Teamwork and Work Force Diversity Essay Example

Teamwork and Work Force Diversity Essay Example Teamwork and Work Force Diversity Essay Teamwork and Work Force Diversity Essay Would you Identify and describe the various existing types of groups and teams In your organization? How do you identify If these groups or teams are effective as a work group? Explain the meaning of this sentence, All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. How do you comment to this Speed, Teamwork and Flexibility are the order of the day. How do you manage the On-site-Teams as well as Virtual Teams? How do you address or manage a Self-Managed Work Team? Explain how do you foster teamwork? What is your impression of the importance of teamwork in work setting (restaurant, permanent, fast food chain, etc) What programs/trainings have you established to promote teamwork in your organization. How do you handle work force diversity in the team members composition such as gender, religion, age, culture, disabilities, ethnic groups, etc. What do you do to improve teams processes, communications and decisions? How do you address Inter-Team Competition to make them good and effective In favor a common goal or purpose What are the companys secrets to make employees loyal to the company? What are he common reasons why some employees fail to carry out their tasks? What are the measures you are undertaking? What is the secret behind your companys success? Finally, as a manager, what advice can you give to those aspiring managers? 1 . What is Teamwork to you? 2. What are the activities that you implement to promote Teamwork on your employees? 3. What are the strategies to maintain the bond, relationship, cooperation, and teamwork In your work place? 4. Do opinions, suggestions coming from a member of the team are considered In making decisions? What decision ethos do your organization has? . What kind of workforce diversity do you have? 6. What is the most dominant religion exist in the organization, does the prevailing religion effects the daily organizational activities? 7. What is the composition of your team? Are members come from different departments? 8. Could you cite any team problems in your organization? Do social loafing, lacks of motivation, personality conf licts exist? 9. Could we ask one employee about to whom they always ask for help, and who most often help team, energize and dinnertime them. 10. Give us example when you were part of a team. What was your role in the teamwork? How did you contribute to this task group? How often did you interact with other team members? 1 1 . What nature of task does the teams in a certain department/unit of your company focus on? Technical demands or Social demands? Or both? How? 12. What was your companys way of formulating a team? Give us examples. 13. Have you ever had an experience where there were Issues or strong disagreement among the team members? What did you do? 14. Are there any cases that Teamwork was not improve your teams communications, skills and decisions? 6. How do you handle work force diversity in the team members composition such as gender, culture, age, disabilities,point of views, religions and the like? 17. How do you maintain the loyalty of your employees here in Disarming Water district? 18. Tell us about your experience working with peers. How did it go? Have you ever faced difficulties and disagreements? 19. Have you been a team leader? Describe your role as a team leader. Tell us about the challenges you faced in trying to resolve issues among team embers. What could you have done to be more effective? 20. Does Teamwork exist in a particular department of our company? How? 21 . Is there any problem/ challenges occurring with the working relationships between employees as a team in a specific unit/department? Give us examples. 22. Does feedbacks from your customers can help the teamwork to enhance and develop? 23. How did you cope up with such issues like water shortage specifically here in Disarming? 24. Are there any cases that Teamwork was not practiced by your employees or by the people in your work place? 5. How do you maintain the loyalty of your employees here in Disarming Water district? 26. When having misunderstanding in the team of production or in a certain area of work, how does the team leader fixed the said problem? How does it affect the production of the team? 27. How can we minimize misunderstanding in a team? How can we reduce the argument inside a team? 28. How does teamwork affect the production of the team? 29. What if the leader is the one who started the mess? And supposed to be the leader is the one who should fixed it? What can you do about it? 30. How can a leader make his team work together? How does the leader make the team as a team not Just people who needs to work together but a work as a team? 31 . For you as a manager, What is the secret behind your companys success? 32. How do you balance the roles of each member? Where did you base it? 33. How do you maintain the team dynamics? How will it affect your team performances? 34. Do you think a conflict is necessary to a team? How does it help your teamwork? 35. What are your team building activities that will help your team have rapport with each other?

Colgan Air and the Planes Landing Issue

Colgan Air and the Planes Landing Issue Weather is an important factor in relation to planes and their orientation in the sky. Colgan Air case and the issue regarding planes landing in the wrong airport relate to several problems. As a Colgan Air pilot not involved in the incident, I can notice that there are several questions that might be raised pertaining to the case.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Colgan Air and the Planes Landing Issue specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The first one would be regarding the weather conditions at the time of the incident. Often, pilots have very little choice, as the weather conditions become severe in a matter of minutes. It is clear that pilots are very much limited in the number of things they can do to decide on the best course of action, and often, the choice is absent altogether. Sometimes, there are weather conditions that leave pilots with no options. A question regarding the visibility is also appropr iate, as the instruments on the panel board might become not as useful as the visual recognition of the runway. Moreover, it is obvious that pilots have a dangerous employment where only a limited number of steps can be taken to prevent an accident. There is great dependence on the abilities of the plane and weather, and a person has to make quick decisions in directing the machine. Even though a pilot has to go through extensive training and tests, there are still times when a situation cannot be predicted, and a person has to go by the feelings and thoughts that are present at the moment. As such, the condition of the pilot should be questioned. How was he/she feeling prior to the flight, and was he or she affected by any substances? As the Colgan Air president, I would like to note some technical moments that might be put into question. As the design and technology that were used in building and engineering an airport are very complex and structured, they must be differentiated f rom others, so that pilots can see the difference. In this case, it was mentioned that the two airports looked very similar, so the president would ask a question of what could have been done differently to the layout and the design of the airports to allow pilots to see the specifics of their destination airport (Continental Connection Plane Lands at Wrong Louisiana Airport, 2009). There are many details that are important to keep in mind in order to build a well functioning and effective airport, but having unique features would allow pilots quicker recognition. The safety of people on the ground and on the plane is an important matter, and so, the conditions of the surface must be constantly monitored. A president could question ethics and morality in the wrongdoing of landing the plane at the wrong airport. From one perspective, if there is something wrong with the plane and it had to make the landing, it would be unwise to punish the pilots.Advertising Looking for criti cal writing on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since there are specific air routes that are taken, it would be improper to let the plane circle the airport and cause delays to people as well as massive financial losses to the company and other organizations that are involved in the airlines’ business. On the other hand, if the problem is a significant one and all the planes make such a mistake, there must be something wrong with the instructions or the technology used in determining the correct airport. Overall, structural and procedural changes must be made to exclude this form of error. Reference Continental Connection Plane Lands at Wrong Louisiana Airport. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/continental-connection-pl_n_955358

