Ethics in Counseling Essay

This paper analyses social, ethical and legal issues within a complaint initiated by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) against a psychologist, Steven Kreft (HCCC v Kreft, 2011). The HCCC investigated a complaint by a client of Kreft of personal and sexual disclosures, as well as unprofessional treatment in the solicitation of a photograph of the client in which the client was dressed in underwear. Kreft’s actions are assessed in light of professional and ethical standards as well as potential breaches of the law. Steven Kreft, was an experienced psychologist narrowly specialising in the treatment of men with anxiety conditions using cognitive-behavioural therapy (HCCC v Kreft, 2011). The client, a 19-year-old married woman, was referred to Kreft because of anxiety and possibly panic attacks, but during the initial stages of counselling, she raised relationship problems, her appearance and sexual needs and practices with him and these became the focus of their se ssions. Kreft conveyed to the client that he was not experienced or skilled in the treatment of relationship problems or sexual disorders, however, the client stated that she wished to continue working with him and he did not insist on referring her elsewhere. The client ultimately accused Kreft of failing to observe proper professional boundaries and engaging in inappropriate discussions of a personal nature in which he: Complimented her on her appearance referring to her petite size, short height and thin build, and likened her to his girlfriend; Commented on her wearing Bonds underwear like his girlfriend wore; Asked the client to comment on his physical appearance; Disclosed details of his personal life including the number of sexual partners he had had, that his girlfriend would share a bed with other girlfriends when they slept over, that he had been in love numerous times, and that he had thought about homosexuality during his youth (HCCC v Kreft, 2011). In addition, Kreft was accused of failing to follow or observe appropriate therapeutic practice and/or failing to observe proper professional boundaries when he asked the client for photographs for a study in which other people would rate the client’s appearance. One of these photographs pictured the client dressed in underwear. Kreft copied these photographs onto his own computer for later presentation to unnamed others. This exercise was not recorded in the client’s clinical notes (HCCC v Kreft, 2011). The HCCC investigated the client’s complaints and took disciplinary action against him. There are numerous social, ethical and legal issues in this case. Although Kreft was in fact a psychologist, for the purpose of this paper, his conduct will be assessed against the Australian Counselling Association’s Code of Ethics and Practice (2012). This paper will explore the power imbalance between Kreft and his client, the effect of his behaviour on the therapeutic relationship and whether Kreft’s behaviour might have breached sexual harassment laws. Ethical and legal guidelines exist to offer protection to people who may experience harm as a result of the actions of another person. According to Welfel (2013, p.3), professional ethics in counselling encompasses five dimensions of behaviour including having sufficient knowledge, skill and judgement; respecting the client’s h uman dignity and freedom; using a counsellor’s inherent power responsibly; and, acting to promote public confidence in the counselling profession. This provides a useful framework for assessing Kreft’s conduct in this case. Beginning with Kreft’s expertise, Kreft usually used a strict cognitive-behavioural protocol for the management of anxiety and panic disorders. Kreft is described by his own treating psychiatrist as a skilled practitioner in a narrow field, having been trained to think rationally and logically. Kreft’s practice â€Å"involved administering protocols, carrying out logic-based interventions and requires his patients to occupy a mindset where they share a common objective and commitment to the treatment and its proposed outcome† (HCCC v Kreft, 2011 at 227). Although referred to Kreft because of his relevant expertise, the treatment interaction became sexualised when the client began talking about her sexual experiences and practices. There was further exploration of her concerns about her personal appearance, low self-esteem, need for validation by men via her sexual activities and descriptions of her specific sexual behaviour. Here, Kreft was out of his professional depth. Specifically on this matter, the Australian Counselling Association’s (ACA) Code of Ethics and Practice states that counsellors must â€Å"endeavour to make suitable referral where competent service cannot be provided† (p.3) and â€Å"undertake regular supervision and debriefing to develop skills, monitor performance and sustain professional accountability† (p.3). Although Kreft recognised that  the client’s relationship and sexual issues were beyond his expertise and conveyed as much to the client, he could have insisted on referral, despite the client’s preference for continued sessions with him. The ACA further states that competence includes being able to recognise when it is appropriate to refer a client elsewhere (p.12). The rationale for this professional expectation is that counsellors are required to â€Å"take all reasonable steps to ensure that the client does not suffer physical, emotional or psychological harm during counselling sessions †(p.4). Sexualisation of the therapeutic relationship can be harmful to clients, and in this case, it is difficult to see how it served the client. According to the ACA Code of Ethics and Practice, â€Å"the helping relationship constitutes the effective and appropriate use of helper’s skills that are for the benefit and safety of the client in his or her circumstanc es† (2012, p.3), and â€Å"counsellors must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the client does not suffer physical, emotional or psychological harm during counselling sessions† (2012, p.4). In relation to the disclosures, for whose benefit where they? It is unclear what led Kreft to make sexualised self-disclosures and what purpose he thought they served. Perhaps it was a response to the client’s exploration of her relationships and sexual activities. Such client self-disclosure can sexualise the therapeutic relationship (Gurtheil & Brodsky, 2011, p. 183). Counsellor disclosures are inevitable and sometimes useful, but self-disclosure can become burdensome to the client and therefore detrimental. Gurtheil and Brodsky (2011) state that in cases of sexual misconduct, â€Å"a key turning point often occurs when the relationship shifts from a therapeutic exchange to one of sharing personal confidences and feelings† (p.114). They further state that even therapists whose practice deliberately includes open self-disclosure, it is rarely useful and usually burdensome for clients to hear details of the therapist’s emotional, sexual, personal or family life. â€Å"Such disclosures, especially when they involve sexual feelings, are nearly always considered boundary violations† (p.115). It seems that Kreft may have been meeting some personal need by making the disclosures. Without having observed the interaction, it is difficult to judge, however, perhaps in an attempt to normalise the client’s experience or keep her engaged, Kreft seems to also be almost boasting of his own sexual prowess. This amounts to an exploitation of the client for  his own needs. The APA states that, â€Å"counsellors must not exploit their clients financially, sexually, emotionally or in any other way (pp.4-5). If poorly handled, the power imbalance inherent in the therapeutic relationship can lead to exploitation of clients (Barnett, Lazarus, Vasquez, Moorehead-Slaughter & Johnson, 2007, p.402). A young female client, is less likely to challenge the appropriateness of such comments. In addition to the sexualised disclosures, Kreft devised an exercise based on his narrow focus on CBT, which he believed would help the client. He requested and obtained a photo of his client wearing a bra and underpants for the purpose of an exercise aimed at ‘challenging’ the client’s maladaptive or negative beliefs about her appearance. The photo was to be shown to a number of unnamed people in order for them to rate her appearance. Kreft claimed in his testimony that he created the exercise based on his expertise and training. He did not state that he researched current effective practice or discussed the client’s needs in supervision. It would seem prudent to educate oneself about an unfamiliar field of practice or client. In fact, the ACA’s ethical expectations include counsellors committing to ongoing personal and professional development, as well as undertake regular supervision and debriefing (p.3). A cursory investigation of recognised treatments for body image problems Butters and Cash (1987) research into effective cognitive-behavioural treatment of women with body-image dissatisfaction found that a combination of methods produced improved affective body image, reduced maladaptive body-image cognitions and enhanced social self-esteem about fitness and sexuality. The methods included providing clients with information about body-image dissatisfaction, having clients construct a personalised hierarchy of body areas, desensitisation to automatic thoughts and developing counterarguments for irrational thoughts. Butters and Cash (1987) did use observer ratings of client physical attractiveness as part of the series of exercises, but there is no suggestion that clients were to be barely dressed in the photographs used. Kreft seemed to exercise poor judgment in his selection of a photograph in which the client was so scantily clothed. Kreft seemed unaware of his power in the relationship. Power within the therapeutic relationship can take numerous forms. Proctor (2002, p.8) states that one basic form is societal power which is expressed in the imbalances between the genders and between the old and young. In this  case, Kreft was an older male with a teenage female client. According to testimony in his case, Kreft was accustomed to working with male clients, so he may have been unaccustomed to working with a young female. He may have been unaware of the subconscious power he held in the relationship simply by virtue of his stronger position in society. Pope and Vasquez (2007, pp41-42) describ e other forms of power that therapists have in relation to clients. These include the power of expectation–clients expects that the therapist’s interventions will be able to induce beneficial change. Related to this is the power to choose the approach to therapy. Kreft chose to make personal disclosures and chose the therapeutic exercise involving the client’s photograph. She complied with the activity, although she stated in her complaint that she was very uncomfortable about it. Kreft failed to recognise this in her delayed provision of the photo, but also failed to recognise that any young woman might be uncomfortable with such an exercise, yet reluctant to refuse. He did not make this psychologically safe for her. Under the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 2010, both the disclosures and the request for photographs could be deemed sexual harassment and therefore unlawful. A person sexually harasses another person if he or she engages in unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to another person in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated that the other person would be offended, humiliated or intimi dated. Conduct of a sexual nature includes making orally, any remark or statement with sexual connotations to a person or about a person in his or her presence, and, making any comment of a sexual nature in a person’s presence (Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2013a, p.79). There are therefore three characteristics of behaviour that would have it constitute sexual harassment – being unwelcome; being conduct of a sexual nature; and being conduct that a reasonable person would consider likely to offend, humiliate or intimidate in the circumstances. There seems little doubt that Kreft’s disclosures about his sexual activities fit this definition of conduct of a sexual nature. In relation to whether the comments were unwelcome to the client, it certainly appears so, as she has complained of as much. For conduct to be unwelcome, it must be unsolicited or uninvited by the client, and regarded as undesirable or offensive by the client. Kreft does not suggest that the  client invited the comments. Even if a client does not speak up or complain at the time, the conduct might still be considered unwelcome (Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2013b, p.6). The client’s age is a factor recognised as causing someone to tolerate behaviour even if unwelcome. Numerous sexual harassment cases have recognised how a power imbalance between the parties can contribute to a person remaining silent about how unwelcome the behaviour is (VEOHRC, 2013a, p.85). The final element in sexual harassment is whether the conduct occurred in circumstances in which it could reasonably have been expected that the conduct would offend, humiliate or intimidate the person. Again, given the client’s age in relation to Kreft, and the highly sexual nature of the disclosures, within a relationship that should be focusing on the client’s concerns, it seems that this third criterion of sexual harassment would be met. In conclusion, it seems that Steven Kreft’s behaviour in this case fell far short of recognised ethical, legal and social expectations. He took on a client with issues outside his narrow expertise and attempted to work with her i n relation to the highly sexualised disclosures she made about her relationships with men. Kreft’s own highly sexualised personal disclosures were unethical according to professional guidelines and potentially unlawful, under sexual harassment laws. Kreft’s attempts to help the client change her negative beliefs about her body were devised without reference to existing knowledge in the treatment of such problems and again became sexualised when Kreft chose a photo of the client dressed only in underwear. Ultimately, Kreft was required to update his training, engage in regular supervision, and undergo a suspension of practice for six months. Kreft’s case provides a number of warnings for other practitioners about the dangers of a narrow knowledge and experience base, as well as the importance of understanding the various dimensions of therapeutic relationships. Counsellors would do well to have a sound understanding of ethical boundaries and how they might appropriately respond to a client’s disclosures of sexual behaviour. Having regular supervision is crucial for assisting counsellors in all of these areas. References Australian Counselling Association. (2012). Code of ethics and practice. QLD: Author. Barnett, J., Lazarus, A., Vasquez, M., Moorehead-Slaughter, O., & Johnson, W. (2007). Boundary issues and multiple relationships: Fantasy and reality. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38(4), 401–410. Butters, J. W. & Cash, T. F. (1987) Cognitive-behavioral treatment of women’s body-image dissatisfaction. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 6. Gurtheil, T. G. & Brodsky, A. (2011). Preventing boundary violations in clinical practice. London: Guilford Press. HCCC v Kreft (No. 1) (2011) NSWPST 2. HCCC v Kreft (No. 2) (2012) NSWPST 1. Pope, K. S. & Vasquez, M. J. (2011). Ethics in psychotherapy and counselling: A practical guide. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Proctor, G. (2002). The dynamics of power in counseling and psychotherapy: ethics, politics and practice. Ross-on-wye, Herefordshire: PCCS Books. Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. (2013a). Victorian discrimination law. Melbourne, Australia: Author. Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. (2013b). Guideline: Sexual harassment. Complying with the Equal Opportunity Act 2010. Melbourne, Australia: Author. Welfel, E. R. (2013). Ethics in counseling and psychotherapy. (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

