Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Relationship Between Facebook and Delayed Gratification

Relationship Between Facebook and Delayed Gratification Discussion This chapter is discussing about the significant findings of the relationship between the usage of Facebook and college students, how they fulfill the different gratification by using Facebook. This will relate to the literature review in Chapter 2. Summary of Findings The purpose of our study was to explore and invest the uses and gratification of college students when they use Facebook and the relationship between these. There are five gratifications which we apply through uses and gratifications theory are enhance social interaction, get information of education, simple entertainment, escape from the stresses of daily life and also recognition. Discussion of getting information of education According to the data of Park, Kee and Valenzuela (2009), it shows that students join Facebook because of the need of obtain information about on-and off campus activities, to socialize with friends, to seek self-status and to find entertainment. Of the sample surveyed, more than 40% college students agree that it is convenient to get information about their course or subject on Facebook, only less than 20% college students disagree with it. In addition, there is more than 50%, which is half of the sample agree that it is convenient to get updates of their course or subjects. There are 30% of our sample agree that it is convenient to interact with their lectures about the course or subjects, and 40% choose medium in this. Furthermore, there are 75% of college students agree that it is convenient to interact with coursemates about the course or subjects on Facebook. Facebook can be used as an educational environment, as it improves classroom practices and student involvement (Aydin, 2 012). Besides, the study of Lame, Ellison and Steinfield (2006) found that students who were likely to use Facebook to interact with their instructor in various way were more likely to collaborate using Facebook. In general, we found that most of the college students agree that it is convenient for them to get the information of education through using Facebook which is one of the gratifications in our study. The college students mostly use Facebook to interact with the lecturer, classmates, course mates to discuss the information of their course or subjects. The relationship of college students using Facebook and getting information of education, is as predicted, they use Facabook to fulfil the gratifications of getting information of education through interact with the lecturers and course mates at Facebook. Discussion on Recognition Closed-group Facebook pages are an invisible, virtual space that makes people more visible (Reid, 2011). Again from Reid (2011), Facebook provides access for students to engage in critical literacy activities where they reflect how the way they write on the page constructs their identities and diversity. Gratifications obtained from Facebook allow the users of the website to gain and maintain recognition from others – a social group or community – and satisfy their need to belong (Capua, 2012). The second gratification we examined in our study is college students use Facebook to gain recognition. In our study, we found that there are almost equal numbers of sample are agreeing and disagreeing that they share video, status, photo and others on Facebook to get people notice them, there are 30% college students agree with it and 33% of college students disagree with it. Moreover, there are more college students who disagree that they are posting video, status, photo and ot hers to get attention as well as influence others. Only there is slightly more college students agree that they want to gain emotional support from others when posting video, status, photo and others on Facebook. This shows that most of the students of Tunku Abdul Rahman University College are not using Facebook to fulfil their gratification of gaining recognition. Discussion on getting simple entertainment In the study of Sheldon (2008), there is a significant number of students use Facebook for entertainment reasons, and there are also a larger proportion of students go to Facebook to pass time when they are bored or after receive an e-mail suggesting them that someone had posted on their Facebook site. Park, Kee and Valenzuela (2009) also mentioned that Facebook is mainly for entertainment needs. In our study, although there is more than half of the sample are disagreeing that they are using Facebook to play games, but there is a significant group that more than 80% of college students agree that they are using Facebook to view photos and more than 60% of college students agree that they are using Facebook to view videos. Further, there are a larger group of college students, 40% are agreeing that they use Facebook to view article. The college students use Facebook to gain simple entertainment like view photos, video and article, to kill the time and boredom. Entertainment and boredo m were also prominent reasons for use social networking sites (Sponcil Gitimu, 2010). The result of our study enhance this, as there are more than half amount of the sample are agreeing that they use Facebook to view photos, videos and articles. Other than getting simple entertainment to kill time, enhance social interaction by using Facebook is one of the main reasons for college students as well. Discussion on enhancing social interaction Secondly, is the relationship between college students using Facebook and enhance social interaction. According to past research, most of them found that most of the college students using Facebook to social with their family, friends, keep contacting with them and updating the information about them. Sheldon (2008) found that most of the students go to Facebook to maintain relationships with other people they know. The same purposes of keeping in touch with old friends, current friends and family members emerged as the highest use of social media (Ezumah, 2013). Besides, in the study of Capua (2012) it shows that users employ social networking website mostly to keep in touch with friends and maintain relationships with geographically distant peers. Communicating with friends and family on social media sites was very common among college students and they use a variety ways to communicate like the common ways are wall posts and status updates, as well as private messages and posted photographs (Sponcil Gitimu, 2010). In our