Plaza Grocery Case Study Essay

I. INTRODUCTION Mr. Brad Holden is the executive vice president of the family-owned business chain of six branches, Plaza Grocery, in the metropolitan area. Mr. Holden’s recently been swamped with problems regarding his employees, specifically the stock employees considering they are paid according to what is stated in the hourly wage rate in the Federal Law. He observed that they are not efficient and effective enough in their jobs, which resulted to empty shelves and slow service most of the time. He also had a hard time in obtaining enough applicants for Plaza Grocery and worse is his employees are doing only the menial level of effort in their jobs. He also noticed that his employees are lacking motivational drives to strive harder in performing their jobs. With all these that he is facing through, he finally decided to look for possible solutions to these problems. He came up with consulting to a local compensation expert and talking to a small group and personally asking them what can remedy their slow and poor performance. The compensation expert recommended to Mr. Holden that he resort to the more contemporary compensation system. In the small group, some suggested an increase in their hourly wage rate, the others pitched in about incentives to be given for them to be motivated and work faster, while others did not have any comment. For this case study, we will be identifying the likely issues and problems. After which, we will provide the framework or basis of argument which will relate the lack of motivation or drive of the stock employees to the various models, theories and concepts discussed in class. We will recommend and suggest certain alternative courses of actions which might help Mr. Holden to properly motivate his employees as well as his employees to improve their performance. II. ISSUE/PROBLEM Brad Holden is facing a situation in his grocery store where there is trouble obtaining enough stock clerks/carryout workers to apply for the job. And when these applicants get hired they seem to lack the motivation to carry out their job which led to inefficient service and long checkout lines. These minimum hourly wage workers have expressed a desire for additional compensation. The problem that Brad needs to solve is which of the major economic incentive system he can use to motivate his employees to become productive and also to attract other applicants to apply for the job. III. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to identify different theories, concepts and models under human behavior that can be applied to understand the situation Brad is facing. It will also identify and discuss what possible economic incentive system the management can use and then provide system recommendation that would lead to the best way in solving the problem. IV. FRAMEWORKS/BASIS OF ARGUMENTS The difficulties that arise in Brad Holden’s family-owned grocery stores are attributed to the lack of motivation of employees. Lack of motivation can be a result of poor rewarding of employees. In Plaza Grocery, employees are only paid the usual wage rate or the minimum federal hourly wage. This can be a factor as to why the workers lack motivation in performing an effective and efficient job. Money, as a means of rewarding employees may serve as a great help for the company. It has status value and it represents to employees what their employer thinks of them. Using money as a reward is applicable in some of the motivational models previously studied. The expectancy model can be related to the company’s situation. Employees in Plaza Grocery wanted a higher hourly wage rate which implies that money can act as a strong motivator. If an employee wants more of it (valence), he believes that putting up an effort will produce successful desired performance (expectancy) and he trusts that monetary reward will follow better performance (instrumentality). Brad Holden can also consider the concept of incentives linking pay with performance. In order to get the employees motivated, he can adopt profit sharing. For profit sharing, employees are given a portion of the business’s profits. An implementation of this would get them encouraged to work harder and do whatever it takes to increase the sales of the business since they are looking after the possible income at the end. In addition, once the issue on wage is settled, the management can also do performance appraisal. Through this, performance of the employees can be evaluated and certain information about their work and its improvement will be discussed. This will make way for the employees to be more motivated and get rewarded. The concept of performance feedback can also be related to the situation of Plaza Grocery. With proper implementation of feedback, employees will be aware of what to do and how well they are meeting their goals. Some of the guidelines in giving feedback are the following: be specific, allow room for choices, include positive factors to praise, establish priorities for change, and check for understanding to name a few. V. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTIONS Nowadays, we can find different kinds of grocery stores around us and the supermarket is being dominant than local market in terms of quickness and accessibility to people. As we mentioned, it is not wrong that quickness of the market is one of the crucial thing that has to be maintained first. To solve Plaza Grocery’s problem about its workers’ lack of motivation, we would like to recommend three alternative courses of action. First, Brad Holden should figure out why employees seem to lack motivation once he hired them because motivation can be the core of the power source that can make the work environment vivid or dull. Hence, we would like to state our first course of action, which we call â€Å"ownership project†. Brad Holden should encourage and convince the workers to think of themselves as a co-owner of the company or workplace. Before the hired applicants become permanent employees, they would undergo an assessment. Their behavior in the workplace would be examined for at least one month to evaluate their attitude toward their work. After the examination, Brad can educate the qualified employees through orientations on how to work efficiently and effectively. Second, an â€Å"incentive system† can be a good course of action for workers to work faster since money can be a good motivator and reward. If Brad Holden continues to pay the employees at the minimum wage without bonus, the employees would not exert effort to do their work harder and faster. Increasing of hourly wage rate can be a course of action, along with providing incentives. When the hourly wage rate is increased alone, all employees would benefit. This may increase the workers productivity and motivation, but not fully since the benefit applies to all. Therefore, it will be better if Brad Holden applies an incentive system or bonus system. The incentives given would be based on the employee’s performance, measured by his/her productivity. Through this, it can be more assured that the workers will be motivated in their work to earn their money more. Third, under incentive system, manager should appraise who got the highest performance result among the workers, and provide incentives like support for old parents or education of children. This alternative course of action is enough to motivate workers because these concern their families. Brad Holden will have to make records of each employee to check their performance and growth and this environment can create competition among workers. VI. RECOMMENDATION/CONCLUSION Plaza Grocery experiences problems with its employees due to low compensation and lack of incentives. Even after consulting a local expert, the same causes are pointed as the reason for the employees’ poor performance. Given this situation, we recommend the company to apply the second alternative course of action, which is to increase the wage rate and apply an incentive system. The store, having only six branches, can easily increase the wages due to the relatively small number of workers. However, once an increase is implemented in one branch, the same shall be applied in the other branches to emphasize the sense of equity among the employees of all branches. Although this may entail costs for the company, the increase in workers’ productivity may lead to higher sales, providing more revenue. In the long-run, the benefits would outweigh the costs. Although increasing the wage rate may motivate the employees to work harder, it is not enough because it would not always and ultimately lead to the satisfaction of their needs. What the company can do is to adopt an incentive system. The incentives the company can offer may be financial or non-financial in nature. Financial incentives would include performance bonuses, social security benefits, and paid absences. Non-financial incentives would include recognition and feeling of achievement, advancement opportunity, and flexible scheduling. Even though it is said that money is one of the best rewards, the non-financial rewards can also stimulate the employees’ motivation. It is not enough that employees are financially well-off. For them to stay long in the company, both the salary and the working conditions have to be satisfied. However, as we learned in class, according to Herzberg’s Two Factor Model, the pay is part of the hygiene factors, while the work itself is a motivational factor. Therefore, the employees must first be satisfied with their wage before the company can meet the motivational factors. In conclusion, Plaza Grocery has to strengthen its workforce’s motivation by providing them just wages and work incentives. This entails an investment on the part of Plaza Grocery. But once the workers are motivated and their productivity gradually increase, Plaza Grocery will see itself being better-off in the future.

Little Miss Sunshine Essay

In the exposition the audience is first introduced to Richard on stage giving his ‘9 step’ speech. The directors use a low angle shot suggesting that he is a superior and authoritative character. Richards powerful voice booms through the room when he says the dialogue â€Å"there are two types of people in this world winners and losers†, the way Richard speaks makes him appear to be a ‘winner’ and that he truly believes in the ‘9 step’ program he is trying to sell. Dayton and Farris create a false impression of Richard, making the audience believe that he is a â€Å"winner†. Ironically once Richard finishes his speech, the camera pans to his audience, which is none other than a classroom of ten people hesintly clapping, this diminishes his position of power instantly. This shows the timeless idea that ‘winning is not everything’ because that when a person who’s only goal is winning are in fact ‘losers†™ because they are not learning the important lessons in life that come with this journey so they don’t fully succussed. When people focus to hard on winning they miss out on the more important lessons that come with this adventure. The idea that winning is everything for Richard creates a false world for him. Richard in his own mind thinks that he is a winner but it is clear to the audience that he is not. Richard is to consumed in winning which leads him into unintentionally being mean to Olive. The dialogue â€Å"Don’t apologise Olive, it’s a sign of weakness† shows how Richard is trying to force his beliefs onto Olive. The close up of Olive (that follows) looking nerves and sad that her father thinks she’s weak shows the audience that Richard is too focussed on winning which leads him to hurting innocent Olive . This shows the timeless idea that ‘winning is not everything’ because if we focuses to much on winning that it can lead us to forgetting our morals and hurting the people we love, making us ‘losers’ in the real things that matter like family and love. Dayton and Farris use the character Richard to show the audience that winning is not everything. On the road journey Richard also takes an emotional journey and discovers that life is not all about winning. Richard slowly changes through out the movie into a true winner because he starts caring for other people and starts to use his ‘9 steps’ rather than blankly speaking about them. Nsdghjgtsjdgh The first sign of this positive change is when. The directors use a two person shot of Richard and the pageant coordinator to show how Richard has changed for the better. The dialogue â€Å"what is your daughter doing?† Richard replies â€Å" she’s kicking ass† shows how Richard has changed and now understands that ‘winning is not everything’. In this two person shot Richard appears to be the true winner because has now come to realise the one of the true meanings of winning which is having a loving family, while the pageant coordinator is still focussed on the idea that winning is everything, this shows how Richard was and how he has changed for the better. This shows the timeless idea that winning is not everything because when he realises that it’s not all about winning , he becomes a winner because now he values his values his family and now isn’t focussed on just winning. Dayton and Farris help us to understand that we shouldn’t put all our effort into â€Å"stupid meaningless competitions† but instead focus on the truly important things in life. Through Richards change the audience learnt the timeless idea that ‘winning is not everything . Dayton and Farris show that though someone may appear to be a ‘winner’ and successful in life, this is not always true and what is on the inside and how you treat people is more important. By Richard realising that the true values in life are love and relationships not success we are shown that we should focus on the true values in lif e for us.

