Thursday, October 31, 2019
Textual Commentary on Black Souls in White Skins in I Write What I Literature review
Textual Commentary on Black Souls in White Skins in I Write What I Like by Steve Biko - Literature review Example Bikoââ¬â¢s philosophical message corresponds with black theology as it was heavily themed with encouraging Blacks to depend on themselves rather than White liberals to successfully fight apartheid.3 In this regard, liberalism in the context of apartheid, South Africa refers to advocates for freedom from coercion, discrimination and oppression and equal access to political, social, educational, health and economic opportunities.4 Kee argues that Black Consciousnessââ¬â¢s philosophy was founded on Black theology which proposes that God will not solve our problems.5 Bikoââ¬â¢s Black Souls in White Skins embodies the concept of self-help as captured by the Black Consciousness Movement and black theology which is a Christian expression and rejection of oppression as experienced by Blacks.6 From Bikoââ¬â¢s perspective, White liberalism could not capture this experience and in attempting to do so, White liberals perpetuated the notion that Whites were superior to Blacks and coul d speak for and on behalf of Blacks.7 Initially President of the South Africa Student Organization (SASO) the movement that organized the Black Consciousness Movement, Biko subsequently became SASOââ¬â¢s Publicationsââ¬â¢ chairman. The SASO organized programmes which involved training and studies in a number of subjects such as economics, theology, poetry, aesthetics, culture and politics. The programmes resulted in publications which included Bikoââ¬â¢s column, I Write What I Like published under Frank Talk and appeared in SASOââ¬â¢s Newsletter in 1970.8 Black Souls in White Skins was Bikoââ¬â¢s first article in his column I Write What I Like.9 Black Souls is a parody of French writer Frantz Fanonââ¬â¢s Black Skin White Masks. Where Fanon challenged the utility and authenticity of Blacks identifying with Whites, Biko challenged the utility and authenticity of Whites identifying with Blacks.10 As was characteristic of the Black Consciousness Movement, Bikoââ¬â¢s Black Souls targeted the motives of the White liberals whom he called ââ¬Å"people who say that they have black souls wrapped up in white skins.â⬠11 Biko questioned the authenticity of their claim that they sympathized with the ââ¬Å"black strugglesâ⬠against apartheid.12 In challenging this claim, Biko immediately draws attention to fact that it is questionable whether or not White liberals can speak as an authority for Blacks and what bothers him even more is that Black people have enabled White liberals by actually believing them ââ¬Å"for so longâ⬠.13 Bikoââ¬â¢s Black Souls reads as a rejection of White liberal ââ¬Å"patronageâ⬠in that Biko took exception to the idea that Whites could pass judgement on who qualified as worthy Blacks and what could be good for worthy Blacks. Biko observed that the White liberals lead a campaign that was entirely artificial in nature in that it merely forecasted a convenient type of integration that favoured White supr emacy under apartheid. According to Biko, the White liberalsââ¬â¢ efforts were marked by artificial integration which White organizations dominated and ended up with ââ¬Å"Whites doing all the talking and the blacks listening.â⬠14 Bikoââ¬â¢s Black Souls therefore adopts Black theological thinking in that he expresses the view that Blacks are also complicit in their oppression and that it is a sin to sit back and accept the situations on the premise that Blacks are innocent victims of apartheid. Black theology takes the position
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Diploma of nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Diploma of nursing - Essay Example It aims at improving the physical and mental harms by the identification and treatment of the harmful symptoms and responses. Nursing does not only concentrate on the well being and healthiness of individuals but instead, concentrates on family care, communal health and larger populations (ANA, 2009). Nursing as a profession has the power to make a huge difference in todayââ¬â¢s health care system. It advocates for the protection of human rights and the securing of adequate care for people of all ages and cultural backgrounds who have the right to access and attain good health care services according to their needs. Florence Nightingale once said that nursing is ââ¬Å"the finest of the fine artsâ⬠. Nursing requires total devotion to patient care not just through science and medicine, but with the soul, mind and a caring and sensitive spirit. My reason for choosing to pursue a diploma of nursing and wanting to join the nursing profession is that it will allow me an opportunity to make a difference in other peoplesââ¬â¢ lives. There is a sense of great achievement and self-fulfillment in caring for others to help them recover, improve and attain good health and have a better quality of life. I will also get the opportunity to work alongside a variety of people some of them being my seniors, mentors, and professionals in the field, to promote health and wellness. Nursing is a challenging profession and offers many kinds of nursing to be done including in pediatrics, surgery, medical nursing, the operating room, the emergency room, home care, etc., all of which I am eager and willing to get experience in once I finish my educational program. Nursing is a worldwide recognized, valued and demanded profession, that offers equal employment opportunity to all, around the world, in every continent, city or country where ever there is a hospital or a healthcare center. So even if the market is completely saturated, there are still many places where you can find a
Sunday, October 27, 2019
A case study on a domestic violence intervention