â€Å"Death of a Salesman†, by Arthur Miller, is the perfect play for you to revitalize your career, as it contains an outstanding and memorable character that is understandable and somewhat realistic the audience. There are also several themes thoughout the play that the audience can connect to. The play is also heavy in symbolism that relates these themes with the characters. By bringing all these elements into a masterful performance, you should have newspapers and critics alike marveling at your performance and swaying the public image of yourself from negitive to positive.Mr. Sheen, you will be playing Willy Loman. Willy is a salesman who, at one time in his life, used to be well liked and well known, but is now a troubled and misguided man, as seen in the following text: WILLY. â€Å"†¦ And then all of a sudden I’m goin’ off the road! I’m telling ya, I absolutely forgot I was driving. If I’d’ve gone the other way over the white li ne I might’ve killed somebody. So I went on again – and five minutes later I’m dreamin again, and I nearly – (He presses two fingers against his eyes. ) I have such thoughts, I have such strange thoughts. 1774) The â€Å"strange thoughts† that Willy continues to have thoughout the play are glimpses into his psychological thought process. To combat his unhappiness in himself and his family, Willy frequently reminiscences the past using soliloquies and illusions, imagining times where he felt content, appreciated, and successful. This will help the audience understand the trials you are undergoing as the play continues to unfold before the audience’s eyes. While it is normal to recall good times in our lives, it is not healthy to focus on them for too long.Willy basically lives in the past, which unables him not to be able to function in the present. The past has already occured, and you need to help the audience realize that there is nothing that you can do to change it. He even goes as far as to having conversations with imaginary people, showing his deteriorating mental health. Willy’s admiration of Dave Singleman’s (asuccess shows his obsession with being well liked: WILLY. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? (1807) Willy wants people remember and love him to substitute his neediness to be loved in a way his family love does not. Willy chooses to ignore the fact that Dave is still working at the age of eighty-four, and is probably experiencing the same frustrations and financial worries Willy does himself.Willy is frustrated with himself and his two sons whom he sees nothing but failure in, and tries to commit suicide several times. His wife, Linda, works to cheer him up, but is unsuccessful in doing so. Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy, also try to improve Willy's morale by attempting to win their father’s affection by getting better jobs with better pay. They, too, are unsuccessful, and Willy kills himself at the end of the play. To Willy Loman, the falsity of the American Dream is the dominant theme of Arthur Miller's â€Å"Death of a Salesman†. In early memories, you possesses a solid family that is happy and secure.However, no matter how much you wants to remember his families past as all-American and blissful, he is unable to rewrite his past. Willy represents the primary victim of this dream. As with most men working in the middle class, Willy struggles to provide financial security for his family and dreams about making himself a huge financial success. The failure of the American dream is present, and makes the audience question his/her commitment to their own false dreams. Another major theme of the play is the lost opportunities that each of the characters face and regret.Willy also regrets the opportunities that have passed by Biff, whom he believes to have the capability to be a great man. This is helped understood by the symbolism throughout the play. Symbolism in this play is very important, as it helps relate the themes to the characters. The seed Willy buys to plant his garden help to symbolize Willy’s desire for a fresh start in life. Willy’s desperate actions to attempt to grow the seeds relates to the unhappiness he goes through realizing his family has not â€Å"grown† into the thriving, nourished family he always dreamed of. Willy states: WILLY. Nothing’s planted.I don’t have a thing in the ground. (1827) Suggesting he is talking about his own sons and their future, his failure in being well known and well liked, and preoccupation with material success. The planting of the seeds can also show Willy’s desire to leave some thing that is tangible for his family and others to show the worth of his labor. Maybe you could reflect on the legacy you would like to leave as you dive into the role. All these elements help create this play into just what your career need in order to help improve your currently low image where it belongs.Many critics believe your cocaine nd hooker addiction is the suicide of your career, so you would be able to relate to Willy’s situation. You can relate to his unhappiness and character flaws as you have some yourself. Seeing as how you just recently divorced your wife, you could easily mold the tone and emotion needed to play this character. A moderate amount of people can relate to the struggles that Willy has undergone and can relate it to their lives 1. Miller, Arthur. â€Å"Death Of A Salesman. † Literature: An Introduction to Fiction,Poetry,Drama, And Writing. 11th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 1773-835. Print. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Usually suicide is the last measure a human being would take when he or she sees no way out of a situation. Willy Loman, the protagonist of the drama Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, appears to be attempting suicide several times before he succeeds at the end of the play. His family does not seem to understand what is driving him into suicide until very late, as there seem to be several reasons. Behind the word success Willy Loman does not seem to see anything more than material possession. Self-fulfillment is nothing else than earning a lot of money to provide a good standard of living for one's family. This ironically is Willy's ideology, even though he is a salesman with a low salary who can barely pay the upcoming installments. Willy's view of the world is based to a large extent based on two men. His brother Ben, who made a fortune by finding diamonds in the jungle, and an old salesman called David Singleman, the salesman he aspires to become. Willy desperately tries to believe that he is a success, something he always tried to tell his sons. But of course at the age of sixty-three, near retirement, he has to realize that he cannot achieve what he was longing for. He starts going back into his past and seeing his brother Ben, who he thinks has all the answers. His life lies in ruins in front of him and he starts realizing that according to his ideology he is a failure. Materialistic things are everything that count for him is how it seems. Therefore he cannot see what he has in his wife and two sons, who stand behind him by the end of the play. The idea that his life insurance money could help his son to set up his business prevails for him. He had always wanted his sons, especially Biff, the elder one of them, to be successes. At the age of thirty-four, though, Biff has still not settled down, as he wants to be a success in the eyes of his father but on the other hand realizes that he is best at working with his hands. This of course would mean not making much money but would probably give him a feeling of self-fulfillment. By the end of the play Biff realizes exactly this but is not able to make Willy drop his views. These views prevent Willy from doing what he also shows talent in, which is construction working. Only materialistic things are what count in a man's life. As Willy slowly seems to comprehend how much he failed, according to his narrowed views, a process begins in him, which many of the other characters would describe as confusion. It is much more than that, though, he looses his touch with reality and gives up his will to live. On his long journeys in his car he deliberately tries to crash and at home he connects a plastic attachment to the gas pipe in his cellar in order to suffocate himself. This not only shows that he has given up but also that his family is not enough reason for him to continue his life. This cannot be explained simply by saying he does not love them but it is that he thinks he is unworthy of living with them when he cannot provide them with money. Therefore his line of thinking continues with the idea that in his death he can give them a lot more financial support than he could in his life time. Following his logic this is to say that he is a much better husband and father, dead than alive. In the play there is a rather optimistic part, where the future of the Loman family seems rather good. Willy is about to see his boss for a non-traveling position and his sons have the plan to open a sports article retailing business. All of these hopes for a better future get crushed at once and the way to Willy's suicide is free. In a last vision of Ben, Willy sees a new hope at least for his sons in his life insurance money and therefore his death. Ben encourages him in this unspoken intention Willy takes the last step and drives into the next tree. Willy Loman, husband and father is driven to his suicide by a perverted version of the American dream. His view of success and self-realization has reduced to a materialistic meaning. All he can see is his failure in providing his family with a good financial situation. His real failure, though, is not to see what he has in his family and what else he can give them besides money. â€Å"Death of a Salesman† by Arthur Miller A play in which the title is significant but not obviously so is â€Å"Death of a Salesman† by Arthur Miller. In â€Å"Death of a Salesman† Miller explores the capitalism of 1940s America and how the American Dream does not benefit everyone in the business world. Willy Loman, the main character in the play, became a salesman after the death of another elderly salesman who could make money without leaving his hotel room. It was this salesman and how well liked he was that inspired Willy to become a salesman as he wanted to be well liked as Dave Singleman. Willy mentions on multiple occasions how well liked he was and that at his own funeral he wanted many people to be present as they had been at Dave Singleman’s funeral â€Å"When he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. † Like Dave Singleman Willy wanted people to come from all over the country to mourn him this sympathy towards him as this is a highly unlikely situation and he therefore is setting himself and his family into a deluded scene that will never be witnessed. Similar essay: Realism and Expressionism in Death of a Salesman Willy also wants to die the honourable death, which he now associates with being a salesman as he idolises Dave Singleman â€Å"He died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers†¦ † However at the conclusion of the play it is clear that Willy Loman did not die the honourable death he so desired as no one from the business world arrived at his funeral only his wife, two sons, Charley and Bernard were present which also demonstrates how deluded Willy was in the life he led as he honestly believed his funeral would be of a similar scale to Dave Singleman’s. This evokes sympathy towards Willy as he did not die his ideal death of a salesman and seems to live by measuring how successful people are by the size of their funeral and therefore his own funeral reflects truly how unsuccessful his career as a salesman was. In â€Å"Death of a Salesman† Willy suffers a metaphorical death, the death of his dream of financial success. By the plays conclusion Willy is jobless and broke. Willy has a conversation with his brother Ben, who has been dead for some time, and concludes the best future for his family, especially Biff whom Willy is desperate to become successful, would be for him to kill himself as the insurance company would pay out $20, 000, enough to make Biff successful in Willy’s mind, â€Å"you end up worth more dead than alive. The irony of Willy killing himself is that he is killing himself to give Biff money in order for him to become a successful business man however the insurance company will not make a payout for suicide and Biff has no intention of following in his father’s footsteps. This evokes sympathy for Willy as he is trying to do the best for his family however he still cannot provide for them even through his death. During the play â€Å"Death of a Salesman† the title is significant as there is a physical death of a salesman in the respect that Willy dies and he is a salesman. Through killing himself Willy hopes to provide the financial support, which he has been failing to gain for many years, for his family that is required. The death of Willy is not honourable as he desires and is sorry ending to his unsuccessful life in business. In conclusion the title of the play is significant as it in further understanding of the events, which occur in the play. Miller uses the title to convey both a physical and metaphorical death and in order for the reader to understand the ending to their full capability.