Australian Corporations Law Essay

There are two company classifications, proprietary and public. Most Australian companies are proprietary limited companies because this classification and type suits the needs of most businesses. (i) Reasons to Choose a Proprietary Company A proprietary company by comparison to a public company has simpler and therefore lower cost reporting obligations, is limited to 50 non employee shareholders’, ‘and between 1 to 50 members’ , a public company can have more. A proprietary company requires a minimum of one director a public company requires a minimum of three directors. The director or directors of proprietary company must ordinarily reside in Australia and be 18 years of age or older. A public company can be listed on the stock exchange and raise funds directly from the public by offering shares or debentures for sale’ a proprietary company cannot, however a proprietary company can offer shares to existing shareholders or employees. (b) Company Types There are two types of proprietary companies, companies limited by shares and companies unlimited with share capital. (i) Reason to Choose a Company Limited by Shares In the event that a company limited by shares does not have sufficient assets to meet its debts, each member is only liable for the amount, if any, that remains unpaid on their shares , ‘[L]imited liability means that members of a company are not personally liable for the full extent of their company’s debts. ’ This limitation of personal liability is the great advantage of this type of company. (ii) Reason Not to Choose a Company Unlimited with Share Capital An ‘unlimited company means a company whose members have no limit placed on their liability’ for their company’s debts. Unlimited companies are rarely used. Company Names A company name is optional; the company’s ACN can be used instead. The name ‘Sai Kung’ has been chosen and so an application for reservation of the name, form 410, must be lodged with ASIC prior to the application to register the company. See attachment 1. ‘A limited proprietary company must have the words â€Å"Proprietary Limited† [or Pty Ltd] at the end of its name. ’ B Application for Registration 1 Application Form To register the company, ASIC form 201 must be completed and lodged with ASIC. See attachment 2. 2 Additional Information Required for Registration In addition to the classification, type and proposed name of the company the following information must be provided: †¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœthe name and address of each person who consents to become a member’ †¢ ‘the present given and family name, all former given and family names and the date and place of birth of each person who consents in writing to become a director †¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœthe present given and family name, all former given and family names and the date and place of birth of each person who consents in writing to become a company secretary;’ A proprietary company is not required to have a secretary †¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœthe address of the company’s registered office;’ †¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœthe address of the company’s proposed principal place of business (if it is not the address of the proposed registered office);’ †¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœthe number of shares each member agrees in writing to take up;’ The price of each share, whether the share wi ll be fully paid on registration, if not fully paid, the amount that will be unpaid on each share and whether or not the shares each member agrees to take up will be beneficially owned by the member on registration of the company. 3 Consents and Agreements Consents and agreements of nominated directors, secretary and members must be obtained prior to the application for registration being accepted by ASIC. 4 Rules for Internal Management of a Company Regarding the rules for the internal management of a company, a company can either use the ‘replaceable rules’ as stated in the Corporation Act, or form a constitution, the company’s own rules, or a combination of replaceable rules and the constitution. C Registration by ASIC Registration is at ASIC’s discretion. 1 Issue of Certificate of Registration Sai Kung Pty Ltd will not exist, will not become incorporated, until ASIC registers the company and issues a certificate of registration. 2 Corporate Key ‘Within two days of registration, ASIC will also issue a corporate key to the company’s registered office address. ’ This is an eight digit number used to lodge forms with ASIC, access company records and receive annual statements online. This number should be kept confidential. D Alternative: A Shelf Company If you do not wish to go through the process of registration alternatively you could purchase a shelf company, this is a company that has already been registered and is therefore available for immediate use. A shelf company can be renamed with the name of your choosing. The Facts 5 January Toto acting as a promoter, entered into a contract on behalf of Sai Kung (‘SK’), a yet to be registered company. The contract was with Television Broadcasts Limited (‘TVB’), to pay TVB for their professional and technical assistance in producing a television seafood cooking show. 12 January SK was registered by ASIC, the company did not adopt a constitution, did choose to have a common seal and Flora and Toto were both appointed as directors. SK did not appoint a company secretary. TVB commenced providing SK with professional and technical assistance to produce the television show. 2 February The contract with TVB was ratified by SK on 2 February. 20 February As at 20 February the shows production has not commenced and TVB has not been paid for its assistance. B The Law Applied to the Facts When Toto, on behalf of SK, entered into the contract with TVB, he acted as a promoter, ‘anyone who exerts themselves on behalf of a not-existent company’ . Toto the promoter was liable to pay TVB for their services in the event that SK did not register or SK did register but did not ratify the contract. On 2 February SK, a registered company since 12 January, ratified the contract with TVB. SK is now liable and bound by the contract made on its behalf on 5 January. However, in the event that SK does not pay TVB part or all of what is owed, Toto, as the promoter, remains liable. If Toto had obtained a release from TVB he would no longer be liable or ‘[a]n alternative way in which a company [SK] can become primarily liable is where the company [SK] and the other party [TVB] substitute a new contract in place of the pre-registration contract (otherwise known as â€Å"novation†). This discharges any liability of the promoter [Toto] in relation to the pre-registration contract. An effective novation requires the consent of both the company [SK] and the third party [TVB]. ’ C The Objective of the Section 133 of the Corporations Act ‘At common law, if a pre-registration contract was not performed †¦ neither the company †¦ nor the promoter were liable. The innocent other party was left with an unenforceable contract’, an example is the case Black v Smallwood . A promoter ‘was only bound if they intended to be bound’ as in the case Kelner v Baxter where ‘[t]he court examined the written contract and imputed and intention by [the promoter] Baxter to bind himself personally. ’ Section 133 of the Corporations Act states that Part 2B. replaces any rights or liabilities anyone would otherwise have on the pre-registration contract’ , ending the ‘uncertainty arising out of the laws of agency and contract. ’ ‘The issue of where liability lay for not fulfilling obligations incurred under p re-registration contracts is now governed entirely by the Corporations Act and its overriding aim is to ensure that the innocent other party [in this case TVB] is not left without legal remedy.

Discuss at least two theories which hold that a mental state is Essay

Discuss at least two theories which hold that a mental state is nothing more than some sort of physical state - Essay Example There are two important movements that provide an answer to these questions, i.e. behaviorism and identity theory. It is in my contention that despite the enigma of the human mind, behaviorism and the identity theory, both attempt to offer a rational explanation for the nature and identity of mental phenomena. Behaviorism Behaviorism is generally regarded as the view that reduces mental states to the physical states of the body, specifically to that of the body’s behaviors. Thus, â€Å"behaviorists have argued that mental states and processes are really nothing more than behavior or dispositions† (Heil, 1993, p.174). A behavior is understood here as an external physical movement of the body, and thus includes verbal behavior, but excludes brain activities. Moreover, behavior is either actual or dispositional. Accordingly, all mental states are believed to be behavioral dispositions, which may or may not be actualized. As such, even if there is no actual behavior that co rresponds to a mental expression, the claim of behaviorism holds because it necessarily has a corresponding behavioral disposition. So to have a mental state is thus to behave or to be disposed to behave in a certain way. For instance, to be in pain is to exhibit behaviors such as crying, wincing, saying â€Å"ouch,† etc. ... Expressions containing mental terms such as â€Å"I desire to finish school†, â€Å"I am in pain†, and â€Å"I believe that it is going to rain,† are accordingly, logically equivalent to, or reducible to some expressions containing only behavioral terms such as â€Å"I will attend my classes regularly,† â€Å"I am inclined to cry,† and â€Å"I will bring my umbrella when I get out of the house.† In short, in this view, mental terms are defined in terms of behaviors. It is this notion of behaviorism that will be of concern to us. Logical behaviorism is often attributed to the view of the mind that Gilbert Ryle (1965) advanced as an alternative to Cartesian dualism, which he refers to as the ghost-in-the machine doctrine. Ryle argues that this doctrine commits a fallacy called the category mistake, i.e. when one wrongly takes something as belonging to a certain category that it does not belong to. The famous example given by Ryle is when someon e understands the word â€Å"university† as referring to a particular entity in the very same way that the words â€Å"buildings†, â€Å"members of the faculty†, â€Å"students†, and the like, refer to particular entities. In the same way, so argues Ryle, Descartes mistakes the word â€Å"mind† as belonging to the same category as the word â€Å"body†, and hence believes that the word â€Å"mind† refers to an entity of some kind in the same way that the word â€Å"body† does. Though â€Å"mind† and â€Å"body† refer to different kinds of entities, the fact that they do refer to entities puts them in the same category. Logical behaviorism, as noted above, is the view that mental states are nothing but behaviors. This view lends itself to two