study, we found that there are 30% of college students agree that they are using Facebook to meet new friends. Further, there are 75% of college students agree that they are using Facebook to keep in touch with friends or family. Most of them are using Facebook to interact with their friends and family, there are more than 70% of our sample agree with this. We found that although not more than half of the samples agree that they are using Facebook to meet new friends, but most of them agree that they are using Facebook to interact and keep in touch with their friends and family. This shows that most of the college students are using Facebook to enhance social interaction, which is similar with the previous research in other countries. Discussion of escape from the stresses of daily life The data of the research of Dhaha and Igale (2013) shows that the youth of Somali need to obtain virtual companionship escape from the worries of the life by using Facebook. Although this study mentioned that the escape from the stresses of daily life is one of the gratifications fulfilled by college students when using Facebook, but there is slightly different with our study. Most of the college students in our research are disagreeing that such as there are 42% of sample disagree that they are using Facebook to escape from study problems and 50% of sample are disagreeing that they are using Facebook to escape from relationship problems. This shows that most of the college students in Tunku Abdul Rahman University College are not using Facebook to escape the stresses of daily life. On the other hand, most of the student agree that they are using Facebook to release stress from study problem, 43% of sample are agree with this, and 27% of sample are agreeing that they use Facebook to release stress from relationship problems. Therefore, most of the college students do not use Facebook to escape from stresses of daily life but they release stress and mostly release the stress of study problem. Implication of Findings Implications of findings on theory and practice are discussed in this section. Implication on Theory This study intended to elucidate the validity of the constructs in the Uses and Gratification Theory such as information of education, recognition, simply entertainment, enhance social interact and escape from the stresses of daily life as well as fulfilled by college students to using Facebook. Result from this study revealed that all the individual perceptions to information of education, simply entertainment and enhance social interact different with recognition and escape from the stresses of daily life. Therefore, the effect size of the differences between information of education, simply entertainment and enhance social interact were high on OFTEN. The three categories of the uses and gratification theory were high on OFTEN because there are the most usage for college students on Facebook and it is very effective for this study and researchers may use it to develop the new theory in future. Implication on Practice Findings of our study revealed that there are many college students are using Facebook to get information of education. We found that there are larger group of the college students are using Facebook to interact with their lecturer or course mates and get updates and information of course or subject. Facebook should be targeted as a useful tool to communicate within lecture and college students. Limitations of Study This study is not without any limitations. Firstly, it cannot be generalized to all college students of Tunku Abdul Rahman University College because the sample is convenient and the population is not well represented. The sample in this study are most of the students in Penang Branch Campus, the Kuala Lumpur Main Campus contain bigger population and also other branches in Kampar, Johor and so on. Secondly, there could be more equal level distribution, compared the three level in our demographics, there are 64% are age between 21-24 who are mostly enrolled in second year or higher level such as advanced diploma or degree, while the lower level, freshmen or first year of diploma who are probably between age 18-20 only consist 35% from our sample. Lastly is the accuracy and definition of our sample. In our research, we mainly focus to study the college students of Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, we distribute the questionnaire through internet which cannot define the identity of the sample, we cannot identify whether they are the students of Tunku Abdul Rahman University College. Suggestions for Future Research As mentioned above in the limitations of our study, future research can increase the number of the sample and include other branches or colleges. It can be more generalize to represent the college students in Malaysia with study the students from different states or colleges, and also increase other level of college student in different age. Other than that, an area of study worth exploring following this study is to examine the gratifications of enhance social interaction in further between college students maintain relationship with family and friends by using Facebook and develop serious, closer or romantic relationship. According to the research of Capua (2012), found that although private messages in Facebook allow the users to communicate confidentially , but still it not adequate enough to maintain serious relationships with people unless geographically distant because communication over Facebook seems to be seen as ‘cheap’ and low-effort. Therefore, future resear ch can examine the relationship between the maintain relationship with friends or family and maintain serious relationship between closer partner by using Facebook. Works Cited Aydin, S. (2012). A review of research on Facebook as an educational. Education Tech Research Development , 60, 1093-1106. Butler, K. (2010). Tweeting your own horn. District Administration , 46 (2), 41-44. Cantril, H. (1942). Professor Quiz: A Gratifications Study. Radio research 1941 , 34-45. Capua, I. D. (2012). A Literature Review of Research on Facebook Use. The Open Communication Journal , 6, 37-42. Dhaha, I. S., Igale, A. B. (2013). Facebook Usage among Somali Youth: A Test of Uses and Gratificaitons Approach. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science , 3 (3), 299-313. Ezumah, B. A. (2013). College Students’ Use of Social Media: Site Preferences, Uses and Gratifications Theory Revisited. International Journal of Business and Social Science , 4 (5), 27-34. Jenkins, G., Lyons, K., Bridgstock, R., Carr, L. (2012). Like our page using Facebook to support first year students in their transition to higher education. A Practice Report. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education , 3 (2), 65-72. Lampe, C., Ellison, N., Steinfield, C. (2006). A Face(book) in the crowd: Social searching vs social browsing. In proceedings of ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work , 167-170. Lampe, C., Wohn, D. Y., Vitak, J. (2011). Student use of Facebook for organizing collaborative classroom activities. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning , 6, 329-347. Newhagen, J., Rafaeli, S. (1996). Why communication researchers should study the internet: A dialogue. Journal of Communication , 46, 4-13. ODonohoe, S. (1994). Advertising uses and gratifications. European Journal of Marketing , 28, 52-75. Park, N., Kee, K. F., Valenzuela, S. (2009). Being Immersed in Social Networking Environment: Facebook Groups, Uses and Gratifications, and Social Outcomes. Cyver pschology and behavior , 12 (6), 729-733. Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., Calvert, S. L. (2009). College students social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology , 30, 227-238. Quan-Haase, A., Young, A. L. (2010). Uses and Gratifications of Social Media: A comparison of Facebook and Instant Messaging. Bullentin of Science Technology and Society , 30 (5), 350-361. Reid, J. (2011). â€Å"We don’t Twitter, we Facebook†: An alternative pedagogical space that enables critical practices in relation to writing. English Teaching: Practice and Critique , 10 (1), 58-80. Sheldon, P. (2008). Student favorite: Facebook and motives for its use. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal , 23 (2), 39-53. Spiliotopoulos, T., Oakley, I. (2013). Understanding motivations for Facebook use: Usage metrics, network structure and privacy. Madeira interactive technologied institute , 1-10. Sponcil, M., Gitimu, P. (2010). Use of social media by college students:Relationship to communication and self-concept. Journal of Technology Research , 1-13. Wong, W. K. (2012). FACES on FACEBOOK: A study of self-presentation and social support on Facebook. Discovery- SS Student E-Journal , 1, 184-214.

SMS or a MESS Essay -- miscellaneous

SMS or a 'MESS' As the technology is breeding over, mobile services and its application has entered day-to-day bustle. Once a luxury has become an acute inevitability. The positive influence is that it is affordable, best means of communication and contact, messaging service, encompassing range and its shape & size. All is fine until it knocks our door heavily. But, irony is that we use the technology not because of its adequacy. Instead our dimensions are diminishing and degrading with the way we are bestowing it. As you can see the above conversation, none of the words are complete except "Hi", and some of them seem to be senseless. Its a cruel truth that SMS-Short Messaging Service is growing from Short to Shorter and Shorter to Shortest. And what are we conceding in all this is a big question. What triggered me to write all this were two scenarios. a)My tutor during a conversation said an examination answer sheet comprised of some short forms that are used in SMS. b)After this, I kept watching all the mails I receive and some of the chat sessions I had with my family and friends. If we could provoke further, the results are alarming. An examination paper with short terms instead of formal, complete answers and our normal day-to-day conversations are no more in complete forms. 'SMS' was the term introduced for the mobile services with restricted display. But, what is actually stopping us in using the complete, sensible, flawless and meaningful sentences a...

Monday, August 19, 2019

Essay --

France is considered a very prosperous nation. The prosperity of this nation was mostly from the huge economic changes that were made after the 1940’s. This was because the French government started to modernize the economy. They developed new methods of production and trade through a series of national plans. Although, they still have macroeconomic problems just like every other country. Macroeconomics are economic concepts and theories that apply to the economy as a whole. Macroeconomic problems are issues such as inflation, balance of payments disequilibrium, fluctuations in exchange rates, depreciation in currency, and the decision as to whether a country should have a floating or managed exchange rate. However, France's leaders remain committed to a capitalism in which they maintain social equity by means of laws, tax policies, and social spending that mitigate economic inequality. France’s main source of currency is the Euro. As with most countries, France does their best to base their currency off the U.S. Dollar. As of 2011 (World Book Encyclopedia), the Euro was equal with the U.S. Dollar. Unfortunately, since then the value of the Euro has declined over the years. According to the exchange rate, in 2012 it was at .78, and in 2013 it was at .76. This shows that the Euro is depreciating. This follows into the matter of inflation. France has an inflation rate for consumer prices of 1.1% (2014). This apparently went down over the last year as in 2012, it was at 2.2%. Even though, this is relatively low, which is why they are such a prosperous nation. They are especially low when comparing their inflation rate with some countries such as Zimbabwe, who has an inflation rate of 8.5% (2013). Compared to the w... ...g opposed active exchange rate intervention. Hollande then contradicted their point of view by saying â€Å"reform of the international monetary system was indispensable.† He feels that France needs to decide on medium-term exchange rate and act on an international level to protect their own interests. There is the fear in several countries that single currency countries whose efforts to improve their competitiveness could be destroyed by the Euro, which has been rising in value. This fear may soon be put to rest though, as the Euro has had recent strength. The macroeconomic problems in France are relatively minor compared to the ones of other countries. Despite stagnant growth and fiscal challenges, France's borrowing costs have declined in recent years because investors remain attracted to the liquidity of France’s bonds. Thus, they are a fairly strong country.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Business in Nucor Essay -- essays research papers