I Believe in Happiness Essay

We’re often told that happiness is an illusion, and some of us believe it, despite the experience of our own life. Happiness is obviously not an illusion, because we’ve all felt it, not once but many times. Without a doubt, every person has ever experienced some kind of unhappiness. This is a very sad feeling. We always feel unhappy when we get sad news, or experience sad situations. I believe that if there was only happiness in this world, then all our worries and tears would be washed away. There would be no miseries, no suicides and no getting involved with drugs. I always try my best to be happy on all occasions, no matter which pain I experience. Whether the pain is emotional or physical, I believe was that happiness is the key and answer. There are many ways in which an individual could gain happiness. Personally, I find happiness in helping other people or trying to resolve any problem if is my possibility. Strange as it may seem, this is the truth. I came to know this when I was 14 years old. I believe in happiness, when you make others happy, when you help them to do things happen, your soul will become happy. I believe in happiness when you see others laugh, you feel satisfaction with yourself, you felt good. There is no cause for anyone to be sad all the time; everyone should have something to turn to in their time of need. Happiness is what I believe makes the hard obstacles seem a little softer at the time of impact. Most commonly, we realize after some period of time, a few minutes, or a day, that we have been happy in the time just past. We haven’t thought about it one way or another, but now that we do, we realize we’ve been happy. That’s why I believe in happiness, That happiness occurs when we’re not paying attention to is as part of why happiness seems so mysterious. We know a lot about what doesn’t make you happy. As a rule, nothing you lack now will make you happy when you get it. Similarly, buying things doesn’t make anyone happy, I believe that money doesn’t make you happy enough than no material things. The endless disappointment of shoppers, thronging to the stores to acquire the new clothes of the season, the new car of the year model, is repeated again and again. We make our purchase, and feel happy for a while. But soon the happiness fades. I believe that money does not always buy happiness, but it is not indicated that money cannot brings satisfaction. It is of great importance to deal with money more carefully and appropriately. I believe in happiness, the feeling that we can create everyday and without money, if you help other, if you make a difference you will continue patters for a better life and for a better future.