Prcis from Aristotle's De Generatione et Corruptione II.9 (335b8) Assignment

Prcis from Aristotle's De Generatione et Corruptione II.9 (335b8) - Assignment Example Knowledge is seen as an essential component in one’s life. In addition, Aristotle believes that there are some things that exist in the sensible world and have essential natures. He continues to add that there are things which exist in the sensible world that cannot be otherwise plus acquiring knowledge of the things is possible. Aristotle simple brings the essence of acquiring knowledge of the unknown which exist in the sensible world. A good example of this could be the knowledge of the soul which is discussed in his Phaedo. Concerning Aristotle’s Phaedo, its sole purpose was to talk about the human soul. According to Aristotle, the soul is regarded as immortal. He argues that the soul before it started to live in a human body at birth, meant it came from somewhere, and after death, will also have to go somewhere. This correlation brought to him coming up with the possibilities of two worlds existing separate from each other. He refers one of the worlds as a world of sensible particulars and the other, the world of form. The world of sensible particulars as discussed by Aristotle contains objects that can be touched and have sense. He adds that they include living things with souls like plants, animals and man. In addition, the world of form contains aspects that exist in objects. Aristotle also refers to forms as universal aspects. He adds that the soul is in between these two worlds since he argues that the soul existed before birth and would return to where it came from after death. He continues by saying that when one is alive, the soul is trapped in one’s body and by so living in the sensible world. Souls according to Aristotle are regarded as sensible things by being particular in contrast to forms which are universal. Aristotle depicts the souls as the first actuality of any natural body and got the potential of having life. The catch will be that the soul has to occupy a body with organs in order for life to exist. In addition, th e soul cannot exist without immorality. Aristotle insists that the soul may leave a body when dead and remains in the world, wonders until when it gets another body to live. In the world of forms, Aristotle rejected Plato’s theory of forms that stated that properties like beauty are generally abstract universal entities which exist totally independent of the objects. Instead, Aristotle argues that forms cannot exist apart from objects since they are intrinsic to them. However, when he discusses art, Aristotle rejects this theory. He instead adds that artists try to capture idealized universal forms. The nature of universals in Aristotle's philosophy therefore hinges on his view of natural kinds. Aristotle basically transformed Plato's forms to "formal causes", the essence or blueprints of individual things. Concerning the â€Å"formal† causes, Aristotle argues forms are powerless in explaining why things change or die since they cannot alter or move physical objects of sensation. He adds that forms may not be of importance in explaining how we get knowledge of particular things. This he supports by arguing that one cannot get knowledge of a substance before getting knowledge of the substance in it. Aristotle also argues forms could not explain the existence of particular objects. Aristotle basically refutes his teacher’s teachings and comes with his own perspective of what cause are. Therefore according to Aris

People and Organizations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

People and Organizations - Assignment Example With the policy working, the team was able to meet its deadlines as well as present high quality job. The level of effectiveness has been favored by the continued attendance of meetings by the team members. Every member has been assigned duties that make him or her available for every meeting. This creates a sense of belonging, which creates a strong bond between members of a group (McMillan & Chavis 1989). The result has been we have become friends to each other hence creating a friendly and conducive environment for us to work in. In our group, we worked to enhance motivation that made the team members place group interest ahead of personal interest. So far, we have been able to have four meetings and the attendance and level of participation have been consistent from the team members. Every member’s participation has been recognized by the continued support from the team members on given group work assignments. The previous assignment had six questions. We divided the quest ions amongst ourselves in the sub groups where we worked in pairs on every part of the question. Each meeting had a specified task were everybody turned up prepared and ready to work on the day’s part. John and I were working on a set of three questions. To enhance effectiveness and timely delivery of the assignment, exchanging of ideas, and evaluating responses against questions is very essential (Bloom & Loftin 1998). Upon confirming that we had answered all the three questions as per the instructions, we went ahead and asked for suggestions from the other group members while we also helped them evaluate their answers. The results were a well-done assignment where all aspect of the questions had been addresses effectively. Team support to specific individuals is a key success indicator of every team (Brounstein 2011). At the time of presentation, we worked as teams in supporting each other do a thorough presentation. I remember I was very tense when doing my PowerPoint pres entation that I needed some back up. Grace came in to provide the needed support when laying up the stage for presentation as well as doing a conclusion for the presentation. The same happened when Bill was doing his presentation. John assisted him in doing the introduction and the first part of the questions presentation. This happened until all the questions had been presented and all upcoming questions had been answered effectively to the satisfaction of the audience. Low opportunity, low morale and high team turnover and wasted time are key ingredients to ineffectiveness (Parker 2011). To avoid such problems, our team applied some important factors for team effectiveness that contributed to our team working successfully. Just to mention a few are cohesiveness and coordination, team training and team building activities. Cohesiveness and coordination defines the level of interaction of the team members to each other (Salas 1992). Our team had the greatest level of interaction, wh ich was highly favored by the friendship that existed between us. Working with each other was much fun that one could not miss a meeting to engage in personal issues. For example, I had to fore go a family shopping day to attend a group discussion meeting. This was possible because the team’s interest came first and I felt it was more important, due to its urgency

Social Netwoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Netwoking - Essay Example Nowadays joining websites such as Facebook and Myspace have become a norm for the whole society. Increasingly it is seen that the younger generation is being diverted to these networking habits. Social networking has become a topic of debate these days as it is seen that many researches are being carried out to find out the pros and cons of it. This essay would revolve around the pros and cons of social networking and would present a conclusion as to what should be done with regard to the problems that it actually poses (University of Minnesota 2008). The stigma of social networking is spread all over the world to places like Pakistan and India. It has been found that social networking has many benefits when it comes to the younger generation. A study done by the researchers of University of Minnesota concluded that around 94 percent of the people use internet in which around 77 percent of them had a profile on a social networking site. The research found out the positives of social networking and related it to the skills of technology. It has been found that social networking helps in increasing technological skills along with creativity. A researcher was stated as saying â€Å"What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today† (University of Minnesota 2008). These social networking sites can help the educators to inform the younger generation about possible topics through these social networking sites. The educators can use these social networking sites as a tool to inform and educate their audience in a way that an interest is created amongst the students (Warner 2008). Another positive of social networking websites lies in the communication that it may provide in times of emergency. Researchers have found out that these networking sites can prove to be a great tool for the transmission of information from one area to the other. In natur al disasters such as earthquakes or human influenced disasters one can easily transmit information on these social networking websites faster than the traditional media. It can help in the diffusion of information from one area to another so that everyone is informed about the calamity. It is also found that the social networking websites such as Facebook have allowed disaster management organizations to work on the website so that they can create awareness amongst the masses of the society (Inderscience Publishers 2010). Social networking also helps people to integrate with the society if they are suffering from problems. People who are suffering from social diseases such as autism are at ease when talking on the internet. Thus these social networking websites provide an advantage to these socially impaired people to talk and get engaged in conversations. It has also been found that social networking is helping people to communicate easily. While social networking has its own benef its it also has certain disadvantages which should be kept in mind when analyzing these portals. The most potent drawback of these websites is that of privacy when it comes to certain issues. It is seen that these social networking websites do not have strict privacy settings when it comes to its users. A research found that personal information of users is leaked out to the websites which help in tracking the users. A social networking

Why you want to be a teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why you want to be a teacher - Essay Example For the rest, they simply want to get employed and follow whatever opportunities maybe presented to them. In my case, I want to be a teacher or an educator. Why is this so? Because as Henry Brooks Adams said â€Å"A teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops†. I deeply believe what this man says for I have witnessed through the lives of others how much influence a teacher can wield to his students. I want to become a teacher because I want to inspire my future students. Nowadays, we often see a large majority of students losing interest in their academic obligations such as doing their homework. They are more likely to engage in watching television or playing console or PC games. In case they spend time doing some homework, it is often done as a burden that has to be accomplished. I want to become a teacher because I want to bring back the enthusiasm in learning. Students must be inspired to search for knowledge because life is a very interesting jou rney. In the field of sciences, teachers can inspire students to become researchers or scientists that can develop solutions to mankind’s problems. If I become a teacher, I would motivate my students to study because they can make a contribution to the world. A teacher always goes through the never-ending process of learning.