Nucor Corporation - Structuring for Efficiency and Effectiveness Introduction Nucor achieved its position as one of the largest steel producers in the United States by carefully monitoring costs and paying attention to the needs of its markets. This strategy of providing its customers with a competitive product at competitive prices has brought success and growth to Nucor, in sales, income, and stock price. Recently, however, the control of the organization has been brought into question. The recent announcement of a joint venture between Nucor and U.S. Steel to develop, test, and bring on line a new method for turning iron ore into steel added to the concern over the ability of company management to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit for which the company is famous. Background Nucor is the second largest steel producer (2nd in assets, 1st in profits) in the United States. Its profits of $123 million have made it one of the most efficient firms in the steel industry. Nucor achieved that position by focusing on the manufacturing segment known as mini-mills - the relatively small, electrically-powered mills that melt down scrap steel to manufacture products. This process saves on costly labor, raw materials, and the capital-intensive machinery necessary to produce steel from iron ore. A major concern of mini-mill steel manufacturers is maintaining quality, since their raw material consists of scrap steel of varying quality, containing a variety of alloys and impurities. Another concern it the recent rising price of scrap steel. Nucor started out by manufacturing steel for the beams and posts produced in company-owned structural steel manufacturing plants and then expanded by selling its low-cost steel to other firms. Outside customers gradually became the primary outlet for sales by the mini-mills. Nucor was able to expand sales from the mini-mills by keeping costs below its competitors, both in the United States and abroad. Nucor has consistently sought ways to lower costs while broadening markets. During the latter part of the 1980s, much of the company's efforts were placed on developing technology for manufacturing sheet - flat-rolled steel of the type used by automotive and appliance manufacturers - which had traditionally been the sole domain of the big steel companies and foreign competitors. Ken Iverson, former CEO of Nucor, risked several hundr... ...at the joint venture with U.S. Steel would hinder the quick decision making typical at Nucor. Iverson had gambled by committing to the first phase of the new process on his own, without first testing the process in a pilot plant on a small scale. The next stage was to complete the new process with a plant in the United States, relying on the high level of research and development skills at U.S. Steel and the ability of Nucor to pioneer new methods. Analysts wondered whether Nucor could coexist with U.S. Steel, with its large, hierarchical structure and strong union. This challenge was especially important since the new venture was felt to be the focal point for the continued growth of Nucor. In the late 1990s, Iverson was fired by the Board of Directors of Nucor. His successor, John Correnti, who along with Iverson were the two major proponents of the mini-mill concept, was ushered out soon afterwards. Daniel R. DiMicco is the new President and CEO, but with years of experience at Nucor, the vision may or may not change. Will the new management attempt to rein in the general managers of the various operating entities of Nucor - a situation neither Iverson nor Correnti supported?

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Our Daily Bread Essay

Our Daily Bread, as the title suggests this is not about bread, as I hoped it was. Rather it’s about people earning their bread, their livelihood. The term ‘bread’ is derived from the larger term ‘bread-winner’ as the one who is the primary provider of the household, and the ‘daily bread’ is simply referring their daily livelihood. As my time spent in the US, I often used to wonder how the different food companies were able to produce mass amount of food to keep the population fed. This movie is the answer and the revelation of how food is produced in Europe and the Western hemisphere. The film starts off as we get a glimpse of daily sanitation rituals being carried off at a meat farm. The different scenes show us to transportation of livestock, machine assisted watering of plants, and a conveyor belt at a poultry farm where they separate the males from the female chickens (I know this as I have seen this done before in a different settin g). The machinery at poultry farm shows precision and efficiency as it sorts the young chicks into moving bins. The vaccination routine is also machine assisted which increases efficiency and production for the poultry farm. After few seconds, the young chicks have grown and we are shown the worker feeding them. The shot transitions into a break room where the worker is on a break with bread and tea, all alone. Next, we get the scene from a vegetable farm. A tractor picks the potatoes from the ground. Next shot, the workers prepare and wear protective gears to apply pesticides and fertilizers to the plants. But most of the work is done by machine assistance, needing almost no human intervention. It seems as the vegetables are being grown inside a greenhouse setting which allows vegetables to be grown all year long, without any weather restrictions. The only human labour being done is picking of the ripened vegetables. After work, the worker seem to be enjoying a small break, again alone. Now we see a bull and a cow where it seems breeding is in process. A closer look and we find that the workers are actually collecting the sperm. We find the sperm is transferred to medical examinations, I don’t kn ow exactly why but possibility could be to efficiently use the sperms to fertilize every fertile egg they can afford without any loss. And of course, we see a healthy calf being born. But it is pretty amusing to see how the cow was cut open and the calf was pulled out, how could that really be possible? How much medication could the animal be on since it wasn’t moving or making any noise as such? And are there any advantages of this type of birth for animal? Next, we see a series of shots of men in tractors who are doing farm work with machine assistance. This shows the efficiency that is earned by machine which helps humans achieve more with less time spent and more time to spend on luxury, or more work. We return back to the poultry farm, the egg farming room to be exact. The eggs are hatched