Smith's Accounting Tax & Service Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Smith's Accounting Tax & Service - Case Study Example Importance of Management Functions The four major management functions, planning, organizing, influencing, and controlling, play a significant role in performing the daily activities of an organization. The concept of planning sets specific goals for organizations, managers, and other employees. In the opinion of Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor (2010), planning assists the management team to understand where the organization is, how to make the organization move along the specified path, and when to take appropriate measures to achieve the targeted organizational goals etc (pp.169-170). Elimination of uncertainties, minimization of impulsive and arbitrary decisions, quick resource allocation, effective use of resources, adaptive responses, anticipative action, and integration of various decisions and activities are other benefits usually obtained from planning. According to Hurd, Barcelona, and Meldrum (2008, pp.42-43), ‘organizing’ is an effective functional element of manage ment that assists the firm to achieve the targets set in the planning phase. Organizing aids a firm to distribute the works effectively among its employees. Organizing is essential to clarify the powers of every manager and the way he has to exercise those powers. This practice will also prevent managers from taking unfair advantages of their position. Similarly, work coordination, effective administration, growth and diversification, sense of security, and scope for new changes are some other fruitful outcomes of organizing. A manager’s level of success or failure is determined on the basis of his/her ability to influence people within the particular department. When managerial individuals effectively deploy their influencing skills, they exude a positive energy that would highly motivate their subordinates. This motivation will directly enhance organizational productivity and thereby profitability. In the view of Marquis and Huston (2009, p. 434), motivation helps an indivi dual to move forward in spite of all possible difficulties and challenges. Controlling is a management function that bridges the gap between actual performance and the planned performance by finding reasons for such gaps and taking corrective measures or actions to address those reasons. Rothbauer-Wanish (2009) says that this function is essential to make sure that the business is running along the predetermined path. Moreover, it would enable the management team to successfully enter into the next phase of planning. Recommendations to Amanda (1)Although you (Amanda) had established an effective mission statement, you failed to develop and share it in an appropriate way. It seems that you have not tried to pass her visions and goals on to your new employees. For the profitable running of Smith’s Accounting and Tax Service, Amanda’s employees must be well aware of the firm’s ultimate goal. Therefore, you must give great emphasis on sharing your mission and vision with your employees. (2)Similarly, you failed to organize and control human resources effectively. You completely relied on Lisa even before analyzing the range of Lisa’s performance. You gave full freedom to Lisa to manage the day to day activities of other employees. In short, you have not given adequate care in dealing with the individual performance of your employees. Hence, it is

Logistics as a Customer-Focused Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Logistics as a Customer-Focused Strategy - Essay Example As the world of business and trade continue to expand globally, surviving in such a competitive market is no longer enough to buy the right goods at the right cost - business must also get them to the right place at the right time, and with the right operational costs. Doing this well requires the best possible logistics, combining the information that establish buying decisions with how the product arrives to customers at the most cost-effective way. In view of this, the vice president for logistics and electronic commerce for Asia-Pacific at FedEx, William Conley stressed that one of the four areas represented the future of the logistics industry is time compression, along with globalisation, electronic commerce and supply chain management. He said companies needed to understand essentially what logistics was and how it could benefit customers (Panozzo, 1999, p. 6).In further elaboration, logistics is centred on creating value, not just for customers and suppliers of the firm, but also value for the firm's stakeholders. Value in logistics is primarily expressed in terms of time and place. Products and services have no value unless they are in the possession of the customers when (time) and where (place) they wish to consume them (Ballou 2004, p. 6). However, value is added when customers are willing to pay more for a product or service than the cost to place it in their hands. To many firms throughout the world, logistics has become an increasingly important value-adding process for a numerous reasons. Looking at logistics through the perspective of the total supply chain, the ultimate Bowersox, Closs & Cooper (2002) emphasized that the customer is the end user of the product or service whose needs or requirements must be accommodated. It has historically been useful to distinguish between two types of end users. According to them, the first is a consumer, an individual or a household who purchases products and services to satisfy personal needs. When a family purchases an automobile to be used for personal transportation, that family is the consumer of the supply chain. The second type is an organizational end user, whose purchases are made by organizations or institutions to allow an end user to perform a task or job in the organization. When a company buys an automobile for a sales person or buys tools to be used by an assembly worker in a manufacturing plant, the company is considered to be a customer and the salesperson or assembly worker is the end user of the supply chain's products. A supply chain management perspective demands that all firms in the supply chain focus on meeting the needs and requirements of end users, whether they are consumers or organizational end users (p. 66). Moreover, Bowersox, Closs & Cooper (2002) insisted that the customer being serviced should be the first priority and the driving force in establishing logistical performance requirements, regardless

