Strengths And Weaknesses Of Neighbourhoods Young People Essay

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Neighbourhoods Young People Essay The phrase neighbourhood renewal/regeneration relates to a series of programmes in place to ascertain local needs and develop ways to deal with poverty and deprivation in the United Kingdom which are known as Super Output Areas (SOAs).   Local area based initiatives have been a universal approach to the problems that deprived neighbourhoods have endured in Britain since the 1960s. The majority of programmes at that time were very short term and tended to focus on single issues. In the late 1980s an integrated approach was tried. (Imrie and Raco, 2003). Initiatives started to increase in the 1990s and as a result of this, the number of the governance of neighbourhood regeneration came to be characterised by a series of interlinked and spatially overlapping partnerships (Imrie and Raco, 2003: 85). Labour introduced the neighbourhood renewal strategy plan in 2001, this was a new approach to tackle social exclusion and poverty in the most poorest neighbourhoods in UK. Tony Blair talked about the purpose of The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy in his speech to the nation: where no-one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live, where power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few. This action plan is a crucial step in creating one nation, not separated by class, race or where people live   the purpose of the strategy was to narrow the gap between outcomes in deprived areas and the rest (Social Exclusion Unit, 2001:1)    The main aims of local based anti-poverty and community development programmes are to tackle the issue of social exclusion in the more deprived areas of the country. In relation to British social policy, the term social exclusion is relatively new. The government has described social exclusion as a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown. (www.socialexclusion.gov.uk). There are many different explanations for social exclusion, and many different factors which add to social exclusion, by examining the different factors programmes can be developed in order to address the problems and try to promote a more cohesive community. The individual can contribute to social exclusion by the nature of their race, gender, culture, beliefs, disability etc. Lack of resources Lack of opportunities to work Learning opportunities Health issues Decent housing Disruption of family life. Living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods (Haralambos and Holbron, 2004:253) Anti-poverty and community development programmes are targeting these areas with improvements in social housing, re-developing existing social housing, increasing education opportunities (such as access to education and grant schemes for students), making health care more available, targeting the younger generation to educate on matters that will effect their future, raising the profile of neighbourhoods. One of the projects I am more familiar with is the Sure Start programme (now known as Childrens Centres) and I am going to discuss the strengths and weakness of the centres. Governments Policies In 2003, the Government published a green paper called Every Child Matters. This was published alongside the report into the death of Victoria Climbie. The Green Paper prompted discussions about current services for children, young people and families. There was a wide consultation with staff that worked in childrens services, and with parents, children and young people. Following the consultation, the Government published Every Child Matters: the Next Steps, and passed the Children Act 2004. The Act provides a legislative spine for the wider strategy for improving childrens lives. This covers the universal services which every child accesses, and more targeted services for those with additional needs Department of Education and Skills, Children Act 2004. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/childrenactreport Indeed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP, speaking about child poverty at the Sure Start Conference on 7 July 1999, acknowledges that poverty is a many-sided problem which requires many-sided solutions: First, we must tackle child poverty at its source the absence of work, in work poverty and providing increased financial support for families to tackle child poverty, so that by our actions we lift a million and more children out of poverty. Second, what I want to concentrate on today, because improving public services health visitors, nurseries, playgroups, childcare, learning support in the poorest communities is vital to tackling child poverty, our Sure Start programme will invest in young children in areas of greatest need. Third, we must mobilize not just government, local and national, but voluntary help and community action and in the programmes we are introducing not only in Sure Start but in the New Deal for Communities and our expansion of childcare provision we must mobilize the forces of concern and compassion in new partnerships to tackle child poverty. Fourth, as David Blunkett has said, we must make sure that all our schools are as good as our best. In the old economy it was possible to survive with the old inequalities an education system that advanced only the ambitions of the few. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/633.htm Key achievements: Labour has undertaken the biggest expansion in early years education since 1945; investing  £21 billion since 1997. Every three and four year old has the right to a free nursery place, which we will extend from 12.5 hours a week to 15 hours by 2010. Since 1997, the number of registered childcare places is up by around 644,000 from a place for one in eight children to one in four children. Delivered nearly 3,000 Sure Start Childrens centres, reaching two million children and their families. Labour has expanded nationally the Bookstart scheme which gives every one and two year old a satchel of books and every three and four year old a treasure chest of books and crayons. http://www.labour.org.uk/early_years Sure Start Sure Start was the Labour Governments programme that aimed to deliver the best start in life for every child. They bring together early education, family support, childcare, health and welfare advice. It aims to develop services in some of the more disadvantaged areas (identified by the multiple of deprivation indices. In Sure Start there is a normally a central office where all the team work together to support children and families in the local areas. The sure start programme was initially a ten year programme but was abolished in favour of childrens Centres. The change from Sure Start has not really been noticed and is still referred to as Sure Start. Amid all the hullabaloo about the governments 10-year childcare strategy, one quite momentous change has gone relatively unnoticed: the governments much-lauded Sure Start programme has been abolished. N. Glass, The Guardian, Wednesday January 5 2005 The Sure Start centres, provided integrated services including health services and family support services, as well as childcare. The different services that children centres provide for children and families contribute to the Every Child Matters outcomes. Local authorities lead in planning and implementing centres. Some of the services I have seen implemented at RoseHill include, support that has been individually tailored to meet the