and due to the design, they are conveniently accessible by the farmers to pick. A worker is shown to be holding a chicken as he walks around the egg farm, possibly to warn other hens who don’t lay eggs. In actual note, he maybe was checking for chickens which are dead. In the next shot, the workers are transported to a huge plantation to harvest crops growing under the ground, only time where tractors aren’t used. This is possibly the first time where machine use is limited to just watering the plants. Now we are shown our way to a pig farm. They are transported on a line into a machine where they are slaughtered by a machine. The human labour is limited to keep the line moving and in order. The machines are also used for most of the heavy work as boiling the skin and dissecting the pigs open. The human job is limited to cleaning up whatever else the machines may have left out and separating internal parts. We are also shown the marvel of modern technology with a biplane is used to fertilize the crops. There are also shots of heavy machinery usage in farms. Then we see a moving harvest truck where the outside workers are picking the vegetables and inside simply packaging them . Now we move to a cow-ranch. The cows are milked by machines in a rotating carousel. The cows don’t seem to mind so much, as it seems to be part of their daily routine. Next, a visit to the deep underground salt mines where machines are used to do most of the heavy work such as carrying out the salt from place to place and outside the mine itself. A transition moves from underground to underwater as we see a fish-farm where hundreds and hundreds of fishes are seen in a small area. This also makes it easier for the huge pipe to suck out the fishes from the water and into the boat. They are transported to a factory where humans align the fishes to feed into the machines. Apparently the machines haven’t learned to distinguish the fish head from the tail, yet. The fishes are cut and cleaned by series of machines and then moved onto another human where he puts them on another machine to move them to another section. Here, the worker seems pretty bored of the routine task he h as, perhaps feeling like the machine at this point because of his job task. Next we see bunch of workers cleaning the fish for final prep before shipping them out. Now we come to a pig-farm. The two series of shots seems interesting as the first represented insemination of pigs by tube and next shows the piglets born in captivity, just like ‘The Matrix’. Just like in the movies, they grow up and the next shot seems as if the male pigs were being castrated. One can only understand why so, as they don’t want to overproduce and give out the employees any bonuses. Or maybe not. The next series of shots show how chicken and cattle are prepared for consumption; as they are killed by the machines with little or less human effort required in the process. The final shot shows the end of the day routine- how everything is cleaned and sanitized for the next day of work. Despite all this, the workers in all places couldn’t wait for their daily bread, their hard earned break from their work. Perhaps the routine manner of their tasks has become so innate to them that they don’t seem to mind how their own food is being produced. For me, it was a bit amusing and shocking to see the conditions of animals but maybe after a few more views, I wouldn’t mind it either. This movie shows the heavy usage of machinery used in the production of food, be it salt, pigs, chicken, vegetables, fish, or pigs. It was also amusing, in a way, to see how breeding had gone into the next level by scientific usage to effectively get their result financially and also in economic ways to feed the ever growing world population. It seemed as almost if humans were not the only ones alienated from nature, but also the animals which were being artificially inseminated and mutilated against their wills. The workers didn’t seem to care much for what they were doing either, as long as it made their breads. It seemed as they had been trained to do this for so long that they were used to it- like machines with machine hearts and machine minds. In another view, the unnatural size of the bulls in the breeding house seemed as if they were so-much genetically engineered to produce the maximum amount of meat possible. Perhaps they had mixed something in the dry grass that was being blown into their small cages they were put-in. The growing population also has seemed to affect the unnatural process by which plants were grown with usages of pesticides and fertilizers. The use of greenhouses portrays, in a way, the plant’s alienation from nature as it was now possible to grow all plants in any weather or conditions. The absence of narration or subtitles leaves the movie-watcher to make their own conclusion and perspective. The filmmaker, as I understand, doesn’t want to change our habits but simply be aware of the ways in how the planet is being fed. If anything, this should be seen by as many people as possible to make them aware of the status of food production and the status of the subjects which are involved in the food production i.e. humans, plants and animals alike. I must say some of the scenes in the movie are quiet disturbing but that is the current status of our population and food production required to feed them.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Richards Story

Apart from disfigurement, other psychosocial issues Richard might face include but are not limited to sleep disorder, fear and anxiety around open flames, depression, loose of self-esteem and PTSD. Additional precaution needs to be taken to make sure Richard maintains some functions in his burnt fingers. Some of these precautions should be occupational therapy and physical therapy. Due Richard was burnt in the face, other systems may be compromised. The systems that could be affected are the respiratory system (because his nose could be burnt), the digestive system (because if his mouth is affected, then his ability to eat, chew or drink might be impeded. ) and ofcourse his nervous system as the nerves in his face will be dead. Based on the fact that Richard is losing a lot of body fluid his nutritional needs are high protein food, water, high calorie drinks, fruits and vegetable, and fatty food because fat is a readily available source of energy. Partial thickness burn is extremely painful because most of the nerve endings which detect and interpret pain and sensation are located in the dermis where partial thickness