The Role of God in the Lives of Bradford and the Puritans Essay Example for Free

The Role of God in the Lives of Bradford and the Puritans Essay A critical review of the history of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford will quickly reveal the main idea which the author intends for the readers. The idea is basically centered within the struggles of the puritans as well as their achievements, all of which were deeply propagated in their utmost belief in God as a sole provider. Thus, Bradford narrates these events with the aim of compelling future generations to align their values with those of the puritans. Consequently, the author believes that through his narrations the readers will come to terms with the supreme nature of God when it comes to helping anybody who is helplessly constrained by huge obstacles as long as the victim maintains his or her faith in God. In more expressive terms, the author points at the totality in which the puritans owed their life events to God as he writes. Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, againe to set their feete on the firme and stable earth, their proper element. (30-31) In these words the author portrays the Puritans belief that it was God’s deed that brought about their safe arrival to Cape Harbor after a terrible storm and other stream of obstacles. To their belief, all the constraints they encountered were the will of God and the reason for these occurrences were best known to Him. Thus, God is the sole reason for several occurrences that effect people lives in different ways. The Puritans, as Bradford narrated, were always weary of the belief that not having total faith in God as well not being selfless can lead to God’s wrath and consequent punishment. It is with this regard that lead to the Puritans belief that God’s goodwill in sparing their lives was as a result of there selfless service to the ill while in the boat. Hence, those who cared for the ill were protected by God and their lives were spared. On the other hand, the sailors who played nonchalant attitude and thus did not care for the ill became ill themselves and consequently died of the ailment. These, according to the Puritans were all accountable to God’s will. In conclusion, the role of God in the life of the Puritans was that of total guardians in returns for an unquestionable faith in his will. Thus they were able to overcome many tough challenges on both land and sea. The author himself seems to be inclined to these views as he wrote. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endure for ever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the deserte [and] willdernes out of the way, and found no citie to dwell in, both hungrie, and thirstie, their soul was overwhelmed in them (31). Cited Works Bradfords History Of Plimoth Plantation. Boston: Secretary of the Commonwealth. 1900

The Greatest Advantage Of Mass Media Media Essay

The Greatest Advantage Of Mass Media Media Essay The greatest advantage of mass media is the power to reach a large number of people all around the world in a very short period of time. It plays an important role in our everyday lives. Mass media influences our likes and dislikes, opinions regarding many important issues, views, behavior, our values and our style. Its primary purpose is to inform, but looking at it from the perspective of the viewer its main purpose is to entertain. On everyday basis children are being exposed to television and what is on it. Unfortunately, violence has taken over the entertainment world not only on television, but also in video games and movies. For many years massive amount of violence in media has been of great concern not just for parents, but also for researchers and psychologists. In this study my main focus is on the effects media violence has on children and how parents can approach children to reduce the effect of media violence. Before we take a further step into looking at the effects of violence in mass media let us define mass media. According to Lane, by definition, mass communication is a message created by a person or a group of people sent through a transmitting device (a medium) to a large audience or market.  [1]  To make it simpler mass media is: radio, television, film, newspapers, internet, books, video games and other devices that reach and influence people all over the world.2 The three main functions of mass media are to provide us with information and entertainment and allow us to kill boredom. As stated by Signorielli, the medium that is part of everyday life and most often used by us is the television. On average, or television set is on for more than seven hours each day. Children and older people are most likely to be exposed to more television than adolescents or adults.3 According to Signorielli, the Center for Media and Public Affairs isolated physical violence on ten channels (net work, independents and cable) during one day. Violence appeared most frequently during the afternoon (2 to 5 PM), with 191 acts per hour; early morning (6 to 9 AM), with 158 acts per hour; and prime time, with 102 acts per hour. 4 As said by Signorielli, most of the violent acts that are on television may channel the message that aggressive behaviors are not actually considered wrong. A lot of times characters who commit violence are not sorry for what they have done and they do not face any consequences for their actions. Additionally, television usually does not show the realism of violence and how things would turn out in real life for a person who has committed a crime such as stealing or murder. A lot of times violence on television is rather presented in the context of humor and comedy. Such messages may seem to be acceptable by viewers, especially children, and make them think that it is all right to follow such aggressive model behaviors.5 Researchers, who take an interest in media violence, especially televised violence, and in how it influences children, have put forward four findings: The first and perhaps most important factor is observational learning, which refers to the process through which people learn to imitate role models and types of behavior, especially if the behavior is perceived as being rewarded. This process seems to be at work not only in the imitation of televised aggression among children, but also in the influence of highly publicized murders, suicides, and prize fights among adults. The second factor is the change in attitudes that often occurs through television viewing. Studies have shown that children who watch substantial amounts of television are more likely than less avid viewers to accept aggressive behavior in other children. Other research suggests that violence on television can cultivate attitudes of suspicion and images of an extremely violent world in the minds of its viewers. A third possible factor is physiological arousal, the idea that viewers are stimulated by observing violence, to which they may nevertheless become desensitized over time, and that this arousal leads to, or is maintained by, subsequent aggressive activity. The fourth factor involves the process of justification. Many people who watch televised violence may already engage in violent behavior or possess aggressive tendencies, and may then find in television a form of justification for their actions.6 ________________________ 5 Nancy Signorielli, 33-34. 6 Brent D. Ruben and Todd Hunt, Mass Communication. Consumers and Producers, (New York; HarperCollins College Publishers, 1993), 85-86. Looking at the above findings it can be concluded that violence in media has a huge effect on children, as well as on adults. But let us not jump to conclusions and take a closer look at these situations and interpret them with greater attention to detail and with reference to facts. There is a great controversy whether media violence has any impact on childrens behavior. A single conclusion has not been reached, but enough data has been gathered to give attention to many important facts. Researchers have been investigating the effects of mass media through two leading approaches: The survey is carried out in the real world and usually consists of a large group of individuals who answer questions put to them via a questionnaire A special kind of survey, a panel survey, allows researchers to be more confident about attributing patterns of cause and effect in survey data. The panel study collects data from the same people at two or more different points in time. As a result, it is possible, using sophisticated techniques that control the effects of other variables, to see if viewing televised violence at an early age is related to aggressive behavior at a later date. The experiment is performed in a laboratory and usually consists of the controlled manipulation of a single factor to determine its impact on another factor. A special kind of experiment, a field experiment, is conducted in a real-life setting. Field experiments are more realistic than laboratory experiments but they are also harder to control.7 Media violence has not just been a concern of parents, researchers and psychologists, but also of government. All the studies that have been conducted over the years have been done so through laboratory experiments and field studies. According to the article Research on the Effects of Media Violence, hundreds of studies conducted over the years proof that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively and affects them as adults years later.8 The article also mentions that in 1956, a laboratory experiment has been conducted on 24 ___________________________ 7 Joseph R. Dominick, The Dynamics of Mass Communication; 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1990), 530-531. 