations The gradual transition from institutionalisation to community care since the 1950s is certainly not unhealthy. It only would yield no positive results if, borrowing the words of Skidmore (1994), people with mental health problem are not just decanted into the community without an identification of the informal carers. Social exclusion is a major concern in promoting recovery for those experiencing mental health problems and if not tackled on time will discourage and lead to relapse for those who have experienced or facing these difficulties. Promoting social inclusion will usually includes promoting equal opportunities for those who are excluded and experiencing discrimination so I can therefore say there is a clear link between promoting social inclusion and promoting equality and diversity to alleviate poverty. I also believe that the Mental health practice which is currently driven by the National Service Framework which aims at reducing discrimination and social exclusion to improve mental health of the population should be supported by mental health professionals to build social inclusion into clinical practice by including in the care plans of users their aspirations for work, education, relationship and other chosen journeys of recovery. The following recommendations are worthy of consideration in the bid to improve the current mental health system in the United Kingdom. Research concerning how institutional and community care can be improved Reduction of stigma against people with mental illness since that can jeopardize their speedy recovery whilst in the community. Involvement of informal carers in decision-making regarding treatment of patients Attend to the health needs of informal carers Informal carers should be trained on how best they can take care of patients. The British government should invest more in community care especially with the needs of patients in communities. Deinstitutionalization should be done more gradually and carefully especially in the case of people with chronic mental illness.