families and their childrens needs such as, parenting assessment, working with families in the home or at the centre based on a one to one basis, providing parenting courses that aim to improve parental skills so improve the life and chances for children. There are also family workers at the centre that deal with over 11s and their families and carers, this service aims to work through problems the family may have and keep the children at their homes with their parents. One big issue the centre faces in relation to families is that of extended families and the centre provides a much needed support framework and advice for children and families that are going through divorce and separation issues, given the families a safe environment to discuss issues and problems. Along side this are the other services normally associated with a Children Centre, education courses , healthy eating, reading and writing support, I.T. help, employment help such as C.V. writing and interview techniques, and childcare support. Some of the members include:   Education advisers Activities Volunteer co-coordinators Midwives Crà ¨che Workers Health Visitors Play workers Speech and language therapist Child care advisors Family Support (Social Services PEEP Workers IT Trainers One of the most important facts that impacted on the programme was that the Sure Start programme was not allowed to run its full ten years span, and little or no follow-up evidence was available for analysis, before expansion. With principal responsibility for Sure Start alongside my DfES colleagues, I had to argue against its immediate expansion on the grounds that it would be better to accumulate some experience of running it first. (By the October 1999, when I first discussed the scheme with the chancellor there were only two local projects actually running). My arguments did not win the day and in July 2000 the programme was extended to 550 local projects. Norman Glass Society Guardian, 2005:1 The Sure Start programme was very generously funded and when the programme was agreed to be spread around a further 3,500 centres, the money had to come from somewhere. This meant that the generous funding had to be more evenly distributed. This has meant that the centres had very limited funding and cuts had to be made. Although the Sure Start programme did not continue for the full planned ten year term and lost most of the generous funding, many of the good practice is carried out in the Children Centres that followed the Sure Start initiatives one of which is PEEP. PEEP is an early learning intervention, which aims to contribute towards improving the life chances of children, particularly in disadvantaged areas.  It concentrates on supporting parents/carers to develop three particular aspects of learning with their children: literacy and numeracy self-esteem learning dispositions The PEEP Learning Together programme  focuses on how to make the most of the learning opportunities in everyday life at home listening, talking, playing, singing, sharing books and having fun!  PEEP supports parents and carers  in their role as the first educators of their children. It works with adults about their childrens very early learning. http://www.peep.org.uk/section.asp?id=5 Another flaw of the Sure Start centres was that although Sure Start centres were based in deprived areas not all deprived children lived in these neighbourhoods. Because not all disadvantaged children live in deprived areas each small sure start programme could serve only a minority of disadvantaged children: those from adjacent areas could not could not participate and local authorities and health agencies were faced with relatively well-financed early years programmes in one part of their domain and much less well provided areas next door. This was very difficult to handle. Norman Glass Society Guardian, 2005:1 We know that children who grow up in poor families are less likely to reach their full potential, less likely to stay on at school, or even attend school, more likely to fall into the dead end of unemployment and poverty as an adult, more likely to become unmarried teenage mothers, more likely to be in the worst jobs or no jobs at all, more likely to be trapped in a no win situation poor when young, unemployed when older. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/633.htm Another weakness of the centres is that it involves trying to motivate and empower the local community to identify their needs and participate in the management side of the day to day running. This requires community workers who have good community and social skills to encourage local community members to actively take part. The concerns were that after the ten years were up that the community centres would not have been taken on by the local members and the centres would eventually be closed down. The Childrens Centre at Rosehill was formerly a Sure Start Centre and the differences are striking. The centre has lost a vast amount of staff members and the funding has been cut considerably. The workers continue to provide opportunities for the local parents and children so the principles of Sure Start are being maintained. Some of the local projects are working well such as the Reclaim your garden for food, Further education for parents, IT sessions, and one particular programme that I am involved with is Without Walls. Without Walls aims to network within the community to bring people together and try out new activities. It aims to break down barriers between people by organising little trips and coffee mornings with a view to a residential trip in the near future. The strengths of this project are that it encourages members of the community to mix with different groups within the community and to form a bond between them. Encouraging and empowering people to try different activ ities in a comfortable and safe environment. The only draw back is that Community Development takes time, patience and enthusiasm. Disadvantaged communities have to be persuaded to participate and their natural suspicious leads them to hang back until there is something to show. Norman Glass Society Guardian, 2005:1 The childrens centre network is still being expanded, and there will be up to 2,500 childrens centre throughout the country. Centers will be established to provide the most disadvantaged areas with links to local childcare networks and Job centre Plus. The ten-year strategy for childcare recommends that more local area based and to ensure that services are more accessible. The Strengths of Local based and community development programs are: The strengths of these projects are:- Brings diversity to local areas Raises education within the community Builds social capital Promotes a more healthy lifestyle Facilitates more parents to be able to return to work Develops individual social skills Encourages participation of community members Promotes cohesiveness Uses a bottom up approach as opposed to top down Creates Job opportunities Attracts other resources Has local government involvement The Limitations of Local based and community development programs are: It doesnt always reach those that vulnerable and excluded Resources limited opportunities Can cause discrimination over resources Funding limitations Can be difficult to evaluate/target and identify objectives Time consuming Can have funding limitations The project was aimed at parents to enable them to raise their children themselves, this in itself can prove difficult as many different cultures, races and