A case study on a domestic violence intervention Working with Individuals AGENCY PROFILE The student social worker is placed with Bharatiya Mahila Federation (BMF). Bharatiya Mahila Federation (BMF) is an all-India organization womenââ¬â¢s mass organization, working with the victims of Domestic Violence. BMF was established by many leaders including Aruna Asaf Ali. Mahila Samasya Nivaaran Kendras (Family Counseling Centers for Women) are located in Thane, Kalyan, and Bhiwandi. In the purview of socially relevant issues, it also takes care of the education of the slum children through a non-formal approach towards education, under the name of ââ¬ËDisha Classesââ¬â¢. BMF has vigorously campaigned against female foeticide. It is also working in tandem with Malati Vaidya Trust to start a Resource Center in Ganeshwadi, Badlapur. The student works with the Family Counselling Center in Thane. The center is run by para-professionals, some of whom were themselves victims at some point in time. CASE For the purpose of explanation of the various aspects of working with individuals, the student will like to mention the case of a 30 year old women named Sanaa (name changed). Sanaa is Muslim by religion and was married off at the age of 26 as her husbandââ¬â¢s second wife. He remarried after giving divorce to his first wife. Sanaa is residing with her parents, brother and sister-in-law in Mumbra. She has four children. The first two are twin daughters and one of them named Aalia(name changed) is intellectually challenged because of the injuries inflicted on Sanaa during pregnancy. The other daughter named Nazia was forcefully taken away by her father Khalid with him since unlike the first daughter she is normal. Clearly, the father has left the entire responsibility of the child who is intellectually- challenged on the mother, without giving any maintenance from his side. The third child, who is a boy, Naseer (name changed), is physically challenged and canââ¬â¢t walk normally . The fourth child, Ali, is 7 months and is chronically ill has been hospitalized many times. Sanaa approached the agencyââ¬â¢s Family Counselling Centre. She complained of being beaten up by her husband, brother-in-law and sister-in-law and the atrocities committed against her at the time of her pregnancy. Due to the injuries, she had a miscarriage the first time she got pregnant. The agency wanted the trainee to do a home-visit and verify the facts. The home visit revealed that the client is staying in a chawl in unhygienic conditions. The trainee interviewed the client and her mother. Her husband has refused to accept her and the children back and wants a divorce, but Sanaa wants to stay with him. Her husband has put a condition that he will let her come back only if she and her family give in writing that they will not file a police complaint against him and will not approach any NGO/agency for further help as they did earlier. Sanaa wants to be with him despite all the physical and mental tortures that her husband makes her go through. She does not wish to burden her parents with her and her childrenââ¬â¢s responsibility. As far as her education his concerned, she has obtained education till the secondary level. Before marriage, she used to teach kids of the primary level. The trainee tried to counsel her that staying with her husband would not change h er conditions. Instead she should file a case on him demanding maintenance for herself and her kids. The trainee also suggested that she takes up a job. Before a case could be filed, the trainee paid a visit to her husband to come for a meeting at the agency but he refused to all efforts of negotiation and said that he will confront her directly in the court. Later on, when the student called her up to know her decision about filing the case, she said she was ready to go ahead with it. Hence, she was asked to come for the meeting with the agencyââ¬â¢s advocate on the given date. The advocate asked the trainee to submit Sanaaââ¬â¢s case history so that the petition could be filed in the court. The student social worker also figured out that Sanaaââ¬â¢s case has a lot of scope of medical intervention apart from assistance at the legal level. While the trainee was planning the further course of action for the case, the client took up a teaching job in a neighbourhood school in her locality. This indeed came as a happy news for the trainee as it reflected that mere triggering an idea can actually motivate the client to help herself. The client was also encouraged to further continue her studies. For the medical help for Sanaaââ¬â¢s kids, the trainee decided to take them to a BMC Hospital. After waiting in the queue for two-and-half hours outside the OPD for Skin Diseases, Naseer was diagnosed, medicines were prescribed and the doctor asked to bring him in the coming week for follow-up. The prescribed medicines were not available in the hospitalââ¬â¢s pharmacy. So, the medicines were bought from outside. Naseer was also examined for his swollen abdomen. The doctor told that there is a doubt of him suffering from Langerhans cell Histiocytosis (LCH) and hence he needs to be admitted. Sanaa was apprehensive about admitting Naseer, since she would not be able to afford it. The trainee could observe an expression of fear on her face. It was time for the trainee to counsel her about the urgent need to get her son admitted. On the way back home, while talking to the client, the trainee found out that Sanaaââ¬â¢s mother wants her to quit the teaching job since its taking a l ot of her time and it becomes difficult for her mother to handle three kids when Sanaaââ¬â¢s is out for work in the afternoon school. As an alternative, her mother had suggested her to take up tailoring work. For the same, she expressed the need for a sewing machine. So now, there was a need to look for a donor for Naseerââ¬â¢s treatment and for the machine. The supervisor suggested that Sanaaââ¬â¢s case can be referred to another organization who is involved into such kind of work. After brainstorming, the trainee decided to refer Sanaaââ¬â¢s case to MESCO ââ¬â an organization in Mumbra. The visit to MESCO turned out to be quite fruitful. In the meeting with its representatives, it was planned that the after submitting required documents the financial assistance would be provided for Naseerââ¬â¢s treatment. However, one constraint was that MESCO provides help only on first three days of every month so the trainee had to really pace up the process of arranging all the documents. For Sanaaââ¬â¢s tailoring venture, the representative