8 Media Awareness Network, Research on the Effects of Media Violence, (2010), http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm . children. Researchers have divided these children into two equal groups. The research focused on children watching television, in this case cartoons and their behavior afterwards. One of the groups watched an episode of Woody Woodpecker, which contained violent acts, and the other watched an episode of The Little Red Hen, which was free of violence. Afterwards all 24 children were taken into the same room to play. The researchers have noticed that boys and girls, who have seen, Woody Woodpecker, acted more violently than children that have seen the non-violent one. Children who have seen an episode of Woody Woodpecker were more violent toward other children and were the ones to break things. The article Research on the Effects of Media Violence mentions, Jeffrey Johnson, a professor at the University of Columbia, who for 17 years has observed 707 different families in upstate New York. He started in 1975 and concluded his studies in 2002. As a result he declared that boys and girls w ho were exposed to a few hours of television on daily basis were more likely to be aggressive as adults. He stated that 60 percent of those children were more likely to get into fights and be aggressive toward others.9 As stated by Hunt, over the years the government has commissioned studies to prove that media violence contributes towards aggressive behavior in children. In the 1960s two commissions have been set up by the government the National Commission on the Cause and Prevention of Violence and the Surgeon Generals Scientific Advisory Committee on TV and Social Behavior to take up studies in how media violence affects children. Two methods, laboratory experiments and field studies, were used in those studies. As a result it has been determined that viewing violence on TV contributes to violent or aggressive behavior in viewers. 10 Going back to what the researchers have found Smith states that, observational learning, also known as social learning or modeling, is a form of learning in which people acquire new behavior by watching someone else perform that behavior. The person performing the behavior is known as the model, and the learner is known as the observer.11 Observational learning is the process of children imitating characters from TV and their behaviors. According to Dominick, the best known observational learning researcher is Albert Bandura and his experiment with a rubber doll called Bobo doll.12 ____________________________ 9 Media Awareness Network, http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm . 10 Brent D. Ruben and Todd Hunt, 83. 11 S.E. Smith, What is observational learning?, (September 8, 2010), http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-observational-learning.htm. 12 Joseph R. Dominick, 540. Through the experiment that has been conducted in the 1960s by Albert Bnadura and his co-workers showed that violence on TV and movies were serving as a school of violence.13 As stated by Dominick, in one of the experiments, that Bandura performed, preschool children were seated in front a film in which a person acted aggressively towards a rubber doll. Children who have seen the film and were placed in the same situation with the rubber doll acted quite more violently towards the doll than those children who have not seen the film before. In recent years a similar experiment has been conducted except this time a human being dressed as a clown took over the role of the rubber doll. A large number of children attacked the clown with aggression although it was a smaller number than in the case of the rubber doll. However, this only pertains to the children who have seen the film. Those who have not seen it did not take up such actions. It has also been concluded from this experiment th at children who were given a prize for being aggressive and who saw that the people in the movie were also being rewarded for it were far more violent.14 This experiment showed that children imitate actions that they see on TV. They want to be and act alike because they think it is acceptable to do so. I think that parents play a large role here since it is their duty to talk to their children and help them distinguish right from wrong. To argue the other side of this experiment, Dominick states, there is some evidence to suggest that media violence may not be entirely responsible for aggressive behavior in children. To begin with, films that are made for such experiments, as the one with the Bobo doll, are produced especially for that experiment. They are often short in length and focus on a single situation. The film usually does not show the motives for that kind of action and the consequences that may take place after. The other point to consider is the amount of violence that children were exposed to before since it may also have an impact on how they act. If they find themselves in a surrounding that is similar, they will feel more comfortable watching it and are more likely to behave aggressively.15 Viewers who are exposed to a massive amount of media violence, according to Anderson, are more likely to think of the world as the place where violence is the only way to get what we want and that it is composed of brutality and fear. Children who are in constant contact _______________________ 13 Joseph R. Dominick, 540. 14 Joseph R. Dominick, 541. 15 Joseph R. Dominick, 541. with media violence are more likely to accept violence in other children.16 To better understand why violence in mass media may have an influence on children we have to look at the amount of time that children are being exposed to such mediums every day. In the past few years, the amount of violence in mass media has greatly increased, and the amount of time that children spent in front of the television, playing video games and watching action shows.17 According to Shapley and the survey that has been conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, todays kids are working the equivalent of a full-time job consuming media: 7 hours and 38 minutes every day, on average. 18 These days it seems that media devices have taken over childrens lives, but that should not be a surprise since we live in a world filled with technological devices. It is more a matter of how much time parents allow their children to be exposed to such devices. Hutton stated that, the other thing that has been of great concern is that children have become masters of multitasking. They are able t o divide their attention between two or more devices at the same time.19 Counting each device separately, these kids have found a way to cram in a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes of media content into those 7 and a half hours. 20 During that time children will witness hundreds of violent acts and for many it will be difficult to tell the difference of what is real and what is fiction. According to the article Violence in Media Entertainment, two professors from Laval University, Guy Paquette and Jacques de Guise, have carried out a study from 1993 until 2001. They have examined various programs, including children programming, on six Canadian television networks. Their studies have shown that the number of violence acts on television has risen by 378 per cent that is between the years 1993 and 2001. Violence acts on television have not just increased in number, but also in quality. Media violence has become more brutal, bloodier, uglier and due to great technology more realistic.21 Many times it is shown on TV that violence is a good and adequate way to get what you ______________________ 16Craig A. Anderson, et al., The Influence of Media Violence on Youth; Vol. 4, No. 3 (December 2003), http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/pspi/pspi43.pdf . 