Is Global Warming A Natural Phenomenon Environmental Sciences Essay

Is Global Warming A Natural Phenomenon Environmental Sciences Essay Is the temperature rising or is it just us? One of the most highly debated topics in todays society is global warming. Are we humans destroying the Earth we live on without knowing its devastating effects or is it the inevitable? Some say that the burden we put on the Earth is causing a rise in the greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions. Others argue that global warming is naturally occurring or it truly does not exist. How can something not exist when all the evidence points to it? Recent studies have shown that an increase in carbon dioxide concentrations and other greenhouse gases caused by human activity is warming up the planet. Researchers and scientists have been studying the climate changes from the late 1950s up till today and no findings have pointed towards anything but humans causing this disaster. A way to define global warming is through the Greenhouse Effect. The process starts with the solar radiation to the Earths surface which absorbs the rays and heats up the surface. Since the Earth does not absorb all the radiation from the sun, it is simply reflected off its surface back into space. It is here where the problem occurs. When the rays reflect off the Earths surface they are not leaving the lower atmosphere due to greenhouse gases and other emissions. This causes the infrared rays to stay inside the Earths atmosphere and cause the temperature to rise. When an infrared ray strikes a molecule like carbon dioxide or a greenhouse gas it causes the bond to vibrate and it gains kinetic energy. Now that this molecule has more kinetic energy, it can transfer it to one of the two major gases in the atmosphere, oxygen and nitrogen. When the gases receive this extra energy it causes a general heating of the atmosphere. The diagram on the next page depicts how the process works. FIGURE 1: The Greenhouse Effect In the late 1950s, researchers carefully studied the amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. At that time, scientists agreed that the amount of carbon dioxide in parts per million was 315. Now today in 2008, that parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 385. What caused this increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases? Human activities such as fossil fuel burning, cement, production, and deforestation caused this increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. How do we know that these numbers are accurate? Scientists can measure the amount of greenhouse gases in from bubbles of air that were naturally preserved in ice in Antarctica and Greenland dating back to more than 650,000 years ago. The amount of carbon dioxide concentrations in the last 400,000 years had a cyclical pattern. The amounts would rise to just about 300 parts per million and decrease to about 200 parts per million in a 100,000 year time frame then rise a gain. Just recently the parts per million have skyrocketed. Today that number of parts per million is still increasing and is almost at 400. Why is it now that this number has increased rapidly? The population today of the entire world is booming to more than six billion people. In the United States the population is currently more than 300,000,000. No more than twenty years ago the population in 1990 was around 249,000,000. In that little of time the population grew more than 50,000,000. Now think of all the countries in the world. The population is putting the Earth at risk and this is why the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are increasing. Another argument that proves the global is heating up is evidence from the I.P.C.C. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Last year the I.P.C.C. published a six year long study on the science of global warming and picked up the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts. (Monastersky) The I.P.C.C. has gathered information from nine different global using land stations. Each of these land stations cover large regions and record the surface temperature. Each land station from around 1950 has shown an increase of land temperature from 0Â °C to 0.4Â °C. Overall, in the last century the Earths surface temperature has increased by 1.3Â °F. (Schneider) Even though this is the tiniest increase it still effects how the Earth emits radiation. The hotter the temperature of the Earths surface gets the more it needs to emit the radiation. This causes a problem because the greenhouse gases and other molecules are reflecting the rays back to the Earth and are staying in the atmosphere, once again c ausing a rise in temperature. Figure 2: Global Temperature Time Series The figure above shows the Earths surface temperature in nine different locations Now that the evidence proves the Earths surface is heating up and the atmosphere is being ruined by carbon dioxide emissions, how can we prove that humans are doing this? In a recent study from Purdue University, they named the U.S.A.s top cities for carbon dioxide emissions. A few of the top cities were Los Angeles, Chicago, Pennsylvania Carbon County, and Indiana County. From the image below, the key shows that levels with red or brown areas are top producers of carbon dioxide emissions. What makes these areas red? Studies show that the reason is the burning of fossil fuels. Examples of fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. These three sources of energy play a huge role in the world because they are used everyday in excessive amounts. When fossil fuels are burned or used they produce carbon dioxide emissions. Figure 3: Top Carbon Dioxide Emitters in the United States The figure above shows areas in the United States that emit carbon dioxide. The areas that emit the most are shown in red or brown. The Earth can only absorb so much of these emissions that eventually it cannot anymore and it causes excessive amounts in the atmosphere. How do humans burn fossil fuels? Everyday activities like driving a car, using an aerosol can, working at a factory, and working at power plants. Each of these burn fossil fuels and destroys the atmosphere. Think of how many cars are on the road right now driving and burning gas. The amount of the carbon emissions coming form vehicles is overwhelming and is causing this change in climate. Finally, car manufacturers are realizing that this is becoming a huge epidemic and they are now producing hybrid vehicles and more gas efficient vehicles. Factories and power plants produce a ridiculous amount of pollution each day that is doing irreversible damage to the Earth. An argument against global warming is that it is naturally occurring. This is a possibility because no expert or researcher has completely understood the Earths cycle of ice ages and warm periods. There is a slight possibly that this could be just one of the Earths warm periods. Evidence proves otherwise. According to researchers it is nearly impossible to explain this climate change without external force. This means that something other than a natural cause is a factor in the climate change. Another counterargument against global warming is that the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are from the ocean. When researchers studied the oceans, they saw that levels of the carbon dioxide in the ocean were high like the amount in the atmosphere. If the ocean was emitting carbon dioxide then the levels in the ocean would be lower. With all the evidence, it is clear that humans are contributing to global warming. This has only become a problem now because our economy is going as well as our population. Fifty years ago, the economy was not even close to being as advanced and big as it is today. Our population is still growing and we are only taking baby steps to fix this problem. If harsh action does not take place soon we will destroy the Earth forever. The warming of the oceans and atmosphere could trigger irreversible environmental changes in coming decades. (Monastersky)