societies have different views on what is considered successful parenting. Some of the more successful local projects seen at Rosehill/Littlemore Childrens Centre have been the parenting courses and Baby G, a group set up specifically to target under 25s with young children and childcare courses. This has brought a diverse group from the community together and is still successfully recruiting members that might not have attended the centre for various reasons. Again outreach work has enabled this to happen. In conclusion, local based area projects are as successful so long as participation is encouraged and that the projects are based on the communities needs. Community workers must continue to empower local residents to take part and in part, own the projects themselves in order for it to be sustainable. The most important part of any project is to reach the more vulnerable members of the local population; this can be achieved by successful outreach work. The success of any local area based projects depends entirely on the community workers personal skills and support from local authorities, along with a good community based knowledge. To be able to continue with all the work at Childrens Centres) I believe the projects need more funding to grow and sustain the important work carried out by these centres. Only with more government funding will they survive and be successful. Bibliographies and Referencing www.socialexclusion.gov.uk, 3rd November 2008 Haralambos and Holborn, 2004, Sociology, Themes and Perspective, Sixth Edition, HarperCollins Publishers Limited. Brown, G., (1999) Speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP, at the Sure Start Conference, 7 Jul. 1999, London: HM Treasury (online). http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/633.htm November 3rd 2008 Glass, N., 2005 Surely some mistake? Society Guardian 5th January, pg1 Glass, N., The Guardian, Wednesday January 5 2005, pg 1 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/childrenactreport 20th October 2008, 10.23am http://www.labour.org.uk/early_years 21st October 2008, 10.39am http://www.peep.org.uk/section.asp?id=5 20th October 2008, 10.13am Imrie, R. and Raco, M. (2003), Urban Renaissance. New Labour, community and urban policy. Bristol, The Policy Press

The theory of normalisation

The theory of normalisation Howard Parker and colleagues (1995) have had a dominant role in the development of the normalisation thesis. They argue that illicit drug use is no longer a sign of deviant behaviour in relation to crime, but a central part of youth culture due to freedom of choice and consumption, it has become recreational rather than problematic. They predicted that within a few years time, the young people that had not tried drugs would be the minority and therefore be the deviants. They also argue that post-modern Britain has an increasing issue of globalisation and consumption that has affected the increase of drug use as globalisation means that trade and accessibility of drugs is more common and easier, and having spare money due to the labour market and a longer childhood allows young people to consume freely. In this essay I will further discuss the theory of normalisation by Parker et al. Parker, Williams and Aldridge (2002) use the normalisation theory to measure sensible recreational drug use. These drugs include cannabis, amphetamines, LSD and ecstasy, sensible drug use does not include using a combination of these drugs at one time or using them on a daily basis due to addiction (Parker et al., 1998). Parker, Measham and Aldridge (1995) argue that drug use moved from deviant subcultures, such as the Mods and Hippies from the 1960s-1970s, to mainstream youth culture in the 1980s when the rave scene occurred. This dance culture became normalised as it was a recreational leisure pursuit of young people that introduced an appealing new drug, ecstasy. British surveys have shown that the late teens and early twenties are the main users of illicit drugs (ISDD 1994). The normalisation theory was introduced so to rule out the stigma about young people that take recreational drugs as the majority are not deviant or involved in crime. The trends in drug use have altered from the addiction of hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, to drugs that are used by the modern youth culture in leisure activities, including alcohol, cannabis and ecstasy (Muncie 1999). Although this may provoke crime that is out of character due to being under the influence, it does not create a lifestyle of crime which heroin may. For example, in order for class A drug addicts to fuel their habbit they turn to criminal acts such as burglary and mugging. Yet when a young person uses ecstasy or cannabis it is for leisure and does not necessarily cause the individual to partake in a criminal offence. However, Professor David Nutt was recently asked to resign as the c hair of the ACMD (Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs) due to declaring that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous for the human health than illegal drugs such as ecstasy, LSD and cannabis. He wrote in a paper at Kings College, London, that the legal drug alcohol ranks 5th as the most harmful drug. We could therefore argue that the consumption of alcohol is normal in society despite the harm it can cause. Also, although David nutt smoking,,, public bans it is now marginalised Alcohol is social activity,,, but some become dependant. abuse of any substance can cause issues to health or impact on family members. Although Parker et al. (1998) does not fully undertake postmodernism as structural inquality still exists, they believe that young peoples behaviour and choices have changed towards drugs due to a post-modern society that allows them to consume freely. For example, Mott and Mirrlees-Black (1993) found that the number of 16-19 year olds using cannabis more than doubled from 1983 to 1991. Normalisation has become an indicator of changes in social behaviour and cultural perspectives, meaning that the opinion about some illicit drugs has changed within the youth culture which in return affects their social behaviour as they do not think that using the drug is wrong or immoral. However, it could be argued that it is overgeneralizing to assume that all young people see drug use as normal, Dowds and Redfern (1994) found that approximately two-thirds of 12-15 year olds saw taking cannabis as a serious offense. Hunt and Stevens (2004) suggest that the government and media use drug normalisation as the proof for an increased disciplinary regulation and endorse policies as it is viewed to be a drug outbreak that needs to be broken or finished. For example, drug testing has been introduced in some schools to help prevent usage by young people (Craver, 2004). Illicit drug use is frequently associated with the youth culture, Robson (1994) points out that the most common time for using or trying drugs is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. It is suggested that this is due to adolescents being the time of experimentation in many aspects of life which can lead to rebellion. Coleman (1992:13) suggests a psychoanalytical-theory of three main reasons why young people and drugs are linked together: adolescence is a time of vulnerabilty as well as being impressionable, of rebellion and non-conformity and the need to be independant by disengaging from family relationships. These changes through adolescence support Colemans sociological theory