Tolapp Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tolapp Corporation - Essay Example Majority of the products are manufactured locally and sold through their business partners that include few of the largest retailers like Sears, Wal-Mart and Best Buy. The company has been continuously focusing on the customers’ requirements and developing strategies to expand its base in the global market. Mission Statement Analysis of the Mission Statement through the Nine Components In today’s world most of the modern companies while deciding their mission statement consider to address the nine components for ensuring strategic management. Though it is not necessary to include all the nine components however Tolapp Corporation’s mission statement will be analyzed through all the nine components. Customers: Tolapp Corporation’s products are targeted towards the household families who take care about their houses. The products have been developed to provide conveniences to the family members while taking measures to keep their houses clean and to prepare food items (Southwest University, 2011). Products and Services: Tolapp Corporation’s product line consists of microwave, lawn mowers and lawn furniture among other power tools (Southwest University, 2011). ... Philosophy: The management of Tolapp Corporation values their human capital as they consider it to be the biggest asset of the company. The management prioritizes the customers’ requirements and ensures that the products are developed and modified according to the consumers’ needs (Southwest University, 2011). Self-concept: Tolapp Corporation believes that their designing and engineering units comprise the best in industry talents which give them the competitive advantage over their rivals (Southwest University, 2011). Concern for Public Image: Over the years, the company, through its products, has developed brand awareness and trust within their customers in the United States (Southwest University, 2011). Concern for Employees: The company, Tolapp Corporation has established a grievance cell to address the issues of the employees quickly as well as effectively (Southwest University, 2011). The mission statement of the company is that they are determined in providing be st in class technologies in the household appliances with adding value to its products. They look forward towards innovating products that will provide lifetime experiences to its customers. Principles to be used to prioritize the Implementation Steps The objective of the company is to spread its business in the overseas market for generating increased demands. Thus, the management of Tolapp Corporation needs to consider few principles according to the priorities that are essential in fielding its base in the global markets. The first initiative of the management is to assess the regional needs. This assessment will help the company to locate which regions will be beneficial in terms of operating costs, effective distribution options and

Problems of working womens Essay Example for Free

Problems of working womens Essay In his book on superstition, Vyse (1997) observed that it is difficult to define superstition and its dictionary definition is not sufficient. He also noticed that in defining superstition the critical problem is the avoidance of value judgments. Unfortunately, he did not provide a comprehensive definition of his own. The following definition of superstition which is based upon the work of Vyse (1997) and Marmor (1956) is proposed: superstition is a belief, or a set of beliefs, that specific actions can directly influence the occurrence of desirable outcomes or the avoidance of undesirable outcomes when, in fact, the action are not causally related to the outcomes. More than it, a superstition is a practice or a belief that is made to influence an outcome, is based upon a mysterious or an unknown force and is contradictory to scientific knowledge available within a culture. Thus, in ancient Egypt the work was based upon the â€Å"science† of the time because studying astrological signs made sense. However, American’s decision to make a purchase in a twenty first century after reading her or his horoscope is a superstitious behavior. The question arise that why superstitious behavior still exhibit in people? The literature actually provides three alternative definitions. First, from operant conditioning perspective, superstitious behaviors and beliefs can result from chance associations of behaviors with punishers and reinforcers. (Skinner, 1948; Wagner and Morris, 1987). According to cognitive learning perspective, by adopting superstitious behaviors and beliefs it can help an individual to understand his environment by providing an explanation and reasoning for inexplicable and unfamiliar phenomena (Keinan,2002). Finally, superstitious beliefs provide illusion of control to individual that helps them to reduce anxiety. Consistent with these themes, Jahoda (1969) proposed that superstitious functions accompany uncertainty as a mean by which people reduce the anxiety and stress. Similarly, Vyse (1997) proposed that when risk and uncertainty are high or in instances in which circumstances cannot be controlled, people may employ superstitious actions as a mean of attempting to control and influence these outcomes. In American, culture has been a frequent assumption that superstitious thought and behavior characterize those who are uneducated, primitive (Frazer,1941 ; Jueneman,2001; Vyse, 1997), or suffering from a mental disorder (Fishbein, 1930). These types of superstitious beliefs has been investigated in the psychological literature, the focus has tended to be on examing its relationship with mental disorders (Eckblad and Chapman,1983;Epestein, 1991; Epstein and Meier, 1989). A 2003 Harris Poll revealed that 31% of those believed in astrology (Taylor,2003). Similarly, in the 2004 Science and Engineering Indicators report, the National Science Institute Foundation reported that 30% of Americans read their horoscope occasionally and 15% read their horoscope very often (National Science Foundation, 2004). High involvement decisions are also influenced by these superstitions beliefs. For example, the number of weddings scheduled on 7\7\07 , in order to capitalize on lucky number 7 increased dramatically in United States (Moran,2007). Including Europe and Asia belief in astrology is also prevalent in other areas of the world. For example, Kramer and Block (2007) reported that Taiwanese consumers were willing to spend nearly 15% more money for their product when the price point met to the lucky number 8. The author suggest that when people look for signs of bad or good luck or take action to influence chance outcomes, they are using superstition as a heuristic device that acts as a short cut in the decision making process. SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS. Superstitions are those irrational belief or supernatural causality: that one event link to another event without any physical process. So, superstitious belief refers to an activity or ritual which can have a negative or positive impact on the events in person’s life. There is no evidence which support a superstitious belief. Attempts to define and explain superstitious beliefs have appeared throughout Western history, especially in the areas of religion, psychology and anthropology. Ancient Greeks and Romans give it a Latin word â€Å"SUPERSTITIO† to give an account of activities they felt to be meaningless. HELEN L. PARISH and WILLIAM G. NAPHY, protestant accused Catholics in the era of Reformation because of superstitious belief. For example, Protestant accused publicly as superstition the respect of saints, lighting candles to find favor with God and saying a set number of prayers for penance. During the 18th century at the Age of Enlightenment opposition to superstition was the intellectual central corner. At that time philosophies included much of Christian Doctrine considered these beliefs like miracles, magic, revelation, supernatural as â€Å"superstition† as a ridiculed belief. In 15th century the word superstition used in English, modeled after an earlier French superstition. Actually French word, together with its Roman cognates continues Latin superstitio. The formation of the Latin word is clear, as it is derived from the verb super-state, â€Å"stand upon; survive, to stand over†, here its actual sense is less than clear. It can be interpreted as â€Å"standing over a thing in awe†, but other possibilities would be, for example, irrational religious habits, over-ceremoniousness in the performing of religious rites, over-scrupulousness, or else the survival of old. The term supertitio, was applied to those religious cults which were officially outlawed in the Roman Empire in the 1st century. A carpenter happened another deal to land while carrying a nail in the pocket which he had forgotten there. He notices that nail. After that he came back to home, watched his