Thesis Research_How Chinese International Students deal with Research Paper

Thesis Research_How Chinese International Students deal with Acculturative Stress in their First Year of Studying in Canada - Research Paper Example The study also involved the collection of primary data from two online forums and mapping students in various places. The study shows that a majority of Chinese international students experience acculturative stress in the Canadian environment. The study also reveals that many of the students prefer to live, study and work in groups from which they get social support. The study further reveals that apart from relying on social support, the students maintain positive thoughts and engage in a variety of activities to overcome acculturative stress. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that Chinese international students engage in various constructive activities, maintain positive thought and seek social support to as a way of dealing with culture shock and acculturative stress. A Study on How Chinese International Students Deal with Acculturative Stress in Their First Year of Study in Canada Ever since the late 70s, the government of China implemented a policy that aimed at facilitating students’ learning of advanced western technology by studying in western universities and colleges. Today, statistics indicate that China is the biggest exporter of students in the world according to Gu (2013). ... The general trend toward the preference to study abroad among Chinese students is driven by the belief that education outside the boarders of China is more systematic and comprehensive, and that the experience is better than they otherwise would get in China. Other students are motivated by the fact that they do not have to sit for and pass university entry exams when they select to pursue education in foreign educational institutions (Anonymous, 2013). One of the main motivations that Chinese students cite for preferring to study abroad is the experience of other cultures. While this is the case, the students are often subject to culture shock and acculturation challenges within their first few months or years of their introduction to the new culture. Having left behind their friends, family, and homeland, many of these international students face numerous challenges and difficulties in their new environments. Like other immigrants, Chinese students studying in foreign countries nor mally experience acculturative stress and its effects as they struggle to adapt to the new culture and environment. Several studies have been conducted with respect to acculturation and culture shock in different parts of the world. Most of the studies that have been conducted regarding acculturative stress focus on immigrants to the U.S. from different parts of the world. While this is the case, no study has been conducted on how Chinese international students deal with acculturative stress in their first year of study in Canada. This study seeks to fill this knowledge gap. My objectives are listed as below: 1. To establish how Chinese international students in Canada suffer from acculturative stress in their first year study 2. To explore the different

LAW 421 Theory to Practice Essay Example for Free

LAW 421 Theory to Practice Essay Theory to Practice Questions 1.At one point, if ever, did the parties have a contract? The parties had a contract when they agreed on the key terms of the distribution contract. The first agreement was a 90-day negotiation agreement and the second was an oral distribution agreement in a meeting prior to the end of the 90-day negotiation. The oral agreement was followed by an e-mail sent to Chou in which the terms of the agreement were reiterated by the manager of BTT. The manager of BTT showed objective intent to contract. In addition, â€Å"faxes, e-mails, letters, memos, and receipts help establish [a] handshake deal† (Hartline, 2007, para. 3). In other words, when BTT sent the email stating all the key terms orally discussed between the parties were agreed upon, both parties showed intent to contract, therefore the agreement of key terms should be considered under contract. 2.What facts may weigh in favor of or against Chou in terms of the parties’ objective intent to contract? Favor: †¢Chou received payment from BTT, leading Chou to believe BTT had intent to come to agreement. †¢The meeting ended with an oral agreement. †¢There is proof of the oral agreement via the BTT e-mail. †¢The e-mail may be considered a rough draft of the contract. †¢The manager sent the e-mail including all of the key terms the parties agreed upon. †¢Even though a month had passed, BTT still requested a copy of the distribution agreement draft. †¢The amount of time spent on the contract and in contact with both parties shows intent to contract. Against: †¢No signatures from either party to bind the contract. †¢The 90-day negotiation deadline passed with only a written agreement, even though the negotiation agreement stated only a written contract was valid. †¢The contract wasn’t drafted until BTT requested a copy a month later. †¢The e-mail did not use the words â€Å"contract†. 3.Does the fact that the parties were communicating by e-mail have any impact on your analysis in Questions 1 and 2 above? The fact that the parties were communicating via e-mail did not impact the analysis of  questions 1 and 2. E-mail is a viable and effective form of communication in today’s world, especially in business. E-mails can be saved and used as evidence in many court cases. According to the mailbox rule, the e-mail was sent prior to the 90 days and was considered accepted when it was sent (Melvin, 2011). 4.What role does the statute of frauds play in this contract? The statute of frauds applies to the sale of goods over $500; sales over that amount need to be in writing (Melvin, 2011). The provisions of the statute of frauds are satisfied if the writing contains several items, including quantity, signature, and clear, concise language (Melvin, 2011). The textbook states that key terms were discussed and agreed upon in the e-mail, however I am not sure if that included quantity. However, BTT provided an electronic signature in the e-mail and the language in the e-mail could be interpreted by a reasonable person as intent to form a contract. Therefore, the e-mail pretty much satisfies the statute of frauds conditions. 5.Could BTT avoid the contract under the doctrine of mistake? Explain. Would either party have any other defenses that would allow the contract to be avoided? I don’t think BTT can void the contract under the doctrine of mistake. A contract is void under the doctrine of mistakes because of misunderstanding in the parties involved such as unilateral mistakes and mutual mistakes. Nothing in the text indicates BTT made a mistake; their reason for not fulfilling contract was a change in management. Chou made the mistake of thinking the e-mail was a draft of the contract, however the fact that BTT requested a copy of the draft a month later gave Chou the impression the company still wanted to conduct business. 6.Assuming, arguendo, that this e-mail does constitute an agreement, what consideration supports this agreement? In order for a contract to be binding, it must be supported by agreement and consideration. The promise (Chou) was willing to give up something of value (his game) and the promisor’s (BTT) promise was part of a bargain for exchange (the key terms in the agreement, specifically price and time frames). BTT led Chou to believe that they were under contract because of their mutual agreement and consideration. References Hartline, K. (2007, September). Oral contracts: Do they carry any weight?. Legal Zoom. Retrieved from http://www.legalzoom.com/business-law/contract-law/oral-contracts-do-they-carry Melvin, S.P., (2011). The legal environment of business: A managerial approach: Theory to practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Retrieved from: The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database