that youth culture experiment in different social aspects of life, such as subcultures and trends or sexualities and in this case drugs. In relation to the normalisation theory, young people are able to experiment with drugs due to the wide availabilty of them as well as the access young people have to them due to people they know (Barton 2003). EVALUATION It is argued that the claims about the normality and extreme use of illicit drugs is over exaggerated and in fact illicit drugs have always been an underlying issue and therefore society has not suffered an instant or radical change due to industrial or post-modern reasons. For example, in 1932 Aldous Huxley discusses a hallucinogen called soma, showing the existence of drugs in previous decades. if ever by some unlucky chance such a crevice of time should yawn in the solid substance of their distractions, there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half holiday, a gramme for a weekend, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon. (Huxley, 1932: 49) Illicit drugs have always been present within society but throughout time the drugs have changed to match different subcultures and trends, such as hippies in the 1970s were associated with using LSD, Mods in the 1960s were associated with amphetamines and todays youth culture is associated with dance drugs such as ecstasy (South, 1997). LOOK AT S+N.. difference between frequency and normallcy Shiner and Newburn (1997) argue that the normalisation theory focuses on the measure of lifetime illicit drug use. They point out that if evidence of drug use is measured in shorter time frames such as within the last month or week, there is a dramatic decline in the results of illicit drug use. This is also relevant to the media panic over dance drugs such as ecstasy, amphetamines and LSD in which the media has exaggerated a high rate of use within youth culture. Yet ecstasy is one of the least addictive drugs and tends to be taken less regularly, for example when someone takes an ecstasy pill in a clubbing atmosphere they are less likely consume alcohol which can be an equally as dangerous drug if drank in access (Coleman, 1992). Shiner and Newburn also point out that when time frames such as whether or not the respondent has used any dance drugs in the last year are used, it was found that one in twenty young people said they had. Also, only one in four 16 to 25 year olds said they had used cannabis, the most commonly used illicit drug, in the last year. Overall, Shiner and Newburn criticise the normalisation theory as although there is an increase in the numbers of young people using illicit drugs, it overgeneralizes young people as it does not necessarily mean that they all see it as normal due to conservative norms and values about drug use still existing to many people and they view illicit drug use as wrong or bad. This challenges the argument by Parker et al. (1995) that soon the young people that were not using drugs would be in the minority and therefore be the deviant subculture. However, it is important to remember that Shiner and Newburn are evaluating the work of Parker et al. in 1995. Their work about normalisation in 1998 does acknowledge that young people view each drug differently and their decision to take illicit drugs is complex and sophisticated (Barton, 2003:121-122). It could also be argued that illicit drug use only appears to have become normalised due to a moral panic, a term that is commonly used to describe media stimulated over-reaction to subcultures, such as youth groups and issues within society. Stanley Cohen (1973) coined the term moral panic in the 1960s as a result of over exaggerated reports about the feud between the Mods and Rockers, he noted that moral panics tend to focus on topics concerning the actions of young people. Other sociologist such as Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) suggest that moral panics occur when a proportion of society feel that the folk devils (as suggested by the media) have become a threat to society and social order. For example, when the rave scene occurred there was a new folk devil associated with the acid house dance culture and ecstasy that became normalised among the youth culture. Ecstasy has had huge media coverage, especially since the death of Leah Betts in 1995 after she took one ecstasy pill on her 18th birthday. Leah collapsed in to a coma four hours after taking the tablet and died three days later. The police claimed the death was due to the tablet being contaminated, this resulted in the media using the tragedy to create a panic about the effects of the drug within society. However, it was later revealed that Leah did not die directly from the ecstasy pill but from drinking an excessive amount of water in reaction to dehydration from the drug.

Effects of BackGround Music on Phonological Short-Term Memory Essay

Improving recall has been the goal of many scientific studies (Higbee, 2001; Lachman, Weaver, Bandura, Elliot, & Lewkowicz, 1992). As a result, a debate surfaced on the best method to achieve this goal. This study chose to focus on only two methods, emotional state and emotionally arousing words. One’s emotional state or mood is important to consider when exploring memory, because mood affects one’s recall of information (Happiness-Levine & Burgess, 1997; Thaut & l’Etoile, 1993). Music, depending on the type, can help induce or change one’s mood (Rickard, 2012). This is important because, music is apart of many of people’s daily lives. Students, especially, listen to music while they study a task that relies on one’s memory. Beyond just exploring mood, this study wanted to look at what type of word is best remembered. Previous research (Doerksen & Shimamura, 2001; LaBar & Phelps, 1998; Zimmerman & Kelley, 2010) found that people tend to recal l and remember emotional words better than neutral non-emotional words. Building upon these findings is important because, if certain types of words were confirmed as inherently memorable then these words would be powerful. They could be used as powerful tools for writing memorable speeches, lectures, and advertisements. One’s mood working in conjunction with emotional words, could lead to effortless increase in one’s own ability to recall information A recent study by Ferguson and Sheldon (2013) looked at inducing positive emotional states in their participants using classical music. In their study, participants listened to either 12 minutes of an upbeat â€Å"hedonically positive† classical music piece or a slow â€Å"hedonically ambiguous† classical music piece. Their results showed that participant... ...ompany. LaBar, K. S., & Phelps, E. A. (1998). Arousal-mediated memory consolidation: Role of the medial temporal lobe in humans. Psychological Science, 9(6), 490-493. Lachman, M. E., Weaver, S. L., Bandura, M., Elliot, E., & Lewkowicz, C. J. (1992). Improving memory and control beliefs through cognitive restructuring and self-generated strategies. Journal of Gerontology, 47(5), P293-P299. Salamà ©, P., & Baddeley, A. (1989). Effects of background music on phonological short-term memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 41(1), 107-122. Thaut, M. H., & de l'Etoile, S. K. (1993). The effects of music on mood state-dependent recall. Journal of Music Therapy, 30(2), 70-80. Zimmerman, C. A., & Kelley, C. M. (2010). â€Å"I’ll remember this!† Effects of emotionality on memory predictions versus memory performance. Journal of Memory and Language, 62(3), 240-253.

