Research Korner: Sample Article Review

Assignment One Reading Review: Chapter 1 of Gunther Kress and Chapter 5 of Maureen Walsh

Assignment One Reading Review: Chapter 1 of Gunther Kress and Chapter 5 of Maureen Walsh Technology plays a very important role in the overall change of each and every aspect of life of each and every people in every nation. Technology has a great effects or impacts to the social aspect of person. More importantly, the Internet has a great impact to the graphic facet of the linguistic nature of human. Graphic pertains to the different categories or forms of written language such as like typewritten, handwritten, calligraphic as well as other type of printed text (Crystal 2006, p. 203). Due to the fact that the world is already facing the information age, there have been many important technologies and innovations that handles the different activities and tasks that pertains to information and data. In many cases, vast amounts of data are often has to be processed in microsecond. That is the reason why, the use of different visual representation is important. Visual representation has been the answer to the dilemma regarding the over-reliance on one medium that may be soluble by a change to a new medium, and that can be used in order to hold and process huge amounts of information (Kress 1997, p. 56). Technology has affect communication in a sense that it helped to change the means of communication from the dominance of writing up to the system of media as a new mode of representing communication (Kress 1997, p. 58).   The study of Kress about the visual and verbal modes of representation in electronically mediated communication tackles one of the most important issue of the effects of technology, more specifically, the Internet to the language as well as the to the medium and mean of communication. The study shows the different representation of information and data from the previous time and the present way of presenting information. One thing that is good about the writing is that it enables to show different theories that tackle about the change of the use of verbal and visual representation in communication. Another important aspect of the study is that it enables to shows different questions that are commonly asked by everyone who are interested in studying the change and the evolvement of communication as well as language, more primarily, those who are interested in investigating about the major effects of the Internet to the development or change in language as a whole. Chapter 1 of Gunther Kress and Chapter 5 of Maureen Walsh, both focuses on the theory that the process of means of representation of communication is evolving. From the dominance of text up to the visual and continue to multimedia representation. Both of the study focuses on the ability of technology to enables for easy combination of different modes of representation such as sound, image, movement, together with the language (Kress 1997, p. 56). Thus he added that in order for the multimedia production to succeed, it will require a high level of multi-modal competence (Kress 1997, p. 56). This was agreed by Walsh (2006), when he said that texts that are used in the different technologies like the Internet and e-mails are referred as the multimodal, or those texts that have many or more than one mode that is why the meaning of the text is communicated or represented via the use of a synchronization of different modes (p. 104). The change or the evolvement of the communication representation can be seen in different media that are used nowadays. Figure 1 shows the Westbury Home News, a newspaper that is being published during the 1926. It is showed that the use of pure textual form or representation was considered as the most powerful and acceptable form of communication during that time. The reason behind the said phenomena is due to the fact that technology was not that available or widely used by the media industry. Pure textual representation enables the reader to read and comprehend at the same time in order to understand the content of the news or of an article. Figure 1 Newspaper in 1926 Source: (http://www.westburyfd.com/images/Anniversary_Book/Misc/Malaney_N ewspaper.jpg) Figure 2 Newspaper with Visual Representation Source: (http://www.marysplantfarm.com/images/newspaper2001-5-28_3b.jpg) On the other hand, figure 2 shows the developed or evolved newspaper that is widely used nowadays. Due to the availability of different technologies like portable videos and cameras, it is easy for the media people to capture different image that will represent or show the general or summarize content of their article or story. Visual presentation has become common and widespread; this is due to the fact that the present-day culture is considered as visually dependent (Chaplin 1994, p. 276). Technologies like video-cameras had helped to record different crimes that helped solved different cases, due to the said reason, the media industry or the press had already embraced the use of the said technology that had helped to increase the interest of the people about the use of visual