mentioned that she will have to appear for a skill test after which she would be given a sewing machine. The documentation process can actually kill a lot of time and the trainee already had limited one in hand, since the end of the field work for the year was approaching. After running from post-to-post for one signature from the doctor at the hospital, trainee had a cost certificate in hand which turned out to be of no use since the social worker at the hospital asked to get another one for the total estimated cost of treatment, running around for which was postponed to another week by the doctor. In the meantime, the student was struggling with herself as to find a way to convince the client to get her son admitted. Every week he was falling ill and the medicine for the skin disease seemed to have an effect only in the first week. Follow-ups to the doctor after that did not make much of a difference. This led the trainee to ponder as to why this was happening and the speculation was that it is possible that the skin disease could be a symptom of LCH. After reading up on LCH, the doub t was confirmed. For weeks, Naseer was being treated for the symptom! But now the field work year was over! So what should one do in such a situation? The client cannot be left midway in the helping process. It raises a lot of ethical issues. STAGES IN WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS 1. Social Study 2. Social Assessment 3. Intervention 4. Termination 5. Evaluation The initial description of the case is clearly a Social Study of Sanaaââ¬â¢s case. Social Study is a systematic study of the client and her/his circumstances in relation to her/his problem Information is collected and organised with regard to the following: Problems (the initially stated problem and associated problems if any), Age, sex, marital status, Educational qualification, Nature of employment, income, Health conditions, Personality features, Home and neighbourhood, Family constellation, Family history (significant events, attitudes,relationships, etc.). Sanaaââ¬â¢s case was constantly assessed for the purpose of necessary intervention. Each course of action had to be simultaneously evaluated to check for loopholes. However, the case cannot be called to have reached the termination. But the intervention done so far has proved to be be fruitful to the extent that Sanaa took up a job on her when encouraged and motivated. The trainee could locate an organization who could p rovide her with a machine for starting tailoring work and fund the treatment of her child. Naseer did receive some OPD treatment, which revealed the need for a long term treatment. The trainee was also able to facilitate the process of providing legal assistance to the client. TOOLS TECHNIQUES Tools can be defined as the ways through which a particular profession, occupation or form of trade is practiced. In social casework, tools are the means of establishing and developing contact with the clients. Through casework tools, one can have access to the information about the client, her concerns, her family, her environment. The student made use of all the five casework tools, namely, Listening, Observation, Relationship, Home-Visit and Interview. According to Grace Mathew, the last three tools mentioned here, are the channels to make the casework techniques operative. Mathew has defined casework techniques as the systematic procedures of helping. These are- Acceptance, Assurance, Facilitation of Expression of Feelings, ,Allaying overpowering feelings, Accrediting and Building Self-Confidence, Encouragement and Reassurance, Being with the Client, Emotional Support, Action-Oriented Support. Then Grace Mathew listed down certain other techniques for the purpose of enhancing res ources. These are ââ¬â Providing or Procuring Material Help, Change of Physical Environment, Enhancing Information and Knowledge. There are also techniques for changing the internal processes- Counselling techniques (Reflective Discussion, Advice, Motivation, Clarification, and Correcting Perception), Anticipatory Guidance, Modelling, Role Playing, Reality Orientation, Remove Guilt Feelings and using them constructively, Interpretation, Partialisation, Universalisation, Setting Limits, Confrontation, Reaching Out, Renewing Family Links, Improving Communication Patterns, Changing Attitudes. Listening as a tool is effective only if it is active and attentive to understand the clientââ¬â¢s emotions and to know what she/he is conveying. Effective listening is facilitated by maintaining an eye contact with the client. Distractions, wool gathering and selective listening obstruct the listening process. Observation is used in casework to note the clientââ¬â¢s facial expression, body language and signs of uneasiness in the process of interaction with the client. Relationship between the worker an the client is a professional one and is positive in nature. The positivity of the relationship is manifest in the rapport the caseworker has with the client. Home Visit is an instrument, which enables the social worker to verify the facts of the case being handled. It also conveys a message to the client about the social workerââ¬â¢s interest in his/her welfare. Sometimes home-visits can be be highly revealing and at times, may change the shape of the course. The facts me be turned upside down. Interview facilitates face-to-face interaction between the caseworker and the client. The objectives in such an interaction are to obtain information from the client or to impart some to the client, to study and assess the situation of the clientââ¬â¢s problem unique to her/him and to give assistance. Drawing from the above case, first of all the caseworker had to evoke the confidence of the client since the constant victimization to the domestic violence had made her doubt her own capabilities. The client had to be told that she can regain her lost confidence by keeping herself busy and taking up a job. She was encouraged and motivated enough to take up the teaching job again. The caseworker has been working towards making provision for material help for the treatment of kids and for the required equipment so that she can take up tailoring work at home. The