17Lindsay Hutton, The M2 Generation. Are Your Kids Too Dependent on the Media? http://life.familyeducation.com/computers/television/65248.html. 18 Dan Shapley, Kids Spend Nearly 55 Hours a Week Watching TV, Texting, Playing Video Gamesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, (January 20, 2010) http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/kids-television-47102701. 19Lindsay Hutton, http://life.familyeducation.com/computers/television/65248.html. 20 Lindsay Hutton, http://life.familyeducation.com/computers/television/65248.html. 21 Media Awareness Network (2010), Violence in Media Entertainment, http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_entertainment.cfm want. According to the article How TV Affects your Children, youngsters are usually taught to copy the actions of good guys, but these good guys sometimes push themselves to violent acts themselves to achieve something. All parents teach their children that kicking, hitting or biting is wrong. On the other hand we see that television shows kids otherwise; it shows them that it is acceptable for good guys to do so. Who are the children to believe? All this may lead children to become confused and disorientated. Since many children want to imitate their favorite TV characters they may push themselves to aggressive behaviors to get want they want, moreover, they may feel unsafe in their environment and fear that something bad may come their way. 22 Children who are exposed to massive amounts of violence are less likely to feel any sympathy for victims of violent acts. They may get the impression that being a victim is all right. According to Cardwell and Flanagan: Under normal conditions, anxiety about violence inhabits its use. Media violence may, however, stimulate aggressive behavior by desensitizing children to the effects of violence. The more televised violence a child watches, the more acceptable aggressive behavior becomes for the child. Frequent viewing of television violence may cause children to be less anxious about violence. Therefore those who become desensitized to violence may perceive it as normal and be more likely to engage in violence themselves. 23 Due to the massive exposure of media violence children become desensitized to real acts of violence. This exposure decreases the feeling of empathy and concern towards victims of real violence. Children, who watch tremendous amount of media violence, become indifferent to media violence and in the long run to the violence and victims of violence in real life. According to Gelletly and a study that Dr. David Satcher has conducted, Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General, media violence is a probable factor for acts of children violence. Gelletly also states that in some cases of violence there are similarities and imitations of movie characters that the children saw. Let us look at the year 1993, when a two-year-old child was kidnapped and murder by two eleven-year-old boys. This crime has occurred after the ______________________ 22KidsHealth from Nemours. How TV Affects Your Child http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html 23 Mike Cardwell and Cara Flanagan , Psychology A2. A Complete Companion, (United Kingdom; Nelson Thomas LTD., 2004), 52. boys have seen the movie Childs Play 3. Those two eleven-year-old boys were imitating the main characters in the movie. To shortly summarize the movie is about two boys who try to kill a doll that is possessed by evil. Another incident happened in 1995, when a group of teenagers set a New York City subway employee on fire. This has been an imitation of a scene from a movie that has been released the same year as that incident took place. In 1998, a twelve-year-old from Maryland committed suicide leaving a letter citing a cartoon character, Kenny, from the show South Park. Another eleven-year-old hangs himself and it is believed that he has been triggered by Kennys character to do so. It was reported that a few days before his death he mentioned a couple of times that it is OK if he dies because he will be back and everything would be normal.24 In a way media should be blamed for all these incidents because we can see a definite connection between media violence and real-life. We do n ot know the true story behind these incidents and what really forced these children to commit such acts, but we can see that media violence had been an inspiration for them. Additionally, Gelletly states that, it would be a mistake to deny the fact that these copycat crimes are not in a small portion the result of media violence that children are being exposed to. 25 Media violence and its influence have been of concern for decades. Somewhat cautiously it can be said that media violence has affected children in the past and still is. Levine stated that, there is no question that children learn from the television shows and movies they watch.26 By far media has the greatest influence on our children since children spend more of their free time exposed to mediums than enjoying the outside or studying. However, according to Levine, parents can take action and lower the exposure of their children to violence or take part in what they are watching.27 Levine emphasis that the first step that parents should take is to limit the time that children sit in front of the television or spend time using other mediums, but most importantly parents should be a part of what their children watch. Studies have shown that shows and movies that children watch do not grab their parents attention.28 Less than half of all parents monitor __________________ 24 LeeAnne Gelletly , Violence in the Media, (Michigan; Thomson Gale Corp, 2005), 62-65. 25 LeeAnne Gelletly 62-65. 26 Madeline Levine, See No Evil. A Guide to Protecting Our Children from Media Violence, (San Francisco; Jossey-Bass Publishers 1998), 199. 25 Madeline Levine, 199. 28 Madeline Levine, 206-207. their childs television viewing. 29 Levine stated that, the only concern that parents have when it comes to watching television is the time their children stay up. It is impossible for parents to sit at all times with their children and watch television, but at least parents should get a sense of what their children are watching.30 Once parents are somewhat aware of what their children like and are interested in, they can develop a plan to help their child avoid the worst of what TV offers and enjoy the best. 31 If parents get the opportunity to watch television with their children they should bring up discussions about what they are watching. As said by Levine, the discussion could focus on how the cartoon character or the actor could solve its problems without the use of violence. Many times television avoids showing the consequences of violent behavior of its actors. This could encourage a discussion on what consequences would there be in real life.32 Parents should help their chi ldren understand right from wrong and help them realize that violence is not the answer to our problems and that what they see on television is not always acceptable in real life. Over the years hundreds of studies have been conducted and have shown that aggressive behaviors that children develop are the results of media violence that children have soaked up over the years. The massive amounts of violence that children are exposed to everyday make them think that violence is an efficient way in solving their problems and it may lead to real-life violence. Television has become the number one medium of visual violence. As it has been mentioned above children watch the same amount of television as if they were working a full-time job. The use of mediums takes up most of the time that children have for themselves during the day and the time that they should spend on other activities. Violence is everywhere whether in cartoons, movies, news, or the Internet; it has taken over the entertainment world and the world of our children. Parents should place boundaries at the amount of time that their children spend watching TV and limit the amount of media violence in th eir lives and most importantly encourage discussions on media violence. Parents should not use mediums as babysitters and they should pay attention to what their children watch, play or what websites they view online. _______________________ 29 Madeline Levine, 207. 30 Madeline Levine, 208. 31 Madeline Levine, 208. 32 Madeline Levine, 208.