Study on stress management for teachers in Malaysia

Study on stress management for teachers in Malaysia Teaching is one of the most stressful jobs in Malaysia. The talk on Stress Management for Teachers (Kolej Disted-Stamford news, 23 February 2008) declared that teaching is a challenging profession and hence, teachers could do with learning how to de-stress to maintain good health and high spirits.  There are two main sources of stress which affect teachers; heavy workload and students problem. Nowadays, a teachers duty is multifaceted as they undertake not only teaching but also matters associated with curriculum, students, parents, the school community as well as departmental initiatives. Another key point to note, the success of the newly launched National Education Blueprint has given a big impact on the development of the schools and teachers themselves. This plan is expected to produce intellectual students who are able to collect information and acquire knowledge and skills, instead of purely memorizing knowledge. Education system should cater to the needs of all students; smart, mediocre, weak or disabled. The success of the National Education Blueprint depends on the teachers ability, quality, skills and effectiveness in educating students. Teachers are required to have proficient skills in teaching and educating students to fulfill the governments aspiration in providing world class education. As a result of this new system, married female teachers may face an increase in workload which will in turn affect their work performance as well as their psychological well-being. According to Smylie (1999), These are tough times being a teacher (p. 59). Ewing and Smith (2003) reported that between 25% and 40% of beginning teachers in the Western World countries are leaving teaching or facing burnout syndrome. Over the past ten years, many researchers focused on the effect of work overload on work-family conflict. Generally, they found that high levels of work overload led to higher levels of work-family conflict (WFC). From a personal perspective, {suggested that the demands that employees have to fulfil considering their resources namely time and emotions to devote to work with less devote to their families.} work demands require employees to devote more resources namely time and emotions to work, leaving them with fewer resources to devote to their families. Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) define work-family conflict as a type of inter-role conflict in which role pressures from work and family are mutually incompatible. That is, work demands are not compatible with family demands (Allen, Herst, Bruck, and Sutton, 2000). Allen et al. (2000) reviewed the relationship between work-family conflict and (a) work-related outcomes, (b) non-work-related outcomes, (c) stress-related outcomes and generally found significant relationships across these areas. They concluded that work-family conflict has important personal and organizational consequences. It is important to note that the early research on multiple roles focused almost on women, particularly on women who occupied the roles of wife, mother, and employee. The multiple roles of women may affect the well-being of the family such as the husband, children and including the wife herself. Conflict occurs when a family is unable to cope with this multiples roles effectively and the result has been found to affect work satisfaction and psychological well-being (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991; Phelan et al., 1991). In order to maintain the health and success of teachers and schools, greater understanding of WFC is fundamental. Consequently, the influence of WFC in the prediction of psychological well-being is receiving increasing attention (e.g., ODriscoll, Brough, and Kalliath, 2004). This has led to an increment in the number of occupational stress researchers as well as WFC variables in their estimates of both individual health and work performance (Brough O Driscoll, 2005). Research suggests that an individuals self-efficacy in a specific domain provides information regarding how the individual perceive and cope with challenges. In the case of managing conflict that inevitably arise between personal and professional responsibilities, assessing work-family conflict efficacy may provide a unique perspective on what might ultimately help to reduce the negative outcomes namely decrease in life and job satisfaction that are associated with work-family conflict. Understanding how self-efficacy function in the relationship between work-family conflict and these outcomes could bring about meaningful therapeutic measures for women experiencing work-family conflict. Self-efficacy is defined as, peoples judgments in their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance (p. 391). Bandura (1977) described self-efficacy as a key determinant of psychological change, choice of settings and activities, quality of performance in a specific domain, and level of persistence when one meets adverse or negative experiences. Having mentioned about efficacy, other predictors may also have significance in contributing to WFC and well-being. Religious coping and religiosity that have been found to affect health status positively, including overall morbidity and mortality, acute conditions, fatal ailments, pain and chronic illness (Levin, 1994). Religious belief has been perceived as one way of coping with conflict. The positive influence of religious certainty on well-being was found to be direct and substantial, whereby individuals with a strong religious faith reported higher levels of life satisfaction and greater personal happiness (Ellison, 1991), as well as lower levels of distress (Ross, 1990). Religious activities especially prayers are usually regarded as positive coping devices directed toward both the problem and personal growth (Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Shetter, De Longis Gruis, 1986). Due to the insufficient of information on the psychological outcomes of combining work and family roles among Malaysian women, the present study is aimed at investigating the direct and indirect relationships between WFC efficacy, religious coping, WFC and well-being. The study hypothesized that the relationship between WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being is mediated by WFC. Therefore, the proposed model hypothesized WFC to act as an intervening variable between WFC efficacy and religious coping and well-being among female teachers in Malaysia. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Changes in family structures are transforming the workplace while adjustments in parental work patterns are altering family life. Thus, there has been a dramatic increase in rates of paid employment globally among mothers with children. Research on WFC since the past 30 years has been fuelled by the growing proportion of employees who are dual-earner partners or single parents. As the number of working women with young children at home and dual-career households rise, so does the need for research and organizational attention towards potentially reducing stress due to WFC. Research to date suggests that high levels of work-family conflict are related to dysfunctional outcomes such as life dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and poor health in individual, increased interpersonal conflict and divorce in relationships, and as for the organizations, namely absenteeism, tardiness and loss of talented employees. Besides that, The National Union of The Teaching Profession (NUTP) Secretary, General Lok Yim Pheng, in New Sunday Times, May 18, 2008, informed that teachers are overloaded with paper work and they are pressured to train students on how to answer examination questions. Teachers must always maintain the quality of their work, try to improve their productivity and acquire knowledge and skills to develop human capital in the globalized world. Moreover, teachers play an essential role in shaping a community as their products of educating efforts contribute to its functionality. These are the demands of teaching profession nowadays. Researchers have identified various stressors that may affect the psychological well-being of teachers and one of the stressor is workload that may lead to burnout. Although some researchers may argue that social status is one of the most important factors for psychological well-being (Bredemeier, 1979), it seems that excessive workload could impose an undue level of stress that is more serious than any other stressors. A large number of studies show that teachers are exposed to workload which results particularly in stress and strain. At least one third of teachers can be seen as suffering from extreme stress and/or burnout (e.g., Boyle, Borg, Falzon Baglioni, 1991; Friesen Sarros, 1989). Researchers have considered various unique antecedents to WFC (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Frone, 1992). However, the role of personality factors on womens well-being, on the other hand, is less well documented. Only a few researchers have assessed the relationship between WFC efficacy and religious coping. For instance, Carlson (1999) found negative affectivity to be directly related to greater WIF conflict. There is a need to identify how WFC efficacy and religious coping can be linked with WFC and well-being in a causal relationship in the school setting. The present study uses the Structural Equation Model (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to examine relationships among two independent (exogenous) and dependent (endogenous) variables simultaneously in a causal framework. With regard to personal resources, why do some teachers succeed in being good teachers continuously enhancing students achievements, setting high goals for themselves and pursuing them persistently, while others fail to meet expectations imposed on them and tend to collapse under the burden of everyday stress? Based on this statement, the study examines the problem by investigating the influence of teachers WFC efficacy and religious coping on work-family conflict and well-being of female teachers in Malaysia. If teachers WFC efficacy and religious coping can be proven to reduce WFC among female teachers, it seems possible to increase teachers WFC efficacy and improve teachers coping style using religious approach which in turn may boost teachers well-being. Again, if WFC efficacy and religious coping are causally related to WFC as hypothesized, this relationship will reduce teachers WFC and increase teachers well-being respectively. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY In generally, this study serves the purpose to examine the impact of WFC efficacy and religious coping on WFC and well-being of secondary school teachers in Malaysia. To validate the instruments utilized in this study, the researcher adopted the two-step Structural Equation Modeling. Then, the researcher estimated the hypothesized relationships. The primary purpose of this research is to construct-validate the instrument to assess WFC of female teachers in Malaysia which are Work-family conflict (WFC), Work-family conflict efficacy (WFC efficacy) Religious coping (RC), Well-being (WB) consisted of Health (GHQ) and Job-Family Dissatisfaction (JFD). The study also estimates the relationships of WFC, WFC efficacy, RC and well-being of female teachers in Malaysia. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The following research questions are formulated to address the hypothesized relationships: 1. Are the constructs of work-family conflict, work-family conflict efficacy, religious coping and well-being valid and reliable? 2. Does work-family conflict efficacy directly influenced the well-being of female teachers in Malaysia? 3. Does work-family conflict efficacy indirectly influenced well-being via work-family conflict of female teachers in Malaysia? 4. Does religious coping directly influenced well-being of female teachers in Malaysia? 5. Does religious coping indirectly influenced well-being via work-family conflict of female teachers in Malaysia? Does teachers work-family conflict directly influenced by their well-being? Does WFC-efficacy and religious coping significantly correlated? THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT The model of this study, which is derived from Frone et al., (1992), examines the interrelationships among the two predictors WFC efficacy and RC that may affect well-being directly and indirectly via work-family conflict. This research focuses on the variables that are considered vital to increase well-being and to reduce WFC. The hypothesized interrelationships and interdependency among these variables are presented in Figure 1. The model depicts four measurement models, labeled as efficacy accounted for the variability in WFC efficacy and FWC-efficacy. First, work-family conflict-efficacy (WFC efficacy) which acts as a predictor or an independent variable comprises work-family conflict efficacy (WFC efficacy) and family-work conflict efficacy (FWC efficacy) of work-family conflict and well-being. This type of personality may improve or increase ones well-being because it strongly affects a persons ability to do a task. Teachers WFC efficacy should aim at reducing teachers experiences with WFC aside from functioning as a personality booster. Thus, an individuals personality plays a role in the amount of work-family conflict that he or she experiences. The second latent variable, religious coping illustrates the underlying factors for positive religious/spiritual coping (POS RC) and negative religious/spiritual coping (NEG RC). In order for teachers to cope with work-family conflict, they need to choose an effective coping style. In this study, religious coping as a second predictor of WFC and well-being may have significant relationships with both dependents. It is certainly reasonable to argue that teachers who manage their religious coping well would most likely have less WFC and a better well-being. In addition, the relationship between the two constructs namely WFC efficacy and religious coping would covary. In other words, the researcher believes that the constructs are correlated, but does not assume that one construct is dependent upon another. This relationship is depicted by a two-headed arrow connection as shown in Figure 1. In the current study, WFC efficacy and religious coping will be tested as predictors of WFC and w ell-being. The third latent variable, WFC, represents the underlying factor for Work-interfering-with-family and Family-interfering-with-work. WFC occurs when participation in the work role and the family role is incompatible in some respect. Work-family conflict can arise from; 1) the time demands of one role that interfere with participation in the other role and; 2) the stress that originates in one role that spills over into the other role which, only detracts from the latters quality of life. As a result, participation in one role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the other role. Individuals who invest more time or more psychological involvement in their work rather than their family experience the highest levels of work-to-family conflict and life stress, which ultimately reduce their quality of life. The fourth latent variable, well-being, accounts for the variability in General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Job-Family Dissatisfaction (JFD) which is hypothesized to represent participants reported well-being. Thus, it is not what the situation offers but rather how we react to a situation that determines our well being. If work and family roles were imbalanced, conflict might occur which would eventually affect the well-being of a person. Effects will range from job-family dissatisfaction to health problems, which are viewed as psychological distress. Work-Family