Functions Of Management Essay -- Business Management

There may be many ways for an organization to become successful but the key to success is not the system of the firm but the character and skills of the individual manager (Maister, 2002). Maister further stated that the character and skill of individual managers who "practice what they preach" and recognize the manager's role in training employees are what's really significant. Management is necessary for a business to function, yet when exploring the role of the manager, it becomes rather complex. Managers must be resourceful; they are individuals who wear many hats. The job of every manager involves what is known as the functions of management. Richard Daft definition of management is "the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through the employment of the four management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizational resources" (2005). Daft adds that these functions are goal-directed, interrelated and interdependent. The first of these functions, planning, involves creating a systematic process for achieving the goals of the firm. It prepares the organization for the future. Planning can take many forms and a variety of methods may be employed. Creativity and communication becomes very important in the function of planning. For example, during my employment with a tax service, in planning a marketing campaign several people had to be contacted. Communication was initiated in different forms such as e-mail, telephone, written memorandums and creative jingles. Today managers make use of planning through software and technological items such as blackberries in order to be well prepared during the planning process. Planning can also be seen as a way of control. ... ... needed (2005). Managers also play an important role is advancing these goals. Rather than just manipulating things and people to achieve goals, managers must advance overall organizational goals through the use of information systems. Technology is one element that is helping managers take control. The use of the internet and other technology has enabled them to keep tabs on performance without maintaining daily authoritarian control over employees (Daft, 2005). In Maister's book, "Practice What You Preach", he list nine statements as the most important truths for employees and profitability. The performance from company to company, despite the country, the size of the practice and the line of business, the four functions of management I found to be equally significant in his nine truths. Works Cited Maister, D.H. (2001), "Practice What You Preach"

Process Journal :: Papers

For our set text we were given the play Mrs Warrens Profession. For our choice of scene we chose scene four, the last act because the scene contains the right amount of characters for our group of four. Also the ending scene is the climax of the entire play and is full of action, we felt that the last scene was complete with comedy and romance, tension and emotion and our group felt that this scene would hold the audiences attention well. In staging the set text scene we needed to show the office environment, so we used two tables and a few chairs as in the stage instructions, and we used props such as books and papers, and a pen in an ink holder to show the time that the play was set. We were only allowed five lighting changes in total, so our group decided to keep the lighting the same to allow for more in our devised scene. The warm, yellow light suited the topics being discussed at the beginning of the scene, going to Italy and beauty and romance, but if we had unlimited changes I would have had the lighting slowly change to a harsher less yellow light when I entered, to show trouble and set the mood, and then again when Frank and Praed left to increase the tension. When we first read through the set text, we played around with different elements of the characters, emphasizing areas and changing voices and tones of voice, and exaggerating characters to then point of humour. This was in order to explore my character fully and find out as much as I could about my interpretation of how Mrs Warren thought and acted. From this and exploring the text thoroughly I found that my character, Mrs Warren was a strong character and firm in her

Mockingjay Book Review Essay

Imagine the cruelest form of a dictatorship you can think of, randomly selecting two young and innocent children per state from their families and friends. This is the corrupt and power-obsessed capitol. The capitol forces 24 children, 2 from each district to get put into an arena where they must violently fight to the death; there are 12 districts. This is called the hunger games, a â€Å"celebration† rather than a punishment to remember the 13th district that attempted to overrule the capitol, therefore, destroyed. The treacherous and notorious hunger games are nationally televised to all the districts as a lesson and are an amazing and honorable task to the people of the capitol. When Katniss Everdeen’s sister is randomly selected, Katniss takes her place in the games and wins. She is then reselected back into the games the next year and forcefully taken against her will in a surprise attack during the games into what is now known as the surviving district 13. In the final book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, starts off where Katniss is then taken into the underground District 13, a secret remaining district which is grouping together as rebels to fight against the capitol. Mockingjay has captured thousands of audiences ranging from kids, teenagers, and adults. Mockingjay has an unexpected turn in fate when most of the trilogies fans expect to finally see Katniss in freedom from the games and to find her romantic life where she can live in happiness and peace. When she becomes the rebel’s leader and emblem in district 13, it’s unexpected when she is soon found to be trapped in the evil and manipulative ways of government type control again. The capitol had used a televised, violent, and an effective show of the hunger games to prove to the world how much power and control they had over everyone else, and to threaten others so that they will not try and regain strength against the capitol again. Now, districts 13’s rebels are trying to overrule the capitol by using the same savage like strategies. They are creating videos of their rebellious actions and uprisings and televising them as well for more supporters. Soon enough, Katniss realizes she has fallen into the manipulation of another group again, and is causing just as much anger, pain. Sacrifice, and war as the capitol themselves were. This book is as popular and similar in fiction, style, and audience as some of the greatest fiction stories in the world such as, â€Å"Harry Potter†, â€Å"The Chronicles of Narnia†, and the â€Å"Twilight† trilogy. They all take place in a separate fantasy world where its evil vs. the good incorporated with the usual romance affairs. The nasty tracker jackers that take over memoires and change them so people forget who they are, the beautiful jabberjays, so entrancing yet evil by projecting the screams of your loved ones being tortured. Katniss as the main character of course is like Harry Potter, or Bella. She is brave, important, bossy, skillful, intelligent, logical, swift, humorous, thoughtful, caring, independent and sympathetic. Her personality traits are amazing as well as her physical, she is enchanting and beautiful. Her looks are mesmerizing when she rides across the arena in her carriage and dress on fire. She is the girl on fire, the fierce and brave girl who started it all by saving her younger sister. The story is dark and twisted, yet mind grabbing, and fascinating. Its gruesome and detailed events are disturbing but so thrilling and adventurous you can’t seem to stop reading this famous and loved trilogy.