wife happy about something, took off the jacket, and noticed the nail again. He associated his lucky day with this item. Next day he kept that nail with him in every important event. Religion also plays a significance role in some kind of superstition belief. Before Christianity popular people believed in multiple gods, and one of the powerful of them was representing the sun as a source of light, and, thus, is also seen as a source of life. So due to this people light all the corners of their house with an Easter candle the whole year will be considered as the lucky one. So some superstition rituals as such came from the old religious activities. Due to emergence of new religion most of such beliefs had forgotten, some of them had found their place in the new world view. For example, in the times when the first mirror became available to the people breaking a mirror was considered a very disappointing thing because mirrors were so expensive that time. Naturally, people saw nothing good in breaking one. Same situation related to spilling salt. In old era salt was considered as one of the most expensive and precious thing in the household. So, such superstitions were just a way for people to teach their children to admire what they have. Generally superstitions have personal, religious, or cultural background. They do have a logical explanations is the common feature of all. When the superstition originated there key to explanation is always in world-view of the times and in beliefs. Simply; superstitions resulting from ignorance or fear of unknown and it is an irrational belief or practices. Belief in the power of magic and witchcraft are the validity of superstitions such as spirit and demons. Superstition is the notion, ritual or act that derived from such belief. Like in the Middle Age, a common superstition was that when the person was sneezing during the unguarded moment a devil could enter in a person; if immediately any one present appeared to the name of God. This tradition still remains today of saying when someone sneezes â€Å"God bless you†. Superstitions can be cultured that came from people and pass to one another. Great source of superstitions are the myths, scholars, cultures, elders, imaginative stories, leaders and governments. There are some common superstitions which have a negative impact on people are as below. Types of superstition belief. Spilling salt over your shoulder. [Is supposed to damage the evil]. If a cat heard crying, it’s a bad omen. The opening the scissors and closing it without a reason causes family problems at home. Don’t drink milk after eating fish, said to cause severe skin problem. You can’t cut nails at night. Kids shouldn’t let any one walk over them otherwise they will stop growing. Never call one back when the person is leaving the house. If you dream about buffaloes and horses its bad luck. Fluttering of eyes. Even that indicates the happening of good and bad in their lives. If you broke the glass it’s a sign of happiness. If there is itching on the right palm you can get some money or favors. When the owl sings it’s a sign of bad luck. When a dog howls, someone is going to die in the neighborhood. If we are walking and see a black cat cross in front of you, it’s bad luck Knocking on wood. Walking under a ladder. Wearing different kind of stones in specific fingers. A four leaf cloves and so on†¦. People had a lot of beliefs that directly contradict to the philosophy of their own religion. Some people claims that they have no superstitions but they likely to do something which they cannot explain. Feeling of lack of control in people upon their life, many people tried to impose structure and order on the world, to hide their mistakes by blaming luck. Passing down through generation to generation of these superstitions it can change their validity regarding evolutionary process. Some of the older form of superstitions have long been a part of lore and are now the examples of misguided beliefs. These superstitious beliefs are not valid but people still believe in it. Part of the reason seems to be just because other people tell them these things are true. Some these kinds of irrational beliefs have been around for many generations. Sometimes everybody with the same cultural background practically believes them. If the claims are not true and people recognize that these superstitions are false but they can’t stop passing them on. In spite of difficulties, many people still believe in superstitions. Culture of some country such as culture of Western country also believes in superstition that deemed irrational. GLOBALLY. When our ideas or faiths are not based upon scientific explanations, we call them superstitions. In past, when people saw the red horizon of the west during the sun-set, they called it an indication of anger of Gods and Goddesses. They expected high flood or cyclone or any epidemic to occur. It was nothing but a superstition. People are afraid of the number 13. They think that it is an inauspicious number so they do not begin any good work on this date. Some people do not like to stay in the room which bears the number thirteen, hi past, Malaria and cholera -were believed to be the results of Gods displeasure and curse. There-were many superstitions in past. They were all born ignorance. The causes of some events were unknown due to ignorance. So, people believed that those events were caused by invisible being. People worshiped stones and trees in order to be cured of diseases. They thought that some evil spirits were responsible for all kinds of troubles in the world. They worshipped Gods and Goddesses to be free from earth quake,-cyclone and flood. Sometimes they killed human beings and other animals and satisfied Gods. In India, cat is an ominous animal. If a cyclist or motorist notices a cat on the way, he stops and retreats a little. There is no reason why only a cat is feared on the way. In Europe they had many superstitions. People did not walk under a ladder which was kept against a wall. They did not start any important work if they heard the sound of thunder. A crow or vulture flying over head was considered very dangerous. It indicated death. In past, -Kings and emperors consulted the soothsayers, in their court before doing any Work. If the soothsayers gave negative signal no work was done. Julius Ceasar of Rome was a superstitious emperor. Cicero, the greatest Roman orator, lost his life by trusting the superstition regarding crows. Nature was a mystery for man in past. The functions of nature, laws of the universe etc. were not discovered in those days. So man thought himself as a plaything of an uncontrollable force. If that force is beneficent, man gets peace and lives happily. That force is sinister then his life becomes miserable. Man believed in fate. Very often superstitions are connected with religion. Indians are very God fearing. In this country, many superstitions ail linked with religion. People observe Thursday and do not take non-vegetarian food on this dry. The Hindus believe that they can be rich by observing Thursday which is specific day of Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. Pigs are hated in certain religion. The moon was considered a Goddess. Lunar eclipse was believed a § a curse of God. So it is globally proved that superstitions are still existed in our own society as well as all over the world http://www.preservearticles.com/201104265986/sample-essay-superstitions.html Objectives of the Study This study is being carried out to achieve certain objectives which are: 1. To examine historically common superstitions in students of iiui. 2. To analyze as well as highlight the reasons why most of the students still believe on such perceptions. 