Conflict Efficacy H3 Well-being (distress job dissatisfaction Work-family Conflict (wif,fiw) H2 H7 H6 H3 Religious Coping H5 Figure 1 The Hypothesized Model of Work-family Conflict and Well-Being Note: Exogenous Construct: WFC efficacy; religious coping; WFC Endogenous Construct: WFC; well-being RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS In the hypothesized model, six hypotheses are tested to depict the relationships between work-family conflict and the three variables identified above. In the following discussion, each of these six hypotheses are identified and explained. The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict Efficacy, Work-Family Conflict and Well-Being Studies have shown that the personal resources that women bring with them into their roles explained more of the variance in reported strain symptoms than the role stressors alone (e.g. Amatea Fong, 1991). Self-efficacy in a particular domain has been indirectly and directly linked to outcomes in that domain. For instance, Lent, Brown and Hackett (1994) suggested that self-efficacy promotes academic and vocational outcomes, such as interest, choice and performance. The conservation of resources model proposes that individuals act to acquire and maintain a variety of resources, such as objects, energies, condition and personal characteristic. On the basis of these findings, the following hypotheses are proposed: H2 Those with high work-family conflict efficacy will portray increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction) H3 The effects of work-family conflict efficacy on well-being are mediated by work-family conflict, such that those with high work-family conflict efficacy demonstrate less conflict which will leads to increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction). The Reciprocal Relationship between Religious Coping, Work-family Conflict and Well-Being In recent years, a growing body of literature has explored the implications of religion and spirituality for various mental and physical health outcomes (Koenig 1994). Other findings have also indicated that various dimensions of religiousness and spirituality may enhance the subjective states of well-being (Ellison, 1991). A report by the Fetzer Institute (2003), stated that a few studies in the US show that the subjective beneficial effects of participating in religious services, prayer and Bible reading are primarily due to their role in strengthening religious belief and individuals who describe themselves as having a strong religious faith report being happier and more satisfied with their lives. Most recently, Lapierre and Allen (2006) had used conservation of resources model to study the different coping methods employed by individuals to avoid WFC. They found that some coping methods are more useful than others to help individuals gain or conserve resources. Thus, the followi ng hypotheses are proposed: H4 Those with high religious coping show increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction). H5 The effects of religious coping on well-being are mediated by work-family conflict such that those with high religious coping portray less conflict which leads to increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction) The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict and Well-Being Work-family conflict has been found to have a significant negative relationship with measured of psychological health rather than physical health (Mikkelsen Burke, 2004). Noor (2006) presented some selected research findings on work, family and womens well-being. The result showed that women were more strongly affected by the changes in their lives compared to men because even when employed they are still primarily responsible for the home and family. Role theory and spillover theory are the underpinning theories to explain the connection between WFC and well-being. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed: H6 WFC negatively influences well-being. The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict Efficacy and Religious Coping Covary Judge, Erez and Bono (1998) suggested that self-efficacy has a strong influence on individuals, whether they adopt an optimistic or pessimistic coping style (Seligman Schulman, 1996). They suggested that those with high generalized self-efficacy believe in their ability to change bad situations. The type of coping strategy selected has been shown to be related to the experience of work-family strain and overall well-being. Researchers have also found that self-efficacy is linked to the effectiveness of coping (Anderson, 1977; Bandura, 1977). On the basis of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposed: H7 WFC efficacy and religious coping significantly correlated. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This is a fundamental area of study for both researchers and practitioners, as more and more female teachers struggle having to take up with multiple roles in life being a wife, a parent and even a caretaker of elderly parents aside from her teaching profession. Teachers are the main doers in the process of forming a community and students are the products of teachers educating efforts. Due to the above basis, there are three important research areas that need focus namely; theory, methodology and practicality. Firstly, from the theoretical viewpoint, less attention is devoted to examine how WFC and well-being are indirectly related to efficacy and RC. The studies by Frone (2003) called for the examination of personality dispositions as antecedents of WFC. The role of personality factors on womens well-being, on the other hand, is less well documented. Carlson (1999) found negative affectivity to be directly related to greater WIF conflict. Although many studies on WFC involved nurses, managers, clericals, doctors, lawyers and engineers there were not many studies related to work and family conflict in the teaching profession. According to Kinicki et al.s (1996) review, the basic proposition which states that environmental and personality variables influence the choice of coping strategies, has been generally supported by empirical research, but the relationships between coping strategies and outcomes are inconsistent. Research on coping should address both the effects of coping on appraisal and strain as well as vice versa (Harris, 1991). It is vital to note that this study focus on the relationships between religious coping and work-family conflict and well-being. Furthermore, knowing how women deal with the realities of their conflicts rather than how they feel about them seems particularly important. Therefore it is of great interest to get a deeper knowledge of the antecedents/predictors of the teachers work-family conflict. Secondly, is/from the methodological component/perspective. There are inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between WFC and well-being. Due to this reason, this study also investigates the direct and indirect relationships concurrently. Apart from that, this study also examines WFC efficacy as a predictor of WFC due to the inconclusive findings related to efficacy and stress. In the current study, the researcher examines work-family conflict efficacy that may play an important role as a predictor of WFC in increasing teachers well-being. Unfortunately, not much is known about the relationships between WFC efficacy, religious coping, WFC and well-being in Malaysian studies. Thus, this study examines direct and indirect relationships between WFC, WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being. By using Structural Equation Modeling, the direct and indirect relationships can be simultaneously tested. To achieve this purpose, the data are analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analy sis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Additionally, there is only few research on WFC among teachers in the Malaysian population utilizing SEM. The result of the study would substantiate understanding about the phenomenon of work-family conflict in teacher population with the use of SEM. Thirdly, in practicality, it is important to study WFC and the psychological well-being of female school teachers. Studies has indicated that many teachers are incapable of juggling their professional and family roles effectively (Elbaz-Lubisch, 2002; Spencer, 1986). Teachers in Ackers study (1992) clearly thought that the combination roles of being a teacher and a mother were not at all convenient. Job satisfaction and teaching competence are important variables in regard to teachers continuity in the profession. For instance, studies by Certo and Fox (2002) indicated that job satisfaction in teaching was associated with aspects such as workplace conditions, administrative control, and organizational culture. It also touched on how teachers felt about their own competencies like teaching accomplishments and their general feelings coming to work. When teacher satisfaction was examined by Scott and Dinham (2003), they found that it was influenced by students achievement and personal e fficacy. Hence, it may be plausible to argue that a teachers well-being is influenced by job satisfaction and competence plus, reduced well-being associated with work may lead to stress that will in turn affect job performance. This study hopes to contribute to the importance of the relationships between WFC, WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being of female teachers. Work-family problems, if they are not effectively managed, will not only affect individuals and their families, but also adversely affect their employers and ultimately the society at large. Hence, the responsibility for developing and implementing effective ways to reduce work-family interference and increase development should be shared by organizations, individuals and their families, as well as policy-makers. This study may also assist the policy-makers and administrators to implement intervention strategies aimed at managing teachers WFC, if possible reducing their workload. Additionally, practitioners are interested in the extent to which various interventions like family-friendly policies and programs, and the supportiveness of the work-family culture would actually reduce employees work-family role conflict. They are also interested in how this can have significant impact on a number of work, family and personal outcomes, as mentioned above. Therefore, future research should be aimed at examining the effectiveness of such interventions. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY First, limiting the generalizability of current findings, even though the sample represents the organizations population, they were female. Secondly, the disadvantage of using a survey method is that it influence the willingness of individuals to respond accurately. Finally, the present study is clearly limited by the cross-sectional nature of the research. DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY This study focused only on married female secondary school teachers in the District of Hulu Langat in Selangor. This sample size was limited to only those who were in one district in one state. The researcher controlled the influence of participants marital status, number of children, working experience on WFC and level of institutions (secondary schools) that were expected to have high significant levels of conflict between work and family roles. The presence of children within the home has been identified as a factor that affects conflict. Regarding the influence children have on work and family conflict, research has suggested that FWC and WFC are exacerbated by the number of children living within the home (Kinnunen Mauno, 1998; Voydanoff, 1988). This research also included in-depth open-ended interviews to further explore the mechanisms that explain teachers WFC. DEFINITION OF THE OPERATIONAL KEY TERMS For the purpose of this study, the key terms or constructs under the study are operationally defined as follow, with some elaborations on the definitions. Work-Family Conflict Work-family conflict has been defined as a form of inter-role conflict in which pressures from work and family roles are incompatible (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985). For instance, when one devotes extra time and energy into one role, the other role is compromised. This study defines work-family conflict according to Netemeyer et al., (1996, p. 401) as a form of inter-role conflict in which the general demands of, time devoted to and strain created by the job interfere with performing family-related responsibilities. Work-Family Conflict Efficacy Work-family conflict efficacy is defined as an individuals beliefs in her or his ability to manage work-family and family-work conflict (Cinamon, 2003). In this study, work-family conflict efficacy refers to the perceptions of self-efficacy to manage work-family conflict and family-work conflict. Self-efficacy was theoretically defined in this study as self-regulatory efficacy, which is a specific type of perceived self-efficacy. The given attainment in this study was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Bandura (1997) defined a specific type of self-efficacy, self-regulatory efficacy, as the ability to guide and motivate oneself to get things done that one knows how to do. The issue is not whether one can do them occasionally but whether one has the efficacy to get oneself to do them regularly in the face of varied dissuading (p.43). Religious Coping Various definitions of coping have been proposed, including coping as a psychoanalytic process; as a personal trait, style or disposition; as a description of situationally specific strategies; and as a process. In this study, coping in the context of religious approach is used. Thus, religious coping is defined as dealing with life effectively within the search for significance towards the sacred (Pargament, 1997). Religious coping includes a positive and negative religious/spiritual coping factor that reflects benevolent religious involvement in the search for significance and a negative factor that reflects religious struggle in coping. Well-being Kathryn Dianne (2009) argued that employee well-being consists of subjective well-being (life satisfaction and dispositional affect), workplace well-being (job satisfaction and work-related affect) and psychological well-being (self acceptance, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, autonomy, purpose in life and personal growth). In this study well-being refers to symptoms of psychological distress and job-family dissatisfaction. Symptoms of psychological distress Goldberg (1978) has identified symptoms of psychological distress through somatic and affective of distress. Job-Family Dissatisfaction Job-family dissatisfaction refers to a respondents perception of negative spillover from his or her work to family (Small Riley, 1990), for example the negative impact of a respondents work demands or stressors on her marital and parental roles. Mediator Mediators are intervening variables, which could explain why relationships exist. Mediation exists when an exogenous construct indirectly influences an endogenous construct via a third variable or construct. That is, the effect of a third variable or construct (mediator) intervenes between two other related constructs. In this study, work-family conflict functions as a mediator. SUMMARY Chapter one is organized into nine sections. The first section presents the background of the study, followed by the statement of problem and purpose of the study. To achieve the purpose of the study, several research questions have been formulated and explained more on the conceptual framework part, a set of relationships (work-family conflict efficacy, religious coping, work-family conflict and well-being) in a path diagram is depicted. Sixth, on the basis of