Odysseus: A Hero Essay -- Greek Gods Odysseus Sophocles Essays

Odysseus: A Hero Heroism was not an invention of the Greeks. Yet, through the first hundreds years of their civilization, the Greek literature has already given birth to highly polished and complex long epics that revolved around heroes. These literature works gave many possibilities of definition of heroism. The Greeks illustrated heroism to obey the rules laid down by the gods and goddesses, and those who obey the rules would gain honor and fame. The Greeks regarded intelligence as one of the highest gifts that all heroes must posses. The Greeks required that all heroes must have courage. Odysseus, one of the heroes of the epic "Odyssey" standout. He was constantly expected to be a true hero, always obey the rules laid down by the immortals, posses wisdom and courage. The Greeks believed that all heroes must always obey the Guest/Host relationship rule-- which all guests must treat the hosts with courtesy, and the host must treat the guests properly-- laid down by the gods and goddesses. Those who did not obey the rule would be punished severely. Odysseus throughout the epic, demonstrated that he obeyed the Guest/Host relationship rule. Odysseus always following the Guest/Host relationship rule, a characteristic that all heroes must have according to the Greeks' tradition . All heroes must followed the rule because if they did not, they would be punished by the immortals, and would not be recognized as heroes. When Odysseus reach the land of the Cyclops race. Odysseus decided to pick his best men, goods offered as gifts, and headed toward a Cyclops's cave. When his men saw cheese, pens, and lamb on lying on the racks, they pleading to Odysseus, "Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw all the pens, and make a run for it? We'll drive thekids and lambs aboard. We say put out again on good salt water!" Odysseus dismissed the suggestion, "I wished to see the cave man, and what he had to offer." Odysseus dismissed the suggestion of his men, and choose to wait to greet the Cyclops with the gifts as in the custom of the Guest/Host relationship rule. Those actions and sayings showed that Odysseus was always following Guest/Host relationship rule, an example for his men to look up to. Odysseus's actions spoke for his character. He posses the characteristic that meets the criteria of always obeying the rules... ... Throughout the epic, Odysseus was a hero. He had indeed pre-eminent qualities and much that were beyond the capacity of normal men. It was when problems come that these heroic traits emerged. When his men asked Odysseus to steal the goods from the Cyclops, which break the rule of Guest/Host relationship, he refused. He showed that he always obey the rules laid down by the immortals. When his men were turned into swine by the goddess Circe, he made Circe swore to reversed her action in trade for him to make love to her. He showed cunning. When Circe told him about Scylla and her unforgiving power, he asked how to fight Scylla to help his men avoid horrible deaths. He showed courage. We know him less from what he thought, which was seldom revealed, than by what he says and did, and his actions follow naturally from his characteristics. If the cunning of Odysseus is mentioned more than his courage , it was his courage that gets him into the scrapes from which his cunning had to deliver him. Odysseus had the all the qualities that the Greek tradition required of all heroes, which were obey the rules of gods, posses intelligence, and displayed courage. He was a hero.

Delaware Diary Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frank Dale’s view of the Delaware River is of change and challenge. The Delaware Diary is shown through tragedy and prosperity, hope and grief, but above all it is told through the stories of those who were there. As his subtitle suggests, episodes in the life of a river, he symbolically represents the river as having a life of its own through the stories and accounts of the people who had some particular impact by the river or to the river. There are many stories to be told of the river, but here are a few significant turning points in American history in part by that river. These episodes of the river make up a timeline to further give the river life, and in many ways, character.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Historically, the earliest accounts of the river are by the Lenni-Lenape Indians. They may be considered the original human inhabitors of the area. One of the most notorious land scams perpetrated against the Lenni-Lenape was the infamous Walking Purchase of 1737. Two sons of William Penn, John and Thomas, had acquired a deed signed by theur father with the Lenni-Lenape, they said, that gave to William and his heirs a generally triangular piece of land in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. One boundary was to be the west into the forrest â€Å"as far as a man could walk in a day and a half. The third line would be drawn at a right angle from the end of the walked line back to the river. The sons engaged the three fastest men in the ...

