Organizational Characteristics Essay Example for Free

Organizational Characteristics Essay This paper will describe the culture and the organizational characteristics of a chosen organization, Publix Supermarkets. Detailed throughout will be the common characteristics of the organization as it operates on a day to day basis. Specifically the system based on individual units, rules and norms expected of the associates and supervisors as well as the hierarchy will be established for the reader to garner a better understanding. Furthermore, the communication networks, organizational orientation, approaches to and by leadership members, as well as the decision making and communication procedures put forth by members of management will be analyzed. This paper will describe which 4 of these listed characteristics are most influenced by communication between members and levels of Publix Supermarkets. The author has been employed with this supermarket chain for more than 7 years and has ample knowledge and understanding on the organization as a whole. Common Characteristics of an Organization Publix Supermarkets is a grocery chain unlike many others for a variety of reasons. Founded in 1930 in Winter haven, Florida by George W. Jenkins, Publix is known for its customer first atmosphere and pleasurable shopping experience. The grocery chain whose motto states they will never knowingly disappoint their customers operates in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee and currently has more than 1000 stores in operation (Publix.com). Jenkins’ supermarket chain has continued to grow on their customer friendly business sense. Publix has since become a Fortune 500 company and is privately held and owned by its employees. For as well as they treat their customers, the chain treats its associates and management staff just as well if not better. Publix workers who have been with the company a base number of years receive shares of stock for every 1000 hours worked, and can purchase more shares of stock at almost any time during a given year. The grocery chain is also well known for its high ranking employee benefits and treatment in the employment world. Rules/Norms (Written and Unwritten) Outside of the big green P logo, the Publix atmosphere is what customers relate to with the chain more than anything else. Communication with customers is a major asset in following proper Publix protocol. The smiling helpful associates, clean stores, and consumer friendly set up of product is where Publix truly prides itself as an organization. Each experience ends with a friendly cashier and bagger, and the bagger will always bring the customer to their vehicle and help load product into the car for them. Believe it or not this all relates to performance evaluations that are done quarterly, where associates are evaluated on their behavior amongst the customers. Customer intimacy is something Publix takes very seriously. The Publix image extends onto its associates as well. All employees are expected to show up to work on time and be clean shaven in full clean uniform attire. Each department and job class has their own specific uniform; however all include proper hygiene, reasonable hairstyling, and proper equipment to perform their tasks to better serve the shoppers. Publix is an organization that understands how to promote their brand by utilizing all available options to do so. Clean stores and clean happy associates promote the â€Å"Publix Way.† This plays a major role in nonverbal communication between Publix associates and their customers. Aside from dress code and customer relations, two major elements, there are many other standards Publix employees are held to. A good example of one unwritten Publix rule would be: communication between associates when out on the sales floor during business hours must be respectful, and if at all possible must include the customer. Also, outside from positive communication both verbal and nonverbal with customers and fellow associates employees are expected to communicate both effectively and respectfully with management teams as well. Hierarchy The Publix store level hierarchy is something that runs seemingly parallel in each department throughout the store. Each department and sub department have their chain of command as follows: part time associates, full time associates, assistant department manager, and department manager. The two major departments, grocery and customer service, have the most associates, in order to better supervise their employees there is a position called a team leader that fits into the hierarchy between the full time associates and the management team. Publix is a company that only promotes from within. This is a big selling point for associates and applicants alike. Knowing that the opportunity for advancement is always there is a major asset for the associates in the store. Communications between the different levels of the chain of command are fluid. The associates can go to their department managers, or team leaders, with any concern or idea. The department managers at store level then communicate with the store’s assistant manager and store manager about the associate’s ideas and concerns. Communication Networks The information Publix gathers through their retail channels is usually information based on product analysis and placement that they can pass down to the management teams at store levels to assess further. Ultimately the store will take the advice of corporate and try to taper the information in the way it works most effectively for each store. Each store can take the same information and depict it differently. Information about new products, events, or openings may not influence all stores, or influence them all at the same level. There are times, during major events like hurricanes, holidays, or back to school time, where Publix store level employees must take the information sent to them by corporate including sales figures and forecasts in order to build the proper displays and floor models for customers to browse. Having product out that customers take interest in can help drive sales. The communication between the different levels of Publix Supermarkets goes hand in hand with communication networks at the store level. Leadership Approaches A major tool in the line of communication at Publix is how they allow anyone who is willing to step up and be a leader, do so. When every associate feels that sense of empowerment in their employment it urges them to lead in a different way, work harder and do a better job to lead by example. Publix pushes their associates to be role models both in the stores, and in the community. The management teams are in place to ensure guidelines are followed, but showing quality leadership through positive communication means so much more. Communicating with leaders is always a situation associates take very seriously in any industry or business. This is no different in the retail world at Publix. Associates voice their concerns and feelings to their leaders, whether it be management, team leaders, or even fellow associates who take on the responsibility of leading a specific group. At Publix supermarkets the communication had with leadership is always something associates should come away from feeling they were heard out and understood, good virtue for any organization to sustain. Conclusion Publix through the years has become one of the most widely respected organizations in America. This is due to the quality product and customer service put out the grocery chain, but also playing a role in the respect factor is the culture of the organization. This of course starts at store level and works its way to the corporate ranks, and is in large part to do with positive, effective communication. Publix supermarkets are known throughout the world a company that is great to work for, just as much as they are to shop at. Through utilizing all of the common communication characteristics Publix has continued to promote a very associate friendly atmosphere through the years. The supermarket chain takes pride in the fact that each associate understands their value to their company and takes pride in hiring quality applicants. Publix utilizes its rules and norms, hierarchy, communication networks, and strong leadership approach in all day to day activities in order to remain a successful industry leader.