3. To appraise the extent of the impact of these practices of superstitions on the studies and behavior of students. Research questions of the study. What are the historical common superstitions in students? What is the reasons behind superstitions among students? What are the impact of these beliefs on the behavior and studies of students? THEORY. Superstitious Pigeons. One of Skinners experiments examined the formation of superstition in one of his favorite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the birds behavior. He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions. One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a tossing response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return. Skinner suggested that the pigeons behaved as if they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their rituals and that this experiment shed light on human behavior: The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behavior. Rituals for changing ones fortune at cards are good examples. A few accidental connections between a ritual and favorable consequences suffice to set up and maintain the behavior in spite of many unreinforced instances. The bowler who has released a ball down the alley but continues to behave as if she were controlling it by twisting and turning her arm and shoulder is another case in point. These behaviors have, of course, no real effect upon ones luck or upon a ball half way down an alley, just as in the present case the food would appear as often if the pigeon did nothing—or, more strictly speaking, did something else. Modern behavioral psychologists have disputed Skinners superstition explanation for the behaviors he recorded. Subsequent research (e.g. Staddon and Simmelhag, 1971), while finding similar behavior, failed to find support for Skinners adventitious reinforcement explanation for it. By looking at the timing of different behaviors within the interval, Staddon and Simmelhag were able to distinguish two classes of behavior: the terminal response, which occurred in anticipation of food, and interim responses, that occurred earlier in the interfood interval and were rarely contiguous with food. Terminal responses seem to reflect classical (as opposed to operant) conditioning, rather than adventitious reinforcement, guided by a process like that observed in 1968 by Brown and Jenkins in their autoshaping procedures. The causation of interim activities (such as the schedule-induced polydipsia seen in a similar situation with rats) also cannot be traced to adventitious reinforcement and its details are still obscure (Staddon, 1977). This experiment was also repeated on humans, in a less controlled manner, on the popular British TV series Trick or Treat, leading to similar conclusions to Skinner. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. Every social phenomenon needs some cognitive and concrete requirements to exist and to come into being. Development is a social phenomenon; reaching the goals of development is among the primary goals of every society and reaching development needs concrete and cognitive requirements. If these requirements are not met and fulfilled, the manifestation development will be impossible. During the 1960s, some thinkers focused much on culture and believed that if we do not change peoples attitudes and beliefs, we can not reach development. We should modernize the culture. The 244. Univers. J. Edu. Gen. Stud. cognitive and the cultural elements of the society are the infrastructure for any kind of economic growth and development. In order for our country to survive, it must reach the level of other developed and industrial society in the shortest time possible from technical and economical point of view. Such a movement requires highly motivated people with a high level of knowledge and high cultural growth. Those people who just wait for the invisible and heavenly hands, magicians and sorcerers for help and consider the diligent attempts useless could not be good soldiers for the development of a nation. Regarding the cognitive and cultural factors for the development of the society, it can be said that when a society is entangled in superstitions, it does not have necessary cognitive requirements for the true development (Sepehr, 2005). From a functional point of view, it can be said that superstitious beliefs create negative functions which, in turn, limit the accomplishment of the development. These negative factions are as follows: A-superstitious ideas and beliefs impose are involved in superstitions, the rulers of the society can rule them based on these superstitions and false imagination and pursue their own benefits and the people will be just a useless mass for them. B- Development of superstitious ideas draws and shows a very bad picture of our society to the world. C- Social problems; by following the track of many social problems, we can see the role of superstitious beliefs in their occurrence. So it can be said that if a human being places his life on nil and nihilism, instead of reality and truth, his self-confidence will decrease , and he will rely in superstitious beliefs, and as a result he will get far and away from research and finally this will be a barrier for development and growth of the society as a whole. This is one of the negative effects of the inclination to superstition on individuals and society. Methodology: A methodology is usually a guideline system for solving a problem, with specific components such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools (Irny, S.I. and Rose, A.A. 2005). Methodology can properly refer to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge (The American Heritage, 2009). It is system of principles or methods of procedure in any discipline, such as education, research, diagnosis, or treatment (Elsevier, 2009). Methodology is the analysis of the fundamentals of methods or rules used by a discipline. Methodology has the principles, practices and procedures in a field of study. It is the theoretical analysis of the methods (Gergedan,2008). Research Design: Research design is the description of the overall structure of the intended research identifying the various element or components of research, the type of each element, and how these elements relate to each other. The purpose of research design is to select and define the overall structure and methods of intended research that will enable us to answer the initial research question effectively and efficiently. There are two types of research designs which are used in sociological research, one is qualitative and other is quantitative. Quantitative Research: Quantitative research is research that uses numerical analysis. In essence, this approach reduces the data into numbers. Quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between emperical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Quantitative data is any data that is in numerical form such as statistics, percentages ( Lisa M, 2008). Universe: The element of population or area of study under research problem from which a sample is choosen is universe, or any set of indivisuals having some common characteristics, under study made universe. The study was conducted INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY of Islamabad to see the impact of superstitions among students related studies. First hand information have been collected from the students of university. Population: Any set of people or events from which the sample is selected and to which the study results will generalize is known as population. Population of study is the students on INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY Islamabad. The study was conducted in Islamabad Sample method: Sampling is the process of selecting units (e.g., people, organizations) from a population of interest. By studying the sample results are generalized back to the population from which they were chosen. The sample is consists of students of iiui. Sample size: Using convinient sampling data was collected from 100 students of INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD. Respondents were reached by researcher herself and it was requested to respondents to give correct and honest information. And respondents were assured that information would remain confidential and utilized only for research purpose. Tool for data collection: Data was collected through questionnaire. Questionnaire: In this research questionnaire method was used for gathering data. A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. The researcher was approached indivisually to all the