Voltaires Candide Through My Present Day View Essay -- essays research

The world as I see it is not perfect. In this present day and age there are some people that like to believe that god created a beautiful planet, but I believe the devil should receive some credit for its creation also. One of the world’s greatest satires, Candide by Voltaire, some characters feel the same way that I do. However others do not. Martin, a skeptic thinks this is not â€Å"the best of all possible worlds† (â€Å"Candide†102), as Dr. Pangloss would say. My present worldview is more close to the view of the eighteenth century character Martin, in the book Candide. Martin, an old philosopher who embarked with candide shows strong pessimistic views. Candide is pretty much a follower and is not a very intelligent man. He looks up to Dr. Pangloss, his mentor. I disagree with candide’s point of view on life, because he is a follower of another man and doesn’t know how to live his own life. Through out the book Candide many of the characters die horrible deaths. The entire book is mainly a satire attacking simple human follies and frailties. The vice being ironically attacked here is optomisticism. Most of the characters are killed brutally or hurt fiercely for some of the most stupid reasons. One incident from the book involves Candide reuniting with his old master dr. Pangloss. Early in the book Candide reunites with Dr. Pangloss scabbed, spitting out teeth, and choking. Pangloss is diseased with syphilis. Pangloss obtained this disease from a slave girl named Paquette. This ...