Role Of The Registered Nurse

Role Of The Registered Nurse Registered Nurses (RNs) provide many different services to health care consumers in a variety of settings. Some things nurses do on a daily basis offer a unique contribution to health care, whereas others can be done by other health team members. Professional nursing offers a specialized service to society. Professional nurses use a broad approach when considering holistic health need of the people they serve. Because of the broad nature of the discipline, nurses assume multiple roles while meeting health care needs of clients. For this reason, this paper would be discussing the role of the registered nurse in health care delivery. We would also discuss the professional standard and expectations for registered nurse. The quality assurance and confidentiality issues would then be discussed. In addition, this paper would explore the responsibility of the employers in hiring new health care staff. This would then include the employers expectation regarding competencies. Finally, a conclusion would be provided in order to highlight important details discussed in the paper. Different Roles of the Registered Nurse Primary Caregiver As a caregiver, the nurse practices nursing as a science. The nurse provides intervention to meet physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and environmental needs of patients and families using the nursing process and critical thinking skills. The nurse as a caregiver is skilled and empathetic, knowledgeable and caring. RNs provide direct, hands on care to patients in all health care agencies and settings. They also take an active role in illness prevention and health promotion and maintenance (Chitty, 2005; Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2006; Masters, 2009). Nurse Leader/Coordinator The Nurse Coordinator role is unique. It is a vital part of the multidisciplinary care team for patients and contributes to improved patient outcomes. The core functions of the Nurse Coordinator role centre around the patients physical and psychosocial assessment, care coordination, education and support, from coordinating the patients diagnostic work-up tests to assisting them to navigate the hospital system, and referring them to allied health professionals. The Coordinator is an important resource for the patient and family and acts as a focal point of contact throughout their time in the hospital (ANMC, 2006; Hood Leddy, 2006). Incorporated in this advanced practice role, the Nurse Coordinator is responsible for maintaining clinical competencies and participating in those activities that contribute to the ongoing development of self and other health care professionals. The Nurse Coordinator contributes to the educational needs of clinical nurses and participates in both informal and formal education programs at a national and international level (ANMC, 2006; Hood Leddy, 2006). Patient Advocate The purpose of this role is to respect patient decisions and boost patient autonomy. Patient advocacy includes a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship to secure self-determination, protections of patients right and acting as an intermediary between patients and their significant others and healthcare providers (Blais et al., cited in Masters, 2009). A patient advocate is mainly concerned with empowering the patient through the nurse-patient relationship. The nurse represents the interests of the patient who has needs that are unmet and are likely to remain unmet without the nurses special intervention. The professional nurse speaks for the patients interest as if the patients interests were the nurses own (Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006; MacDonald, 2006: Masters, 2009). Nurse Educator Nurse educators teach patients and families, the community, other health care team members, students and businesses. In hospital settings as patient and family educators, nurses provide information about illnesses and teach about medications, treatments and rehabilitation needs. They also help patients understand how to deal with the life changes necessitated by chronic illnesses and teach how to adapt care to the home setting when that is required (Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006). Nurse as Collaborator Collaboration is important in professional nursing practice as a way to improve patient outcomes. Multidisciplinary teams require collaborative practice, and nurses play a key role as both team members and team leaders. To fulfill a collaborative role, nurses need to assume accountability and increased authority in practice areas. Collaboration requires that nurses understand and appreciate what other health professionals have to offer. They must also be able to interpret to others the nursing needs of patients. Collaboration with patients and families is also essential. Involving patients and their families in the plan of care from the beginning is the best way to ensure their cooperation, enthusiasm and willingness to work toward the best patient outcome (Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006). Nurse Practitioner A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse educated and authorized to function autonomously and collaboratively in an advanced and extended clinical role. The nurse practitioner role includes assessment and management of clients using nursing knowledge and skills and may include but is not limited to, the direct referral of patients to other health care professionals, prescribing medications and ordering diagnostic investigations. The nurse practitioner role is grounded in the nursing professions values, knowledge, theories and practice and provides innovative and flexible health care delivery that complements other health care providers. The scope of practice of the nurse practitioner is determined by the context in which the nurse practitioner is authorized to practice. (ANMC, 2006; Carryer, Gardner, G., Dunn, Gardner, A., 2007). Professional Standards and Expectations for Registered Nurses Standards within a professional practice are known as statements of an authoritative nature through which the profession to which they relate to provide a unique description of the responsibilities of all practitioners within that profession (Campbell Mackay, 2001). Further, the standards and expectations are in place to ensure that all practitioners are also accountable for the work and duties they perform. When it comes to nursing, this is done in order to create boundaries and to provide a level of care that is equitable for all patients. Further, the priorities and values of nurses must be common to each nurse within the profession, and the standards and expectations outlines this as such (Campbell Mackay, 2001; Pearson, Fitzgerald, Wash, Borbasi, 2002; American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2003; ANMC, 2006, 2008; Schiemann, 2007; Furaker, 2008). While standards will vary in specifics across nursing specializations, and across countries, there is a general mindset as to what is expected of nurses in terms of expectations and standards. They are intended to provide daily guidance to nurses as they practice. Accountability, ethics, competence, knowledge, and the practical application of knowledge are key elements that are common to all nursing standards and expectations (Campbell Mackay, 2001; Pearson, et al., 2002; AACN, 2003; ANMC, 2006, 2008; Schiemann, 2007; Furaker, 2008 ). Nurses are required to be held accountable for every action that they take on a daily basis. This requires constant documentation of every element of their daily job, and following a chain of command within their select position. They are also required to maintain ethical standards within their practice, and to follow all ethical guidelines as set forth by their governing body of nursing. Furthermore, nurses are expected to have a set amount of knowledge before they enter the field of practitioner work, and with that knowledge set come an expectation of competence and practical application. Nurses are expected to be competent in their knowledge base such that they know and understand what they are supposed to in the medical field, and also, are supposed to know how to apply that knowledge in a practical manner (Campbell Mackay, 2001; Pearson, et al., 2002; AACN, 2003; ANMC, 2006, 2008). Quality Assurance Quality Assurance is another issue that is common across all standards and expectations for nurses. Through this, quality assurance standards ensure that nurses are practicing with quality efforts which in itself promote their competence and practical applications. This will require continuous education on the part of the individual nurse, as quality assurance standards across many medical centers, cities, and countries are in a constant state of evolution. It is the responsibility of the nurse practitioner to understand their quality assurance expectations at all times (Ellis Hartley, 2004; Hood Leddy, 2006). Confidentiality Confidentiality is another element of most standards and expectations for nurses. This is a requirement that nurses do not have an option to practice or not. Legislation and privacy concerns are in effect all across the globe, and nurses have the expectation that they will maintain confidential and private information for their patients within the patient doctor realm. Patients use medical services under the understanding that their information and medical records are not being seen by the wrong person, or found in the wrong hands, and because nurses have the most contact between patient and doctor, these are standards of paramount significance to the nursing profession (Deshefy-Longhi, Dixon, Olsen, Grey, 2004, Ellis Hartley, 2004; Chitty, 2005; ANMC, 2006, 2008; Masters, 2009). Employers Responsibility in Hiring New Health Care Staff The employer of an organization has an inherent duty to employ competent staff. This is not only cost-effective on the part of the employer but also guarantee in some ways that the products and services provided by the organization are competently given to the end-users. In the context of health care employees, such as the RNs there is an accreditation scheme to ensure the capacity of the RNs to carry out his/her job. In this manner, the employers responsibility to screen the professional capacity of the RN is significantly simplified. Seeking only the certification of the newly hired RN will guarantee that he/she has satisfied the minimum requirements of training, licensure, and communication proficiency to carry out his/her role as health professional. Having the employer check the credentials of the newly hired RN as well as his/her certification with authorities will allow the employer to measure the RN capability to perform his/her jobs in the organization (Ellis Hartley, 2004; Hart, Olson Fredrickson, McGovern, 2006). Employers Expectations Regarding Competencies Registered nurses should appraise their strengths, weaknesses and preferences. The RNs must ensure that there is a good match between their abilities and employers expectations. Ellis and Hartley (as cited in Chitty, 2005) suggest that RNs examine themselves in seven areas in which employers have expectations. Theoretical knowledge should be adequate to provide basic patient care and to make clinical judgments. Employers expect RN to be able to recognize the early signs and symptoms of patient problems, such as an allergic reaction to a blood transfusion, and take the appropriate nursing action, that is, discontinue the transfusion. They are expected to know potential problems related to various patients conditions. (p. 212) The ability to use the nursing process systematically as a means of planning care is important. Employers evaluate nurses understanding of the phases of the process: assessment, analysis, nursing diagnosis/outcome identification, planning, intervention and evaluation. They expect nurses to ensure that all elements of a nursing care plan are used in delivering nursing care and that there is documentation in the patients record to that effect. (p. 213) Self-awareness is critically important. Employers ask prospective employees to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. They need to know that new nurses are willing to ask for help and recognize their limitations. New graduates who are unable or unwilling to request for help pose a risk to patients-a risk that employers are unwilling to accept. (p. 213) Documentation ability is an increasingly important skill that employers value. Employers expect RN to recognize what patient data should be charted and to know that all nursing care should be entered in patient records. (p. 213) Work ethic is another area in which employers are vitally interested. Work ethic means that prospective RN employees understand what is expected of them and are committed to providing it. Employers expect new graduates to recognize that the most desirable positions and work hours do not usually go to entry-level workers in any field. In the nursing profession, a nurse cannot leave work until patient care responsibilities have been turned over to a qualified replacement; therefore, being late to work or â€Å"calling in sick â€Å" when not genuinely incapacitated are luxuries professional nurses cannot afford. (p. 213) Skill proficiency of new graduates varies widely, and employers are aware of this. Most large facilities now provide fairly lengthy orientation periods, during which each nurses skills are appraised and opportunities are provided to practice new procedures. In general, smaller and rural facilities have less formalized orientation programs, and earlier independent functioning is expected. (p. 213) Speed of functioning is another area in which new nurses vary widely. By the end of a well-planned orientation period, the new graduate should be able to manage the average patient load without too much difficulty. Time management is a skill that is closely related to speed of functioning. The ability to organize and prioritize nursing care for a group of patients is the key to good time management. (p. 214) Conclusion Through time nurses have advanced their roles into various spheres of practice, and this progression seems set to continue as healthcare continues to evolve. Whatever the reason, central to role extension should be the delivery of safe care to all patients, with the support of the multi- disciplinary team to ensure good standards of patient care. Nurses should ensure that each activity performed when advancing a role should complement the current job, one which they are competent in. Nurses should guard themselves against litigation and carefully consider what they really want to do, as each practitioner is accountable for their actions and should be aware of the legal implications of practice within the process of advancing professional practice. Reference American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. (2003). Safeguarding the Patient and the Profession: The Value of Critical Care Nurse Certification. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4hid=11sid=a5993293-dc81-4e26-93ec-1fec6430d3b1%40sessionmgr4 Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. (2008). Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.anmc.org.au/userfiles/file/New%20Code%20of%20Professional%20Conduct%20for%20Nurses%20August%202008(1).pdf Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. (2006). National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.anmc.org.au/userfiles/file/RN%20Competency%20Standards%20August%202008%20(new%20format).pdf Campbell, B., Mackay, G. (2001). Continuing Competence: An Ontario Nursing Regulatory Program That Supports Nurses and Employers. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 25(2), 22-30 Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4hid=11sid=42ae05a5-ab95-46df-976e-9c3eaa7b6092%40sessionmgr12 Carryer, J., Gardner, G., Dunn, S., Gardner, A. (2007). The core role of the nurse practitioner: practice, professionalism and clinical leadership. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 1818-1825. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01823.x Chitty, K. K. (2005). Professional Nursing: Concepts Challenges(4th ed.). St Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Saunders Deshefy-Longhi, T., Dixon, J. K., Olsen, D., Grey, M. (2004). Privacy and Confidentiality Issues in Primary Care: Views of Advanced Practice Nurses and their Patients. Nursing Ethic, 11(4), 378-394. doi: 10.1191/0969733004ne710oa Ellis, J., R, Hartley, C., L. (2004). Nursing in Todays World: Trends Issues Management (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams Wilkins Furaker, C. (2008). Registered Nurses views on their professional role. Journal of Nursing Management, 16, 933-941. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2008.0872.x Hart, P. A., Olson, D. K., Fredrickson, A. L., McGovern, P. (2006). Competencies Most Valued by employers-Implications for Masters-Prepared Occupational Health Nurses. Business and Leadership, 54, (7), 327-335. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7hid=11sid=42ae05a5-ab95-46df-976e-9c3eaa7b6092%40sessionmgr12 Hood, L. J., Leddy, S. K., (2006). Leddy Peppers: Conceptual Bases of Professional Nursing(6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams Wilkins MacDonald, H. (2006). Relational ethics and advocacy in nursing: literature review. Journal of Advance Nursing, 57(2), 119-126. doi. 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.04063.x Masters, K. (2009). Role Development in Professional Nursing Practice (6th ed.). Sudbury MA: Jones And Bartlett Publishers Pearcey, P. (2008). Nursing Roles: Shifting roles in nursing does role extension require role abdication? Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17, 1320-1326. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2007.02135.x Pearson, A., Fitzgerald, M., Walsh, K., Borbasi, S. (2002). Continuing competence and the regulation of nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Management, 10, 357-364. Retrived from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4hid=10sid=1e5abd6f-0fce-4667-af73-c2cfe7c90ba5%40sessionmgr11 Schiemann, D. (2007). Expert Standards in Nursing as an Instrument for Evidence-based Nursing Practice. Journal of Nursing Care Quality,22(2), 172- 179. Retrived from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7hid=10sid=1e5abd6f-0fce-4667-af73-c2cfe7c90ba5%40sessionmgr11