representation (Chaplin 1994, p. 276). Another important similarity of the two studies shows or stated that there is a big difference between the use of text and visual representation in terms of the way or the decoding process of different readers. Walsh (2006) stated that reading is not a static but it is considered as a constant interaction between the reader and text (p. 104). That is why there are different strategies that are used in order to decode the message of the text like word recognition, pronunciation, vocabulary knowledge as well as the recognition of graphic, morphemic as well as the phonemic patterns (Walsh 2006, p. 104). In addition to the theory of the two authors, Mitchell (1995) said that word and image has been considered as the two most important distinctions between the different types of representation. The two are used as shorthand to signify the division, map as well as the organization of the different fields of the representation (p. 3). The difference between the two modes of representation was showed by Kress by showing the perspective of a child about their adventure or experience to the toy-museum. The teacher asked the children to draw their experience. The result of the task showed that the child draw a recollection, reordering as well as the reconstitution of his or her experience. The image that was created by the child shows the mental remaking and visual representation of his or her experience during their trip to the said place. It might shows emotion such as happiness and excitement, based on the stroke and the figure that he or she had drawn, but it was shown in a general or summarized manner. That is why the author added that it will be different if the teacher has asked the child to describe his or her experience in a written story. The student will surely write the story in sequence (Kress 1997, p.70). The said theory was supported by Walsh by saying that the image is different by words because, the reader or the viewer read the word in sequential and syntactical manner (Walsh 2006, p. 110). While on the other hand, people have their different way in decoding or understanding the meaning of the image. It will vary on the first image of part of the image that caught the attention of the reader as well as the way we see or interpret it. Figure 3 shows the theory of the two authors with regards to the difference between the visual and textual representation. In figure 1, there are three important parts or aspect of the image, the dog, the boy and the check and just do it sign. The difference of the visual representation from the textual is that there is no standardized pattern or flow of decoding the message. Do the understandings and responses of the readers happen holistically and syntactically? What part of the picture or image does first catch our attention? What is the order of our reading? Is it always the same? Do the eyes of the readers immediately go to the check sign because it was emphasized? Or to the boy out of curiosity about what he’s doing? Or is it the dog that first catches the reader’s attention (Walsh 2006, p. 110)?               Figure 3 Nike Advertisement Source (http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6715/nikejustdoitjt6.jpg) Figure 4 Example of Pure Text Advertisement Source: (http://www.kintehaley.org/advertisement.gif) On the other hand, Figure 4 shows an advertisement during 1967 about the tobacco, slaves and lumber. In this type of representation or the textual representation, all of the reader will have to follow a standard form of decoding process which is to read the text from top to bottom. It includes the different aspects of language such as grammar, orthographic and the likes. The main difference of the two studies focus on the visualization, where in Kress (1997) stated that it is considered as one of the unproblematic aspect of the translation process (p. 55), while Walsh (2006), stated that in order to do so, there are different levels that must undergo such as interpersonal, symbolic as well as social (p. 108). The point of the translation pertains to the ability of the readers to understand the contextual idea and thought of the text or of the communication.   References   Chaplin, E 1994, Sociology and Visual Representation, Routledge   Crystal, D 2006, Language and the Internet, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England   Kress, G 1997, Visual and Verbal Modes of Representation in Electronically Mediated Communication: The Potentials of New Forms of Text, in | Synder, I (ed.), era, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, Chapter 3, pp. 53 - 79   Mitchell, W J T 1995, Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation, University of Chicago Press, Chicago   Walsh, M 2006, ‘The “Textual Shift”: Examining the Reading Process with Print, Visual and Multimodal Texts’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37

Assignment One Reading Review: Chapter 1 of Gunther Kress and Chapter 5 of Maureen Walsh

Assignment One Reading Review: Chapter 1 of Gunther Kress and Chapter 5 of Maureen Walsh Technology plays a very important role in t...