Compare and Contrast Beka Lamb and Miguel Street Essay

Most writers of the Caribbean have been preoccupied by particular themes and have adhered to mutual tracks, while often contrasted in approach and writing. The possibility or impossibility of the account of one’s story, when the very concept of the individual has been crushed by slavery and colonisation, the circumstances of advent of a new Caribbean identity, the analysis of the past, writing in exile and lastly, landscape and nature: where the environment or surrounding tells the story, is an essential basis of examination of oneself and one’s community. Writers have also frequently concentrated on former oral and social customs, so as to examine carefully the fragment they assimilate in the advancement of modern-day society and consciousness. In both Miguel Street and Beka Lamb the impact of colonisation that influenced the major themes such as the issue of identity, exile and migration, and women, will be epitomised by comparing and contrasting. Beka Lamb was issued in 1982, the year subsequent to independence, but it portrays to the reader somewhat of the late 1970s, right between the political melee that conflicted the British Crown and Guatemala, a country whose territorial prerogatives on British Honduras had been extensively deliberated on the Belizean community. The social jeopardy that Edgell produces consist of the indigenous peril that Creoles, harbour, from the increasing Hispanic populace and the socioeconomic hindrances that Creoles experience as they endeavour to ascend from inferior to intermediate status–all in the wider perspective of Belize upgrading from just a society to an independent state. Zee Edgell gives the impression of hope, that, through suitable discipline, Creoles can equally redeem their rank in the Belizean indigenous hierarchy and also journey from lowly to more proficient professions–and without negotiating too much of their affluent ethnic heritage. During the course of the novel Belize is publicised as a country still vacillating between its embryonic national consciousness and a post-colonial viewpoint, a country wedged amid contrasting but pre-determined visions of itself. It is in this socio-political milieu that the story of Beka is established. The contending allegiances at play in the country, exasperating one’s search for identity, are echoed in the central character of the novel. From the article entitled, â€Å"The Wake in Caribbean Literature: a Celebration of Self-knowledge and Community† says, One of the best examples in Caribbean fiction of the dialectic relationship between the individual and society, between the child and its community is reverberated through the protagonist of the novel. Politics and community life are much more in the novel than a mere backdrop for an individual life-story. They are the inner landscape of every individual, of every child in Belize society, and Beka’s quest for a viable identity, for a consistent self-image, reflects a collective undertaking (Misrahi-Barak, Judith). In the introduction of â€Å"Caribbean Women Writers†, it says, The figure of the grandmother is an obvious emblem of the continuing influence of the past as pervasive in Caribbean women’s fiction, often like Velma Pollard’s ‘Gran’ who is a master baker, recollected in terms of a practical skill: Ma Chess in Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John is a healer †¦ Granny Ivy in Zee Edgell’s Beka Lamb or the grandmother in Dionne Brands’s short story ‘Photograph’, or an association with its rural beauty, like Ma in Merle Hodge’s Crick Crack Monkey or the grandmother in Marlene Nourbese Philip’s Harriet’s Daughter (Conde, Mary). Miguel Street is Naipaul’s semi-nonfictional description of his juvenile home, Trinidad. Miguel Street is actually a â€Å"sneak-peek† account of the innate farcicality that immensely embodies the lives of Trinidadians (a microcosm of Trinidad) or to an extent the West Indies. The arrangement of the book is layered and proposes that Naipaul could have been motivated from the people he had met during his childhood in Trinidad. It took place in the course of World War II and recounted by an anonymous–but articulately observant–neighborhood boy who narrates the innumerable lives of idiosyncratic occupants of his neighbourhood in a cleverly yet innocent way. His tone is both disconnected and acutely vigilant at the same time. There is no impression of plot until the very latter chapters, after the plot speaks about the narrator himself and his rapport with few other main characters. The novel can also be perceived a collection of short stories, as each chapter takes place over years and deals with one character at a time; but even if every chapter are unquestionably devoted for a sole character, the close interweaving of destiny of the dissimilar characters and the Street itself obscures the incoherence and concentrates on the appetizing feel of a novel. In Edgell’s novel the two main characters of which are Toycie and Beka, have both been forewarned about getting pregnant before graduation. Pregnancy out of marriage occurs regularly among teenage girls in Belize. Females are allowed to attend school nevertheless, not only the rate of education is too costly for most families, but once girls start to go school, they encounter rules that are different to the rules for the boys. In the middle of Toycie’s final year she becomes pregnant. She is banished and not permitted to come back because the school believes, â€Å"In cases like this, we believe it is entirely up to the modesty of the girl to prevent these happenings† (Edgell 119). The father of Toycie’s child, Emilio, has no consequence to face. Unlike Toycie, he is not banished from school. He will be able to get the education his affluent family pays for, and when he graduates and employment that will grant him the freedom that Toycie had awaited. The money for Toycie education was wasted that her aunt had so struggled for. Toycie will go down the same path of the women formerly to her, like her aunt, Miss Eila, whom Beka’s father said, â€Å"is a simple woman, like many of our women, in certain matters,† (Edgell 120). Miss Eila lacks the funds to supply sufficiently for herself and her family. Toycie will upbring a child and contend every day to somehow make a living. Early pregnancy causes the limited roles available to women. It produces a social rotation that girls like Beka must apprehend to swim against. The preponderance of the characters in Beka Lamb are female and the story is communicated from a woman’s outlook, which is the total opposite to Miguel Street where most of the characters are male and few were women, most of whom remained nameless as well as the story is narrated by a male. Beka’s mother remains home with the family. Beka and Toycie attend an all-girls Catholic school where they are educated by nuns. The absence of male characters is bold enough to know that the blunder was deliberate. The story demonstrates the veracity of the Belize culture. Male characters work or become learned while the women sustain the homes and make what salary they can. In the novel, the scarce male characters have at least one fault that turns the reader away. Emilio gets Toycie pregnant, and after refuses to marry her. Bill is unsuccessful in showing consistent love to his family; he frequently seems unconcerned or too busy. In â€Å"Voices from the Gaps† says The women who surround Beka influence her thinking and judgments. Interestingly, the women are politically well-informed. One would not expect the â€Å"simple† women to have interest in politics. While Beka respects her father, she does so partially out of fear and partially because she is supposed to. Beka’s respect for Granny is different. Granny knows more about life and about Belize than either Beka or her father. Beka’s ability to recognize this demonstrates not only Beka’s maturity, but also her curiosity about and reverence toward the Belize culture. Horan, Kaite). Both Miguel Street and Beka Lamb have an issue with women. In Beka Lamb the women go through a harsher punishment than the men, though they are dominant in the novel they are persecuted; under a prison-like structure although slavery days have long gone. Whereas, in Miguel Street, they marginalise the women and treat them as objects. There are f ew female characters which some don’t even have a name i. e â€Å"George’s wife was never a proper person. I always thought of her just as George’s wife and that was all† (Naipaul V. S. 27). Also implying that women really did not have an identity or could not have existed without men, who were always in the forefront and women remained in the background. In the commencement of the novel, Beka is perplexed about her identity and appears to be a very unappreciative child. Her background is of a middle class, Creole family, but does not show gratefulness for her decent life because she does not pass first form. She flat irons her hair and has to live two opposite lives: one at the school compound and another separate from school in her Belizean community. At school she has to upkeep the qualities of the Virgin Mary and is compulsorily to be completely dissimilar from the persons in her life. When not in school, Beka is challenged with the behaviours of her Belizean Creole people which creates a war in the manner she should behave internally. Beka’s life soon changes with Toycie’s pregnancy. Before Toycie became pregnant, Beka had subsisted a safe, expectable life. She had quarrels with her family and she had chores, but Beka had not experienced life. Toycie’s situation pushed Beka to face organisation, separation, and demise. Beka goes back to school after Toycie’s removal and wins an essay contest. The self-doubts Beka confronted her whole life starts to withdraw. The platform Toycie once hoisted upon is now vacant. Beka has not substituted Toycie, but has begun to change her perception of what’s on that platform. In â€Å"The quarrel with history† it mentions what one should be careful of, similar to Beka’s situation, We can be victims of History when we submit passively to it – never managing to escape its harrowing power. History (like literature) is capable of quarrying deep within us, as a consciousness or the emergence of a consciousness, as a neurosis (symptom of loss) and a contraction of the self (Baugh, Edward). The seventeen chapters of Miguel Street are often referred to separately as short stories, but read as a novel they create a Bildungsroman (as well as in Beak Lamb)—in the European practice, a novel of edification or development—that traces its protagonist’s progress toward manhood, climaxing in the protagonist discovering his place in the world. Also the apparent template sublimely suggested of what a man should be in nearly most of the chapters of Miguel Street. Naipaul arrogates this European custom to comment upon the advent of Trinidad as an independent nation. â€Å"Bogart,† the first story, ends with what could be called Miguel Street’s ‘thesis’: after forsaking two women, one of whom has borne him a child; becoming a drunkard â€Å"They had never seen Bogart drink so much† (Naipaul, V. S. 13); Bogart finally returns to Miguel Street â€Å"‘To be a man, among we men’† (Naipaul, V. S. 16). It is understood, in the opening of chapter three that Popo is a carpenter who does not really create anything that could be categorized as furniture or architecture except the â€Å"little galvanised-iron workshop below the mango tree behind his yard† (Naipaul, V. S. 17). The men of the street mock him for not only the fact that he is an imitation carpenter but also, his wife is out performing all of the work whereas he sits at home constructing things with no name and drinking rum. In fact, Hat parallels him to a â€Å"man-woman. Not a proper man (Naipaul, V. S. 19). However, a little further down in the chapter Popo’s wife leaves him for another man and on one occasion he grows irritated enough to get the urge to â€Å"beat up everybody† and remain drunk all the time, and then the men decided to accept Popo as a man after all and acknowledged him as a â€Å"member of the gang† (Naipaul, V. S. 21). Hat says â€Å"We was wrong about Popo. He is a man like any of we† (Naipaul, V. S. 21). It becomes distinct that to almost all of the men, exhibiting hostility, being tangibly violent and masking oneself in drunken sorrows is what sanctions one as a man. It appears that they are not very fond of neither the â€Å"sensitive type† nor the â€Å"poetic type. † After looking at Popo and his circumstances, it becomes distinct to that narrator that to be accepted as a real man, it is imperative to demand one’s respect, even at the cost of others. The deification that Popo receives when he takes his wife back from the new man, is training the narrator that men similar to Bogart or ‘takers’ such as men in the situation of Popo get all the admiration while the characters such as B. Wordsworth are not given the same respect and involuntary hide-off; absent from the other men similar to B.  Wordsworth did before his passing. Hat was the main father figure of the entire novel who was mentioned in almost in every chapter. He had gone to jail (Naipaul, V. S. 207), He was always getting himself into trouble with the police. â€Å"A little cockfighting here, some gambling there, a little drinking somewhere else and so on† (Naipaul, V. S. 204) were all considered factors to be a ‘man among men’. Later in both novels we can see where both Beka and the unnamed narrator finds their identity. Beka Lamb turns into a self-created, self-governing young lady by the conclusion of the novel. Her identity and, by insinuation, the identity of the New Belize — is composite and subtly drawn. On the social level, one is enthralled by Beka’s seeming lack of friends on Cashew Street and at school, succeeding Toycie’s death. Replacing Toycie, Beka makes friends only with a Mayan girl, Thomasita Ek, who is also an foreigner at St. Cecilia’s Academy. On a national scale, that friendship lacks much real importance, since the Mayas lean towards being so traditionally and geographically isolated from urban tradition that no spot-on, long-lasting ethnic conflict has thereby been associated. Beka at the end of the novel gives the impression being composed to become a â€Å"nun† in the service of her homeland. Her essay, after all, dealt with the history of Belize. She composed it for the period of National Day. The day the petitioners were incarcerated, was the day she had won the prize. It was always her dream to be a politician, and at the politics-laden St. George’s Caye, she practiced to become such. Then it can be observed where the narrator in Miguel Street also grows up and finds his identity. He is no longer astonished by Popo who keeps building this thing without a name. He does not look up to Hat after he goes to jail. The narrator leaves Miguel Street as a ceremony of growing up. â€Å"You must get over this†, I said to my mother, â€Å"Is not my fault really. Is just Tr inidad. What else anybody can do here except drink? † (Naipaul, V. S. 216). He comes to reality and begins to ponder of what he wants to become in the future. He decides on becoming an Engineer and sticks with it regardless that his mother wants him to pursue law.

Much ado about nothing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Much ado about nothing - Essay Example The theme of love is strongly emphasised in the play Much Ado About Nothing. Indeed the way by which Benedick and Beatrice fall in love itself is a very good example for this, since it was through a prank played by their friends that make them to fall in love. The same kind of incidents happens in today’s life, where love conquers the hearts of many people and they live together a happy married life. Women have been made victims of social injustice, right from the past civilisations to this age. This theme has also been very strongly dealt with in the play, which reflects upon the beliefs of society. The way the lady Hero was suspected of having an illicit relationship is even present in today’s life, wherein women are suspected by their men. (Much Ado About Nothing) The relationship between men and women in this play is another very interesting factor, which gives momentum to the play. It is very interesting to note that Benedick and Beatrice, who had been bitter enemi es at the beginning, fall into love with each other due to change of events. At the same time Claudio and Hero who fall into love initially, start to hate each other due to deceit and change in circumstances. Thus the play brings forward the truth behind the complexity of relationship, that underlies between men and women and the way it affects each one of them. . (Much Ado About Nothing) Gender is one main factor in this play. The characters have a set of expected characteristics, which they are supposed to follow due to pressures of the society. As a result the female characters in the play strictly pursue the set of norms and rules set by the opposite sex, which very well brings out their limitations. The only exception to this has been the character Beatrice, who seems to be quite outspoken and is against the concept of marriage in her life. But it is found that towards the end of the play, she too accepts the role of becoming wife to Benedick. (Much Ado About Nothing) Paternali sm has a big role in the movie. It is evident in the case of Leonato, who exercises his power on his daughter Hero, to accept the marriage proposal of Claudio, brought about by the Prince. Paternalism is felt quite strongly in the play, since Benedick feels that, the outspoken Beatrice is crossing limits by making fun of him. He feels that noble ladies have to be silent and humble before men. In the case of Claudio and Hero who were already in love, it can be said that, they would have a good marriage and their relationship would last long. Except for an occasion wherein they were tricked by Don John, on all other occasions they were quite passionate lovers. The same was not in the case of Benedick and Beatrice, who had been tricked into believing that each one of them was in love with the other. Both of them could not get along with each other and Benedick always used to keep a distance from Beatrice due to her outspoken behaviour, at the very beginning. So their marriage would not be a happy one considering each one’s character. (Much Ado About Nothing) The play Much Ado About Nothing gives a very good reflection, about how well both men and women understand about each other. Indeed the character of Benedick very well shows that, he very little understands the feminine nature of care and love. Only when he is falsely led to believe that Beatrice is in love with him, that he starts to realise the concept of love and affection and starts to understand the qualities of women. The same in the case of Beatrice who initially feels that, men are dominant in the society due to which, she does not like to marry and become a slave to a man. Faithfulness on the part of women towards their men is a theme, which has been very well portrayed in the movie. The depth of love that a woman has for a man is not understood by the characters in the play, which is very much evident in the character of Claudio, who starts to suspect his lover Hero’s faithfulness towa rds him. This is one aspect that causes the unfortunate turn of events, causing a

Ethics Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethics Assignment - Essay Example The major similarity between these associations is that they uphold the value of safety, competence, faithfulness, integrity, responsibility and honorably. Both the codes of conduct require engineers to be concerned about the public safety, welfare and health. Therefore, they should make decisions that do not harm the public whatsoever. Besides, they should act as competent professionals who only conduct services in which they were educated. Moreover, they should be honest people who do not engage in any deceptive act, but to be truthful to their employers and trustees so as to avoid any conflict of interest. Lastly, these codes of ethics require engineers to be honorable, lawful and responsible professionals who conduct themselves honorably to gain reputation and respect from the society. However, the only difference between these codes of ethics is that ASCE provides a close that advocate for career growth and development. Members of the ASCE are encouraged to continue with education and develop their careers. This can help in adding value to themselves and making them much better each day. So, these are the positions held by the codes of ethics of these engineering associations. Since hey are meant for the benefit of professionals and the general public, they need to be strictly adhered to without any unnecessary