The Damage Of A Disorganised Organisation Business Essay

The Damage Of A Disorganised Organisation Business Essay The assignment focuses on the outcomes of the study of the module-Organizational Behaviour which deals with the importance of the organizational principles in any company linked to its success in long run. I have focussed myself to study the Case of Oticon Ltd. in reference to change of organisation structure bringing in success. Though the objective of the study is to analyse the organisation in the context of dynamics of change affecting its very functioning with respect of organizational issues, the limitation of the study is inability to take up all issues considering organisation behaviour. Oticon, is a Danish firm, which was founded in 1904 by William Demant, is a leader in manufacturing hearing aids in Europe and the rest of the world. During the 1980s, a small American company, which designed a new and innovative model of hearing aids, entered aggressively in the market, and caused decreased sales for Oticon. The reaction of Oticon was immediate, as they decided to reconstruct the whole structure of the company, so as to boost their efficiency and profitability. The process lasted for almost three years, and resulted to major changes, which helped Oticon to regain profits, and become again a leader in their sector. Oticon is a good example of what D. T. Hall (1996) called The career is dead, long live the career and the boundary career construct (Arthur Rousseau, 1966). Key features of traditional career management like earmarking of management potential, formalized development programs, the use of promotions and organizational symbolism (e.g., privileges) etc. were simply not applicable in the spaghetti organization with no hierarchical structure, no traditional management positions, no high-flier program and not even an HR function. The nickname spaghetti organization reflects the complex, informal and almost anarchistic characteristics of the project organization, as it was initially implemented at Oticon. The path which Oticon choose to regain its ground and the initiatives taken in terms of Organizational Behaviour has been assessed in this assignment. For the purpose of analyzing the focus was laid down on 3 key aspects of organization behavior which are organizational structure, management of change and organizational culture and climate which can be correlated to the case. 2. Organizational Structure According to Sheldon: Organization is the process of combining the work, which individuals and groups have to perform with the facilities necessary for its execution, that the duties so performed provide the best channels for the efficient, systematic, positive and coordinated application of the available efforts. Koontz and Donnel have defined organizational structure as the establishment of authority relationships with provision for coordination between them, both vertically and horizontally in the enterprise structure. A good organizational structure has the following features: The structure should lay down a formal reporting hierarchy from lowest level to higher level of management. Identical activities should be grouped for each department so that equipment, processes and expertise can be developed at one place under the guidance of a departmental head. Coordination of various activities is laid down and specification of the coordinating authority be placed. Individual, group and departmental goals should be laid down with specific time frame. Monitoring of goals is essential to achieve the objectives. 2.1 Forms of Organization Structure Mechanistic form Organic form Comparative evaluation of mechanistic and organic form of organizational structures can be summarized as under: 2.1Centralization and Decentralization Apart from the forms of organizational structure discussed above the decision makers of the organization could be categorized into centralization and decentralization based on the form of organizational structure the board of directors or the higher management decide for the benefit of the organization, but in certain cases of management decisions this may or may not prove beneficially in long run and change is expected if it needs to change its horizons and expand its business. The concept of centralization refers to reservation of authority for decision making at top level of management i.e. the decision lies in the hands of Board of Directors/MD. Lower levels are responsible for implementing the decisions or one can say to abide by the decision ordered by the higher level. They are basically operators or implementers. In general, the authority is not delegated to the lower levels. The subordinates carry out work towards accomplishing their destined task. If at all there is a hurdle or operation is halted due to some reason, then the matter is referred to an appropriate authority that has the power to take appropriate decision to resolve the problem. Centralization can be viewed or implemented where the organization structures do not have many layers and it is relatively flat. It is majorly noticed where the subordinates are rightly not trained to handle key specific/ higher jobs, where there is a lack of trust in subordinates and the intricacy or the magnitude of work that demands centralized control. Decentralization on the other hand refers to authority being delegated to various levels of organization for making appropriate decisions for making the process quicker and efficient. In decentralized organizations, the individuals at lower levels are allowed to make decisions pertaining to their jobs which give them autonomy. Authority in this case does not flow with the same rate to each of the levels of the organization structure. It is important to note that each level should have appropriate authority for decision making when need arises and that one does not have to wait for upper level to take decisions at each level. An organization which has flat organizational structure is ideal to have a decentralized command and control especially in the current environment where specialization, information technology, competencies, work teams, group culture and systems prevail. It develops a sense of responsibility among employees, efficient time management, improves productivity, team sprit, motivation and brings the feeling of oneness among work groups. Greater decentralization offers employees higher level of job satisfaction as they have autonomy at work in decision making process. They can respond to a particular situation quickly. Charlisle suggested the following guidelines to determine whether there should be centralization or decentralization. (a) Mission, goals and objectives of the organization: Those organizations where democracy exists prefer decentralized structure in decision making process in turn, small organizations have a centralized structure. (b) Size of the organization and complexity of the work. Large organizations with diverse production lines and conglomerates with companies involved in different fields should be decentralized. (c) Geographical location of customers: Organizations which cater for customers which are geographically located far apart should have decentralized organizational structure. (d) Competency: If the top management is highly skilled, knowledgeable and experienced and has the capacity to handle more activities at one time, then the centralization is recommended. (e) Communication: If the communication between the management and employees is efficient, then the decentralization is recommended. This will enable problem solving and accord a sense of autonomy amongst workers. 2.2 Organizational structure and Oticon Oticon was initially following the Mechanistic Form of organization structure with centralized decision makers until it faced a stiff competition in terms of market leadership until Kolind the new CEO of the company had converted the same mechanistic form of organization structure into decentralized organic system of organizational structure which yielded fruitful results to the success of company in long run. Though the top management is highly skilled, knowledgeable and experienced and has the capacity to handle more activities at one time, then the centralization is recommended but the situation demanded Spaghetti organization. The introduction of Spaghetti form of organization structure was a tough task indeed as it needed everyones (board of directors, stakeholders, etc.) consent for implementation and the situation for Oticon demanded immediate decision to change its structure for its very survival which also links with the management of change which is discussed in relation to organization structure in the following paragraphs. 