burn occurs. Partial thickness burn would heal faster because it is not as deep into the skin and therefore skin rejuvenation is more possible. Functions compromised by the burn on Richard’s skin are the ability to secret sweat, the ability to convert sun to vitamin D, ability to protect against infection, ability to regulate temperature and the ability to protect against infection. Other skin functions that should be a concern to the medical staff is that Richard’s skin will lose the ability to store blood and there will be no tissue growth. His skin will also lose the ability to maintain water and salt balance. It is unlikely for Richard to grow hair to cover the scars on his chest because his hair follicles in the burnt area are damaged and there can be no more hair growth because of this. Also the scar tissue is covering the pores from which hair sprouts. During the first phase of wound healing, inflammation takes place first. Blisters orm on the outer edges of the burns as the wounds begin to form scabs. Formation of granulation tissue will not lead to normal appearing/ formation of skin as Richard heals. This is because granulation tissue is scar tissue and scar tissue does not appear normal or allow hair growth or normal skin function. Some long term consequences include the inability to regulate temperature and feel pain because of the dead nerve endings at the site of the burn. Numbness may occur, his body will not be able to secret sweat and he might gain weight because of this.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Organizational Behavior Apple vs Scania Essay

Organizational Behavior is a field of Study which investigates the impact that individuals groups and structure have on organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving organization effectiveness. (Huczynsky, 2010) The way people behave individually or collectively in order to reach a common goal. Organizational behavior includes in it such issues as organizational design, culture, Group decision making, teamwork and leadership. (Dictionary of Business and Management, 2009) In this report two companies Apple and Scania are compared to each other in terms of their organizational behavior such as: design, culture, structure leadership and etc. The report is written based on the two key studies provided in the assessment and via additional sources and researches. The report starts with brief information about the background of the companies. Further the companies are compared by applying theories such as: Continuum leadership theory of Tannenbaum and Schmidt, Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs, Managerial grid Leadership theory of Blake and Mouton, and etc. The team-work approaches in both of the companies are highly focused, discussed and followed by recommendations. Companies’ background. ‘A truly magical and revolutionary product. What this device does is extraordinary. It is the best browsing experience you’ve ever had†¦ It is unbelievably great†¦ A way better than laptop, way better than a Smartphone.’ Steve Jobs 2010 We could not even imagine how our phones and computers would look like today. The bulky and considered luxury machines are now innovated and updated devices owned by every single person and even few by each. One of the major roles in evolution of IT technology during all these years has the multinational American company called Apple. Established in 1976, the company was initially named Apple computer, Inc, but later on in 2007 it was renamed into just Apple. The company’s products are known as iPad, iPod, iPhone and Macintosh Computers or simply Mac Books. Apple has a very strong global market position as it has penetrated world’s biggest markets. According to the data provided in 2011, Apple has 46,600 full time employees around the world and 2,800 temporary full time employees and company’s sales are getting higher seasonally. Meanwhile Apple is considered to be a very successful company with a very high performance quality of its employees. (M. A. Lusted, 2012) Another Successful company taken its origin in Sweden and founded in 1891 is Scania. Scania is one of the largest and best Swedish heavy truck and bus Manufacture Company with globally recognized reputation. Scania’s products are created just the way their customers wish including in it Maximum use and minimum harm to the environment. Scania’s products are designed to consume less energy, less raw materials and chemicals in order to have as lower impact on environment as possible. Along with its reputation Scania makes high profits operating in more than 100 countries worldwide and employing 35,000 people worldwide. (Scania web, 2012) Analysis based on theories. According to the case study provided by Robins S and Jude T.A, the hierarchy did not work in most of the companies, but it is effective in case of Apple. Was that because Steve Jobs was a unique leader who could manage the whole company by his consistent innovative ideas? At the very beginning, Apple had a relatively flat and informal structure, but later on when Jobs was back into company in 1997, it was totally changed. If before the employees and managers gathered on Friday for a beer to discuss some issues and express their ideas and even complain, after the market became more saturated with competitors, Apple was focused on changing its structure to be able to compete, keep brand and control costs. Since than company improved and became a major part of the digital world. As a result of all these, the company’s plans and strategy was no longer discussed through the entire company and Jobs was the only generator of ideas proving the complete hierarchy. (Debra L. Nelson, James Campbell Quick, PH.D, 2011) Unlike Apple, Scania tens to rely less on hierarchy having a more flat company structure based on independent groups performances with the high concern on human factors and environmental issues. For example, Scania successfully uses the Sociothechnical systems theory where manager controls the environmental factors that influence the company’s internal operations and coordinates the social and technical subsystems. (Ricky W. Griffin, Gregory Moorhead, 2010) According to the Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s continuum theory of leadership behavior (1958, 1973) leaders should evaluate the situation before the implementation of a particular leadership styles. The continuum leadership behavior’s model theory is based on earlier studies focusing on the distinction of task versus employee or human orientations and demonstrates two types of leadership styles across the continuum: boss-centered (task) and subordinate-centered (relationship).