ARTICLE: CRITICAL REVIEW

ARTICLE: CRITICAL REVIEW       ARTICLE ONE: Introduction: International Perspectives on the New Enclavism and the Rise of Gated Communities   The article focuses on the aspects and concepts pointing towards the gated communities and gathers together some revised versions of papers in Glasgow, Scotland in September 2003 (2005) as this aims to discuss the significance, relative problems and benefits associated with the international rise of gated communities as there tend to cluster around housing development that restricts public access, usually through the use of gates, booms, walls and fences. ( 2005) The article argues that such residential areas may also employ security staff in order to monitor access. It can be acceptable that the growth of such private spaces has provoked debates on how such good developments evolve that easily. According to the authors, the article presents an opportunity to gather together contemporary and diverse views on what is agreed to be a radical urban form within the gated communities. The article imposes that living in a gated community means signing up to a legal framework which allows the extraction of monies to help pay for maintenance of common-buildings, common services, such as rubbish collection, and other revenue costs such as paying staff to clean or secure the neighborhood. (2005)     This has led the people back to the important physical aspects of the certain process of urban developments that were reflected within the ideal structures of those gates and walls enclosing space otherwise expected to be publicly accessible. The article claims that these gated communities may possibly be defined as walled or fenced housing developments, to which public access is restricted, characterized by legal agreements which tie the residents to a common code of conduct and the collective responsibility for management and it is often argued that gated communities express more than a simple constellation of particular physical and socio-legal characteristics. ( 2005 ) The article describes the principles that linked towards new urbanism of the community as supported by the built environment surrounding the people as there were clear examples of an attempt to grow defensible space and the means to exclude the unwanted. The article claims that the people can now observe a continuum of ‘gating’ (2005 ) which can be seen moving between symbolic and more concrete examples that may suggest a lack of ‘permeability’ (2005 ) in the built environment directed at achieving increasingly privatized lifestyles, through the pursuit of security and attempting for self-imposed exclusion from the wider neighborhood as well as the exclusion of others from the gated community, which has driven a much wider debate about the relative merits of gating and other strategies to achieve security, when set alongside other key concerns such as freedom of access to the wider city, social inclusion and territorial justice.   For analysis, it can be clear in the article that, gated communities have already divided many observers, critically over whether ability to pay for security and privacy should allow such voluntary social exclusion and access to these bubbles of safety. According to the article, observers have suggested that urban segregation has represented the crystallization of social divisions and problems that are largely negative in their impact like in the empathy generated by meeting people of different social backgrounds and experiences and there claims made by (2002) that the residential choices of society at large have important secondary impacts on those with least choice and whose concentration dislocates and disconnects them from prospects for personal development. The article integrates the process of gating surrounds, this is an attempt to disengage with wider urban problems and responsibilities to create a ‘weightless’ ( 2004;2001) experience of the urban environment with elite fractions seamlessly moving between secure residential, workplace, education and leisure destinations ( 2004; 2001).           However, the centralized taxation and spending systems cut across place of residence and link people of diverse social positions together in socially homogeneous areas. Aside, the gated communities appear as segregated spaces with a social ecology that is planted into the fabric of the city; where the wall starts a new social area begins, whether one lives inside or out. There mentions of linking legitimate fears to personal residential choice is difficult to challenge in the abstract and yet, in areas of social life where the decision to go it alone would have deleterious consequences for others, the state regularly and legitimately intervenes to reduce negative wider outcomes. As argued by (1958), gated communities represent a desire for accentuated positive freedoms implying the ability to do something for others in adjacent neighborhoods and along growing consumer and media interest the US and South African models of such development may form templates for understanding this direction in preferences, primarily directed by fear, privacy and predictability. (1958) As it is evident from the article that such gated communities might be seen as barometers indicating the future shape and scale of social forces linked to social fear and aspirations toward ex-territoriality (2000).           In evaluation, the article explains the significance of gated communities contributing to social pressures and that directing where and how people live. It was also said that those gated communities have provided a rich vein for research since they conflict with the personal politics and wider ideals often enshrined in planning frameworks as well as attempts at achieving relative social justice and balance in the neighborhood context. The article stated the withdrawal of the generally affluent into gated enclaves presents us with a range of possibilities. (2005) First, a loss of social diversity in the neighborhoods that have left leading to a revisualization of exited locales, thus reinforcing tendencies toward social segregation. Second, the displacement of crime away from increasingly hardened targets, inhabited by those who can afford access to security, towards those areas which present softer targets. ( 2005 ) This article reflects on issues and provides a range of explanatory and descriptive frameworks for trying to understand