caseworker did a lot of advocacy work in Sanaaââ¬â¢s case such as visiting the hospital for procuring the certificate, meeting with the referral organizationââ¬â¢s representatives for seeking financial assistance for the client. Many counseling techniques as Correcting Perception, Advice, Removing Guilt Feelings, Universalisation were made use of. In the beginning, when the Home-Visit was made the caseworker advised Sana a on the way to come out of her situation, how the agency would facilitate the process. When her son was taken for treatment, so due to waiting in the long queues and the whole documentation process of OPD treatment, Sanaa started feeling guilty that why did she marry in the first place, had she not married she would not have had to face such problems. In such a situation, she had to be told that marriage was not the fault and she does not need to be guilty about something for which she is not responsible. She was married off to a man, the background and other details of whom were not at all confirmed by her family. As it came to the caseworkerââ¬â¢s amazement while talking to the clientââ¬â¢s mother, the latter used to see a girl frequently in the locality and got acquainted with her and on her proposal, married off her daughter to her brother. When the caseworker asked the client to get an income proof from her school, without which she would not have received financial assistance from the referral organization, she did not do so for weeks despite repeated reminders. The social worker had to then step in and find out what the matter was and what came out was that she had a misconception about it. The client th ought that if she would submit an income proof, then she would not be provided any help since, according to her, they may think if she is earning then she does not need help. The caseworker then had to correct her perception that the income proof is a formality and because her income is meager to afford the treatment of her son she would definitely be provided with financial assistance. Once the client was very thwarted with herself. At that time, the caseworker brought to light the examples of many other woman who have been and who are in worse situation than hers. THEORETICAL APPROACHES USED The student trainee made use of the Empowerment and Advocacy Approach. It has been said that empowerment seeks to help clients gain power of decision and action over their own lives by reducing the effect of social or personal blocks to existing power, by increasing capacity and self-confidence to use power and by transferring power from the environment to clients. Advocacy seeks to represent the interests of the powerless clients to powerful individuals and structures. For Furlong, empowerment is an essential objective of casework because it avoids a crude polarization of social action and individualized perspectives, placing work with individuals and families in a context of concern for social objectives. In 1994, Anderson et al, presented a model of empowerment for social development in Africa concerned with the five dimensions of practice: personal, social, educational, economic and political. These dimensions are intertwined with each other and looking at them so allows people t o meet individual needs (personal power), improve their capacity to influence others (interpersonal power), which in turn creates an ability to influence the power distribution more widely (political power). Rees came up with a set of ideas with regard to empowerment, viz., a) biography b) power c) Political understanding d) Skills e) Interdependence of Policy and Practice. For Rees, the basic aim of empowerment is social justice, greater security, political and social equality to people, through mutual support and shared learning. Kondrat emphasized upon the value of local knowledge, specifically the one coming from the clients. One intricacy of advocacy lies in the duality of its interrelated meanings of ââ¬Ërepresentationââ¬â¢. The representation in advocacy is in term of the acting and arguing for the interests of the clients. However, for Phillip (1979), advocacy entails ââ¬Ërepresentationââ¬â¢ in terms of interpreting and displaying the value of clients to the powe rful groups in the society. Advocacy, in part, is said to be an aspect of empowerment, since it can be used to argue for resources, or change the interpretation which powerful groups make of clients. Andersonââ¬â¢s model of empowerment was crucial for application in Sanaaââ¬â¢s case, since socio-economic, personal and educational aspects were focused upon at the level of assessment as well as intervention. The caseworker also made use of Reesââ¬â¢s understanding of empowerment in terms of the Skill enhancement. The clientââ¬â¢s tailoring skills was tapped on to enable her choose a suitable livelihood option. Advocacy work was also done by initiating the process of legal assistance and facilitating the process of financial assistance by MESCO. CHALLENGES, DILEMMAS RESISTANCE One of the challenges encountered was that not all three kids could be taken for consultation together since no one from the clientââ¬â¢s family could accompany her to the hospital. So there was a lack in terms of human resources. Social Case Work Practice is a huge responsibility, especially when any form of medical intervention is involved, especially, when oneââ¬â¢s target system involves infants. Another challenge was the unavailability of the prescribed medicines in municipal hospitalââ¬â¢s pharmacy. Those who cannot afford to buy the expensive medicines from outside are not even able to start the treatment. At the macro level, this remains a big loophole in the health care sector of the country. It is an obstacle for the low-income group in accessing health care services. This also paralyses the government health care sector at a very basic level. Looking for a donor or an organisation where Sanaaââ¬â¢s case could be referred for another challenge. The biggest ethical dilemma was about the leaving the treatment process midway. The follow-up in the case is being planned to overcome the dilemma. The client has been very resistant to the idea of admitting the child in the hospital despite repeated reassurance that the financial assistance would be taken care of.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Comparing Virginia Woolf and Emily Bronte :: comparison compare contrast essays