Zetioun, the Man Who Quit Money and the Hero With a Thousand Faces Essay

Zetioun, the Man Who Quit Money and the Hero With a Thousand Faces - Essay Example th three main stages: the hero’s departure from the common world (his/her community), the hero’s initiation into the new or strange world and finally the hero’s return to the normal and former lands where they use the skills built up while in the foreign world to help their communities. â€Å"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man (Campbell 15).† A close examination of the two books â€Å"Zietoun† by Eggers and â€Å"The man who quit money† by Sundeen clearly fit in the category of mythical stories described here as they reveal the controversial lives of the two main characters Zeitoun and Suelo away from their homes where they battle life out to make ends meet. Zeitoun is said to have come from Syria to live in America where he meets his wife Cathy Zeitoun, a Christian- Muslim convert and with whom they later bear children. Suelo on the other hand abandons his home in America where he worked as a cook, traverses the deserts of Utah and resides within the caves in the desert far from his fellow bipeds, a decision which later on sterns his long term friend. â€Å"In the twenty first year of the twenty first century, a man standing by the highway in the middle of America pulled from his pocket his life savings- thirty dollars- lay it in a phone booth and walked away (Sundeen 1).† The beginning of Suelo and Zeitoun’s stories, narrating how they left their original homelands, went and lived in foreign spheres conforms to Campbell’s mythical format at the first stage where the hero leaves his home and settles in a foreign land on a call to adventure. According to Campbell, the hero often experience several trials while in the strange world as part of initiation into the new world, which they must always overcome. These challenges define the

Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address Essay

Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address - Essay Example This clearly indicates that almost all thoughts are self-centered, which gets in the way of appropriate thinking as per the author’s argument. All points that the author presents make sense. Wallace is correct when he maintains that thinking should be acquiring the capacity to exercise some sense of control with respect to what people think. This can also be said to be being conscious of what to pay attention to as well as choosing how to construct meaning from life’s experiences. These claims are correct. In addition, people should interpret the real meaning of education as a way of guiding people on how to live consciously and how to avoid being a slave to the default setting. For instance, Wallace states that the default setting makes people think that daily activities such as daily traffic and lengthy queues at supermarket checkouts are frustrating. If a person views this situation as still frustrating to the other people in the supermarket queues, there would be a sense of appropriate thinking. I can confirm that traffic and supermarket queues are the most frustrating experiences for me. I think people should alter their modes of thinking. This is because even the other person could be thinking that I am in their way. In fact, maybe â€Å"the Hummer that just cut me off is maybe being driven by a father whose little child is hurt or sick in the seat next to him, and he's trying to get this kid to the hospital, and he's in a bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am: it is actually I who am in HIS way†.

Tourism in morocco and how americans see morocco as a touristic Essay

Tourism in morocco and how americans see morocco as a touristic destination - Essay Example Notably, the same trend was visible in the case of Americans too. As Kiesnoski (2008) points out, there was a 30% rise in the number of American tourists to Morocco on an annual basis since 2008 and it seems that America has been hostile to Morocco all along. However, the situation is improving due to a number of reasons. As such, this paper seeks to critically evaluate the perceptions held by the Americans towards this country and the measures that can be implemented by Morocco in order to attract American tourists. Basically, Morocco is different from the other Middle East nations as a result of different cuisine and traditions. Morocco has the relics of Arab, French, Spanish and Portuguese traditions. As a result of these favorable conditions one can see that the nation is not as calamitous as its Middle East neighbors. Admittedly, Morocco has relatively good relations with the U.S. from the 1950s and the US Government has been working along with the Moroccan authorities to improve the lives of Moroccans. While other nations were turned upside down by citizens calling for revolution, and as the rulers of those nations retorted with military and weapon resulting in mass killings, Morocco witnessed peaceful agitations which are legally allowed and a peaceful referendum from the King offering limited monarchic power. Coskun (2011) posits to the effect that another important point is that unlike other Islamic nations which want to end the rule of monarchs, the majority of the electorate in Morocc o expressed total trust in the King. Thus, according to The Financial Times (2011) report, by adopting a constitutional monarchy like that of Spain or the UK, which is politically open and economically liberal, Morocco stands farther ahead of its Arab companions. Morocco always attracted different types of tourists due to its diversity in cultural tourism it offered. Tourists to Morocco get a chance to experience the various languages, cultures, dresses, and lifestyles

Walmart overall financial health slp bus 305module 4 Essay

Walmart overall financial health slp bus 305module 4 - Essay Example So it gives you a look ahead at what to expect in terms of interest rates (Woodruff). Inflation is another aspect that would affect the organization. When the prices of essential commodities like rice, wheat, cooking gas go up and people spend more money for the same goods and services then it is inflation. Essentially inflation indicates that the value of money is going down and it takes more money to buy the same basket of goods. This will definitely lead to losses by business organizations as people would not be ready to spend such huge amount for the goods sold unless it is really essential. 3. If the Federal Reserve acts upon lowering the inflation, then it would best do it by maintaining price stability. Price stability preserves the integrity and purchasing power of the money in the economy. When prices are stable, people can hold money for transactions and other purposes without having to worry that inflation will eat away at the real value of their money balances (Bernanke). If the Federal Reserve lowers inflation by way of maintaining price stability, then the people would not worry about the prices of the goods and so purchasing goods by the consumers would get into normal routine without the fear of the increasing prices. This would help the organization benefit and indeed affects the organization

Seminar in criminology classmate response 6 Essay

Seminar in criminology classmate response 6 - Essay Example In her third paragraph, Gonzalez asserts that the defendant does not get a fair shake in a plea deal process because he or she may plead guilty without a trial. In my opinion, even though Sudnow (1965) argues that most of the defendants pleading guilty without trial are actually guilty, some are innocent. I believe those who are innocent may also decide to plead guilty because if pleading guilty is the only way that they are likely to save themselves, they end up doing it. For example, for a defendant who comes from a low-income household and has previous records of problems with the law, he or she is likely to plead guilty even when he or she is actually innocent. The defendant acts this way because of the possibility of being locked for only a short time. Additionally, defenders from low-income earning families are still likely to plead guilty even if they are innocent, because they would not want to gamble with a trial. People from low-income earning families may act this way beca use even when the state provides for them lawyer, because they do not believe in getting a just trial. As noted by Gonzalez, public defenders are known to be only accessible for only a limited time and the work they put on a case is also usually limited. Therefore, looking at it from a defender’s point of view, most people would rather plead guilty and get a shorter sentence than take their chances in court, where the outcome might not be as favorable for

Critical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Critical Analysis - Essay Example An example in this regard is the decision made by Ali regarding a prostitute. Although the viewer expects that Ali being a sensible person will not indulge in a relationship with a prostitute; the film yet portrays the opposite and he brings her home. This is not in accordance to the expectations of a viewer, so the film surprises the viewer. Interestingly, the same prostitute then gets killed by Ali. Here again, the story takes a twist that is least expected by the viewer; so the viewer is again surprised. This does not stop here; later Ali is sent to jail and at this point Ali becomes a character of secondary importance, while new characters like Ali’s son and the prostitute’s daughter enter the movie. In addition to using surprise as the driving force of attention of viewers, the movie utilizes yet another technique i.e. the use of coincidences. Although, this technique is often utilized in many movies, the use of this technique in this movie is unique since coincidences in this movie almost never end in positive outcomes. The viewers experience one coincidence after the other; every time expecting to get to a happy outcome; but the theme of the movie proves otherwise. Although the movie takes into account two different cultures to allow the story to progress, the writer has successfully omitted the religious and cultural aspects to make possible a smooth progression of the story. Apart from the slide shades of cultural differences that were inevitable, the movie does not promote cultural and religious differences as the main themes. This is perhaps one of the main reason of the success of this movie on a worldwide scale. Interesting to note is the presentation of human life as a function of destiny. At many points in the story, the viewer is convinced about fate as the determining factor of major outcomes. An example is that of the beating that the

Story of Stuff Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Story of Stuff - Essay Example Leonard maintains that people are over extracting resources leading to exhaustion of certain resources that include trees and minerals. Globally, during the past decade, 30% of the planet’s resources were consumed. This was mostly done through mining and cutting of trees. To put this point across, Leonard provides statistical data showing how much the U.S is extracting and the problems that America is causing in other regions that have managed to maintain their resources (Leonard, 2007). America has less than 4% of its original forest cover remaining while 40% of their waterways have become undrinkable. Leonard stresses that this is not due to the planet’s incapacity to provide for everyone but the fact that some are using more than their share. The U.S has 5% of the world’s population but it is using at least 30% of the planet’s resources (Leonard, 2007). This implies that it is in turn creating 30% of the total waste in the world. This shows over usage o f resources, which is to blame for the disappearance of 80% of the planet’s forest cover as the developed countries exploit resources in the developing countries after exhausting theirs. In addition, the products that are being manufactured after the over-exploitation of resources are contaminated with toxins. The production stage incorporates usage of power to mix natural resources with toxic chemicals, which leads to the production of toxic products. The modern commerce uses approximately 100,000 synthetic chemicals (Leonard, 2007). However, only few of these chemicals have been tested for health related issues while none has undergone synergetic tests. A good example is the Brominated Flame Retardants, which are known to be very toxic especially to the human brain. As people dip pillows in BFR and then sleep on them for up to eight hours per night, they cannot avoid the health

Introduced or invasive species Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Introduced or invasive species - Lab Report Example With the introduction of globalization, efforts are on the way to introduce various plants and animals to other locations. Some of the species enhance the biodiversity of the new habitat while others require human involvement and care for their proliferation. The introduced species creates disturbance as it is potentially eliminating biomass from a specific community (Hughes, 2010; Invasive Plants-- A Horticultural Perspective). The problem occurs when the invasive species affects the agriculture, forest and also the prey and predators of the ecosystem. Reports state that 2/3rd of 40 North American fresh water extinct fishes in a century, were due to the invasive species. Thus invasive species are creating troubles for the native species in a varied manner- they not only affect the space, but also create competition for the food and therefore affect the food chain and food web, thereby affecting the ecosystem. They may act as predators for the native species, reproduce with the native species and generate hybrids. In such case rare species of the native environment are becoming endangered. Some of the US invasions encompass- Enhanced trade has made an invasion of Asian longhorn beetle from China to US (1996). It came to US in a wood packing material. The beetle is known to nourish on the hardwood trees and also on sugar maple thereby creating serious menace to the US forest (Invasive species.). Threats imposed by invasive species are becoming a serious issue across the world. They are affecting the natural ecosystem to a greater extent. Keeping this in view, President Clinton endorsed an Executive Order 13112 in the year 1999 to preclude the initiation of invasive species to prevent the ecosystem. It is the need of time to detect the introduction of the species as early as possible and measures should be taken to eradicate the species before it proliferates to the alarming levels.

Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 17

Hamlet - Essay Example The role of a madman that is played by Hamlet tries to proof that the poet is a genius. There is no way that a guarantor for the madness of the prince can be provided not unless the readers are ready to hold that no mad man can stimulate lunacy. Shakespeare must as well have been insane to make it possible for him to portray the traits of a madman in the play. The portraying of the lunacy traits cannot be ascribed to the characters since they are just used as tools to portray it. This is a sign and a way to portray the genius possessed by Shakespeare (Rosenberg, P 393). The perfect awareness of the symptoms that depict madness possessed by Shakespeare appears to be the products of both his imagination and the observation that he has made from the symptoms that are exhibited by real people. The way he portrays madness in the play, is a reality as compared to the real madness in nature and very true to the nature. It is more accurate to say that his knowledge on the deranged is due to his observation and the research he had done but not from his imagination. The sincerity of the madness of Hamlet can only be known by knowing the intention of the poet since medical experts had testified that he had all the symptoms that suggested dementia. A comparison of the madness that is shown by Hamlet and Edgar in the Hamlet is symbolized by a flash of light that occurs in the darkness. This is because they are both seen to be pretending that they are mad. Edgar suffers from the disloyalty of his brother and he plays the role of a fool. This happens to Hamlet who is also a victim of his uncle’s disloyalty and he is deceived by his impersonate madness (Rosenberg, P 393). In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet, we are expected to find both the proofs of madness in Ophelia and the signs and indications that the prince was faking his lunacy. The first indicator is that the depicted madness of Hamlet conforms to the stories told by the use of the

Do you agree with the view that new communication technologies Essay

Do you agree with the view that new communication technologies accentuate gender inequalities in transnational family care-giving arrangements - Essay Example In simple words, transnational families are defined as those families, where the members of the family stay in distinct nations for a long period of the time. The concept of transnational families have emerged on the basis of the notion that migration is a never-ending process and that migration can help obtaining better well-being opportunities. Due to these principle reasons, it is very commonly observed that an increasing number of people are attempting to migrate from one country to the other. However, economic challenges presented due to migration on these individuals often restrict them from taking their entire family to their host country, and thus have to leave behind their family in the country of their origin. In this situation, the families try to keep in touch with their family members through the various forms of digital media communication channels such as Skype, social networking sites, and using the mobile networks. The system of leaving few of the members of the fami ly behind and migrating to some other country or places is determined as a temporary solution of the problem, which may range from personal reasons to the economic reasons, such as need for better job opportunities (Coface, 2012). In the earlier days, it was very commonly observed that the male members of the family used to leave their family behind in the hometown and move on to the other places in search of a better job. However, now with the modern age, it has been observed that the female members are also relocating to the other places, reflecting a distinct trend from that observed in the earlier days. Arguably, it can be affirmed that it is due to the modernisation of the world and the introduction of the new communication technologies, which has brought about changes in the social environment. This popularity of the female members can be asserted as the significant blessing of the transnational families. In order words, the transnational families have introduced a

Abstraction Reaction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Abstraction Reaction - Assignment Example My expectation changed throughout the project because I gathered confidence as I progressed with the activity. Initially, I doubted I whether I could make a rational sketch without looking at the paper. However, I was surprised of the sketch that I produced after the project because the figure was excellent. Interestingly, I realized that I positioned some of the components of my subject accurately in my sketch. Abstract sketches promote creativity because they provide the artist with the opportunity of employing a diverse range of expressions. This is because abstract sketches should not necessarily represent reality. Moreover, abstract sketches are more personal because they provide a person with an approach of seeing more into a specific artist’s psyche (Cramer 28). I liked the experience after realizing a wonderful collage that I was able to make after the project. The project provided me with good experience that developed my skills. I was conscious about my original subject throughout my sketching activity. For example, I utilized information from my source material when designing an outline of my work. This included using the material in determining the size, and the appropriate color to apply at each section of my work. My expectations increased as I progressed with the project. This is because successful completion of each activity motivated me into working more on the piece in order to make it better. This because I realized I had the potential of producing a masterpiece as I progressed with the project. In abstract sketches, artists can describe all values and concepts that they have about the world in a single sketch. Furthermore, abstract sketches are visually powerful because they combine many aspects of art including color, texture, composition and

All About Malaria Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

All About Malaria - Coursework Example 451). As studies indicate (Rietveld & Schlagenhauf 2008, p.214), malaria produces more complications in pregnant women and young children because these groups are more vulnerable to malaria. If diagnosis for this infection is not done at proper time, it may lead to disastrous results. The disease is said to have supplied by chimpanzees and gorillas to mankind. The comparative lack of genetic variations in plasmodium falciparum also testifies that it has the recent origin from some other primate species (ibid). How malaria is caused Normally this disease is transmitted to people by a certain kind of female mosquito called Anopheles. These parasites are usually found in the saliva of the female mosquitoes of this type. As described by Jacoby and Youngson (2004 p. 1123), when a person is bitten by a female mosquito, the parasite enters the bloodstream through the mosquito’s saliva and makes their way to the liver. Initially, they cause no troubles, but the infected liver then get s damaged releasing merozoites that badly affect the red blood cells (ibid). The multiplying parasites eventually cause the signs of malaria in the host. As stated above, the parasite that causes malaria is called a plasmodium. Typically, there are four different species that cause this disease in man. They are plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium malariae, plasmodium vivax and plasmodium ovale. Among them, the most dangerous one is plasmodium falciparum as it causes most serious complications and often becomes fatal. The rests are less malignant that cause severe fever at alternative intervals. Another peculiar characteristic of these non falciparum parasites is that they may get into the liver and be inactive for long; and the disease will be caused long after original infection (ibid). The different phases of communication and the life cycle of malaria parasites in the human body are illustrated in figure 1. (Figure 1: Source: Davis & Shiel, n.d.) Symptoms of Malaria If a person is affected with malaria, the signs will be visible from ten to twenty eight days of the mosquito bite. The first sign will be tiredness and loss of liveliness. The affected person will have continuous muscle pain and pain in the joints. Some other symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, nausea and diarrhea. The symptoms also include shivering and fever, heavy sweating and fall in temperature. As Ichhpujani and Bhatia (2002 p. 98) points out, Blackwater fever is another complication of malaria in which red blood cells break and release hemoglobin directly into the blood. Cotter (2001, p.39) finds that hemolysis, which is the phenomenon of red blood cell breakage, is the direct cause of Blackwater fever. The most alarming factor about malaria is that the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines. Malaria Diagnosis It is a hard task to diagnose malaria with the clinical criteria as the general symptoms of malaria such as fever and headache are common to a number of illnesses. Therefore, in highly industrialized countries where malaria is rarely reported, physicians have to order special test to identify the presence of malaria. The widely used method of malaria diagnosis test is the Giems blood smear on a microscope slide that is discolored to show the parasites that have got into the red blood cells. The slide of such a blood smear showing Plasmodium parasites are pictorially represented in figure 2. (Figure 2: Source: Jacoby & Younson, 2004.). Though this test is comparatively easy, the

Compare how poets portray relationships in ‘Praise Song For My Mother’ and ‘Ghazal’ Essay Example for Free

Compare how poets portray relationships in ‘Praise Song For My Mother’ and ‘Ghazal’ Essay Both ‘praise song for my mother’ and ‘ghazal’ use language devices to portray relationships. They use imagery, metaphors and structure to do so. They bother portray in different ways. ‘praise song for my mother’ portrays relationships as happy and fun whereas ‘ghazal’ portrays them as unpredictable and ever changing. In ‘ghazal’, Khalvati writes a different comparison to love in each stanza. ‘If yours is the iron fist in the velvet glove/if I rise in the east you die in the west’. The fact that Khalvati has done this shows that love is never the same. It also shows that it is constantly changing and can never be predicted. It could also show that the woman’s love for the man is constant the mans love for the woman is unreliable and is constantly changing. On the other hand, in ‘praise song for my mother’ each stanza seems the convey the same thing about love, that it is happy and constant. ‘you were sunrise to me rise and warm and streaming’. The word ‘sunrise’ means that the personas lover was what lit up their day and helped them see clearly. It could also mean that their love was constant and never failed as the sun rises every morning in a continuous pattern. The word ‘warm’ has also been used and this could suggest that they are always nice to each other and never argue. Heat can also be linked to the colour red and this in turn can be linked to love, therefore the persona is indirectly expressing their love for this person without facing it head on. In ‘praise song for my mother’ Nichols has used imagery to portray the relationship. ‘you were the fishes red gill to me’. Nichols has used the word ‘gill’ to show that the persona needed the other person. A fish wouldn’t be able to survive without its gills and this shows that the persona might as well be dead without the other person. Everyone would be able to relate to this as everyone has suffered heartbreak. This would help to keep the interested and mean that they can empathise with the reader. The  word ‘red’ has also been used and love is a connotation of the colour red. On the other hand red can be linked to death and this links back to the persona saying that they are dead without the other person. Similarly in ‘ghazal’ Khalvati has also used imagery to show the relationship. ‘when the arrow flies, the heart is pierced, tattoo me’. The use of the word ‘tattoo’ is the persona saying that their love for the other person is eternal and they never want it to end. Tattoos cannot be changed once they are on your skin and Khalvati’s use of the word could mean that they don’t want the other person to change as she thinks they are perfect as they are. Khalvati’s comparison to an arrow means that her love for the other person was sudden and unexpected. She didn’t know it was coming until it struck her. In conclusion I think that both these poems use mostly the same language devices, but where Nichols portrays relationships as a good thing, Khalvati seems to portray them as a bad thing.