why gated communities have arisen, why they persist and whether or not normative theories of the good city should challenge gated neighborhoods as desirable in a context of wider social justice in the city as the article is not the last in continuing to present a controversial topic for analysis by urban and housing researchers. (2005 )         ARTICLE TWO: Some Reflections on the Economic and Political Organization of Private Neighborhoods   This article deals about the spreading of privately organized and often gated neighborhoods in many regions of the world has triggered a widespread discussion about the relations between social and urban development. The article involve certain presentation on some reflections on the economic and political organization of such type of housing such as the club goods as the theory is used to explain the potential attractiveness of this form of housing for developers, local governments as well as residents but, the club goods theory alone does not enable one to understand the global but regionally differentiated development. (2004) The article has proposed to view the analysis of private neighborhoods as club economies against the background of historically and regionally differentiated patterns of urban governance which render urban development path-dependent. (2004 ) Thus it mentions that in order to evaluate the political and social consequences, the private neighborhoods are analyzed as a new form of political organization and are compared with a territorial organization with public municipalities. (2004 )       The spreading of private and often gated neighborhoods in many regions of the world has triggered a new and widespread discussion about the relations between social and urban development. Therefore, it often remains unclear what exactly is privatized and how privatization is carried out. There describes the private neighborhoods as a ‘privatization of public space’ tend to dichotomize between a public realm and a private realm; they often focus unilaterally on material changes in space and therefore risk blocking from view a more profound and differentiated analysis of the complex socioeconomic and socio-political changes which are under way with the spreading of private neighborhoods. (2004) However, several authors have argued that the economic and political functioning of private neighborhoods might not be as different from public municipalities as usually assumed.  The analysis of private neighborhoods as territorial club economies explains the potential attractiveness of this form of housing for developers and local governments as well as residents. However, the writings relating the club goods theory with the spread of private neighborhoods tend to overlook the social construction of institutions, the differing interests in society and the unequal distribution of power. ( 2004) Thus, this article has proposed of the analyzed private neighborhoods as club economies against the background of historically and regionally differentiated patterns of urban governance and second, to critically evaluate the private neighborhoods as shareholder democracies.   Also, it was clear in the articles that gated communities meet certain of the principles people advocate as planners as gated developments can facilitate higher densities by making compact urban form more palatable to consumers. They have strong amenity standards, design qualities and green spaces and often employ reduced lot setbacks and road dimensions. These communities facilitate traffic calming and may generate a sense of place, character and community as supported by gated enclaves. Gated developments limit street connectivity and rarely further transit goals but seldom include a mix of uses or affordable housing enhancing land use, class and age segregation. It is crucial that they fly in the face of aims of social integration and cohesion at the larger urban scale as there needs to understand what draws people to gated developments. Alternatives to gating have to offer neighborhoods that can create character, promise privacy and security, feature desirable local amenities and manage traffic effectively. If current trends continue, though, many communities seem likely to accept gating, especially in the parts of the country that are growing rapidly, and where older residents constitute an important segment of the market. The presence of strong design guidelines used in many cities with gated enclaves seek to keep walls attractive and minimize the visual impact of the developments to managing gated developments where enclaves are accepted in the marketplace. Concerns about segregated projects and the possible impacts of gating will not make private communities go away, nor will they reduce the demand for enclaves.   COMPARE AND CONTRAST   The articles share its comparison in such a way that there contents and flow of discussion points towards the concept of urbanization and built environment as supported by the ideas behind gated communities and the privatization of neighborhoods as the first article features gated communities (GCs) have become a common feature in urban areas around the world within investigation of a range of social, political and urban issues related to the rise of GCs as the other article integrates such organization of private neighborhoods respectively.  ( 2003) There believes that gates augment the market value of residential developments by providing an impression of exclusivity and improving the feeling of security. Others contend that gates represent social segregation and that people residing in gated communities are not supportive of community services. (1997) However, there still can maintain the security of communities without using gates through the use of such alternatives like for instance, the privatization of the neighborhood crime monitoring program as well as the use of passive security devices. Some say gated communities offer security and exclusivity. Others see them as nasty social dividers as caught in the middle of the cross fire are builders who must decide which side is right. (2003)       Meanwhile, several critics have seized on gated communities as symbols of social segregation.  (1994) the author of "Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government," thinks gates cause social and economic segregation the same way race-restricted covenants did in an earlier era. As he pointed out, ‘people who live in gated communities are saying that they don't support public services that support a community’. (1994) As  said, ‘’gated communities are special districts that aren't built into the intergovernmental framework, even radical libertarians admit that public safety is the essential public function, it's a medieval approach - with builders turning into feudal lords offering refuge from the hordes’’. (1994) Thus, it can be that the state action doctrine should be used to address the social harms residential associations inflict on nonmembers through racial discrimination and restrictions on free speech and movement. (1994) These articles fully suggest that private neighborhoods as well as gated communities upon which adheres the state actors is the proper approach to regulating serious harm that may affect the lifestyle of every individual within the community. In the articles, there imposes a form of such external force that relates to a successful urbanization within the neighboring communities as well as the assuming of authority control over facilities created at public expense, such process can lead off to such additional public resources through the adaptation of livable environment due to urbanization of the gated houses and neighborhoods. (1994)   The articles implied that such gated communities have increased in number and spread across the country like, in the lifestyle communities which include leisure activities and amenities the residents want to protect, the elite communities are the communities for the rich and famous and security zone communities are created to keep crime and outsiders out within the those gated communities. (2000) Long-term crime rates are not affected by the installation of gates and fences, but residents feel safer. There argues that, no evidence found to support the idea of greater community spirit even if the gated communities have sprung up everywhere, the process was not the normal way of doing so. (2000) The private neighborhood may relate as the retirement and leisure communities but in recent years, these private neighborhoods and gated communities have been erected in nearly every metropolitan area within the country. (2003) In addition, the evidence indicates that homes in these communities do appreciate in value faster than those outside the walls. Moreover, these neighborhoods and gated communities were retirement villages for the wealthy. (. 2002 ) Today, such places create not only physical barriers but many privatized services; moreover, they are governed by a legal, not a social, contract administered by a homeowners association. Indeed there is some concern that the concept might spread to states where it is legally easier to create local government, thus further hardening the divisions between citizens. (2002)   The lifestyle communities are leisure communities and retirement and suburban new towns. The prestige gated communities are the fastest growing type in the nation elsewhere. (1999 )  The articles noted that gated communities are a symbol of underlying social tensions and has examine the issues of race, poverty, crime and sub-urbanization that are the backdrop for the communities and that such privatization of neighborhoods do not work fully in order offer several other solutions, such as crime prevention through environmental design which seeks to re-create neighborhoods; traffic calming; and sustainable community programs.           _____________________

ARTICLE: CRITICAL REVIEW

ARTICLE: CRITICAL REVIEW ARTICLE ONE: Introduction: International Perspectives on the New Enclavism and the Rise of Gat...

Article Review on Peter F. Drucker, Discipline of innovation

This Peter Drucker’s article entitled Discipline of innovation obviously focuses on innovation. Drucker defines innovation as the heart of an entrepreneurial activity, that is, innovation is “he means by which the entrepreneur creates new wealth-producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth” (Drucker, 2002). He also enumerates sources of innovation which serves as opportunity companies: unexpected occurrences; incongruities; process needs; industry and market changes; demographic changes’; changes in perception; and new knowledge. These sources of opportunities that resulted from innovations may exist either within a company or outside the company. In the article, Drucker (2002) stated that the foundation of a business or entrepreneurship as a practice is the practice of systematic innovation.             Innovation, based on the article is one factor that influences strategic planning, organizational behavior and management. Drucker (2002) emphasized that, although it resulted from opportunities, innovation may pose risks, difficulty and complexity and is needed to be managed well. Once innovation opens opportunity for a company, there should be strategic planning, giving focus on how such innovation can be most effectively implement.             Drucker mentioned that innovation is a means of creating or enhancing existing resources to create wealth. He did not elaborate what type of resources he was talking about but with his examples, he was talking about product innovation. He did not mentioned human resources: human resources that greatly contribute to the Research and Development of a company that leads to new product or service development which can create new market or provides the needs of the emerging market.  It is not necessary that innovation is a company’s new own idea. Innovation also means trying out different ideas, or to change or improve a product, a situation or an organization. A company may innovate by adopting other company’s strategy that might work better for them. Innovation may also imply innovation in the organizational structure of a company, which Drucker did not emphasize in his article. That is, the existing organizational structure may be further improve or be innovated which is also called organizational innovation. Organizational innovation is basically a new ways of organizing work in different areas such as in dealing with customers, knowledge management, value chain management, manufacturing, and others which involves all employees in order to make an organization a collective resource for innovation to improve competitiveness of the business (Kotelnikov, 2006).             