( Borkowski, 2011). In the Apple’s situation, the decision maker or the decision ‘seller’ was Steve Jobs. During the all time when Jobs was the CEO of Apple, he was often called ‘dictator’ or ‘despot’. Jobs never asked anyone for feedback. However he could always instruct and simplify the capabilities of the complicated devices understandable only by its creators, he thought going around and asking his employees about the confusing functions of his product is useless. Instead, jobs played the device by, took notes of his reactions and considered it as the only necessary feedback required. (Leander Kahney, 2009) Whereas in Scania the entire company relies on customer feedback and development of stuff ideas so, if Apple has the structure where every single employee is responsible only for his part of job and has no chance to play any important role in making decisions, Scania has the structure there employees split into the groups brainstorm together on a certain idea or problem and together pick the optimal solutions. (Scania web, 2012) Based on all this we can assume that Apple is Boss-centered structured company and Scania is a more Subordinate-centered structured company. Figure 1.1 below demonstrates the locations of both Apple and Scania on a sample Continuum leadership behavior’s graph. According to the graph, where Apple is closely fitted in the total boss-centered area and Scania is fitted closer to the subordinate-centered area, the two companies are totally different in their structure and leadership, but at the same time both companies are successful and globally recognized and are in their maturity state today. In another words, Apple has an Autocratic leader, where he dictates and forces his employees or even threatens them to get the result his way, unlike Scania that has democratic leader who encourages participation in decision making and considers other’s feelings and seeks to satisfy most of parties.(Hungeryager and Heekman, 1967) Here comes the question: Despite the hierarchy and autocratic leadership in Apple and flat structured and democratic system in Scania, how come they both being so different be able to achieve goals having high employee performance? The best answer for this question would probably be the motivation which is present in both companies but caused by different factors. Humanity would not reach any level of development without the motivation. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) introduced a theory focused on psychological need of employees divided into 5 levels forming a pyramid, and he believed that person needs all 5 to feel satisfied with his job. (Essentials of Management, 2009). Hierarchy: ‘Common, pyramid-like organization where one person is in charge of a functional area with one or more subordinates handling the sub-functions. In an hierarchical organization (whether business, military, political, or religious) higher levels imply greater superiority and domination than the lower ones, and the chain of command extends straight from the top to the bottom’. (Business Dictionary web, 2012) (Image extracted from googleimage.com) While applying the following theory on Apple, it is obvious that the employees in the company are approximately on the 4th level depending on their job position. But in general, with the reputation that Apple has worldwide everyone would be proud to be employed by such a company and motivated by the financial aspect. In fact, the way the pyramid narrows towards up, the same way, the number of people with those facilities narrows down. Even in case of Scania, though the employees might be satisfied with their job and status, they might be also distracted by family or any other personal issues which could make them feel de-motivated. Adam’s Equity theory states that, employees attempt to achieve some equity between input and output, and if there is a difference between input and output, such as output less than input, the employees performance quality tends to be lower due to his/her job dissatisfaction. In another words, all contributions should be fairly rewarded. Going back t o Apple can assume that there is a perfect balance between output and input. Having high salary makes the employees feel right about not taking any part in making decisions; in fact they might feel more relaxed for not having big responsibilities. But in Scania, while taking part in discussions and decision making, employees feel more important, motivated but on the other hand they feel more responsibility pressure because in negative outcomes they all will have to share the loses. Looking at it more general, the only fact that might motivate the employees in both companies is the money. Due to the economic downturn which caused high rate of unemployment, the fact that one has a job, already makes him/her feel satisfied, but not for long. Once people get used to their job and salary they start getting bored and de-motivated. According to Guardian 2012, ‘many of those who worked for Apple, feels cut off from the real world, suspended in a cultural vacuum inside the walls of the company’. The lack of communication with cooperatives, socializing and team-working leads to employees’ dissatisfaction. To avoid such errors, Scania depending on foreign labor, in order to keep high productivity level, created a humanization program which was to apply a new group assembly approach. The program was all about team-work and group decisions called Saab-Scania. The groups consisted of 5-12 people and were given the power to make decisions within the given limits. Along with production groups Scania formed development groups each composed of foreman, industrial engineers and representatives. Such groups were responsible for innovating and developing the new working methods favorable for the employees. As a result, such team-working approach saved productivity time, increased products’ quality and raised job satisfaction of the employees, so since this experiment Scania finds its success in team-working structure. (A.. Rashid, 1982) Coming back to apple, one could only add, that high productivity and quality with the lack of team-working, is being reached only by having continues innovations and strong brand position, simply strong marketing. Further analyzing the case of apple we can add that, a huge multinational company where everyone is responsible only for his bit of work, simply being a tiny replaceable detail of