respondents, and respondents were also briefed about the nature and purpose of questionnaire. Pretesting: The questionnaire was pretested for identifying questionnaire problems. These can occur for both respondents and interviewers regarding question content, skip patterns, or formatting. Questionnaire was pretested to assess whether the questionnaire was relevant to and easily understood by the respondents, in terms of the concepts and the way they phrased in the questions. Data analysis: Coding: Coding refers to an analytical process in which data, in both quantitative form (such as questionnaires results) or qualitative (such as interview transcript) categorised to facilitate analysis. Coding means the transformation of data into a form understandable by computer software. The classification of information is an important step in preparation of data for computer processing with statistical software. Tabulation: The systematic and orderly arrangement of facts and figures in columns and rows is called tabulation. The process of placing classified data into tabular form is known as tabulation. A table is a symmetric arrangement of statistical data in rows and columns. Rows are horizontal arrangements whereas columns are vertical arrangements. It may be simple, double or complex depending upon the type of classification. Statistical analysis: Statistical analysis refers to a collection of methods used to process large amounts of data and report overall trends. Statistical analysis is particularly useful when dealing with larger data. Statistical analysis provides ways to objectively report on how unusual an event is based on historical data. In other word it is statistical analysis. View as multi-pages

Developing Communicative Competence In Foreign Language Students English Language Essay

Developing Communicative Competence In Foreign Language Students English Language Essay Corbett states that it has been commonly recognised in the language teaching profession that it is not enough for students to master grammar, lexis and phonology of a foreign language; they must also acquire the ability to use the language culturally and socially in appropriate ways. According to Michael (1997), learning about foreign cultures cannot nowadays be realistically separated from , therefore it is very important that foreign language learners become aware of both their own culture and that of others. Michael (1997) adds that recent publications introduced the communicative approach as a method of teaching, and hail it as the most widely accepted instructional framework in foreign language teaching, the ultimate goal of which must be to increase students communicative competence. Communicative competence means being able to use a linguistic system appropriately and effectively in the target language and culture. Recent publications emphasise the significance of the intercul tural dimension in language teaching because it helps language learners to communicate or interact with people of other languages and to be aware of their own identities and those of their interlocutors. According to Fred (1996), language learners who become intercultural speakers will be successful in communicating information and also in developing human relationships with individuals of other cultures and languages. Thus, this essay aims to demonstrate that concept of intercultural communicative competence can improve teachers classroom practices and that students can acquire communicative competence whilst being taught the four basic language skills. According to Rus (2003), developing intercultural communication in language teaching means identifying the following aims: firstly, to give students intercultural competence and linguistic competence; secondly, to prepare them for interaction with speakers of other cultures; thirdly, to enable them to accept and understand individuals from other societies as individuals with other distinctive values, behaviours and perspectives; and finally, to help them view such interaction in a positive light. This essay will first present a literature review, which offers definitions of intercultural communication and the importance of studying it in language teaching, communicative competence and intercultural communicative competence. It will then show how foreign students can improve their intercultural competence through learning the four basic skills. It will then conclude its findings. 2. Literature review 2.1 Intercultural communication and its importance in language teaching William (2003:132) defines intercultural communication as the exchange of cultural information between two groups of people with significantly different cultures. Jandt (1998: 36) also defines intercultural communication as face to face interactions amongst individuals of different cultures. Maletzke (1976:39) is a little more specific in his definition of intercultural communication when he describes it as a process of the exchange of meaning and thoughts between individuals of diverse cultures. Brislin (1986) pointed out that the increasing globalization and growth in international trade during the 21st century have made intercultural interaction with other languages and cultures inevitable and necessary (do you mean 20th century? Writing in 1986 means he only has experience of 20th century!). Michael (1997) found that most countries in the world are in contact, cooperate and exchange information with other countries more frequently than ever before. Nevertheless, difficulties do a rise once more in-depth intercultural interactions start to occur. Individuals from one country will naturally be accustomed to doing things in certain ways; this is inevitable. However, customs and behavioural patterns deemed appropriate in one country may be highly inappropriate in other countries. For instance, in several Asian countries, if a guest is invited for a meal to another familys house and he / she leaves immediately after the everyone has finished eating, the host might think that not enough food was served. If a guest were however to leave immediately the meal has ended in many American countries, this would be considered very rude behaviour and the host would think the guest has only come for the food and not the company (Brislin, 1990: 6) (both of your stories are similar in that the host is left thinking negative thoughts about the guest, it doesnt illustrate your point very well). Some countries have strict codes of public conduct and foreigners may inadvertently cause offence through their ignorance. Difficulties are therefore likely to occur during the interactions between individuals from two diverse societies, particularly when neither has an awareness of the others society. In order to make the interactions more effective and easier, intercultural communication should be studied in language teaching. As Rohrlich (1987) points out, intercultural communication studies helps people to understand not only the world in which they are living but also themselves. Moreover, it plays an essential function in many areas of the community, such as government, education and business. (this is a bit woolly) Communicative competence and intercultural communicative competence Foreign language teaching had language competence as its main goal before the appearance of the communicative language teaching approach. Methods like the audio-lingual method concentrated on the language competence of the learners. Hymes (1972) criticized the concept of Chomskys language competence and he put communicative competence ahead of it. This had a powerful effect on foreign language teaching and became one of the crucial theories of the Communicative Approach that was fashionable in the 1970s and 1980s. Bennett Allen (2003:244) state that foreign language students need the ability to relate appropriately and effectively in a variety of cultural contexts. Thus, the purpose of foreign language teaching is not merely help students to acquire language competence as well as communicative competence; it should be promoting intercultural competence ahead of language and communication, which could be considered less important elements of a culture. (I think much of