3.0 Management of Change It is known fact that change is inevitable. Nothing is permanent except the change but it is the duty of the management or organization to manage change properly and orderly. Organizations must incorporate suitable changes if the situation so demands or when the need arises. Change is a continuous phenomenon. It is to be noted even in most stable organizations change is necessary just to keep the level of stability. The major environmental forces, which make the change necessary, are Technology, Market forces and Socio-economic factors. Showing resistance to change can prove fatal for the very existence of the organization. According to Barney and Griffin, the primary reason cited for organizational problems is the failure by managers to properly anticipate or respond to forces for change. 3.1 Change Process Kurt Lewin proposed Three Stage Model of the change process for moving the organization from present position to the changed position. This is as under: Stage 1: Unfreezing: Creating motivation and readiness to change through (a) Disconfirmation or lack of confirmation. (b) Creation of guilt or anxiety. (c) Ensure subordinates of psychological safety. Stage 2: Changing through cognitive restructuring: Helping the client to see things, judge things, and feel things differently based on new point of view obtained through. (a) Identifying with a new role model, mentor, etc. (b) Scanning the environment for new relevant information. Stage 3: Refreezing: Helping the client to integrate the new point of view into (a) The total personality and self concept. (b) Significant relationship. 1. Unfreezing: Process of unfreezing makes individuals ready for change. Lewin believes that employees must be informed in advance of impending change and that they should not be surprised. Unfreezing entails unfreezing the old behaviour or situation. Edgar Schein took this excellent idea propagated by Lewin and improved by specifying psychological mechanism involved in each stage of the model. Unfreezing involves creating motivation and readiness to change by creating an environment of disconfirmation of existing psychological safety in the changed pattern of behaviour. This can be achieved by making announcements, meetings and promoting the idea throughout the organization through bulletin, boards, personal contacts and group conferences. The unfreezing process basically cleans the slate so that fresh behavioural patterns, customs, traditions can be imprinted which can then become a new way of doing things. 2. Moving: Once unfreezing process is completed, moving takes place. Moving is incorporating change. Persons undergo cognitive restructuring. The process is carried out by the following three methods as proposed by Kelman: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Compliance: Compliance is achieved by introducing rewards and punishments. It has been established that individual accepts change if he is rewarded or punished. This is a behaviour modification tool. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Identification: Members are psychologically impressed upon to select their role model and modify behaviour. If a leader can act as a role model the change is easier. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Internalization: It involves internal changing of individuals thought processes in order to adjust to a new environment. Members are advised to carry out soul searching and adopt a new behaviour. 3. Refreezing: It is related to integrate the new behaviours into the persons personality and attitude. It is referred to stabilization. The change behaviour must necessarily fit into the social surroundings. Refreezing takes place when the new behaviour is adopted in a normal way of life. New behaviour must replace the old on a permanent basis. New behaviours must be re-enforced continuously so that it does not diminish. Change process is not a one time process but it is continuous hence unfreezing, change and refreezing must also be continuous. 3.1 Steps In Managing Change Organizations must plan to implement change in a systematic manner. It must identify the field in which the change is required whether it is strategic, structural, process oriented or cultural change. Changes can also be affected in all the areas concurrently, but it must be managed appropriately so that there is no bottleneck effect. Once the need for change is identified and the area in which it is to be implemented, the following steps have been suggested by Greiner. Develop new goals and objectives: Objectives and goals are derived out of mission statements, objects may need revision due to change in external or internal forces. Select an agent for change: It is the responsibility of the management to entrust execution of change to appropriate authority. A manager may be given this responsibility. Diagnose the problem: Diagnosis is the first step to implement change. If an organization has a large number of employee turnover then the data must be collected and made available to the consultant so that the reasons for turnover can be identified and appropriate corrective measures taken. The process of identification of problem is not simple as it appears and requires research. Select Methodology: It is comparatively easy to implement material change as a part of change of a system. What is important is to protect the emotions they must be made party to select methods so that it is easier to implement at a later stage. Develop Plan: If the organization wants to reduce employee turn over, it may like to carry out comparative study of other organizations in respect of job content, reward system, employee performance, appraisal system, promotion criteria, training development and the strategy adopted by the organization for its growth. Strategy for implementation: Timings of implementation of change is very crucial. If the change is related to internal employees, it must be communicated at an appropriate time so that there is no resistance to planned change. Implementation of Plan: Once the decision to implement the plan and communication through which the plan is to be implemented is decided, it is the responsibility of the various departments to implement the same. This may need notification, briefing sessions or in-house seminars so as to ensure acceptance of all the members of the organizations specially those who are likely to get affected. Employee reactions in attitudes, aspirations, emotions and behaviour must be canalized in positive directions due to change. Evaluation Feedback: The result of the change must be evaluated and suitable feed back obtained. If modification to training development causes decrease in employee turnover, the objective of change would deemed to have been achieved. If the results are contrary to the expectation, then a new change may be required to diagnose cause. 3.2 The Change Process in relation to Oticon: Think the Unthinkable The change process in Oticon was initiated with the recruitment of a new CEO, Lars Kolind in 1988, who was given the full responsibility for implementing changes, and who bought the change which was unthinkable. After a two-year period of rationalization and cost-cutting, which has achieved savings in sales and administration costs of 20 percent, Lars Kolind announced in early 1990 a unique package of innovative and radical initiatives in terms of organizational structure, job design, information technology, and physical layout of the company. Oticon was rebuilt as a networking organization and became the worlds technologically leading audio logical company; and within five years was listed on the Danish stock exchange. The recommendations for the change process was described in a 10-page memo called Think the unthinkable, which was written by the new CEO and distributed to all staff in March 1990. The proposed changes are described: 1. To Increase the competitiveness by utilizing human and technological resources in a more efficient way, reducing the overhead costs, which at that point of time exceeded the actual production costs; 2. The objective is to replace the hierarchical job structure where in each employee is involved in number of projects at the same time considering each project as a business unit with its own criteria. 