Human Resources Management In Small and Medium Enterprises Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Management In Small and Medium Enterprises Essay Introduction Competitive advantage to a firm accrues from the judicious employment of three basic types of resources, namely Physical Capital Resources, such as Finances, Plant and Equipment Organizational Capital Resources – Structure and systems in the organization Human Capital Resources, which include the skills, competencies, experience and intelligence of employees.[1] Human resources are among the most important resources that an organisation utilises and hence its importance to any organisation can be easily understood. Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are no exception to this rule, although this aspect is frequently lost sight of. This paper examines the role and importance of Human Resources in SMEs, and compares SMEs from two different cultural backgrounds – Taiwan and the UK. Role of Human Resources in SMEs The study of human resources management in SMEs needs to be strongly encouraged. CEO/founders in SMEs view human resource management decisions as very important to the growth of their enterprises[2]   A study into the perception of important HR issues in small organizations showed that top six issues were wage rates, availability of quality workers, government regulation, training, benefits, and job security[3] The role of Human Resources in SMEs is to contribute meaningfully to organisational objectives in a flexible and demanding environment. Lack of strategic employee management is widely accepted as characteristic of small enterprises. Decision-making has been perceived to be of relatively short-term nature compared to larger organisations, making small enterprises more flexible and less conflict-prone. At the same time, this also means that the advantages of long-term planning such as greater efficiency and effectiveness are lost. On the human resources front, this means that such organisations tend to have reduced capability to attract, retain and motivate the best human resources. This becomes important in view of the fact that out of thousands of small businesses that are established every year, only a few manage to survive in the long-term. While long-term planning and HR strategy are not the only reasons for this, they are among the important reasons. Hence an examination of the HR function as a strategic part of business, and its relevance to long-term planning, is in order. In addition, the role of recruitment and selection, training, and performance management, are also relevant to any discussion on the role of human resources. Planning and Human Resources Management Strategic planning for the organisation needs to be linked to individual goals. In turn, this means that the job design should take into account the long-term objectives of the organisation. â€Å"A framework for strategic management incorporating HRM involves developing a mission statement that answers questions of what businesses the organisation is in; determining goals that are general and long term; and establishing objectives that are short term and measurable. It should also encompass a complete SWOT analysis that incorporates HRM as a functional unit of analysis.†[4] One of the essential requirements of Human Resources Planning is proper job design. Human resources planning involves the matching of the knowledge and skills that are likely to be required in future with those that it has or will have. Human Resources Planning will help the organisation to estimate critical resource requirements, plan training and development needs, and link individual goals to organizational objectives. Job design involves specifying the characteristics of the job and the requirements such as skills for performing these jobs. Job design will thus provide the framework for a host of HR planning activities that can be linked to organizational objectives.[5] Recruitment and Selection Once the plans of the organization are clear the next important issue that any organisation needs to address is to get the right staff to implement the plans. â€Å"Surveys indicate that about 25 per cent of small businesses view the lack of qualified workers as a threat to their expansion and very survival.†[6] The problem assumes particular importance in the case of small enterprises because they almost always have a problem in attracting and retaining the best talent. This is partly due to the fact that they are unable to compete with larger firms for quality staff, because it is impossible for them to match the rewards and prestige that come along with positions in larger firms. Additionally, smaller firms have a reputation for being oriented towards a ‘hire and fire’ culture. Training Once the plans are clear, and the recruitment of the right people has been completed, it becomes necessary to motivate the staff, as well as to enable them to perform their tasks efficiently. This requires periodic training of the employees. Training is important in the case of small enterprises because they are more prone to changing environments and higher attrition rates. This makes it necessary for people to be more flexible, and to be trained in all aspects of the business. While the need for training of staff is thus greater in the case of a small enterprise, it is also accompanied by greater constraints that make it more difficult for these organisations to implement training programmes. Small organisations face two constraints in t his respect: Their budget for training may be more limited, and they may lack the necessary resources to carry out such training It is more difficult for small enterprises to spare their people for training programmes. In spite of the above limitations, however, small enterprises need to concentrate more on training, as it is an investment that needs to be done. â€Å"It has been suggested that top performing companies are distinguished by their higher spending on training and development.†[7] Performance Management Performance Management â€Å"includes work and job design, reward structures, the selection of people for work, the training of these employees, assessment of work performance and policies associated with rewarding and improving performance.†[8] Performance Appraisals are an important part of Performance Management and are useful in improving performance, assist HR planning, and identify development needs and potential for promotion. Small businesses, in general, lack a formal performance appraisal system. The disadvantages of not using structured and formal appraisal systems are that appraisals, and the consequent rewards, are often subjective, and may promote greater dissatisfaction. Consequently, appraisal systems and Performance Management play an important role in determining the alignment of HR planning with organisational goals, and ensuring that a proper climate is available for the achievement of the objectives. â€Å"In developing formal performance appraisal systems, small businesses not only are able to ensure that performance management may become strategically aligned with organisational goals, but also increase accountability, decrease under-utilisation of human resources, address concerns of productivity, and decrease employees’ concerns about fairness and accuracy.†[9] In addition, the salaries and rewards that are offered as part of the employment and the management of diversity within the workforce are important considerations for any organisation. These have a greater significance in the case of small organisations. As can be seen from the above, the role of Human Resources management in small organisations is an important one that needs to be well understood and implemented with care. One interesting extension to the role of HR management in small to medium industries is the use of Balanced Score Cards, which are normally viewed as the exclusive tool of large industries. The Balanced Score Cards approach shifts the focus to long-term growth, and includes measures of operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and employee related measures. The Balanced Score Card method thus includes a part of HR Management to assess the overall performance of the organisation. In a case study that included three SME organisations, Gumbus and Lussier present some interesting conclusions that have significance for the HR function in SME companies. The cases also serve to highlight the importance of HR in SME companies and the link between performance and HR. One of the three companies cited in the case is Futura Industries, an international company based in Clearfield, UT with 230 employees. It has over 50 years of experience in aluminium extrusion, finishing, fabrication, machining and design. The company believes that the two competitive weapons that put them ahead of competition are â€Å"their ability to hire and retain the best people and their devotion to the customer.† Futura’s President, Susan Johnson’s belief that committed and loyal employees make the difference has led the company into using the Balanced Score Card method. In the words of Ms. Johnson, the company â€Å"had all the financial metrics, lots of customer measures, and got ISO accredited three years ago †¦ but it is our employees that differentiate us from all other extrusion companies.[10] A Comparison of SMEs in the UK and Taiwan A study by Lin found that successful SMEs in Taiwan place greater emphasis on soft skills and attitudes rather than on hard skills. He infers that SMEs in Taiwan seemed to have a better grasp of its human resources.   â€Å"Whenever SMEs modernize equipment, alter production processes, revise compensation policies, and engage in other reorganisation activities, they take pains to handle employees responses and feelings with special care and invest heavily in skills development.â€Å"[11] According to Hu, the Human resource scenario in Taiwan is characterised by abundance of entrepreneurs and availability of high quality professionals. Hu traces this to the importance laid on education by Chinese, and the large-scale injection of high quality human resource into the island in the aftermath of the retreat into, and subsequent withdrawal from, Taiwan of the KMT government. In addition, the Taiwanese population has inherited from its ancestors the qualities of â€Å"hard working, brotherhood, strong family ties, competition, and similar attributes that form the basis for strong family businesses.†[12] According to McKenna Beech, the following values characterise the Asian HR scene[13]: Politeness and courtesy Emphasis on personal relationship Not losing face Harmony- avoidance of open conflict Predominance of group interests over individual interests Discipline and respect for authority and for elders Normative, rather than externally imposed control Trust and mutual help in business relationships Centralisation and authoritarianism As against the above, the HR scenario in Europe is characterised by the following features[14]: Pluralism as against unitarism Collectivism and social orientation instead of individualism, with the emphasis being on national, rather than individual, interests Legal framework: firing is more difficult Social Partnership: Employment security, protection of workers’ rights, and representation of workforce through trade unions. Social Responsibility: Concern for environment and other social obligations Tolerance for diversity Recognition of complexity and ambiguity. The characteristics enumerated under Asian values represent the Taiwanese scene, and the scenario in Europe is representative of the UK. From the above, it can be seen that the SMEs in Taiwan are formed with reliance on individual assistance, based on respect for authority, with trust and mutual relationships as the supporting factor. In the UK, and other European countries, it is the legal framework that gives the necessary assurance and support to the business rather than trust. In Taiwan authority is enforced, and followed, because it is natural to the culture. In the UK, the legal aspects are augmented by collective bargaining with a recognized trade union to achieve this purpose. Taiwanese take great care to handle employees’ feelings appropriately whenever major decisions need to be taken. This is replaced by collective bargaining and more formal communication in the UK. SMEs predominate in Taiwan, whereas larger firms represent the more prevalent form of business in the UK. SMEs constituted 99.43 percent of Taiwans total manufacturing firms in 1954, the highest level ever recorded; 95.26 percent in 1976, the lowest; and 98.07 percent in 1996. Among them, the smallest firms, employing fewer than 10 persons, accounted for 90 percent of all firms in the manufacturing sector in the 1950s.[15] On the other hand, SMEs generate roughly one quarter of the GDP of the UK. The generation of employment by SMEs varies from sector to sector, the highest being in the construction sector with 84% of the employment being generated by this sector. The SME sector, which was declining up to 1970, picked up momentum thereafter, and showed a rising trend till 1994. Since 1994, the number has remained constant.