Managing the individual performance within organisations

Managing the individual performance within organisations Managing individual performance in organisations has focused on estimating performance and distributing reward, with effective performance which is seen as a result of interaction between individual ability and motivation. By and large, it is recognised that planning and enabling performance have a critical effect on individual performance. Managers use several techniques to find out performance and effort of employees. Performance appraisal is process which is taken by managers to review performance and formalize it. Performance management has critical effect on individual performance and in this case also on company goals. In this part of assignment performance appraisal and performance related pay will be described in depth. Pay Strategy Provide market competitive compensation that incorporates both salary and non-salary benefits, such as healthcare, retirement, life insurance, disability insurance, annual and sick leave, and other optional benefits. To assist in the administration of compensation plans, most organizations utilize some type of formal pay structure.   A formal pay structure provides the framework and formal structure for assessing jobs and grouping similar jobs together.  Ã‚  Factors used in grouping jobs within a pay structure often include: Complexity Responsibility Level of Suspension Accountability Organisational impact Market Value The two most common forms of pay structures are Grades and Bands.  Ã‚  The distance between the minimum and maximum of a pay range is called the range spread.   Grades typically have very narrow range spreads, while  Bands have very broad range spreads.   This has led to the commonly used term of broadband to describe the range of pay rates within a structure using a band approach. (http://www.hr.vt.edu/compensation/HYPERLINK http://www.hr.vt.edu/compensation/compmgt/comp_philosophy/index.html compmgt/comp_philosophy/index.html) For those employees who were with Virginia Tech around 1999 2000, you may remember when the state switched from pay grades to pay bands.   Unlike the old pay grade system where an increase in responsibilities often meant a promotion to the next pay grade, pay bands represent a much broader range of different types of jobs and levels of responsibility.   As you can see in the illustration below, in a grade system Job A and Job B are in different pay grades.  Ã‚  However, in pay band system such as we currently have at Virginia Tech, Job  A and Job B are in the same pay band.   Please notice however that even though the pay band is the same, there is still a significant difference in the target salary level due to the differences in the level of responsibility and job content of the two jobs. ( http://www.hr.vt.edu/compensation/ compmgt/comp_philosophy/index.html) The key points here are: Its not necessary to be moved from one band to another in order to receive a significant salary increase and Just because two positions have different levels of responsibility/complexity/etc, does not necessarily mean that they should be different pay brands. Figure 2. Pay Structure Grades and Bands www.hr.vt.edu/compensation/compmgt/images/L_grades_bands_med.jpgimgrefurl Performance appraisal Robert Bacal, Performance Management A Briefcase Book, (1999, p.12) tells Performance appraisal is usually considered to be the process and time when manager and employee sit down to review the employees performance over the last year, or month, or even shorter time spans. Most of the time people think of it as a once a year event, which is a recipe for disaster. Traditionally performance appraisal systems have provided a formalised process to review employee performance. This normally requires the manager and employee to take part in a performance review meeting. Why Should You Appraise Performance According to Dessler and Walker (1999, p.452) there are several reasons to appraise performance. First, appraisals provide information upon which promotion and salary decisions can be made. Second, they provide an opportunity for you and your subordinate to review the subordinates work-related behaviour. This in turn lets both of you develop a plan for correcting any deficiencies the appraisal might unearth, and reinforce the things the subordinate does right. Finally, the appraisal should be central to your companys career plan because it provides a good opportunity to review employees` career plans in light of their exhibited strengths and weaknesses. Performance Appraisal System flow In performance appraisal meetings, several of methods are used to document, or record, or summarize performance discussions, rating scales, critical incident summaries, etc. All these methods are gathered and processed by similar system flow. P.A Handbook (1995, p.8) describes performance appraisal system flow: Planning Developing Employee Performance Appraisal Plans (EPAP) Elements Standards (Benchmark Performance Standards) Employee Participation Documenting Elements and Standards Monitoring Feedback during the Performance Year Progress Reviews Developing Employees Formal Development Informal Development Rating Eligibility Interim Appraisals Rating Critical Elements Rating of Record Discussion with Employee Reconsideration Process Action Based on Performance Rewarding Performance Links to Other Personnel Actions Dealing with Poor Performance Figure 1. The Performance Appraisal Cycle (John Shields, 2007, p: 23, Managing employee performance and reward) As seem above performance appraisals are essential for the effective management and evaluation of staff. Appraisals help develop individuals, improve organizational performance and feed into business planning. Performance appraisals also typically feed into organizational annual pay and grading reviews, which commonly also happen at the same time the business planning for the next trading year. Performance appraisals are also essential for career and succession planning, staff motivation, attitude and behavior development, communicating and aligning individual and organizational aims and encouraging positive relationships between management and staff. Goals of the Performance Appraisal System According to Beer, Russell and Ralph (1995, 23) the process of performance management is one of the most important leadership responsibilities. The performance appraisal system has three primary goals: Provide a helpful structure, open and honest communication between the employee and his/her supervisor Improve employee development through performance feedback and through the identification of future professional development activities Measure and document job performance as a basis for making promotion, compensation and other personnel management decisions Dessler (2006, p.336) Managing employee performance is an integral part of the work that all managers and rating officials perform throughout the year. It is as important as managing financial resources and program outcomes because employee performance has an extreme effect on both the financial and program components of any organization. Beer, Russell and Ralph (1994, p.24) the effectiveness of appraisal systems hinges on a range of different factors. Three most common reasons for failure of an appraisal system are: Unclear performance criteria Poor information sharing and connection with the boss Appraiser missing information on the managers real performance Other problems are a lack of ongoing performance feedback, a lack of focus on management development, the review process lacking structure, etc. According to Claydon and Beardwell (2007, p.511) The purpose of performance planning, review and appraisal need to be made clear if employees at all levels in the organization are to play an active part in the process. It is possible that some employees and line managers may meet performance appraisal schemes with distrust, suspicion and fear, but an integrated effective process can lead to increased organizational performance and employee motivation. It is important for employees to be genuinely involved in the design of an appraisal scheme, the evaluation of performance, and the objective-setting process. An appraisal scheme should be set up in an atmosphere of openness, with agreement between management, employees and employee representatives on the design of the scheme. Employees need to have a clear understanding of the purpose of the process. However applying performance appraisal its own is not really worthy. Other performance management systems and performance appraisal systems should put in practice as a whole. Robert Bacal , Performance Management A Briefcase Book,(1999, p. 34) Pay for Performance Coy (2009, p.S7) in challenging economies it is believed that keeping employees happy is essential for organizations performance. To do this, tying employees` pay to their performance is widely popular. Indeed, with the emphasis on competitiveness, productivity, and the trend for virtually all employers is to tie at least some portion of their employees` pay to employees` and companys performance. In most theoretical models of HRM, pay is essential on the regulation of the employment relationship. Academician, policy makers, and corporate leaders recognize the difficulty of appraising the use of reward systems as a key element in the pursuit of substantive HRM goals of obligation, flexibility and quality. Pay for performance is a tool which HR professionals can wield in an effort to retain their best. When it is carefully applied, pay for performance systems can systematically link with employee goal achievement, providing very specific incentives for employee behavior that are in line with broader organizational objectives.