3. To reduce the written paper communication by establishing electronic scanning of all incoming mail and introducing comprehensive information technology systems, networks, etc.; 4. To disown traditional managerial jobs and transferring managerial authority to the project groups or the individual employee; 5. An open space office to be created where physical mobility persists where in each person has a cart or trolley, a cabinet on wheels containing the computer, the phone, and a limited space for files that can be moved around in the office. 4.0 Organizational Culture and Climate Edgar Schein defined culture as A pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adoption and internal integration worked well enough to be considered valuable and therefore, to be taught to new members as a correct way to perceive, think and feel, in relation to those problems. Wagner III and Hollenbeck have defined organizational culture as the shared attitude and perceptions in an organization that are based on a set of fundamental norms and values and help members understand the organization. Organizational culture is not inherit form of an organization, it has to be invented and later developed over a period of time. It enables employees to perform within the framework of the organizations culture. Environment plays a dominant role in developing the culture and so does demographic factors. Once the culture is developed, it virtually becomes a peoples organization from a functional point of view that promotes risk-taking among managerial cadre and generates novel ideas. It promotes communication that improves productivity and job satisfaction. 4.1 Organizational Climate According to Bowditch and Buono Organizational culture is with the nature of belief and expectations about organizational life, while climate is an indicator of whether those beliefs and expectations are being fulfilled. Employees in the organization keep studying the management philosophy and various actions they take to deal with organizational factors that are of a routine nature. These include the following: (a) Selection Process of the employees. (b) Leadership style and approach to solve problems of the employees. (c) Wage administration. (d) Attitude to implement change and incorporate latest technology. (e) Job description. (f) Organizational structure and frequency to modify the same based on need. (g) Performance evaluation. (h) Promotion policy and its implementation. (i) Efforts involved in promoting creativity and innovations. (j) Availability of resources for research and development. Overt factors can be measured and fair assessment can therefore be made about the intentions of the management and efforts they are putting in to build an appropriate organizational climate. While on the other hand covert factors can not be quantified being of subjective nature. Likert has carried out studies on organizational climate by isolating six different variables namely decision making, leadership style, motivation, goal setting, communication and control. Each variable was then evaluated on four dimensions. Each of the dimensions can then be studied on the five-point scale enumerated above. Based on the inputs so received on the specific study of a particular variable an appropriate conclusion of the prevailing organizational climate can be drawn. Suitable remedial measures then can be initiated to modify the climate to desired level. According to Edgar Schein Culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change. He specified three cognitive levels of organizational culture: What can be seen and known, Organizational mission and value, Tacit assumptions which is the deepest level and the most difficult to explicate. In the years before the change Oticon management had bureaucratic nature of the organization and corporate culture. It was more off hierarchical organization with importance given to people rather than position. Oticon after year 1991 became more task culture, it developed into customer focus organization and started to be project orientated, where departments disappeared, individuals were expected to contribute to the organization and got recognized influence in the group. In short it was made more important what you do and not who you are. 5. Conclusion Various companies have tried and tested teamwork organization unsuccessfully but what were the key elements that were responsible for the success of teamwork in Oticon? A lot of companies want to implement teamwork in their processes, as working into teams has several advantages such as creativity, innovation, speed, and better productivity. Moreover, teams with more freedom in their ideas and way of working, seem to be more productive and creative than others with stricter rules. In the case of Oticon, there are several key elements which were responsible for the successful implementation of teamwork. Firstly, the employees were fully informed about the changes and the new working situation. In addition to this, some of them participated to the process of restructuring the company. Even in the meetings there was the employees presence so as to be closer to the new decisions. It is important to be mentioned that it was necessary for the employees to practice in PC use, so they were encouraged to take a PC home so as to practice in their free time too. Another aspect of this change was that because of the Spaghetti organization, all the departments were abolished, and the companys structure was based on the projects. By this, employees were motivated, as they were encouraged to come up with new ideas for new projects, and become leaders of these project teams. So, the company promoted creativity and innovative ideas among their workers and gained in productivity, as the employees felt satisfied and ready to contribute more, because they were active members in the development of the organization. The organization of the company became more elastic, that gave freedom to employees duties; as they could co-operate and even more, work in the same offices, by moving their desks. Oticon also gave the freedom to project leaders to select on their own the team members, according to their specifications, in a more informal way, the selected team members had the right to refuse to take part in the project. This means that the people, who are in the team, are by their will, so they are more dedicated in the goal, and loafing effects are avoided. Furthermore, it is important to be mentioned that team meetings were frequently arranged, and the way the meetings were conducted, were organized by the team itself, in the frame of given freedom. So, teams decided in which way they could be more productive, and, be frequent meetings and good communication, the success was inevitable. On the contrary, meetings between senior management, and project groups had taken place only once every three months in order to present their results and take feedback. A three year preparation period before the completion of the new structure was enough time for the idea to mature, and the organizations members to adapt to the new working conditions. Finally, the fully autonomous groups were one of the most important factors of success, as strong connections were built between the team members, which ameliorated the collaboration. Moreover, team members had the opportunity to work in several projects simultaneously, which allowed them to exchange and share ideas and information between connected projects. All in all, the not formalized structure encouraged all employees to contribute in the development, be having the right to give to their employers, new ideas and projects, without the fear of criticism. Evaluation of the Outcomes, and the Present Today, over two decade after the changes were inaugurated, overall management ideology and practice have largely remained the same, but a number of specific changes have occurred. The organization has been professionalized by defined projects in the sense that fewer people are now assigned as project team leaders, with a proper  career path, and that a training program in project management has been launched thus making it more selective and exclusive to become a project manager. The role of functional experts has been maintained, but has developed into more traditional business units or staff functions. The CEOs thought of creating a paperless organization has proved to be too idealistic. Lars Kolind, the man behind the change of thought process in 1990-91, retired in 1998 and was replaced by Niels Jacobsen, who had been with the company from 1988 and co-managed the company with Lars Kolind until his retirement.