Innovation usually creates changes in the company. For example, a publishing company wants to innovate to target the market of computer users thus they planned for electronic publishing of books. This creates changes in a company: a more capable CIO might be needed; employees must be well-versed with the use of computers which requires employee empowerment; and this innovation might need another department within the company whose focus will be on the e-books. This will also affect the existing company culture, from being traditional publisher to technology and knowledge-based publisher. All these changes requires careful strategic planning to address the changes the company is undergoing and to ensure that innovation brought positive changes rather than negative changes.             Drucker’s article emphasized that innovation is a practice but he did not mentioned that this practice encompasses many other practices. Generally, innovation covers many aspects of a company that once put into practice, many changes will occur from the organizational structure to the organizational culture, this innovation should be practice in such a way that it is used as a defense of a company against its competitors. Frederick Herzberg, One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?             Herzberg’s article is basically about managing people through motivation. The article discussed about the different ways of motivating employees which includes the KITA or the ‘kick in the pants’ strategy and the 9 basic motivations to employees. The author put emphasis on the importance of motivation as an influencing factor on the organizational behavior.             Based on the article, the t motivations used by most companies are not that efficient. These motivations includes reducing time spent at work; increasing salary; benefits; human relations training; sensitivity training; communications; two-way communications; job participation; and employee counseling. A lot of management and organizational behavior articles discussed these motivations as effective and encouraging to employees to perform better at work. But Herzberg suggests that all these motivations are not enough in order to get employees satisfaction. He called these motivations as myths. However, some may argue that the above mentioned motivations are not myths. There are also studies that show that one or combinations of these motivations are effective in various situations depending on the attitude of the workers. There are workers that are motivated by benefits. For example, a worker that may retire 5 years from now may be motivated to work harder so that his benefits will be higher at the time of his retirement. Another example is that an employee can be motivated by reducing time spent at work: a working mother will like a work that can give him more time for her family so she will stick with this work.             He also used a study on the factors affecting job satisfaction and dissatisfaction and found out that the motivator factors that are intrinsic to the job provide satisfaction to employees while the what Herzberg called hygiene that are intrinsic to the job are the those that give employee dissatisfaction. This motivator factors and hygiene can be considered as the two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Precht, 2006). Intrinsic motivation are those that comes from within an employee such as achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility and growth (Herzberg, 2002) while the extrinsic motivations are those that are from outside oneself  (Precht, 2006) such as company policy and administration, supervision, interpersonal relationship, work conditions, salary, rewards, security and others. In his study, it was found out that the extrinsic motivators actually do not play as motivators but instead provide dissatisfaction.             This study then suggests that to really motivate employees, job should be organized in a manner that will result to favorable attitudes of employee, will lead to efficient operations, and will improve the organizational climate. Herzberg called this as motivation-hygiene theory which suggests that job enrichment is the key to improving both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.  Enriched job, according to Mohr & Zoghi (2006), job enrichment meet the psychological and social needs and increases the motivating potential of work, which simultaneously increases both worker satisfaction and effort. Mohr & Zoghi (2006) also called motivation-hygiene theory as “motivation hypothesis”.             The basic concept of motivation-hygiene theory is motivation through the work itself; that is to improve the intrinsic motivations because these are those that can provide satisfaction to employees by improving the extrinsic motivation. For example, for an engineer, growth and advancement provide satisfaction while work environment and relationship with subordinates give him dissatisfaction. In job enrichment, work environment can be improved by having a good relationship with subordinates. Good relationship with subordinates can be improved by conducting employee development which includes seminars on improving teamwork and interpersonal skills, leadership skills and knowledge sharing so that employees can work as a team. The engineer may increase accountabilities of his subordinates so that his subordinates will be motivated by responsibility and recognition.             In the motivation-hygiene theory, Herzberg has found the right and effective way of improving organizational behavior. However, there are some critics that disagree on job enrichment. These critics argue that workers may dislike enrichment because it is accompanied by “intensification of work” (Kelly 1982; Pollert 1991 on Mohr & Zoghi, 2006). That is, some workers may prefer narrowly defined jobs wherein performance standards are defined and workers are ensured not to be asked to do tasks outside of the job’s definition (Mohr & Zoghi, 2006).             This argument may be further investigated by human resource management of a company. That is, it is up to them to decide on how they should motivate their employees. Motivation is an important factor that influences the behavior of workers in an organization. The more the employees are motivated the better for a company because increased workforce motivation contributes to increased productivity an innovation, creative problem solving, reduced turnover and decreased absenteeism which are all very important to business success (Precht, 2006). As a cliché said, “people are the best asset of a company”. This could mean that a company’s way of motivating its employees are also one of its strategies thus employee motivation is one of the considerations in strategic planning. A well-managed and motivated workforce results to a well-managed organization and business.   