Comparing Virginia Woolf and Emily Bronte à à à Virginia Woolf and Emily Bronte possess striking similarities in their works.à Both works have inanimate objects as pivotal points of the story line.à For Bronte, Wuthering Heights itself plays a key role in the story.à The feel of the house changes as the characters are introduced to it.à à Before Heathcliff, the Heights was a place of discipline but also love.à The children got on well with each other and though Nelly was not a member of the family she too played and ate with them.à When old Mr. Earnshaw traveled to Liverpool he asked the children what they wished for him to bring them as gifts and also promised Nelly a ââ¬Å"pocketful of apples and pearsâ⬠(WH 28).à Heathcliffââ¬â¢s presence changed the Heights, ââ¬Å"So, from the beginning, he had bred bad feeling in the houseâ⬠(WH 30). The Heights became a place to dream of for Catherine (1) when she married Linton and moved to the Grange.à For her it held the memories of Heathc liff and their love.à For her daughter, Cathy, it became a dungeon; trapped in a loveless marriage in a cold stone home far away from the opulence and luxury of the home she was used to. Then, upon the death of Heathcliff, I can almost see, in my minds eye, the Heights itself relax into the warm earth around in it the knowledge that it too is once again safe from the vengeance, bitterness, and hate that has housed itself within its walls for over twenty years. à à à à à à à à à à à à For Woolf the inanimate object that is at the center of her plot is the looking glass.à It sees all, both inside and out, and its reflection is a foreshadowing of what unfolds in the story.à It provides the foreshadow for a menacing presence and the mystery that follows, ââ¬Å"Suddenly these reflections were ended violently and yet without a sound.à A large black form loomed into the looking-glass; blotted out everything, strewed the table with a packet of marble tablets veined with pink and grey, and was goneâ⬠à (Woolf, Longman 2454).à The looking-glass is used to build the tension for the audience. à This is very similar to the way both the weather and the Heights serve in Wuthering Heights.à à à à à à à à à à à à à It some ways it is almost as if the looking-glass has an eerie kind of power of the objects closets to it.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Knowledge and the sources provided Essay
Evacuation was both successful and unsuccessful. The Government did manage to secure its objectives of keeping children safe and keeping the war machine going without the threat of children being killed which was a successful aspect of evacuation. Although the conditions on the train were cramped and there was a lack of facilities, a vast amount of children were transported out of the cities quickly and efficiently. Most of the children who were evacuated also benefited from it although some did have bad experiences. However a major problem with evacuation was that a significant number of children either did not go or returned back to the danger-zones. Despite the government propaganda for instance the ââ¬ËHow and Whyââ¬â¢ pamphlet, which contributed to the efficient way in which children were evacuated many parents refused to allow their children to leave. In ââ¬ËHope and Gloryââ¬â¢ a mother agrees to evacuate her children but then becomes overcome with emotion and unable to part with her children. This was quite a common occurrence and some parents did not even consider evacuating their children due to preconceived ideas. Source E highlights this; the man being interviewed would not send his child away as he thought that â⬠they canââ¬â¢t be looked after where theyââ¬â¢re sending themâ⬠. This man, like many other citizens had preconceptions of the countryside such as ââ¬Å"theyââ¬â¢ve nothing there; they were starving there before the warâ⬠Many children who were evacuated returned home, some because they were unhappy and some because their parents did not see the need for them to remain there because of the ââ¬Ëphoney warââ¬â¢ in which no bombs were dropped on cities. This meant that they would be back in danger zones, which was not a success from the governmentââ¬â¢s point of view. The actual transportation of the children was very well organised; the children were all registered in advance and were put onto the trains efficiently. Source A depicts evacuees walking to the station in London. This suggests that evacuation was well-ordered as all the children are walking in an orderly fashion; they are all smiling and a few are waving. This shows that the children were content in being evacuated. However one must take into account the fact that the source is a photograph hence it could have been staged. Source B contradicts this and suggests that evacuation was a nerve-racking experience for the children involved as they were ââ¬Å"too afraid to talkâ⬠. The source also states that the children didnââ¬â¢t know where they were going; this is a negative factor as it would cause angst amongst the children and suggests disorganisation. As well as simply the organisation and official objectives behind evacuation; there are other aspects which one must consider. Many children gained a lot of new experiences and there were many long-term benefits. Some long-term benefits include broadened horizons of the children, increased understanding between classes and a raised awareness of urban poverty. Many country dwellers did not know how city children lived and evacuation was an opportunity for them to find out. Source C, an extract from ââ¬ËCarrieââ¬â¢s Warââ¬â¢ by Nina Bowden highlights a misconception about evacuees as the child in the novel says â⬠she thinks weââ¬â¢re poor children, too poor to afford slippersâ⬠. However this source is not really a primary source, as although it is based on reality, it is a fictitious novel. A lot of evacuees had positive experiences such as enjoying healthier, safer surroundings than the cities as well as developing a life-long love of the countryside. On the other hand some children