(Bratton and Gold, 2007, p:238) Figure 3. A Model of Reward Management (Bratton and Gold, 2001, p:246) Advantages of PFP It is not difficult to see why PFP has attracted the interest of managers, consultants and government ministers. Bratton and Gold (2007, p.455) describes its theoretical attractions are considerable and include the following reasons: Attracting good performance Hewlett-Packard (Case study 1) In the early 90s, Hewlett-Packard seemed a perfect setting for innovations in pay. A so-called built-to-last company, it was highly decentralized and enjoyed a sense of mutual trust, high commitment, and wide use of management by objectives. The workforce was salaried and the merit system was based on peer comparisons at the salaried level. There were no executive bonuses. Stock options were awarded as recognition. But there was also a lot of pressure in the company, said Beer. Managers of thirteen units took the initiative of appealing to headquarters to try something new to spur on their employees. According to Beer, managers in many companies look to pay-for-performance for good reasons. They expect that it will attract and motivate people. They expect performance standards will outweigh the costs of whatever incentives they put in place. They also want protection against business exigencies: should the market go south, they dont want to be permanent ly stuck with new costs. (Lagace, 2003) Increasing in quality individual performance McDonalds (Case study 2) Base pay, rewards pay, and rewards program follows as Pay For Performance its the best results and great opportunities pay. Employees base pay is the most portion of their compensation. McDonalds sustain the competitiveness of their base pay through an annual review from both external market data and internal peer data. Moreover, they have a broadbanding compensation system that allows for flexibility in term of pay, movement and growth. In addition, incentive pay provides to their employees with the opportunity to earn compensation when their performance meet and exceed goals. The long term of incentives are granted to eligible employees to both reward and retain key employees who have shown sustained performance and can impact long term value creation at McDonalds. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/13396918/Performance-Appraisal) Enhancing communication BMW (Case study 3) In 2001, the new bonus payment arrangement applied for production employees in the Germany and UK operations. The bonus system applied to all 36,000 production employees who operated with defined performance targets. On top of the basic salary a fixed 25% additional bonus was paid to all employees for meeting prearranged quotas. This quota involved producing a set number of units to the companys quality standards by a workforce of an agreed size. Employees in each group were consulted and invited to comment on whether the quotas that were realistic and achievable. In addition, employees could also earn extra pay through a personal supplement, that was payable if an individual contributed to the group results. Expectations and specific goals were discussed and agreed in talks between the employee and the supervisor. Thus, an individuals contribution to the group was discussed every year and this assessment determined the personal supplement received. (Boddy. 1998 P. 283) Improving motivation The Christmas bonus at Gourmet Foods (Case study 4) for many years that Gourmet Foods never have Christmas bonus when Andrew Straw appointed as a managing director, he decided to give  £70 extra for Christmas bonus to all 120 staffs. When they heard the news everyone is very excited and looking forward to it without knowing of the amount of the bonus. After they got the pay slips they very disappointed because they feel it is too small. When their managing director found out about this he wish he did not give it to them and turn it into new packaging equipment instead.  . (Leopold, Harris and Watson, 2005, Page 218) Strengthening management control Entre Computer Services (Case study 5) Entre Computer Services founded by Ed Souders in 1980s. Souders is a former worker of IBM so he adopted many methods from it including appraisal, pay-for-performance, and sales incentives. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, his business was falling down and almost faced bankruptcy. He decided to make some changes. Using the Deming philosophy along with new strategies can improve sale performances and profits. He created trusting and working relationship. Encouraged more teamwork and less self driven so that his workers gain more passion and happiness toward their job. There are 4 main goals of this method: Ensure maximum productivity of the Support Team. Ensure the Personal Development of the Support Team. Ensure that Support Team members understand what their job responsibilities are. Ensure employees are as happy as they could possibly be while at work. (Mary Jenkins, 2002, p.176-178) Identifying developmental objects Strengthening the individual employment relationship at the expense of collective Gainsharing at Southern California Edison (SCE) (Case study 6) In 1994, electricity industry was removed from government control. That made the market more competitive. Therefore, SCE needed to change its compensation for competition. The change was the introduction of a Gainsharing arrangement. Employees were invited to sacrifice 5% of their basic salaries in return for up to 10% gainshare if the organization reaches profits targets. 100% of employees agreed to the plan. Most of them tried to create ideas to save money. For instance, employees agreed to wash their own overalls. The outcome was that the scheme generated an estimate $96 million and $40 million was paid out to employees. More important, the scheme played its part in getting employees focused on what was important in working cost-effectively and being involved in designing effective working methods. (Stredwick, 2005 P.355-356) Rewarding employees without needing to promote them. The Jennings Ford Accident Repair Centre (Case study 7) In the early 1890s Jennings main hobby was repairing and trading bicycles, moving into premises opposite the old Bridge Street showroom for sale of motorcars employing 6 people in 1911. The company, by meeting Ford Motor Companys exacting standards, was appointed an authorized dealer for Ford Motor Cars in 1917. The Jennings Ford Accident Repair Centre in Gateshead has received a reward from Ford Motor Company. Continuing to achieve and improve sales within the centre at the Eslington Park dealership has resulted in a reward for Jennings loyal and dedicated centre manger. The manager said They constantly strive to provide the best possible service to their customer and they are always looking at the ways how to future improve internal systems and procedures. (http://www.jennings-ford.co.uk/ ) Drawbacks of PFP Most of us are happy to see individuals rewarded for exceptional performance or effort and would like payment decisions to be based on such criteria. The problem arises when attempts are made to put the principles in practice. Wiscombe (2001) says that a system which is fair and objective in theory can easily fail to achieve when implemented. Arguing that PFP can have a role to play in organizations, but its positive effects are limited. Moreover, while not fundamentally flawed. PFP is difficult to implement effectively in practice. As a result, system fails as often as they succeed. The major reasons of failures are: Employees concentrate on their salary and bonuses instead of their jobs. Most of the staff is demotivated when they are told their ratings. Gallery Furniture Company (Case study 8) Jim Mclngvale, the owner-President of Gallery Furniture Company applied Dr. Demings advice to his business. In 1991, he took commissions, bonuses, and incentives of his sale persons but put it in to their salaries instead. These amazingly increase sales, profits and customer satisfactions; however, some sales people left the company because of disappointments but it still benefit the business in the long run. He also took the appraisal system off because he believes that his employees are not students. He treats his workers with respects and they do the same toward him.  (Mary Jenkins, 2002, p.170-171) People focus on their own objectives instead of cooperation with colleagues. Some managers change ratings for political reasons. When the results have an impact on pay levels, employees tend to downplay their weakness. As a result development needs are not discussed or addressed. Managers avoid demotivating their staff. As a result poor performers are reward as well as good performers. Homeserve Ltd: The new performance bonus (Case study 9) Jean Frear got a new job at Homeserve Ltd as the HR director. She tried to use new bonus payment method which she think it worked very well at her previous job, the Moddens Food. Normally, the engineers work on Mon to Fri and will get better overtime rate if they work on Sat and Sun. To make it more competitive, she cut the premium overtime rates for Sat and Sun also the evening delivery then based on working hours only. After one year of this experiment, she got the result. The number of the calls from customers is increase about missing parts of the hardware. Overall salary bill is higher than ever but the performance is going the opposite way. She found that the engineers tend to work only for their shifts and hardly willing substitute for the others on holidays or sick leave. (Leopold, Harris and Watson, 2005, page 222-223) PFP systems tend to discourage creative thinking, challenging of established ways of doing things and questioning attitude among employees. Low income often leads managers to reduce ratings, creating a situation in which perfect employee performance is not rewarded. Pay strategy at Eastern Power plc (Case study 10) At Eastern Power plc, they use the Pay for Performance method to calculate employees salary. To make it convenient, it will be decided by senior managements. After 2 years, this method has been complained as an unfair system by most of the employees. According to the line managements, they reported that they had no idea how to improve their performance because the method is unclear. (Leopold, Harris and Watson, 2005, Page 215) A general tendency is the increasing number of organizations where total compensation contains a part depending on performance. According to the consultation firm Hewitt Associates, 50% of the firms used pay-for-performance in 1990, and in 2000 already 80% (Wiscombe 2001). An analogous tendency is also witnessed in Estonia. According to the salary survey conducted by the consultation firm Fontes in 2005, compensation policies of 91% of the firms in the survey include some kind of pay-for-performance. Opinions about the effectiveness of pay-for-performance are different. The survey conducted by the Hewitt Associates in 2000 suggested that even these enterprises which have used the pay-for-performance system do not completely believe in its effectiveness: 21% of the firms said they do not believe its effect on improving work performance; 57% believed the effect was limited. A study conducted by the same firm in 1995 indicated that the pay-for-performance system had failed in 48% of the organizations (Wiscombe 2001, www.HYPERLINK http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/23/06/78/index.phpworkHYPERLINK http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/23/06/78/index.phpforce.com/archive/feature/23/06/78/index.php.) Results of other surveys confirm the success of using pay-for-performance. An analysis of pay-for-performance programmes conducted in the USA in the second half of 1990s suggests that performance improves in approximately two out of three programs (Heneman, Ledford, and Gresham 2000). There are various reasons for the contradictory opinions and results. One may be definitely different methods which are used, differences in business sector, lack of clarity of concepts used by researches. On the other hand, it can be assumed that application of pay-for-performance and its results can only be opposing because the creating, implementation of the respective system and assessment of the results must often link conflicting interests of different stakeholders. Other Case Studies Tele-working at the Mid Western Bank For The Mid Western Bank the Individual Performance is believed to be the best way to rate their staffs bonus payments. To make sure of this conclusion they set 4 aspects which are correctness, attendance levels, cooperation (which includes teamwork) and communication skills to confirm it. By making everyone concentrate on only their job, for the top performance employee can have 25 percents of their pay. Unfortunately, this result can be applied effectively with call centre staffs a competitive labour market. The other concern is that this method encourage employee to be more selfish and lost interest in helping the others and the absenteeism is also rising even though it will be effect the rating. (Leopold, Harris and Watson, 2005, Page 234) Nucor Corporation, United States Nucor Corporation, the largest steel producer in the United States. The secret to success is to give huge bonuses of 100% or even 150% to 160%, thus, every employee can see how the incentive arrangement affects their wages each week. Even in the down times, the company doesnt lay people off. Such as, the plant shuts down its production lines for a day or two a week but salaried executives still work. About 80% of Nucors employees are on this production-incentive plan. Other employees also have performance-based compensation. When the whole organization is involved: To make it work, the most important thing is the involvement of the whole company, even if there is only a 1 percent profit, it should be divided among everyone, including the administration. Everyone is part of the team building. For instance, gives non-production employees other awards -from a free dinners for outstanding work to one share of stock for every year of employment. (www.findarticles.com) Health Net of California Health Net of California announced that was paying $18 million to 70 physician groups statewide in recognition of their efficiency and quality in 2004. Of the total, $5 million was tied for the Pay for Performance program, which rewards physician groups for providing high-quality clinical care and customer service. In addition, Health Net is working with through the Integrated Healthcare Association to make wider the potential of Pay for Performance quality measures and increase the proportion of compensation for physician groups that present a commitment to quality and efficiency. PFP bonuses were paid to Health Nets commercial physician groups. The other quality disbursements, which are paid to commercial and Medicare physician groups, include shared-risk funds, financial investments in technology and a generic drug incentive program. (www.findarticles.com) Abbey National Alan Eagles role as Assistant Manager of the Abbey National Community Partnership is to identify opportunities for staff who want to volunteer. He run a matched time scheme where staff can claim up to 35 hours of paid work time per year to match their own volunteering time commitment. Why would a banker necessarily want to be a treasurer in their spare time? Employee volunteers are like any other volunteers they need to feel that their contribution is worth it. To ensure this, organizations need to offer volunteer roles that are properly thought out. They believe that an employee who volunteers can specify personal objectives for community activities, as well as work related goals, in their annual appraisal. If they achieve those goals they are financially rewarded. (http://www.voluntarymatters3.org/motivation/case_studies/case_study3.html) The Royal Bank of Scotland In 1998, the company launched RBSelect that is a total reward benefits package giving employees. The package is divided into six groups: private health cover; insurance, including life assurances for spouses and partners; saving such as voluntary contribution to pension schemes; lifestyle features, which include the managers company car, childcare vouchers and retail voucher; basic salary; and holiday. Even the Christmas bonus can be traded in for a different benefit. Employees can change their benefits package once a year. The new total reward system has been positively received and is expected to have a positive impact on recruitment and retention. (Boddy, 1998 P.282-283) The National Security Personnel System Nearly all of the employees in the Defense Departments new personnel system were rewarded for their job performance in their first paychecks in 2009, with the average pay raise and bonus totaling 8.35%. 