what youve written in this next paragraph has been taken from various sources, some of the English is quite complicated and does not always make sense out of context. I would suggest you try and put some of it into direct quotes and give the sources) Pinto (2002) states that in a foreign language teaching context, intercultural competence is directly related to communicative competence in that intercultural competence builds on communicative competence and broadens it to incorporate intercultural competence. Communicative competence refers to the ability and skills of an individual to act appropriately in a foreign language environment, i.e. in a pragmatically, linguistically and sociolinguistically way. Byram (2000) explains that an individual with several degrees of intercultural competence (explain please) is able to see the relationships between diverse cultures, both external and internal, and is capable to mediate each in terms of the other, either for themselv es or for others. He has an analytical or critical understanding of (parts of) his own and other cultures, and he is conscious of his own perspective and of the way his thinking is culturally decided. Sercu (2005) suggests that for an individual to be able to successfully deal with different intercultural experiences, he / she needs a variety of recognizable intercultural competences such as the willingness to get involved with a foreign society, a strong self-awareness, the ability to view oneself objectively, the ability to see the world through the eyes of others and to cope with uncertainty, to act as a cultural mediator, to evaluate others viewpoints, to consciously use the skills of culture learning to read the cultural context, and the understanding that people cannot be reduced to their collective identities. Sercu goes on to classify different elements of intercultural competence under three main headings: behaviour / skills, knowledge and traits / attitudes. To interact ef fectively, speakers with intercultural competence should have culture specific and culture general knowledge, knowledge of the self and others, and an insight into ways in which culture can influence language and communication. Certain skills are also required of effective communicators and these include the abilities to relate and interpret, to interact and discover, to operate and acquire a new knowledge, skills and attitudes under the restrictions (constraints) of real-time interaction and communication and metacognitive strategies to guide (direct) own learning youve lost me here! The third element concentrates on traits or attitudes common to successful communicators. These include a predeliction towards learning intercultural competence, the inclination to to relativise oneself and value othersand a favourable disposition towards engaging with a foreign society. Text missing here words believes that intercultural competence requires culturally sensitive knowledge, a skill set and a motivated mindset. Also, Bennett ( 2003: 237) stresses that intercultural competence refers to the general ability to transcend ethnocentrism, appreciate other cultures and generate appropriate behaviour in one or more different cultures. Developing intercultural communicative competence through the four basic language skills Students learning English typically engage with a number of activities that encourage their use of the four main language skills: speaking, listening, writing and reading. These skills aim to develop their communicative competence, but can also encourage their cross-cultural awareness and understanding. Listening activities Pinto (2002) suggests a variety of listening activities: tape-recorded interviews with native speakers; video-taped cultural conversations; video- or audio-taped cultural misunderstandings, all of which encourage listening skills but with a particular focus on intercultural competence. Tape-recorded interviews with native speakers White (2006) states that this activity is a particularly useful activity for practising intercultural competence. Teachers divide students into groups and ask them to record an informal interview with a native speaker they know. Students should select a cultural topic and prepare some questions for the interview on that topic (an example would be good!). In the class, the interviews are re-played and students compare the interviewees opinion on the particular topic with their own opinion. These spontaneously recorded conversations present two advantages. Firstly, they give students the opportunity to listen to naturally, unrehearsed spoken language while they listen to the answers of the native speaker, something that is difficult to find in scripted classroom material. Secondly, in hearing themselves posing the questions on the tape, they are made aware of any pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and grammar problems they might have. A teacher might also use other recorded material such as jokes, anecdotes, or songs from films in the target culture to help students feel closer to the target culture and to give them examples of how to communicate more naturally. Video-taped cultural conversations The students watch a video sketch where two persons of diverse cultures are discussing topics about the culture on which the project is based. One of them is from the target culture while the other is from students own culture. The instructor plans pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening questions to stimulate the students inter-cultural awareness and promote their listening skills. For instance, learners could ask some questions in a pre-listening stage to predict the views of the two people on the topic in question. During the listening process, the teacher could ask students to reject, refine or confirm the predictions made earlier. At the post-listening stage, the teacher could ask learners to give a critique of the opinion of the person from the target culture. After the discussion on the content is complete, students could spend some time discussing the different ways in which the two actors interacted: differences in their intonation, the use of pauses or periods of silence and non-verbal communication elements such as facial expressions, eye contact, body movements and so on. Video or audio-taped intercultural misunderstanding According to Lynch and Mendelsohn (2002), this kind of activity is useful in honing students awareness of cultural diversities. Students could be asked to listen to / and or watch a situation, which demonstrates an intercultural misunderstanding in a real-life situation where individuals are offended or confused. The students then pair up or work in small groups in order to explain or clarify the misunderstanding, thus increasing their intercultural awareness. (this is a bit woolly, an example would help explain it better) Speaking activities Michael (1997) describes several activities that could be designed by a teacher for students to assist in developing speaking skills with a special focus on intercultural components. These include face-to-face tandem learning, thinking up questions for a native speaker and role-playing. 1. Face-to-face tandem learning, or collaborative oral learning between speakers of different languages, is an activity especially appropriate to developing the intercultural communicative competence of foreign learners according to Fred (2002). A great example of tandem learning is the Erasmus plan that involves learner exchanges between the European Union countries. Students in one country are partnered with students in another. Once students have got to know their partners, the teachers arrange for them to engage in face-to-face discussions on particular cultural topics. Students are asked to tape-record all of their discussions and must also prepare an oral report on the specific topic. In preparing an oral report, students are being given the opportunity to reflect on the topic in more detail and practise their speaking skills. 