The role of the family in education

The role of the family in education The family is the most important primary group in society (C.N.Sharkar, 1990, p.392).. Every one is a member of family and has duties to make our self to become a person who have responsibility and value. Also, family has responsibility in teaching children as its contribution in a building human resource for society. Member of family has right to get the body prevent, take care, and human right from parents. Member of family need meal, clothes, home, education, health prevention, and safety. To complete this needs, the parents try to do anything to raise and complete all needs (MoEYS, 2009, p.186). The family also has function to provide formal and informal education to children or member of family. So function of family is very important to educate children to become human resource in society. Focusing on Cambodia, family has also been considered as an important agency in education. As already stated in the Education For All National Plan: 2003-2015 (EFA) stated that the sharing responsibility of parents, and local community people (MoEYS, 2004, p.4). In order to study this topic deeply, a literature review related parents function in educating children in Cambodia has been conducted in purpose to answer two main questions as following: What does MacIvers theory explain about family function in education? What does family function provide education to children in term of Cambodia social and cultural context? II- Literature review: The family as a social institution performs several functions. There are many scholars provide many functions of the family likes Kingley Davis has of four main function of the family: Reproduction, Maintenance, Placement , and socialization. Similarly, Ogburn and Nimkoff have mentioned six major functions of family: Affectional, Economic, Recreation, Protective, Religious and Educational ( C.N.Shankar, 1990, p.395). But I would like to interest in MacIvers theory, he has describe two function of the family: The primary function or Essential function and The secondary function or non essential function ( C.N.Shankar, 1990, pp.395-397). The primary function or essential function: There are six major functions in the primary function or essential function including firstly, Stable satisfaction of sex need refer to sex drive is powerful in human being and sex need make human try to do anything to develop their livelihood. Secondly, Reproduction relates the result of sexual satisfaction is reproduction. Reproduction is a function of family to reproduce a new birth for social. Thirdly, Production and Rearing of the child relevant the family provides the individual life and a chance to survive. We owe our life to the family. The child which is helpless at the time of birth is given the needed protection of the family. So family is a function par excellence for the production and rearing of children. The fourthly, Provision of home connect the family provides the home for its member. Home is a place that provides opportunity for member meeting to educate each other. Children are born and brought up in home only. Though, often children are born hospitals, clinics, m aternity homes, etc., they are nursed and nourished in the homes only. The fifthly, Family-An instrument of culture Transmission refer to the family transmits ideas and ideologies, folkways and more, customs and tradition, beliefs and values from one generation to the next. So children or members of family had to learn the field by parents. The sixthly, Status Ascribing function relate the family also performs a pair of functions status ascription for the individual, and societal identification for the individual people recognize us by our names and our name are given to us by our family. The secondary function of family or non-essential function: There are four major four functions in family, the firstly, Economic Functions: relevant to the previously member of family work together in farms for the production of goods. Member of family think about relationship to provide individual needs each other. They cooperate and help to correct, teach about process of economic. But now the situation has changed. The family member does not work together at home. They are engaged in different economic activities out side the home. The secondly, Educational functions relate the family provides the basic education to children. The member of family teaches children how to speck, how to organize, etc†¦ The member of family helps to develop children motor skill, intelligent etc. Today preschool has instead of family function. The thirdly, Religious function relate the family is a centre for the religious training of the children. The children learn from their parents various religious virtues. The family used to teach the children the rel igious values, moral precepts, way to worshipping God, etc. The fourthly, The Recreational Functions: connect with the recreation was largely family based. It fostered a close solidarity. Reading aloud, visiting relatives, family reunions, church socials, singing, dancing, playing indoor games, etc., brought together the entire family. Elders would organize their own recreation among themselves or together with other children. Both the primary function and Secondary function play a very important role in education, but secondary function seems to be more important function than primary function because it shapes children personality, help them able to communicate with others, and household financing supports that help to build childrens capacity.. Unlikely, primary function just focuses on sex needs, reproduction of generation, provide home or we can say primary needs that all family has lost. III- The Cambodia Context: Religious Education: All Cambodian are influenced by Buddhism. The function Buddhism is to educate and to assist in the society for people to become good. Buddhism educates people, family, women, and children to know the right way. What is right for the individual is right for society. As individuals you have to think about your feeling and that to obey parents and elders. You need to find the right way to educate the younger generation. (Janet,2006.p94).The family plays a very important role to education children. As we know, parents are key member in family, they educate children about daily activities like to educate children to respect older