Experiential Leadership Essay

Executive Summary    The researchers’ aim is to point out to the effect of Experiential Leadership in the selected company liked Barras Home Improvements. Background:    The Progress Report Name of the Business Manager of Barras Home Improvement Company is Mike Allen. He supervised 16 employees. Eight of them were assigned in office and eight were outside in the field. Nature of business/service market Barras Home Improvements was formed in 1987. During the past year, the company has positioned itself as a leader in the sales and home improvement. Home Improvement is the field of expertise in fact customer can easily choose their desired lay out for their home improvement, guided by the advice support to meet the great improvement of the home. In addition, they are now celebrating a twenty years in service. Barras Home Improvements Company is classified as family Business. They have large selection of Kitchens, Bathrooms and Bedrooms gallery lay-out or so called showrooms. Their mission statements are choice and value for money, service and quality product, and first class workmanship. The purposed of the operation of the company is to provide customer with highest standards of quality and service. Their products are sinks, taps, wall and floor tiles, Amtico flooring and shower enclosures and etc. They are also specialised in the complete installation service covering every aspect from plumbing and electric’s, plastering and minor building work and tiling to maintenance free ceilings. Insurance work is also undertaken and a 12 month written guarantee is given on all our work. We are both CORGI and NIC EIC registered. They also have a promotion of  £50.00 deposit only for the customers instillation fee Customer scope and demographics The informational data that the company can offer to the customer is as follows: Local: This Company is situated at the top of Clay Lane, off Ball Hill Shopping Centre on the Walsgrave Road. M6 –   Heading South: Leave M6 at Junction 3. Follow A444 towards Coventry. Turn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   left into Mercer Avenue and the showroom is at the top of this road, which is at   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     the junction of Clay Lane. M6 – Heading North: Leave M6 at Junction 2. Follow signs for the A4600 heading towards Coventry City centre. At Ball Hill shopping centre on the Walsgrave Road turn right into Clay Lane and our showroom is at the junction with Barras Green and Mercer Avenue.    Organizational Structure of the Barras Home Improvement Company Organization’s Workforce The Barras Home Improvement Company was subdivided into two groups of 8 in the office and 8 in the out field for installation and contractors. The people in office were responsible for customer service and do some paper works and entertain clients or customer. And in addition they lead the customer on the computer lay outing for the home improvement processing. Presentation Situation; The current situation of the organization is very exciting.   Recently, business has relocated to a larger and more efficient facility. This move will enable the company to streamline its method of operation and increase its bottom line. Market environment; The market place is undergoing tremendous technological change. New Technologies of Home improvement and materials are making products increasingly attractive stronger and less costly.   The business is poised now to take advantage of these changes, and expect to become an important supplier of home appliances and home improvement installation. Products and Services; The raw material and other home appliances that we are using were the latest awith high quality materials. This is primarily due to the strong influence of committed manufacturers and the demands of the appliances and raw materials. Gathering and Collection of Data: This investigation adopted the descriptive method of research as this is the appropriate way in evaluating the manager of the Barras Home Improvement Company in relation with his experience in Leadership Management style and behavior. This will be viewed from the responses of his 16 employees in the company. The descriptive method is also defined as studying components to serve as direction in reaching the goal. Its purpose is to tell what exist or what is about a certain business phenomenon, predicting and identifying relationships among and between the variables describe. The data and information was gathered through interview of some customers of Barras Home Improvement Company, employees and through internet the profile of the company has been gathered and studied.    Facts: The company is still a leading company in terms of home improvement because of the experienced manager of the company. The trend of the company was remarkably improving because of the good feedback and referral of the customer. They have the additional benefit of being able to provide a computer aided photo-realistic image that can even show the kitchen, bathroom or bedroom in the finish of their own choice. The Actual Report    Executive Summary    This paper studies the company named Barras Home Improvements (BHI). The purpose of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of the Experiential Leadership Manager to the Business Flows specifically in family business like BHI. This study was conducted to enlighten other businessmen in the market place to exercise Experiential Leadership Management. Background: Barras Home Improvements was formed in 1987. During the past year, the company has positioned itself as a leader in the sales and home improvement. Home Improvement is the field of expertise where a customer can easily choose their desired lay out for their home improvement, guided by the advice support to meet the great improvement of the home. In addition, they are now celebrating a twenty years in service. Barras Home Improvements Company is classified as family Business. They have large selection of Kitchens, Bathrooms and Bedrooms gallery lay-out or so called showrooms. The purpose of the operation of the company is to provide customers with highest standards of quality and service. Their mission statements are choice and value for money, service and quality product, and first class workmanship. Their products are sinks, taps, wall and floor tiles, Amtico flooring and shower enclosures and etc. They are also specialised in the complete installation service