98% of the more than 170,000 employees rated under the National Security Personnel System received performance-based payout, meaning their supervisors graded their work as a 3 or better out of 5 possible points. The majority of those employees 55.4% earned a rating of 3, defining them as valued performers. Worker in the Washington area received the highest overall increase of the General Schedule employees, at 4.78%. General Schedule employees have earnings potential beyond their annual raise, while under NSPS, within-grade pay boosts, quality step increase and bonuses are factored into the overall performance-based pay increase. (http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0209/021809b1.htm) Lloyds TSB STAFF at Lloyds Banking Group is set to get about pounds 80min bonuses despite amulti-billion pound bailout from the taxpayer. The payments were apparently authorized by the Government as part of the deal for it to take a controlling interest of at least 65% in the firm. The figure is lower than the pounds 120m Lloyds bosses were thought to be seeking, but will still provoke controversy over rewards for failure. Newspaper reports suggested that some 4,000 junior staff will each get about pounds 1,000 this year, making up half the pay-out. Unions have argued that staff from the former Lloyds TSB deserve to receive bonuses, because their side of the business remained in profit while its merger partner HBOS lost billions of pounds. A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Lloyds had agreed that there would be no discretionary bonuses paid in 2009 except to the most junior staff, earning an average of pounds 20,000. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6784/is_2009_March_10/ai_n31418985/) General Motors-Powertrain Division In the mid 1980s, GMs sale was going down dramatically and looks to be continued for some times. On contrary, new Japanese company was booming. Behind their success GM found that they used Dr. W. Edwards Demings rules. After trying this method for one year GM Powertrains H.R. staffs agree that appraisal system has some flaws. (Mary Jenkins, 2002, p.148) Strategic approach to rewarding performance at Unilever At Unilever, to improve its employees performance and cut off unnecessary pay the manager created the model proved to be effective as global called Work Levels. With six levels of qualitatively different work in the company use to encourage people to work as a team instead of oneself. Predictably, many workers complained at the beginning but years after years it became clear that the method benefits both employees and the company. (Duncan Brown, Michael Armstrong, 1999, p.92-95) Conclusion The organizations having job evaluation in practice, are determined the causes of pay inequity through the carefully implementation of pay design that is based on base pay structure. A tentative effort to introduce this discrete and coherent function is required to carry out the comprehensive review. There must be a system of inequity recognition through the organization achieves its smart objectives and vital to prioritize the analysis which are very likely to enlighten on any potential inequities. It is a management tool that asserts the jobs of comparable value are treated and paid equally and emphasizes to estimate the size of inequity. Nevertheless, change in the pay system in any organization can be resistive. It can be suspected among the employee in term of pay changes, apparently. The purpose of pay system design should not be decrease or cut the employees pay rather than fixing the inequity within the organization and taking all the relative perspective into account before the implementation of the required method. To make it constructive, expert facilitation of job design team can be useful to ensure that safe and sound primary principles are going to be followed while the organization gets its cherished goals. In addition, where it eliminates many flaws in term of analysing the jobs worth but also effectively productive with the employers perspective. This method can be typically undertaken by the employers to prevent them from prejudice or discrimination and to establish a platform where everyone has got equal opportunity to build up their career. No doubt, it enhances and defines an appropriate and decisive track for any organization practicing this feasible method that can be comp

Growing Up as an All-American Kid :: Personal Narrative Football Sports Essays

Growing Up as an All-American Kid Growing up is not an easy thing to do. You have no idea what is going on with your body, your emotions change at the drop of a hat, and you sometimes wonder what the point of life is. However, what you do know is that Mercer is planning a party after the game Friday night and you need to be there. This is the way I seem to remember high school when I think about it for a brief second. However, when I sit down and actually give it some thought, I realize that there is so much more about those years I have forgotten about--all of the little things that happened to everyone everyday and those major events that seemed to change my life. Everything that went into making us All-American kids. Growing up in a small mid-western town was exactly like a lot of people imagine it to be. The years kept passing by, but it seemed like nothing ever changed. We went to school, played sports, chased girls, worked on our friend’s father’s farms, and talked about how we couldn’t wait until we graduated so that we could finally move out. Even though we were growing up in a typical town and living typical high school lives, it seemed like so much more. No one cared about anything except what they were going to do that night and there wasn’t a thing anyone could do about it. We were young and alive. I think my football coach referred to it as, â€Å"Being full of piss and vinegar.† Maybe we were, and we might have bitched and moaned, but deep down inside I think we loved every minute of it. From proms and parties, secret crushes and that first kiss, to shooting pool and playing video games, there was always something going on. For me it was as simple as sitting on my best friend’s roof smoking a cigar in the middle of winter, or as difficult as hugging one of my best female friend’s on my front porch while she cried because she was seventeen years old and had just had an abortion. No one knew what was going to happen next, and I think that was part of what made life seem so invigo rating.

class struggles Essay -- essays research papers

Class Struggles In the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx explains his historical vision of a revolutionary class struggle between Bourgeois and Proletarians. His views are highlighted from the very beginning â€Å"The History of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles† (50). Focusing on the development and eventual destruction of the bourgeoisie, which was the dominant class of his day, and the rise of the working class, that of the Proletarians. I do understand that in some cases the system has a stain upon it and Marx was out to find the solution. Unfortunately he thought that by making a radical socialistic movement, and changing the a capitalist system to a communistic one that the answer would have been put in place. The idea is put in simple terms, but the complexity of actually making it a reality is not. I understand that the harsh conditions in which the Proletarians worked and lived was enough reason for a revolution. This is when Marx elaborates the social changes communists hope to effect on behalf of the proletariat. With communism they will get rid of private property, which is the primary base of the problem, "...the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property" (67). I tend to believe that a mans property is that of value, this is a creation that is a fruit to man. In other words he is claiming that with no private property t...