people, help parents to prepare food and flowers for monks, wearing appropriate clothes when children go to pagoda (Chantal, 2000, p.3). Support family education: Although Cambodia is a poor country, but parents have participated to support children both emotion and material. To relate the economy, they support both direct and indirect costs of schooling. Direct costs include those which are met by providers of schooling plus the additional costs which are met by parents for uniforms, books, transport and related items. Indirect costs include the opportunity costs of income forgone when children attend school rather than engaging in other activities. The indirect costs are a major burden for some parents, particularly the poorest, and can be a significant determinant of whether, or not a child attends school (Mark and Seng, 2005, p.1). To sum-up, most parents in Cambodia have participated to provide supporting, push their children in education sector. It show that function of family in Cambodia have responsibilities to provide education to children in formal school. Home-learning: Parents remain the childrens first and primary educators. It is in their family that children have their first learning experiences, explore and discover the world, and develop.(Claire,June 2009, p55) A young children needs to be supported by his or her family. It is there that the first learning experiences occur, and where social rules are acquired. Very soon, language is learned, the body is controlled, relationships develop and the child becomes an integrated member of the community (Claire, June 2009,p8).For example, when children enjoy with their mother during cooking, they ask many questions about new things they see then the mother gives answers. The questions and the responses of their mother help children to develop their intelligence. (Chantal,2004,74).Therefore, parents play very importance to educate children. IV- Conclusion: To sum-up there are two functions of family as primary function and secondary function in MacIvers theory. Although the primary function refer to stable satisfaction of sex need, reproduction or procreation, production and rearing of the child, provision of home, family-an instrument of culture, status ascribing function, and affectional function, but the secondary function is more important because it a function that help children to develop their capacities to access in primary school. Focusing on Cambodia, family also has three function to education children, like religious function, education function, and home-learning. The parents are key educator to provide health, nutrition, sanitation, safety, education, socialization and emotional life and seeking to stimulate all aspects of development as physical, intellectual, emotional, social to their children, because children early start to learn from their family.

Whose history, which narrator? :: Essays Papers

Whose history, which narrator? Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children can be read, inter alia, as the unfolding of the twentieth-century India’s history. There is in the novel, virtually all of the twentieth century Indian history: the Jallianwalla Buch tragedy, Quit India movement, Cabinet Mission, freedom movement, Muslim League and its role, riots and bloodshed subsequent to the independence, Five Years Plans, reorganization of Indian states and language riots, Chinese aggression, the theft of the sacred relic from the Hazratbal mosque, Pakistan War, liberation of Bangladesh, the Emergency, the military coup in Pakistan in 1958, and various other historically important events. There are also typically Indian divisions and dissents, chaos and disillusion, communal tensions, religious fanaticism besides traditional values and modernizing efforts. One aspect Rushdie places emphasis on, is the close link between the history of India and the history of Saleem’s family. In the end, the former can be read as a family album. Saleem’s uncle, Zulfikar, is a Pakistani general who helps General Ayub Khan to plan the military takeover of 1958; his aunt is a mistress of Homi Catrak, who is shot by the husband of Lila Sabarmati, another of his mistresses (Commander and Mrs. Nanavati in real life); his classmate Cyrus Dubash becomes the founder of a religious cult that seems to be an amalgam of Guru Maharaj and Hatha-yogi Lakshman Rao who claimed he could walk on water; Saleem himself triggers off one of the worst language riots in Bombay; his mother was first married to Shcikh Abdullah’s right-hand man; the disappearance of the Prophet’s Hair is linked to his grandfather. In addition, Saleem belongs to an extremely peculiar group of 1,001 children born within the very first hour of India’s independence, on the 15th of August 1947, and capable of performing paranormal phenomena. Saleem, thus becomes an authentic representative of India, he is India. Rushdie is convinced that there is a connection between public affairs and private lives. They interpenetrate and that is how the writer needs to examine them, the one in the context of the other. In the light of this consideration we can read the passage in which Saleem declares: Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I’ve gone which would not have happened if I had not come.

Fitting In in the book I Want to Be Miss America Essay examples -- Jul

In â€Å"I Want to Be Miss America,† Julia Alvarez examines her adolescent struggle to be â€Å"American.† For Alvarez, her Hispanic culture becomes a burden to her inclusion in American society. So, Alvarez and her sisters, struggle to become what they are not, Americans. Alvarez uses a somewhat biased stereotype to identify the model of an ideal American, but she does make clear. The struggle of all American teenagers to fit into or molded by a standard which for many of them is impossible to achieve. Relating to Alvarez and her struggle is very easy and well known in every generation. Society puts a ridiculous high standard on outer appearances, especially for girls and women. Women grasp the perspective of the standards that are set and put them into drive. Women become stressed, emotional, and nutcases because they want to please others instead of pleasing themselves. In some cases, women have died trying to live up to these customaries, if not becoming dangerously ill. As a young lady, knowing what could happen, frightens but doesn’t phase me. Wi...