Harry Levinson, Management by Whose Objectives?             In this article, Levinson critically assessed and investigates on the shortcomings of management by objectives (MBO) process. MBO was originally proposed by Peter Drucker in 1954 but in the 1990s, he himself stated that MBO is just another management tool but it is not the great cure for management inefficiency (Kotelnikov, 2006). MBO is guided by the principle that everybody within the organization should have a clear understanding of the aims, goals and objectives of the organization and must be aware of their responsibilities in achieving these aims (Kotelnikov, 2006). It focuses on the results and not on the activity.             In Levinson’s article, he did not criticize the MBO itself but the process involved with it. He identified the problems associated with the MBO process. First, he said an employee’s job description is irreducible to few sentences because there are times that job becomes more complex so the objectives set for this employee can not be merged to only few objectives. Second, as job becomes more complex, employees tend to perform job beyond what are indicated in his job description. The problem is that employee evaluation is based on the areas defined so employee evaluation is not very reliable.   Levinson also included failure to maximum integration of units that would lead to greater teamwork within the organization; and failure to incorporate the entire situation that the employee and superior are operating in. He also mentioned that qualitative measures are missing in the process such as measures on how well employees work with their co-employees and the quality of employees’ performance.             The first two problems laid by Levinson is agreeable but the problem that he mentioned that MBO process failed to integrate units and promote teamwork within an organization can be questionable if that is really a problem with MBO. Contrary to failure to promote teamwork, MBO actually create teamwork since the managers shared the objectives to his subordinates rather than just by giving their job description without telling them why should they perform such tasks. Setting objectives promotes a team looking for one direction and aiming at the same objectives.   In 1995, Drucker formulated the three basic parts of MBO Strategy. The firsts of which is that “all individuals within an organization are assigned a special set of objectives that they try to reach during a normal operating period; these objectives are mutually set upon and agreed upon by individuals and their managers”. If these objectives are mutually set and agreed upon, then teamwork does exist in an MBO process. But since created this article in 1970, the three basic parts of MBO Strategy was not yet formulated.             Levinson stated that MBO process failed to measure quality performance while according to Kotelnikov (2006), a review of the organization’s objectives enables leaders to measure the performance of the managers as well as employees in the key result areas such as marketing, innovation, human organization, financial resources, physical resources, productivity, social responsibilities and profit requirements.   This can be likened to benchmarking or setting standards: objectives are the standards to be met and the performance of each employee will be measured in relation to the standards. For example, the set objective of the R & D department of a company is to develop 2 products this year to improve their performance last year when they developed only one product. This means that if the department is able to develop 2 products this year, the department’s performance is good but if it is able to develop more than two products, the department’s performance is excellent. Levinson also commented that personal goals of the employee should be incorporated into MBO process, considering questions such as “what are the managers’ personal objectives?’ and “what do they need and want to get out of their work?” (Levinson, 2003). He suggests that organization’s objectives should also be aligned with the employees’ personal goals because employees are more motivated when while working at the company’s goals, he is at the same time also working towards his personal goals. This problem can be addressed by participative decision making when setting objectives. In the article, Levinson proposed steps and considerations to improve the MBO process. He suggested motivational assessment, group actions, appraisal of appraisers, and employee self-evaluation and introspection as additional steps in the MBO process. Levinson was very focused on employee motivation and satisfaction. He was not against MBO but he just wanted employee motivation to be incorporated in the MBO process. The article implies that objective setting also an influencing factor in organizational behavior. That is, a company’s objectives have impact on the organizational behavior at the same time that organizational behavior impacts the company’s achievement of its objectives: dissatisfied employees can be hindrance to company’s achieving of goals since employees are the actuators of such goals. Thus in setting objectives, a company must consider and incorporate motivation on its objectives such as mutual prosperity or mutual development. Bennis, Warren & Thomas, Robert: Crucibles of Leadership             The article entitled Crucibles of Leadership discusses about the lives of different leaders that have been developed as strong and effective leaders by the hardships or what is called in the articles crucibles that they experienced. Bennis and Thomas interviewed and reviewed the lives of extraordinary leaders from different industries and institutions that had experienced trials and hardships before they have acquired or developed the skills of a true leader.             