covering every aspect from plumbing and electric’s, plastering and minor building work and tiling to maintenance free ceilings. Insurance work is also undertaken and a 12 month written guarantee is given on all our work. They are both CORGI and NIC EIC registered. They also have a promotion of  £50.00 deposit only for the customer’s instillation fee Definition of the Problem       The objective & goal of this research is to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of experiential leadership management in business. The Barras Home Improvement is the company that will be treated on this study. Initially, a simple random sample of 16 employees will be given a baseline test organized by the researcher. The results will be compiled for later comparison with the research results, and those initially tested will no longer take part in the study. Questionnaires are one of the most popular ways in which data may be collected. These are used for a range of purposes and will often be the tool used to collect quantitative data. But it is worth mentioning that although this may be classified as mostly a quantitative process of collecting data it may also be a qualitative method, depending on the number, depth and style of the questions. Research questions This study sought to evaluate the Business Manager of Barras Home Improvement Company. Specifically, it aimed to answer the following questions: How to determine the degree that the person like working with task and people? What is the Leadership dimension of the Business Manager of Barras Home Improvement Company possess? What practice of leadership style does the Business Manager of Barras Home Improvement Company have? Is there a significant effect on experiential leadership management to the Barras Home Improvements company employees?    HYPOTHESIS: Ho  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   :  Ã‚   There is no significant effect on experiential leadership management to the Barras Home Improvements employees.                      THEORETICAL Framework   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the theoretical framework adopted for this study may be reflected in this model below. Input  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Process  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   output    Figure1. This paradigm was used to determine the effect on experiential leadership in the Barras Home Improvements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This model suggests that Leadership behavior and leadership style survey questionnaire may be anchored on the manager of Barras Home Improvement Company who is Mike Allen. The conceptualization of this study revolved around the notions clearly represented by this model. The paradigm of the study consists of the inputs that contain all those which have been studied in this research. The process consists of the survey questionnaires that were used to analysis the company data.   The output consists of the effects of Experiential Leadership Management to the company performance. Analysis of Variance was also used to treat the data statistically. Research design    Sample Size: All the employees were included in the sample and then the researcher calculated the weighted mean of the survey questionnaire to determine the effect of experiential leadership. Sample selection: Employees of Barras Home Improvements company were selected as sample selection of this study Instrument used: This study used a survey questionnaires of leadership behavior and leadership style    Editing of data: Standard editing and coding procedures with MS-EXCEL program. Analysis of data: Simple tabulation and cross-tabulation used. RESULTS: The following results were gathered and tabulated with the use of leadership survey questionnaire: This study reveals that the Manager of Barras Home Improvements Company has a characteristic of a Team leader. This is because the score 6.9 in the people section and a score of 7.3 in the task section revealed it. The quad where the two lines intersect is the leadership style in case of Team Leader quality. The manager used delegative and democratic leadership style. Sometimes he also used autocratic leadership style may be because it is necessary and it is revealed in the scores that 26 means being autocratic. This means that the style was used in some cases where the problem arises or decision making is required in the process for humanitarian sake. Conclusions: From the results of the experiential leadership management evaluation the following conclusions were drawn: The more experience the manager have the more effective and organized the business is. Experienced manager has more wisdom than an autocratic manager or even none experienced leader. Managers need to be team leaders for building much effective and successful business. A Team leader is the most ideal manager a company needs. Recommendation: This study suggests every businessman to undergo on the survey questionnaire to identify if their characteristics are autocratic, democratic or free reign. The new public relation officers must widen the scope and topics. Leadership Questionnaire Questionnaire Below is a list of statements about leadership behavior. Read each one carefully, then, using the following scale, decide the extent to which it actually applies to you. For best results, answer as truthfully as possible. Never  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sometimes  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Always  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5   _______ encourages team to participate when decision making time comes and also attempts to implement ideas and suggestions. _______ â€Å"Nothing is more important than accomplishing a goal or task†. _______ closely monitor the schedule to ensure a task or project will be completed in time. _______ enjoy coaching people on new tasks and procedures. _______ â€Å"The more challenging a task is, the more he enjoys it. _______ encourages employees to be creative about their job. _______ seeing a complex task through to completion, he ensures that every detail is accounted for. _______ found it easy to carry out several complicated tasks at the same time. _______ enjoy reading articles, books, and journals about training, leadership, and psychology; and then putting what have been read into action. _______ when correcting mistakes, he do not worry about jeopardizing relationships. _______ He manages time very efficiently. _______ He enjoys explaining the intricacies and details of a complex task or project to my employees. _______ breaking large projects into small manageable tasks is second nature to me. _______ nothing is more important to him than building a great team. _______ He enjoys analyzing problems. _______ He honors other people’s boundaries. _______ He Counsels his employees to improve their performance or behavior which is second nature to me. _______ He enjoyed reading articles, books, and trade journals about my profession; and then implemented the new procedures he learned.       