Organisational dialogue

First, this essay will explore the definitions of dialogue as well as organizational cultures and how these concepts related to each other. It is followed by a discussion on the ways that dialogue may have positive effects regarding the cultural aspects. The final section of this essay pays attention to the challenges of and solutions to implementing and promoting dialogue within an organization. There Is a variety of deflations of dialogue.The derivation of this word stems from the Greek roots dialogs which consists of did and logos. Did means through, and logos means the word, or more specifically, the meaning of the word' (Boom 1996, p. 6). Based on its origin, Boom (1996) defines dialogue as a combination of communication practices flowing through and among people, focused on discovering the essence and power of people thinking and how the group's culture is built through this process.Isaacs (1999) believes that dialogue Is, In particular, a flow of meaning, while Gerard and Elea nor (2001 ) define dialogue by contrasting It with discussion and conclude that dialogue is seeing the whole and connections between arts, learning through asking and answering, and creating shared meaning among group members. In further similarities, Gerard and Turfs (1995) assume that dialogue is concerned with the environment where belief and communication diversity are encouraged In terms of respects, honors and values, as well as awareness to raise the creation of shared meaning.The role of dialogue in relation to organizational culture is of thorough understanding through many deferent organizational culture definitions. In fact, we all commonly think that it is the way we do things around but through research of organizational behavior, Machines, Lessons & Traveling (2013) believe it ‘consists of values and assumptions shared within an organization' (p. 448). At the same time, for E. C. Martins and F. Turbulence (2003), the central Ingredient of culture Inside an organi zation is the subconscious shared values and beliefs.A powerful culture offers shared values that ensure everyone in the organization focus on the same goals and objectives (Robbins, 1996). Organization has its culture usually performs higher in the market. In a word, the key feature of building and transforming organizational ultra Is creating and maintaining shared values that seem to be the main purposes of outlining dialogue among members. Through practicing dialogue, collective communication is created, and organizational culture is transformed. These aspects include transformation of member behavior, the experiential feeling of community and people's attitudes.Firstly, in the comparison between dialogue and discussion of Gerard and Eleanor (2001), the main role of dialogue is to help people learn how to communicate with each other differently and produce collective understanding. While in discussion, people intend to keep their opinions and only the most powerful and influence d person might decide the results of the whole group, dialogue, in contrast, gives members a commitment to a common set of guidelines (Gerard and Turfs 1995). Participants try to minimize conflicts and bring all different points of view into a standard value.Therefore, the more often people practice dialogue, the more behavioral changing they have to integrate and sustain in community. Moreover, based on Bomb's research in 1996, Isaacs (1999) stated four principles of dialogue which include listening, respecting, suspending and voicing. Among these principles, listening skill plays an important role in changing behavior of a group. As a whole song could not be sensed and understood through a single note (Isaacs 1999), organizational cultures and objectives are not able to be established by a single idea.Hence, dialogue is a powerful tool to encourage people to listen thoroughly to others' ideas and engage in the conversation. Then, shared meanings, or the culture of the company is g radually transformed. Secondly, by setting up the conditions of community, dialogue transforms the feeling of the corporation culture (Gerard and Turfs 1995). When a new group starts to involve in the community, dialogue will generate an atmosphere having the ‘experiential feel' (Gerard and Turfs 1995, p. 148) of community.In an organizational scope, employees commence to sense what the company's culture would seem to be in full community based on its principles. Furthermore, for Sense (1995), dialogue is as a facilitator for team learning. He believes that team is the key feature to create shared values, and through the application of dialogue into team learning process, knowledge and feeling of the community cultures are transferred from one to others, ND individual's values as well as beliefs are positively transformed and integrated into the collective cultures.The final aspect that dialogue has the power to change the organizational culture is attitudinal transformation. As participants experience the effects of dialogue, the attitude level becomes as a ‘byproduct of the incorporation of new modes of behavior and learning the â€Å"feel† of what being in community is like' (Gerard and Turfs 1995, p. 148). Then, cooperative and collaborative attitudes start to replace the attitudes of inflexible individualism. This statement is conformable with the research f Scheme (1993) where he describes dialogue as talking around the campfire' (p. 391).During the past time, meetings were usually held around a campfire where people could simply share their opinion without any discussion or arguments. Through that, (Scheme 1993) and spend time listening to others' opinions before reflecting on their assumptions. Moreover, Isaacs (1999) also emphasized the main goal of the respecting principle of dialogue that is not to seek a decision, but to tolerate difference, gap and conflict. Therefore, the more people practice dialogue, the more hey have collect ive orientation by gradually changing their individualistic behavior, and then, the whole organizational culture is enhanced.Although dialogue has been proved to have a positive effect on organizational culture, people still face challenges in applying it into organization learning system. First, most organizations are generally a hierarchy and authorized structure which is contrary to the principles of dialogue (Boom, 1996), so employees tend to afraid of expressing their ideas or opinions to the people who are at higher level. In fact, in some top-down companies, managers have the right to create and change organizational culture as well as enforce rules and delegate duties to employees.Although it has its value, this structure might find it difficult to get dialogue going. Moreover, there are situations where people have different ideas and assumptions, and dialogue might become frustrated. If someone is not willing to listen to other's assumptions, it is considered as an act of violence (Boom, 1996) which may lead to an argument and no results could be concluded. And last but not least, in case of a cross-culture organization, dialogue becomes a more complicated and lengthy Scheme 1993) process due to the different cultural backgrounds of the employees.Then, it is necessary for companies to allocate more time and resources in designing dialogue process that may help employees communicate effectively, and the organizational culture is transformed on the right track. Despite all these challenges, dialogue still plays a significant role in transforming organizational culture if companies have methods and strategies to apply it appropriately. Sense (2006) gives a simple analysis about balancing dialogue and discussion within members of an organization. As ‘in a discussion, decisions are made.In a dialogue, complex issues are explored' (Sense 2006, p. 230), learning team must learn how to control movement back and forth between dialogue and discussion and distinguish between the ground rules and the goals to have both dialogue and constructive discussion. Communication audit is another approach to deal with the organizational practice of dialogue. For Harrier and Tourist (2004), communication audit is the key to creating a world-class communication system since the results of communicating performance among all staffs is accurately reported to the managers.This process is effective to solve problems both in top-down organization and cross-culture since it reveals communication strengths and weaknesses among employees at all levels as well as suggests solutions for improvement. In conclusion, dialogue has proved itself as an effective but challenging way of transforming organizational culture. Through behavioral, experiential and attitudinal transformation, corporation culture is positively changed as dialogue awareness of the collective assumptions, minimize arguments and by practicing dialogue, people learn how to accept the differ ences of others.