Education: United States vs. Ukraine Essay

There are 1.8 million people coming to the United States every year. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2006 there were 961,113 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.33% of the American population. The Ukrainian population in the United States is thus the second largest outside the former Soviet Union. One of the reasons is that the education is more progressive and flexible, which makes it easier for people to attain their educational goals. In different countries and in different cultural environments, education has different forms, methods and meanings for people. Given the opportunity to attend schools in Ukraine and in the United States, I could not help but notice the differences between the two educational systems. The U.S. educational system is more liberal, comprehensive, and specialty focused when compared to the Ukrainian system. The educational system of Ukraine is continuously changing due to the transitional period of the country from the former Soviet Union . During the Soviet period, educational organizations in Ukraine were state-supported institutions, none of which had religious affiliations. As cultural environment changes, this is no longer true for the modern Ukraine. Nowadays, all schools, from pre-school to the institutions of higher education, have Christian classes in their curricular activities. Contrary to the state-sponsored education of the Soviet era, there are both public and private educational establishments, all of which must be accredited by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine. Primary and secondary education comprise pre-school through grade 11. The components of primary level of education are pre-school programs which are attended by two-third of all Ukrainian children. Children ages 6 months to 3 years are enrolled in nursery schools. Children ages 3 to 6 years are enrolled in kindergartens. Then starts secondary education: elementary in grades 1 – 4; lower secondary in grades 5 – 9; and upper secondary in grades 10 – 11. Grades 1 through 9 are collectively called Incomplete (General) Secondary Education, and grades  10 and 11 are called Complete Secondary education. Three types of institutions also offer the upper secondary school curriculum: the general academic schools, the secondary vocational-technical schools and the specialized secondary school. Regardless of the type of upper secondary training completed, Ukrainian students have the right to continue their education at a postsecondary institution. Applications are accepted from citizens who meet the following criteria: * students have completed secondary education; * for full-time study students must be under 35 years of age and there are no age limits for part-time or evening study; * students have passed a competitive entrance examination set by each institution of higher education. There are three types of grading systems in Ukraine. Ordinarily universities used a traditional 5-point scale: â€Å"5† = â€Å"excellent†, â€Å"4† = â€Å"good†, â€Å"3† = â€Å"acceptable†, â€Å"2† = â€Å"unacceptable†. Since 2006, university students are graded on a rating scale of 0 to 100. These grades can be transformed to the 5-point scale approximately as follows: from 91 to 100 means â€Å"5†, from 71 to 90 means â€Å"4†, from 51 to 70 means â€Å"3†, from 0 to 50 means â€Å"2†. Both the rating scale and the 5-point scale are used in university registers at the present. As for secondary schools, they also used the 5-point scale until 2000. Since 2000 secondary schools use a 12-point scale, which could be transformed into the traditional 5-point scale as follows: â€Å"12† = â€Å"5+†, â€Å"11† = â€Å"5†, â€Å"10† = â€Å"5-† and so on. Education in the United States follows a pattern similar to that in the Ukrainian system. Early childhood education is followed by elementary school, middle school, high school, and then postsecondary education. Postsecondary education includes non-degree programs that lead to certificates and diplomas plus six degree levels: associate, bachelor, first professional, master, advanced intermediate, and research doctorate. The U.S. system does not offer a second or higher doctorate, but does offer postdoctorate research programs. Contrary to the Ukrainian system, in the United States people can go to college at any age and also have homeschooling programs. The most common grade scale in the United States is the letter grade: â€Å"A† through â€Å"F†, which is derived from a scale of 0–100 points. The following table shows the transformation: A| B| C| D| F| | | –| | | –| | | –| | | –| | 100-97| 96-93| 92-90| 89-87| 86-83| 82-80| 79-77| 76-73| 72-70| 69-67| 66-63| 62-60| Below 60 Percent| One of the big differences between two systems is course schedule. In Ukraine students have to follow a particular schedule made to satisfy the educational institution program, while in the United States students have flexibility in scheduling their classes. For example, if I start any level of secondary or postsecondary education in Ukraine, I will be assigned to a group of 20-30 people (called a â€Å"class†), who have the same schedule and we don’t have to register for any classes, because everything is already prepared for us. Nowadays, in US I make my own schedule that satisfies my choice of degree requirements and my work hours. Another big difference is the availability and accessibility of technology to students. In Ukraine, schools and colleges are very underfunded which results in poor or no equipment. Students in Ukraine do not have as many resources as students in the United States have, unless they come from wealth. Some people say that lack of technology lowers the quality of education. I believe the use of technology is helpful, has a significant positive effect on students and is just more fun; however it does not affect the quality of education. Taking into consideration all the similarities and differences of both educational systems, the Ukrainian system dictates to students each step of the educational process, while the US system is more flexible, provides more freedom and advanced technology. Overall, learning in the United States is a great opportunity that not everyone has. Thus, those who have it should make the most of the chance to learn.

Personality psychology Essay

Carl Gustav Jung was born on July 26, 1875 to a Swiss Pastor and his wife, in Kesswil, Switzerland. He was raised in Basel and attended school in Klein-Huningen. As a young boy Carl was fascinated by language, literature and archeology but was not really interested in school. He eventually enrolled and continued his education at the Humanistisches Gymnasium in Basel, and excelled at Latin. Because of his father’s faith, Jung developed a keen interest in religious history, but settled on the study of medicine at the University of Basel. He earned his medical degree in 1902 from the University of Zurich and went Paris to study psychology. Jung entered the field of psychiatry as an intern to Eugen Bleuler at the University of Zurich where he explored the unconscious mind and its related complexes. Jung was drafted into World War I and served as an army doctor for the British. In 1903, Jung married Emma Rauschenbach, with whom he had five children. Jung traveled throughout the world to teach and influence others with his psychoanalytical theories. He published many books relating to psychology, and others that seemed outside the realm science, including Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, which examined and dissected the psychological significance of UFO sightings. Jung’s work embodied his belief that each person has a life purpose that is based in their spiritual self. Through his eastern, western and mythological studies, Jung developed a theory of transformation which he called individuation. He explained individualism as being the personal development of one’s connection between the ego and self, which was based on Freud’s three part theory of personality. He further pursued and explored the idea of individuation in Psychology and Alchemy, a book in which he detailed the relationship of alchemies in the psychoanalytical process. Jung developed the idea of introversion and extroversion type of personality. He outlined the theory of the four fundamental psychological functions of thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. His most difficult concept deals with archetypes which are inherited predispositions to respond to the world in a certain way. Jung’s relationship with Sigmund Freud began with his Studies in Word Association, a book that he published in 1906 and sent to Freud. In 1907 Jung met with Freud and their first discussions lasted 13 hours. In 1909 Jung opened his own practice and travelled to the United States with Freud. Their friendship lasted until 1913, at which time they parted ways due to a difference in academic opinion. Jung somewhat agreed with Freud’s theory of the unconscious, but believed further in the existence of a much deeper collective unconscious and representative archetypes. He disagreed with the idea that the unconscious is motivated by sexuality. This fundamental difference caused their friendship and professional opinions to be in conflict. Carl Jung is recognized as one of the most influential psychiatrists of all time. He founded Analytical Psychology and was among the first experts in his field to explore the religious nature behind human psychology. He developed the concept of the complex and identified the parallel roles of extraversion and introversion. He deepened the meaning of the unconscious by stating the existence of the collective unconscious and all of its archetypes. Additionally, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous were in part inspired by Jung’s belief in an evangelic cure for alcoholism. His works, theories, and schools of thought are still widely discussed in universities and psychology curriculums around the world.