Scoring Section Put your answers on the spaces provided for every question. PEOPLE TASK    Question 1.______   4.______   6.______   9.______   10.______   12.______   14.______   16.______   17.______   TOTAL ________ X 0.2 = ________    Question 2.______ 3.______   5.______   7.______   8.______   11.______   13.______   15.______   18.______   TOTAL ________ X 0.2 ________ Leadership Style Survey Directions: This questionnaire is about leadership style ideas. Please encircle any of the number provided for at right-end of each item/statement to express your honest judgment by using the following code: Category  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Weight Almost Always True   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5 Frequently True   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 Occasionally True   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 Seldom True   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 Almost Never True   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1 1. I always retain the final decision making authority within my department or team. 5 4 3 2 1 2. I always try to include one or more employees in determining what to do and how to do it. However, I maintain the final decision making authority. 5 4 3 2 1 3. I and my employees always vote whenever a major decision has to be made. 5 4 3 2 1 4. I do not consider suggestions made by my employees as I do not have the time for them. 5 4 3 2 1 5. I ask for employee ideas and input on upcoming plans and projects. 5 4 3 2 1 6. For a major decision to pass in my department, it must have the approval of each employee or the majority. 5 4 3 2 1 7. I tell my employees what has to be done and how to do it. 5 4 3 2 1 8. When things go wrong and I need to create a strategy to keep a project or process running on schedule, I call a meeting to get my employee’s advice. 5 4 3 2 1 9. To get information out, I send it by email, memos, or voice mail; very rarely is a meeting called. My employees are then expected to act upon the information. 5 4 3 2 1 10. When someone makes a mistake, I tell them not to ever do that again and make a note of it. 5 4 3 2 1 11. I want to create an environment where the employees take ownership of the project. I allow them to participate in the decision making process. 5 4 3 2 1 12. I allow my employees to determine what needs to be done and how to do it. 5 4 3 2 1 13. New hires are not allowed to make any decisions unless it is approved by me first. 5 4 3 2 1 14. I ask employees for their vision of where they see their jobs going and then use their vision where appropriate. 5 4 3 2 1 15. My workers know more about their jobs than me, so I allow them to carry out the decisions to do their job. 5 4 3 2 1 16. When something goes wrong, I tell my employees that a procedure is not working correctly and I establish a new one. 5 4 3 2 1 17. I allow my employees to set priorities with my guidance. 5 4 3 2 1 18. I delegate tasks in order to implement a new procedure or process. 5 4 3 2 1 19. I closely monitor my employees to ensure they are performing correctly. 5 4 3 2 1 20. When there are differences in role expectations, I work with them to resolve the differences. 5 4 3 2 1 21. Each is responsible for defining their job. 5 4 3 2 1 22. I like the power that my leadership position holds over subordinates. 5 4 3 2 1 23. I like to use my leadership power to help subordinates grow. 5 4 3 2 1 24. I like to share my leadership power with my subordinates. 5 4 3 2 1 25. Employees must be directed or threatened with punishment in order to get them to achieve the organizational objectives. 5 4 3 2 1 26. Employees will exercise self-direction if they are committed to the objectives. 5 4 3 2 1 27. Employees have the right to determine their own organizational objectives. 5 4 3 2 1 28. Employees seek mainly security. 5 4 3 2 1 29. Employees know how to use creativity and ingenuity to solve organizational problems. 5 4 3 2 1 30. My employees can lead themselves just as well as I can. 5 4 3 2 1 Scoring Section Put your answers on the spaces provided for every questions. Item Score Item Score Item Score 1 ______ 2 ______ 3 ______ 4 ______ 5 ______ 6 ______ 7 ______ 8 ______ 9 ______ 10 ______ 11 ______ 12 ______ 13 ______ 14 ______ 15 ______ 16 ______ 17 ______ 18 ______ 19 ______ 20 ______ 21 ______ 22 ______ 23 ______ 24 ______ 25 ______ 26 ______ 27 ______ 28 ______ 29 ______ 30 ______ TOTAL _______ TOTAL ________ TOTAL ________    Authoritarian Style    Participative Style    Delegative Style    (autocratic)    (democratic)    (free reign)                         References:    Covello, Joseph and Hazelgren, Brian, (1998). Your First Business Plan.Sourcesbooks 3rd Ed., Inc.USA Culp, C.(2001), The Risk Management Process: Business Strategy and Tactics, Wiley, New York, 60 -75. Gardner, Lawrence , (2006) Why businesses fail: †¦ and strategies for a successful turnaround, Detroiter, retrieved July 3, 2006, Kiyosaki, Robert T. and Lechter, Sharon L. (2002) Prophecy. Rich Dad’s.Warner Business Books, Inc. USA Spindler, A.,(1984) Publication Information: Book Title: The Politics of International Credit: Private Finance and Foreign Policy in Germany and Japan, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC., P. 37-50. Vlieghe, G.(2001) Corporate Liquidations in the United Kingdom, Bank of England Financial Stability Review Weygandt, Jerry J., Kieso, Donald E. and Kimmel Paul D. (1998) Financial Acounting, John Wiley and son Inc. Canada Yoder James, (2004) Time diversification and changing volatility in an options pricing framework, Journal of Academy of Business and Economics    Unpublished Book: No author, (2007) My firm, Business Resource Services, has developed a process that I call â€Å"Profit Mastery.†,   At the risky end of finance – Credit derivatives, Economist