2. Omaggio (2001) suggests that thinking up questions for a visiting native speaker is an interesting and productive activity. Students work in groups to formulate questions that they then use to interview the native speaker. Questions must be relevant to a particular topic such as education, politics or eating habits in the native speakers country. This activity can help foreign learners to get an insight into life in a foreign country thus minimising cultural shock when the students travel abroad. 3. (This next section is not very clear, you dont define speech act, you only talk about speech acts, no other sort of role-playing etc) According to Lanzaron (2001), role-playing is a good activity for highlighting cultural differences in speech such as, suggesting, complimenting and apologizing. Olshtain Cohen (1995) identify five stages in the process for the teaching of speech acts. The teacher should firstly assess the students level of speech act awareness. Secondly, the teacher provides some examples of the speech act in question, namely model dialogues and the students must guess the details, for example the relationship between the participants, their social status and the importance / relevance of the particular speech act. In the third stage, students are given a number of characteristic situations in the target society and they must establish how contextual variables influence the selection of the linguistic form of the speech act. During the fourth stage, students act o ut the speech act in a role-playing situation. Olshtain Cohen (1995) emphasise the need to provide students with lots of information and details about the role-relationship between the communicators and also about the situation. The role-playing session is followed by feedback and additional discussions and in this final stage, foreign students are brought to an awareness of the similarities and differences between speech act behaviours in their own culture and in the target culture. Shumin (2002) suggests that non-verbal videos could also be played in the classroom and students would describe or act out what they see. This activity is particularly useful for drawing students attention to important role that body language plays in communication in general, and specifically in the target language. Similarly, acting out short scenes from films or documentaries or pictures can be used to highlight a given cultural topic and encourage further discussion. Reading activities There are several different kinds of classroom activity that can be used by teachers for developing foreign students reading skills to include an intercultural component. These include critical reading, cultural bump activities and activities that place an emphasis on cultural extensive reading or written genres (not well explained). 1. According to Williams (2001), critical reading is reading a text in order to comment on it critically. This is a reflective activity, useful for promoting intercultural competence of learners while they practise their reading skills. Celce-Murcia Olshtain (2000) propose that in performing this activity, the common framework, which allows for pre-reading, during-reading and post-reading instruction, could be of help. For instance, a pre-reading activity could see a teacher asking foreign students to preview the passage and make a judgement as to whether the identified content is representative of their own culture or of the target culture. In the while-reading activity, the teacher could ask the students to not only discuss what is written but to also look at how the passage is describing the given topic. Finally, in the post-reading activity, students could be asked whether or not they think the content of the text would be different if it were to have been read by another reader or written by another writer in a different cultural context. 2. A culture bump is used to describe a situation where an individual from one culture finds himself or herself in a different, strange, or uncomfortable situation when interacting with persons of a different culture. Day Bamford (1998) suggest that teachers can use cultural bump situations as a means to educating students in the ways of another culture. This could be done by getting students to read about such a situation and follow this with a selection of written explanations of the behaviour of the individuals involved in the situation in multiple-choice format. The students can discuss these in order to arrive at an explanation for the bump. These discussions can increase students awareness of cultural differences and increase their tolerance of other types of behaviours. 3. Williams (2001) found that the examination of written genres is a useful activity for foreign students. He suggests that students are asked to analyse two written texts of similar genres but from different cultures, for example, an advice column in a daily newspaper. Students can gain a useful insight into the different ways everyday concerns are dealt with in different cultural contexts. Celce-Murcia Olshtain (2000) suggest that teachers could scramble the sentences of a cultural anecdote and ask their students are asked to put the anecdote back into the correct sequence. This type of activity is a beneficial one as it helps learners to establish and solve organizational problems in a given text (not sure this is of use, or maybe it needs more explanation?) Writing activities There are a variety of writing activities such as tandem email learning, inventing stories and story continuation, all of which can promote foreign students writing skills with a special focus on the intercultural component. 1. According to Dodd (2001), tandem email learning activities is considered to be an effective learning activity because it develops cross-cultural dialogue and engages learners in extended writing in a motivational way. Students learning English are offered native English speaking email contacts and they go on to develop the relationship whilst practising their writing skills. This benefits both parties as both are learning about the others language and culture. The teacher could further promote this by asking students to bring in some of the email exchanges in printed format and to present a short report on the exchange, with particular emphasis on what has been learned. 2. According to Omaggio (2001), inventing stories can be used to promote the cultural imagination of learners through writing. The teacher collects several magazines and chooses a number of pictures, which show people in the target culture in strange situations. Students are then split into small working groups and each group should describe what they see in their picture. They should also make some educated guesses as to what is happening in the picture. Each group then shows the picture and presents their findings to the class as a whole. The other class members then have the opportunity to agree or disagree with the groups interpretation. 3. Story continuation could be used to develop understanding of cultural differences. The teacher should choose passages, which ideally are narrative texts with varied paragraphs leading the reader towards a cultural misunderstanding. Having let the students read the first part of the text, the teacher then encourages them to continue in their own words. Students can then compare their results with the original text. (this is very vague, an example would help, any quotes you can use?) Conclusion Intercultural communication is communication in all its forms between individuals or groups from different cultures. Hitherto, foreign language teaching sought to develop linguistic competence whereas now, the major goal of foreign language teaching is to develop students intercultural communicative competence. Teaching the four basic language skills with intercultural communication competence as the main focus ensures that students are taught to communicate appropriately and fluently in the target language and culture. It also ensures they can interact appropriately with people from other countries in real life. The teaching activities as described above, all of which encourage intercultural communication, ensure that students are equipped with not only useful background information, but the skills required for intercultural communication, such that they can use the target language in a native way.