were just treated like servants by their foster families or made to feel very unwelcome. These children experienced some of the negative factors of country life. Many of the foster families had negative experiences such as bad-mannered children or children with poor personal hygiene. These experiences are both positive and negative; although they were unpleasant, they resulted in raised awareness of urban childrenââ¬â¢s welfare. This raised awareness of poverty resulted in the introduction of the Welfare State Shortly after W. W. II. Many foster families and evacuees enjoyed the experience of evacuation and treasured memories of it for many years. The evacuees were predominantly grateful, Source D, a government advertisement suggests that the foster families were ââ¬Å"doing a real service for the nationâ⬠; this evokes patriotism and causes people to come together and help each other, which is another positive outcome of evacuation. This advertisement encouraged people to take in evacuees thus making the arrangements easier and more orderly, increasing the successfulness of evacuation. When looking at all the evidence available to us it is clear that although evacuation was not a ââ¬Å"greatâ⬠success as there were a great deal of setbacks, such as the children who did not go and children who returned home it was quite successful as the government did secure the objective of reducing civilian casualties. Many other benefits were as a result of evacuation and it was an enlightening experience for all those concerned. There were a few negative effects for certain individuals but as a whole, this nation benefited from evacuation.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Leadership theory and competency framework Essay
Introduction Leadership is always been interesting topic to be discussed. Given the theories that continue to grow and evolve. There is none of the theories that really can define what is the real meaning of leadership but we agree that the leader must have knowledge, skills on how to analyse the information in order to make appropriate decision. An effective leader is one who is able to read the situation, correct the problem, responsible, willingness to develop the followers, have integrity and good ethics. Effective leadership expected to act within the ethical framework. The ethical framework itself is about what right or wrong and good and bad. The reason why ethical decision becomes so important in the leadership is because business involves in a lot of transactions with people both within and outside the organisation. The purpose of this report is to provide better understanding about effective leadership, decision making and ethical management and how they linked each other both in theori es and practices and how the leaders ensure that every decisions are made within the ethical framework. Ethics . According to Ciulla (1998) Ethics is study about human relationships it is about the role that we play in life on what we should do and what we should be like as human being. Ethics is about right or wrong and good or devil. Ethics is the foundation of leadership. There are four theories in ethics: 1. Virtue ethics. Focused on in individual processes whether their act is expressing good character (moral virtues) or not. 2. Deontological ethics. In deontological perspective, intentions are the morally relevant aspects of an act. As long as the leader acts according to his or her duty on moral principles then the leader acts ethically, regardless of the consequences. In simple words, deontological focus on what is right based on the facts. 3. Ethical growth and learning ethics. Ethical growth and learning ethics also called as the character ethics. According to Covey (1992) the character ethics based on living effectively including things like integrity, courage, fidelity and so on. He believes that human have to go through the necessary stages in their life for their personal growth. Senge (1990), see learning process in each individual are important for the organisation learningà development. 4. Teleological. This theory locates the ethics of the action in its results. Leadership Leadership is the one of the specific type of human relations. There are a lot of thoughts behind the theory of leadership, even those theories still growing from time to time and it stills remain without satisfactory conclusion on that. According to Bolden, The theories of leadership are ranging as follow (Bolden et all.,2003): 1. Great Man theories. These theories based on the idea that leaders are those who are incredible, born with leadership qualities and destined to become a leader. 2. Trait theories. The theories based on the qualities and traits that leaders have. Trait theories often 3. Behavioural theories. These theories are opposite from great man theories. The theories believe that good leaders are made, not born. 4. Situational theories. These theories view leadership as something that is specific into the situations. For example: there are some situations that require the type of autocratic leadership, in other situation participative approach might needed. 5. Contigency theories. These theories focus on particular variables related to the environment to suit the style of the leadership. According to this, successful leadership depends on numbers of variables including leadership style, followerââ¬â¢s quality and the conditions. 6. Participative theories. The theories suggest that ideal leadership style is one that taking input from others. These leaders are more engaging the group members in decision making process. According to Lewin (1939) there are three leadership style in participatory, autocratic, democratic and laissez faire. 7. Management theories or transactional theories These theories focus on the role of organisation and group performance. These theories use rewards and punishment system and most used by the business organisations. 