[16] As can be seen from these figures, the SME sector is less dominant in the UK than in Taiwan. Why Human Resources are important in firms The resource-based view of organisations explains variations in firm performance by variations in firms human resources and capabilities[17] Firms can gain competitive advantage by generating specific knowledge and skills that are difficult to imitate. This can be achieved through human capital development. The importance of Human Resource Development in small firms is thus self-evident – they help the firms to succeed by being competitive. In a study of more than 100 small enterprises in two towns from Germany, Rauch et al found that â€Å"human resources are essentially important and an optimal utilization of skills and knowledge increases small business growth.† [18] In order to harness this important resource and ensure it gives the best returns, an organisation needs to select its employees with care. It is expected that as firms grow, the skills and abilities required to perform various functions and activities no longer would be available from the familiar and informal recruitment sources preferred by the owner-manager[19] Apart from recruitment, other functions such as Training and Development, Performance Appraisal, and formal procedures and documentation help the organisation in improving efficiency. According to Kotey and Slade, â€Å"Benefits of formal HRM practices include meeting legal requirements, maintaining records in support of decisions in the event of litigation, treating employees fairly, and increasing efficiency.† [20] A study by Kotey and Slade involving more than 1300 small firms in Australia showed that as firms grow they tend to introduce formal HR practices and procedures. In the words of the authors, â€Å"While the analyses show that a significant percentage of SMEs implement formal HRM practices with growth, HRM remains informal in the majority of firms, particularly in small firms. It could be that implementation of formal HR structures and procedures necessary to support growth differentiates successful from unsuccessful SMEs.†[21] In a small organisation, people need to be more flexible and undertake a greater variety of jobs. This needs both motivation and skills. In turn, many employees may get better exposure and greater opportunities to learn and shoulder higher responsibilities in a small firm. All of these underline the importance of Human Resources Management in organisations, particularly small firms. The HRM model is â€Å"composed of policies that promote mutual goals, influence, respect, rewards and responsibility between employees in the organisation.†[22] These policies are promoted by practices such as team working, aligning performance objectives with organisational goals, and a flat organisation structure, all of which can be achieved only through a proper Human Resources Management in the organisation. Survey Research findings have confirmed the theoretical position with the conclusion that good HR systems is a source of competitive advantage. One study has shown that higher performance in a number of areas is correlated to good HR systems and practices. Companies that had significantly higher ratings on their HR practices also reported better market value, higher accounting profits, higher growth rates, better sales per employee, and lower employee turnover. Another study has found that newly started companies had a better survival rate if they had good HR practices. The probability of survival was found to vary by as much as 42% between the firms with the best HR practices and rewards, and those with the worst. Yet another study found that performance of the organisation was strongly linked with practices such as acquisition and development of skilled people, better job design, better autonomy, and positive employee attitude. All these studies clearly show that good HR could positively impact organisational performance practices, highlighting the importance of Human Resources in an organisation. Apart from improving performance good HR practices result in lower costs, while poor practices increase the costs to the organization. One of the contributing factors for this is the cost of employee turnover. â€Å"Interviewing and training recruits has significant out-of-pocket costs for the employer.† Replacing an employee involves expenses for Separation, Replacement, and Training. [23] Employee turnover costs can be divided into three major elements: Separation costs: These are the costs that are directly incurred when an employee leaves the firm, and include such costs as exit interviews, administrative and paperwork costs, disbursement of separation benefits, and revenues lost due to shortage of staff. Replacement Costs: These represent the cost of replacing the employee who has left and include the costs of advertising, sourcing, interviewing and selection. Training Costs: These are the costs that the company incurs for training and induction of a new employee. Apart from the actual expenditure on these activities, the costs of loss of efficiency in the initial stages, and the time lost during the training period should also be considered. Thus employee turnover could represent a fairly high cost to the organisation. Employee turnover can be classified into avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Most of the avoidable turnover results from lack of proper HR initiatives.[24] How Good/Bad employees affect the firm â€Å"A good employee is possibly the most valuable asset a small firm or SME can possess; a bad one could ruin the enterprise.†[25] Any firm, and more importantly a small firm, can ill afford to have people who do not perform. Robert Townsend, a noted Management expert was once asked the secret behind his ability to take over loss making firms, and changing them into profitable ones. The reply that he gave will be of interest to anyone asking how good or bad employees make or mar the firm. Mr. Townsend identified three factors that contributed to his success: Releasing the potential of employees so that they could perform at much higher levels by the practice of appropriate management styles Identifying people within the organisation who were blocking progress and preventing others from performing, and either changing their ways, or dismissing them Identifying people who had the ability and drive to take the company to greater heights, and promoting them. It can be seen that this highly successful Management practitioner reduced success to three simple rules, namely, eliminating deadwood, promoting and encouraging those with potential and creating the right climate in the company. This clearly shows that apart from creating the right environment, the most important requirement for success is the quality of people. Good people could transform a loss making company into a profitable one.[26] â€Å"Whether a firm is small or large, its only as good as its staff.†[27] This can be easily understood because the employees of the organisation make the vital difference between good and poor performance in every area. Apart from the demonstrated effect that this has on the firm’s performance, which has been cited earlier, this also stands to reason. A company depends on coordinated working by its employees towards a common goal to achieve its objectives. In order to meet these objectives, the organisation has to do what it does well. In other words, the competence of its employees should be good if it wants to achieve results. Secondly, the soft skills of the employees are important to achieve internal teamwork as well as to nurture customers with excellent performance and service. Thirdly, the employees of the company need to work efficiently if it is to have a healthy bottom line. All these objectives can be achieved only with good employees who know their job and possess the necessary hard skills, have the necessary soft skills, and are committed to the company’s success. In other words, a company needs good employees who have the right levels of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Conclusion Human Resources Management in Small-to-medium industries has been gaining a lot of attention lately. There is increased awareness among many of the SME entrepreneurs themselves about the importance of good HR practices and policies. It has been shown that organisations having formal Human Resources practices grow faster, and are more profitable, than those that do not do so. A comparison between SMEs in two countries, namely Taiwan and the UK, shows that the SME sector is more predominant in Taiwan, which is characterized by a culture that lays greater emphasis on group working, respect for authority, and mutual trust. This is contrasted by the UK situation where the SME sector is les pervasive, and the HR climate is characterised by formal and legal supports, collectivism, and social responsibility. Although the two situations are quite different from each other, the importance of formal HR systems in the SME segment is being recognised in both cases, and seem to affect performance positively, irrespective of the background. Works Cited A Causal Analysis. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 29(6): 2005: 681+. Bennett, Roger. Small Business Survival: Strategies for Delivering Growth and Staying Profitable: Second Edition. London, Financial Times Management, 1998. Burns, Paul. Entrepreneurship and Small Business. New York, Palgrave, 2001. Griffith, Roger W and Hom, Peter W. Retaining Valued Employees. London, Sage Publications, 2001. Gumbus, Andra, and Robert N. Lussier. Entrepreneurs Use a Balanced Scorecard to Translate Strategy into Performance Measures. Journal of Small Business Management 44(3): 2006: 407+. Heneman, Robert L., Judith W. Tansky, and S. Michael Camp. Human Resource Management Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Unanswered Questions and Future Research Perspectives. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 25 (1): 2000: 11. Holbeche, Linda. Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy. Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001. HRD in Small Organizations, Edited by Graham Beaver Jim Stewart. New York, Routledge, 2004. Hu, Ming-Wen. Many Small Antelopes Make a Dragon. Futures 35(4): 2003: 379+. Kotey, Bernice, and Peter Slade. Formal Human Resource Management Practices in Small Growing Firms. Journal of Small Business Management, 43 (1): 2005: 16+. Lin, Carol Yeh-Yun. Success Factors of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Taiwan: An Analysis of Cases. Journal of Small Business Management, 36(4): (1998): 43. McKenna, Eugene and Beech, Nic. Human Resource Management, A Concise Analysis. Essex, Pearson Education Limited, 2002 Megginson, David, Banfield, Paul, and Joy-Mathews, Jennifer. Human Resource Development. Kogan Page India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2001. Rauch, A., Frese, M., Utsch, A. Effects of Human Capital and Long-Term Human Resources Development and Utilization on Employment Growth of Small-Scale Businesses: Satava, David. The A to Z of Keeping Staff: Few Firm Employees Leave without a Good Reason-Heres How Not to Give Them One. Journal of Accountancy 195 (4): 2003: 67+. [1] L. Holbeche, Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001, pp.10-11. [2] R.L. Heneman, T.W. Judith and S. M. Camp. Human Resource Management Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Unanswered Questions and Future Research Perspectives. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice 25(1): (2000): p. 11 [3] HRD in Small Organizations, Edited by Graham Beaver Jim Stewart, New York, Routledge, 2004, p. 81. [4] Ibid, p81 [5] Ibid [6] ibid, p82 [7] ibid, p 85 [8] ibid, p 89 [9] ibid, p 89 [10] A. Gumbus and R. N. Lussier. Entrepreneurs Use a Balanced Scorecard to Translate Strategy into Performance Measures, Journal of Small Business Management, 44(3): 2006: p.407. [11]C.Y. Lin. Success Factors of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Taiwan: An Analysis of Cases. Journal of Small Business Management, 36(4): (1998): p. 43. [12] M. Hu. Many Small Antelopes Make a Dragon, Futures, 35(4): 2003: p. 379. [13] E.McKenna and N. Beech. Human Resource Management, A Concise Analysis. Essex, Pearson Education Limited, 2002, pp.4-5. [14] ibid [15] M. Hu. P. 379. [16]   P.Burns. Entrepreneurship and Small Business. New York, Palgrave, 2001, p12. [17] A. Rauch, M. Frese A. Utsch. Effects of Human Capital and Long-Term Human Resources Development and Utilization on Employment Growth of Small-Scale Businesses: A Causal Analysis. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 29(6): 2005: p681. [18] ibid [19] B.Kotey and P. Slade. Formal Human Resource Management Practices in Small Growing Firms. Journal of Small Business Management, 43(1): (2005): p.16. [20] ibid [21] ibid [22] E. McKenna and N. Beech, p34-35 [23] D. Satava. The A to Z of Keeping Staff: Few Firm Employees Leave without a Good Reason-Heres How Not to Give Them One, Journal of Accountancy, 195(4 ): 2003: p. 67. [24] R. W. Griffith and P. W. Hom. Retaining Valued Employees, London, Sage Publications, 2001, p10 [25] R. Bennett. Small Business Survival: Strategies for Delivering Growth and Staying Profitable: Second Edition, London, Financial Times Management, 1998. [26] D. Megginson, P. Banfield and J. Joy-Mathews. Human Resource Development. Kogan Page India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2001, p. 82. [27] Satava, David. The A to Z of Keeping Staff: Few Firm Employees Leave without a Good Reason-Heres How Not to Give Them One. Journal of Accountancy 195.4 (2003): 67+.