Organizational Structure Essay

Facebook is a social-networking site that has a strong organization structure that is appropriate for their particular product; social media. Facebook seems like a simple site that does not require a structure to operate. Facebook launched in 2004 and is currently the most popular social-networking site. People can share photos, stories, life experiences of both positive and negative. This strong organization structure has allowed Facebook to grow and continue to be strong in a competitive marketplace where the product is one’s personal life. Twitter works in the same way but is only set up for chatting through posts, also known as tweets. Tweets are text-based quotes of up to 140 characters and the user’s posts it on their profile page (Shetty, 2010). Users can also send pictures and videos through Twitpics and other sources. Millions of people use Facebook and organizations use them to advertise and to promote their services. Facebook is set up where users have friends who can see each other user’s posts. They also can tag pictures, providing information on who is in a particular picture. Twitter and Facebook have developed their organizational structure to become one of the most used social-networking sites in the world today. This spot was previously held by MySpace. MySpace is used mainly by individuals to chat with each other and post pictures and other personal information. Businesses never adapted to MySpace compared to other social networks such as with Twitter and Facebook. For this reason advertising companies have found it more worthwhile to advertise through Twitter and Facebook. First Facebook, and then Twitter determined that to stay in business and be profitable it would require high traffic on the sites and many top advertisers. Once businesses could take advantage of this new web tool, they quickly learned how helpful it was. Users can friend or follow organizations that they have a special interest in. The organizations can use this platform to promote a product, service, or even cause. Twitter is slightly different from Facebook in the way that the main purpose of the site is to tweet and follow others tweets. It is simple, easy to use, and effective. Twitter has a different business appeal because, unlike Facebook there are no games or other things to do while logged in. Facebook has developed that area of their business and has different games and applications to entertain a person while online. While logged into Facebook a user can also do everything from change their status, check on a friend’s status, or post pictures. Facebook also provides the option of chatting with friends and these chats are stored in your messages. Social networking provides a public outlet as well as a personal outlet. Facebook and Twitter both are popular social networking sites and have developed a business structure that supports their organization. Twitter and Facebook have many organizational functions that support the different responsibilities within the organizations. While Facebook is set up for enormous amounts of marketing through the use of advertising, Twitter allows individual organizations to posts tweets to keep followers interested. Through the use of games Facebook also makes money by asking users to pay for different parts of the games. Anyone who has played Farmville will attest that these games can be addicting. Facebook has many different ways to make money and maintain financial stability, such as the ability to constantly test different things. Twitter also makes its money through advertising, just not in the same way Facebook does. Twitter promotes products using promoted tweets. Organizations pay Twitter to promote their products in searchable tweets. Tweets are searchable even through sites like Google and Bing. While it is less obvious on Twitter, they like Facebook make most of their money promoting other businesses. The more human traffic on a site, the more desirable it is for other organizations to advertise with this site. Both Facebook and Twitter have very high daily traffic organizations gladly pay to advertise with them. Both Facebook and Twitter use a horizontal structure and functional organization. They are set up in a way that each employee on the organization chart has a particular set of skills and responsibilities. These skills and responsibilities are unique to a particular task; they are specialized. A functional organization has specialized departments and are group people according to business functions or particular skills each function require (Bateman & Snell, 2011). Facebook and Twitter are strong organizations and will continue to remain that way. Well-known companies and organizations throughout the world will continue to use them to promote ideas, products, or anything else they want to make known. The employees at Facebook and Twitter have individualized departments with individualized tasks. There is an easy to follow flow chart between each operation. This allows for less confusion and clear channels of authority. Without this failure is inevitable. While one department is responsible for monitoring the information technology, another department is responsible for web content. The same is true for marketing, human recourses, and every other area of business. Each department is specialized and functions efficiently this way. Without proper structure instructions can get confused and responsibilities get uncertain. This creates chaos and in the end will cause the websites to fail. For a business to be successful it must have an effective organizational structure. A basic organization structure gives a business direction and allows it to function. One of the first steps to starting a business is to create a basic organizational structure and have it clearly show departments, their functions, and who will run them (Shetty, 2010). A functional organization is the proper structure for both Facebook and Twitter because of the type of business they are. If responsibilities and departments were not clearly defined or organized differently it may cause them to be less functional and less effective at social-networking. Social-networking sites are here to stay and both Facebook and Twitter are in the lead. They have learned from their predecessor, MySpace what it takes to create high human traffic and attract advertisers. By creating an effective organizational structure, they are successful and have few internal issues. References Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. A. (2011). Management: Leading & collaborating in a competitive world (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Shetty, N. (2010). ManagementParadise.com. Retrieved from http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/human-resources-management-h-r/21515

Who Are Aware of the Demands of Religious Commitment in Everyday Life.’ in What Ways Does Classroom Re Achieve This

The outcome of religious education is religiously literate young people †¦ who are aware of the demands of religious commitment in everyday life. ’ In what ways does classroom RE achieve this? The quote in this essay title not only states that children who experience religious education become religiously literate young people; but that they also begin to know the importance of religious commitment in everyday life. This however is an easy proposition to state, but to achieve this in classroom Religious Education can be a demanding and challenging realisation.For a child to become religiously literate they need to be able to understand and have knowledge about Religion, but to become aware of the demands they not only need to learn about Religious Education, they need to learn from it. Religious Education in catholic schools is not only learning from classroom RE but from the wider community: from parents and the parish. It is important when learning catholic religion in a catholic school the teacher links the learning in the classroom to the wider community so the children can become aware and possibly adapt the demands of the catholic everyday life.As the Catholic Education Service says ‘If in Catholic schools, we are able to play our part in the moral development of the young people in our charge, we need to agree among ourselves, with parents, what