8. Relationship Theories or transformational theories. These theories focus on the connection between the leaders and followers. In this theory, beside focus on the overall performance of the groups, the leader also focusing on each memberââ¬â¢s potential. This theory also often has high ethical and moral standards. Decision Making According to business dictionary, Decision making is process of selecting a choice from the available options. In order to make good decision, someone must be able to predict the result of each option and based on that options, take the best for the particular situation. There are two dominant decision making process models: 1. Rational model Rational model is mechanistic. The foundation of this model is quantitative discipline. It involves a cognitive process where each step follows in a logical order in order to get the best result. Disadvantage of this method is slow process in decision making 2. Bounded rationality Bounded rationality foundation is qualitative approaches. Bounded rationality model recognize that the data that available may or may not be completely valid but decision maker stills allow to make decision based on available data. 1. Toyota Toyota started in 1993 as one of Toyoda automatic divisions. Toyoda Automatic was encouraged to develop Japanese automobile production by Japanese government for supply their domestic vehicles. In 1993, Toyota motor co. became independent and separated from Toyoda automatic. Toyota started to expand in 1960 to other countries began by establishing new research and development facility in Thailand and in 1963, the first Toyota built outside Japan located in Melbourne, Australia. During that decade, Toyota hadà exported one million units which had their presence established worldwide. In 2010 Toyota facing the most critical crisis on their history as one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world. At least 8 million cars were recalled from the market regarding to floor mats and gas peddles that causing uncontrollable acceleration that reported become the cause of accidents and death. This incident costing the company of millions dollars in repair expenses lost in sales and destroy ed the company image for its reputation and of course undermining its credibility. The company also faced some of expensive lawsuits because it accused that Toyota leaders knew about the problems but they held back the information to held recall and in this case the Toyota leaders using ethical growth and learning approach. A lot of organisation experienced crisis incidents that need them to make audience public messages in explanation, apologies, and other efforts to fix their image. The unethical things that resulting in public accusation often can result in harm to shareholders and stakeholders of the organisation and will have negative impact in organisationââ¬â¢s sustainability. Toyota confront by some very clear situational limitation in trying to respond effectively in responding to the allegations and fixing its bad image. The allegations including the causes of the problem is not all clear yet ranging from engineering issue to humanââ¬â¢s error. In reality, some reports suggest that the company do to repair the product are not solving the problems. The toyota also accused on having slow decision making process because they didnt respond to that that problem quickly and decisively. Ideally, the organisation expected to have quickly responsive actions to make positive image in the society because it is indicate that the organisation primary interest is to solving the problems rather that avoid legal problems. Such organisations are likely to be seen as ethical, responsible and decisive. However, the most difficult part that the company confront regarding their CEO. Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the founder. He facing the culture conflict associated with his multinational companyââ¬â¢s nature. In general, Japanese corporate cultures encouraging harmony and try to avoid addressing the problems in public and prefer to manage behind the scenes and the process of their decision making is using consensus model. Consensus model is time consuming process and it will slow organisation inà their respond to the crisis. For some countries this can be seen that company is not decisive. Also in the Japanese organisation culture, they more focus on their leaderââ¬â¢s opinion than publicââ¬â¢s opinion. 2. Trafigura Trafigura is a private company established in 1993 by six partners, Claude Dauphin, Eric de Turckheim, Graham Sharp, Antonio Cometti, Daniel Posen and Mark Crandall. They are focusing on three regional markets, South America for oil and mineral industry, Eastern Europe for metals industry and Africa for oil industry. Currently, the group has 81 offices in 56 countries. The story of ethical issues that faced by Trafigura begun in early 2006 when Trafiguraââ¬â¢s oil trader decided to buy Coker naphtha, a refinery by product from Mexico. They did this to make a quick profit. In between March and June 2006, three loads of 28.000 tonned was received in Texas and transferred to chartered cargo ship, Probo Koala. Dangerous chemicals were used to clean the Coker naphtha and then Trafigura realised that they facing the problem on how to dispose the toxic material safely. In July 2006, Probo Koala arrived in Amsterdam where one of the branch corporate offices is located. The Amsterdam Port Service, a Dutch waste management company agreed to treat and dispose the waste but in the higher price than it was agreed because APS discovered that the slop was much more polluted and requiring special treatment. As the consequences of that problem, the Probo Koala back to the sea and in August 2006, it arrived in Ivory Coast to deliver the waste to local company called Compagnie Tommy. Tommy then was illegally dumped the waste without treating it across Abidjan. The weeks after, thousands were sick and at least 10 death reported. Trafigura reached out of court agreement with Ivorian government by paying $ 198 million for cleaning up and helping the victims. Here we can see that the company using teleological approach in handling the problem. However, they denied that what they did is wrong and refused to accept any legal liabilities for that incident. The way Trafigura handled the crisis criticized by corporate responsibility observer. They said it was clearly messed up because when facing the problem, company ideally needs to find the facts quickly,à