clay Beats Liston: February 25, 1964 :: essays research papers fc

"Clay Beats Liston: February 25, 1964" From the accounts of various Kentucky newspapers, I was able to learn a few facts about Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, as well as the attitudes of his fellow Kentuckians. The first thing I noticed in all the newspapers that I viewed was that almost all the articles written about the fight were written by writers from either the Associated Press (AP) or United Press International (UPI). This displayed three things about the Kentucky press, first the belief that Clay's fight was not important enough to cover themselves, secondly that the newspapers probably did not make enough money to send their own reporters down to Miami Beach, and finally the localization of the newspapers' audiences. Another aspect of the fight is the effect it had on Kentucky society, especially the sports scene. I primarily noticed that almost all the papers used reports from the Associated Press and the United Press International, even the (Louisville) Courier-Journal, one of Clay's hometown newspapers, used reports from the Associated Press. The only articles that were not written by a member of the Associated Press were the very rare editorials written about the fight. The use of reports from the AP and the UPI shows that most newspapers did not think the fight was very newsworthy. Only one newspaper published an article that was not written by a member of the Associated Press or the United Press International, however that one article was an editorial about Cassius Clay's new found wealth and not the actual fight. The lack of coverage also proves that even though blacks were supposed to be equal to whites, that in reality achievements by blacks and whites were treated differently. None of the newspapers that I read displayed a large picture or headline proclaiming that Cassius Clay was the new heavyweight champion of the world. Most newspapers had an average sized headline stating that Clay was the new champion, but none had an article about him on the front page. This further illustrates that achievements by blacks were believed to be less important than the achievements of whites. I saw almost the same amount of articles on high school basketball, as I did on the fight. Although I am not surprised by the fact that high school basketball received almost a page of coverage, I am alarmed by the fact that this one page of coverage on basketball was the same amount of coverage for the boxing match. The stories by Associated Press and United Press International illustrate two more facts about Kentucky during the 1960's, primarily that most of

Free Essays - A Psychological Analysis of Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown :: Young Goodman Brown YGB

My first thought when I read the story is that there's a psychological aspect to this. This aspect comes to life when Brown begins to accept the reality that he seems to repress. Which reality is this? As imperfect humans, we've occasionally used poor judgment on issues in our everyday lives, but what is most important is how we deal with these experiences that will become forever frozen in our minds. I feel that this is the major cause of anguish for Brown. When you look at his society and the beliefs of the townspeople, one can understand how Brown's conscience can be very overbearing. So overbearing that it causes him to have delusions concerning the welfare of his soul. I believe it is a dream or nightmare for Brown, one that he will never be able to deal with. One wonders how Brown's townsfolk deal with their sins. Do they repress them or just keep them hid from others? Through time, Brown learns he is not alone when it comes to dealing with good and evil. Isn't he just dealing with good? Or is it the connection between good and evil that bugs him? His own wife, Faith, is bothered with symptoms: "a lone woman is troubled with such dreams." Brown mentions, "She talks of dreams, too," which is a somewhat reassuring statement for him. This seems to confirm the notion that his "journey" is a fabrication of his unconscious (a dream) and that his wife has similar problems. It's quite ironic that her name is Faith, which seems to be the very thing that she is lacking. Also, Brown is caught offguard when he sees the "journeyman" mingle with Goody Cloyse. He comments: "that old woman taught me my catechism"; such a respectable woman is talking to evil. We are also told of how Brown's family wasn't as wholesome as he believed. His grandfather lashed a Quaker woman while his father set fire to an Indian village. How did these men deal with their actions? I can remember reading about Puritans who used to whip themselves for their sins. This torment can exhaust you to a physical numbness but the sin is still in your mind. Through it all, I wonder about all the hell people were put through, during this time period, for acts that were deemed unacceptable I really like the symbolism in this story.