are shared values are and how we plan to put them into practice. A school contributes or fails to contribute, to the moral development of its pupils, by the broad values that are upheld by the school generally. ’ (1995,20) Catholic Education inspires children to be able to make their own decisions, as Catholics believe we were all made in the image and likeness of god.Religious Education should be portrayed to children as a journey, where children can use their free will to choose their own religious path. They should be able to understand that everything we do our talents, gifts and expe riences help us to lead a life in the image of God; this is a huge commitment Catholics make in their everyday lives. Children in Classroom religion should be able to reflect on this and become aware of the demands of religious responsibility. As it states in the Bishops conference, ‘The catholic vision of education promotes the dignity and freedom of every person as created in the image and likeness of God.This vision inspires and encourages the beliefs and values which are lived out in the daily life of the catholic school. ’ (1996,10) When teaching Religious Education in a catholic school the teachers aim should be to develop the children’s knowledge about religion and help them understand it. It should be able to allow children to investigate and have opinion on some of the biggest question asked. However even when teaching in a catholic school not all children may have been exposed to religion and this may be their first look into it.Some children will have come from very catholic backgrounds and when they look into Catholicism deeper it may heighten their faith. However to some children it may make them realise that they don't want to commit to the religious way of life. Whatever the children's beliefs it is important in a catholic school children are able to understand the religion and what it is about, as Grace and O’Keefe suggest ‘For some, classroom religious education will deepen and enhance their personal faith; for many it may well be the first presentation of the Christian beliefs†¦. he freedom of conscience must be respected. ’ (2007, 262) Although Religious Education is not subject to nationally prescribed attainment targets there are two attainment targets for Religious Education they are: Learning about Religions and Learning from religion. Learning about Religions covers skills necessary for pupils to develop knowledge and understanding of a variety of religions. Even in a Catholic school it is im portant children learn about other religions to give them a broader knowledge of the world around us.Learning from religion encourages reflection and allows learning from each other and listening to what the children bring to the class, by them sharing their own thoughts and ideas. Learning from religion allows children to ask questions about life's meaning and purpose and explore and share human experiences. Religious Education encompasses many things and can be linked to many cross curricular subjects. It is important that religion helps develop children morally and spiritually.Religion can be linked to many subjects such as English, History, PSHE, I. C. T, Art, Drama and Mathematics. Linking Religious Education to these subjects helps children grasp topics more easily and makes the lessons more varied. For example when I was on placement in a Catholic school I taught an RE lesson, the learning objective was to learn about the different stories the bible tells us about the birth o f Jesus. We looked at the Annunciation and The Visitation, when we looked at the Visitation we looked at Luke 2:8-20 and Matthew 2:1-12.The children then drew on their tables using a whiteboard pen a Venn diagram to show the differences and similarities between the two versions of the story. This brought maths into the lesson and the children stayed engaged all the way through as they were doing something different. Afterward we then did some freeze frames of the stories, if the children were tapped on the shoulder they would become the character and say how they were feeling at the time.This encompassed drama into the lesson, and the children were able to get up and involved in the lesson, it really helped them understand the story and become part of it for a few moments. Another way to keep the children engaged and bring variety to Religion is by going to visit a place of worship, for example if we were studying Islam the children could be taken to Mosques this will allow reflecti on and add reality to the learning experience. McCreery, Bowen and Berminghem suggest ‘The presence of such places will reflect the religious and cultural make-up of the local community.A place of worship is the source of a first-hand learning experience in which children can begin to recognise that their community is made up of diverse groups of people. ’ (2007,93) One subject to which Religious Education particularity links to is PSHE and they complement each other well; together they can help moralistic development. Children can learn from faith about many contemporary issues, for example forgiveness in the playground, helping others, living life in the image and likeness of Jesus.Much can be learnt from parables in the bible; one parable that in particular gives a clear message across to the children is the parable of the good Samaritan. This shows children that no matter what we are doing or who is in need of help, it is important that we always lend a helping hand to the people around us; just like the Samaritan did. The Samaritan helped the man on the side of the road even though he was a Jew; people would think he would have done the opposite as Samaritans disliked the Jews.Whereas the priest and the Levites just walked past, it is important children understand this is the wrong thing to do and they would follow in the Samaritans footsteps. They can think as if they were walking past the old man what would they do? This is not just teaching the children about the parables but linking it to real life situations, making them aware of the commitment to Catholicism in everyday life. For children to completely understand ‘the demands of religious commitment in everyday life’ it is important that they can link religion to everyday and the world around us.A good way to do this would be to talk about media, for example earlier this year Stephen Lawrence was murdered and his mother after loosing her son was willing to forgive the murde rers however she said in an article â€Å"I don't forgive the boys who killed Stephen. They don't think they have done anything wrong. They took away Stephen's life and there is nothing in their behavior or anything to show they regret what their actions have done and the pain it has caused us as a family. It is important especially in a KS2 RE classroom to talk about the way the mum would be feeling? The fact she’s forgive the murderers if they showed any remorse, is this a Christian way to behave? This allows children to develop their knowledge and understanding of, and their ability to respond to, Christianity in Britain. Although achieving a standard in an RE classroom where children can become ‘religiously literate young people’can be challenging; I believe with the right attitude and variety it is very possible.Using other subjects to keep the children engaged and links to the world around us, children will become aware of the demands of a religious life. However whatever is taught in the classroom must be seen through the life of the catholic school, through charity work, kindness and forgiveness. Religious Education is not part of the national curriculum, however if working in a catholic school I think teaching Religious Eduction is vital and will develop children morally and spiritually, as the learn from and about religion.Catholic Education Service (1995) Spiritual and Moral development across the curriculum. Matthew James Publishing Hoodless, P, Mccreery, E, Bowen, B and Berminghem (2007) Teaching humanities in primary schools. S Learning matters ltd The Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales (1996), Religious Education Curriculum Directory for Catholic Schools, London, Catholic Education Service. Grace,R and O’Keefe, SJ (2007) International Handbook of catholic Education. Springer