disclose them quickly and involve those who can reduce the problem and work with affected community in order to clean up the damage. In contrast, Trafigura, held everything privately and in the company like this they donââ¬â¢t have the same transparency and ethical requirements that a publicly company has. By looking for those examples, we realised that the need for ethics in leadership become obvious. Ethics influenced the leader in their leadership and decision making. Understandings of ethics begin with the analysis of values, both individual and organisational. Effective leaders must aware of their values, and system of ethics and ethical decision making. Good character and integrity are what we want to see from the leader. Somehow there is always the connection between a value system and the ability of the leader to use these values in their decision making. According to the Josephone Instituteââ¬â¢s (1999), there are six pillars of character that might easily be applied to business setting. They are: Trustworthiness ââ¬â honesty, integrity, reliability, loyalty, keeping promises and not deceiving others. Respect ââ¬â using the golden rule or treating others as you wish be treated, in addition to being courteous, listening to others, and accepting individual differences Responsibility ââ¬â accountability, self-control, the pursuit of excellence and considering consequences of our actions prior to making them Fairness ââ¬â playing the rule, not taking advantage of others, making informed judgments without favoritism or prejudice, and not blaming others Caring ââ¬â Kindness, compassion, and altruism, acting to minimize hardship and to help others whenever possible Citizenship ââ¬â working to make oneââ¬â¢s community better, protecting the environment, making our democratic institution work, and operating withi n the law How the leaders ensure that all decisions are made ethically? The foundation of ethical decision making involves choice and balance. As we discuss before ethics is the study of human relationship about right and wrong. To ensure that all decisions made ethically, leaders have to do ethic checks. There are varies on ethic checks but to make it simple, we can define ethic checks into three parts. The most common questions when we questioning about ethics are whether it is legal?, whether it is fair?, and if we do this, how ità will affect ourselves as human being s a memberââ¬â¢s of society. The first part of ethic check is bout legality. Legal here means not only within legal system but also whether it is legal within the organisation policies. After we get the answer for the first part the next question will it be fair? One of the traits that effective leadership must have is putting the organisationââ¬â¢s interest above their personal interest. Hence to ensure the decision has made ethically here the leader should check whether the decision will be fair for all stakeholders. Lastly, after those two questions answered, the leaders must ask themselves how they want to be view by the society because whatever it is, regardless the power that the leaders have, they are still a memberââ¬â¢s of society. Conclusion Ethics is the heart of leadership. In understanding the leadership it is important for us to understand about the ethics. Ethics is the study of human relationship. It is about what we should do and what we should be like in the society. The ethics can be different from one and another because ethics influenced by other factors such as family influence, religious belief, culture, experience and personal reflection. Leadership on the other hand is the particular type of human relationship that involving power. The effective leader has to have good ethics as one of their traits because in effective leadership, leader should put the group interest above his or her personal interest. Nowadays, many organisations in the world have been damage by their unethical decision making and most cases because they put self- interest above group or society interest which destroys the society trust to the organisations. Regarding to that we can see that ethics and leadership should go hand in hand and the effective leadership should have good ethics that stick to the moral values on the society and oppose all the unethical conduct. Like other things in the world nothing is perfect, but it is very good for the leader to ensure that the decisions are made ethically through questioning their decision whether it is legal or fair for them and for the community and the leader also consider their decision as their personal reflection. References Bolden, R., Gosling, J., Marturani, A. and Dennison, P. (2003). A review of leadership theory and competency framework. Centre for Leadership studies, UK : University of Exeter Linstead, S., Fulop, L., Lilley, S. (2009). Management & Organization A critical text. New York, NY: Palgrave Ciulla, J.B. (ED). (1998). Ethics, the heart of leadership. Westport, CT:Praeger. Driscoll, D. M. & Hoffman, W.M. (2000). Ethics matters: How to implement values-driven management. Waltham, MA Hitt, W.D. (1990). Ethics and Leadership. Columbus, OH: batelle Johnson, C.E. (2001). Meeting the ethical challenges of leaderhip. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers. The six pillars of Character. (2009). Retrieved from http://charatercounts.org/six pillars.html Leadership Theories and styles. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.etsu.edu/ahsc/documents/Leadership_Theories.pdf History of Toyota. (n.d). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Toyota Seeger, M. (2010) Image restoration and Toyota recall. In communication currents. Retrieved from https://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=967 Trafigura corporate history. (n.d). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafigura Chhabara, R. (2009) Trafigura ââ¬âToxic ethics. In communication reporting. Retrieved from http://www.ethicalcorp.com/communications-reporting/trafigura-%E2%80%93-toxic- ethics 10 of most unethical business practices in business (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.businesspundit.com/10-most-unethical-business-practices/
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