a mechanism, and where the main responsibility is on CEO, team-working is not that important as long as the company’s goals are being reached. The Managerial Grid or the grid theory now called as Leadership theory of Blake and Mouton states that there are two types of managers: concern for production and concern for people , and the perfect manager would be the who could exhibits both people and production concern. The leadership grid is graded from 1 to 9 from both axes identifying 5 main types of leaders: country club management, team management, middle-of-the-road management, impoverished management and authority management. (Miller, 2012) The grid looks as follow: Relying on the leadership grid, we can assume that Apple with the autocratic approach and higher concern on production and lower on people, is classified as a company with the Authority-Compliance Management leadership and Scania, deserving to be placed on the other side of the grid is a company with Team-management leadership, having high concern on people rather than on production. The modern team system of Scania is highly relied on cluster managers. The cluster manager is the manager who has overall responsibility for the team consisting of 20-25 employees. Each cluster consists of people with different experience and skills and trained before becoming fully operative. Often there are also small temporary teams. Thought the cluster has a manager, the employees have the sense of belonging to a team and having major role in it. A centered team-working structure helps the company to keep strong Company-oriented company culture. ‘No one must be able to say that is not my concern, I am not responsible for that’ said the senior manager of the company. Although Apple cannot boast with its tem-work management Leadership as Scania, it motivates the employees providing the opportunity to get promoted from an intern into a manager. The trainings provided free by Apple itself makes the process much easier for the employees. In addition, small competitions such as answering the most difficult question of the customers are followed by rewards. Another important fact is that, Apple provides large job opportunity to young students employing them, full-time, part-time or making them student representatives at their schools. (Apple Inc.’s Ethical Success and Challenges web, 2011) Conclusion While summing it all but, it is right to mention that, while comparing the companies and analyzing their organizational behaviors the total difference of the companies has been identified. Apple is a multinational autocratic company having high concern on production and lower concern on people, despite this it is able to motivate the employees by rewards, bonuses and promotion opportunities demonstrating itself as a creative company challenging for innovations with the strong belief in its successful bright future and seeking for the genus employees from young generation, to take part in those innovations. The case of Apple has proved that, the employees are not pressurized by dictator, as it is expected in an Authority-Manager company, but inspired to work with such unique leaders. Scania, along with its rich Swedish culture totally relays on the team-working manager Leadership with the ability to balance both concern for people and production and giving the employees the chance to feel themselves part of a whole mechanism. The management in Scania believes that, every employee in the company despite the job position should feel the responsibility and share it with the collogues and feel that he/she does not work for someone, but works together with everyone. Fortunately, for Scania being further from hierarchy unlike Apple, adds advantages in terms of organizational behavior, proving the democratic structure of the company, whereas Apple proves to be really a unique company for being able to success with deep hierarchy in it. Recommendations Thought Apple is satisfied with its production and the company in whole, it should also pay attention to its employees by providing them some other activities to make them feel as a team. For example, Apple could create groups or teams responsible not for the main operations of the organization, but side operations or project such as charity, where the employees could take part in decision making process without the involvement of CEO. Another option for Apple could be organizing research teams with team leaders, as employees feel more motivated when they are committed in the changes. Because the managers in Scania are very multinational, the company should pay attention to cultural difference of the employees. It would be very relevant to educate the cluster managers in terms of culture of the other members of the team and than sent them to the Angers plant. Obviously the expansion of company by creating more teams in Scania is advantageous on one hand, but on the other hand it makes the company’s structure too sophisticated and too massive and moreover, adding a new cluster may reduce the space of other clusters. That is why Clusters should be added within the limitations, or smaller groups should be created as smaller groups make better performance and make faster decisions. References Buchanon D. Huczynsky A. (2010) Organizational behavior, 7th ed. Harlow: Pearson/FT Prentice Hall Oxford, 2009, Dictionary of Business and Management, Oxford University Press, 5th ed. New York Leander Kahney (2009). Inside Steve’s Brain. US: penguin Group Debra L. Nelson, James Campbell Quick (2011). Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World, and You. PhD Ricky W. Griffin, Gregory Moorhead (2010). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. 10th ed. US: South-western Nancy Borkowski (2011). Organizational Behavior in Health Care. 2nd ed. LLC: Jones and Barlett Publishers Andrew Durbin (2009). Essentials of Management. US: South-western. Anwar Rashid (1982). organizational Behavior. 2nd ed. Canada: Methuen. 76-78 Katherine Miller (2012). Organizational Communication and Approaches and Processes. 6th ed. US: Wadsworth. M. A. Lusted (2012). Apple: The Company and its Visionary Founder, Steve Jobs. USA: ABDO. 9-22 A. Preston (2012). The Apple Revolution: Steve Jobs, the Counter Culture, and How the Crazy Ones Took Over the World by Luke Dormehl – review. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/10/apple-revolution-luke-dormehl-review. Last accessed 18th Dec 2012. Scania official web site. (2012). H istory. Available: http://www.scania.co.uk/about-scania/history/. Last accessed 22nd Dec 2012