In the article, different kinds of crucibles that were experienced by different leaders are presented. There was as story of a company executive that has found a practice called participative management when he noticed rebellion among his workers. There was also a story of a woman engineer that has learned how to cope up and deal with company issues such a cultural and gender differences. There was also a leader who had emerged as a strong leader out of religious issue in a company; a leader that has become more professional, more educated and more refined because of a strict and almost perfectionist mentor; and a leader that emerged out of racial discrimination and criticism.             Included also in the article is a story of a leader named Sidney Rittenberg who chose to experience more hardships and trials in order to let his hidden capabilities and skills surfaced. In the prison, he learned how to develop relationship that had made him adapt to his confinement and how to have a different outlook in life; learning that happiness is not a function of circumstance but a function of outlook in life (Bennis & Thomas, 2002 p. 8).             Basically, the article emphasized that great leaders emerged in times of hardship and ordeal. That is, a good leader has the ability to find meaning in negative events and learn from even the most difficult circumstances (Bennis & Thomas, 2002 p. 5). True leadership can be seen and tested in times of difficulties. This implies that a good leader is not pessimistic rather optimistic who has a good outlook in life. A good leader has the ability to turn bad experience into a learning experience with an expectation that something good will come out of bad ones.             According to Bennis and Thomas (p. 10-11), there are four essential characteristics that great leaders possess. The first characteristic is the ability to engage other is shared meaning. This is true with participative management that encourages employees to take part and become involved in the company. A good leader has the ability to motivate his employees, making them an effective part of a company.             The second characteristic is a distinctive and compelling voice. A good leader has an authoritative but convincing and motivating voice that whatever he said will be respected and followed. Third is having a sense of integrity including a strong set of values. Leaders should be well-respected not because of his position but because of his personality and values. Good leaders are honest and reliable, just and upright.             The fourth characteristic of a good leader is adaptive capacity or the ability to transcend adversity and to emerge stronger than before (Bennis & Thomas, 2002 p.11). This is the ability of leader to be still and strong even in difficult circumstances. Leadership involves giving strength to employees and assuring them that everything will be fine. Adaptive capacity is further categorized into two qualities: ability to grasp context and hardiness. The ability to grasp context is also the ability to weigh factors and to decide which is the most important, which is fair and which is not, to put people and situations in perspective. This ability helps a leader to become decisive. Hardiness can be defined as being hopeful, tough, courageous, and full of perseverance even if the situation is difficult and demanding. All these attributes make up a good leader, a tried and tested leader that can turn ordeals into opportunities and can make a company survive even in the most challenging environment. References: Bennis, W & Thomas, R (2002) Crucibles of Leadership, Harvard Business Review, September Drucker, P. (1995) Managing in Time of Great Change on Kotelnikov, V. Management by Objectives accessed online on June 30, 2006 < http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/mgmt_mbo_main.html> Drucker, P. (2002) Discipline of innovation, Harvard Business Review. Volume 80, No,8 August Herzberg, F. (2003) One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review (January): 87-96. Kotelnikov, V., Organizational Innovation: How to Manage the Complex Process  of Organizational Change. Accessed Online on June 29, 2006 <http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/change_organizational.html> Levinson, H. (2003). Management by whose objectives? Harvard Business Review (January): 107-116 Mohr, R. & Zoghi, C. (2006) Is Job Enrichment Really Enriching? BLS Working Papers Working Paper 389 Precht, A. Motivating Employees accessed at ThinkAvenue online Date: June 30, 2006             <http://www.thinkavenue.com/articles/hr/article14.htm>

Article Review on Peter F. Drucker, Discipline of innovation

This Peter Drucker’s article entitled Discipline of innovation obviously focuses on innovation. Drucker defines innovati...

Article Review On Asymmetric Reactions To Work Group Sex Diversity Among Men And Women” by Chatman and O’Reilly

Introduction             This paper presents an examination of the journal entitled “Asymmetric reactions to work group sex diversity among men and women” by Chatman and O’Reilly. Core research questions             The primary question that the researchers sought to answer was how men do and women react to work group diversity. The motivation to conduct the study was driven by the researchers’ observance that even though researches regarding the impact of demographic diversity on the organization and its members abound, there are still no definitive conclusion about the subject. Research findings according to the researchers seemed contradictory. This lead the researchers to conduct an in-depth study on the subject of ‘asymmetric reactions to work group sex diversity among men and women;, which included 178 professional men and women working for a clothing manufacturer and retailer. The researchers sought to answer the following questions: 1. What are differences of the reactions of men and women on various work group diversity? 2. How do society-level status expectations for men and women at work affect their group sex diversity reactions? General theoretical framework             The study was generally founded on “Status expectations theory” and “similarity-attraction theory”. The study followed the same line of research as Kanter (1977). Kanter (1977) suggested that when members of either sex find themselves outnumbered by the other, there will be consequences. Status expectations theory states that differences between men and women’s reactions to work group sex diversity are fueled by the differences in their status in society and how these differences play out at work. In investigating on status expectations, Berger et al (1980) focused on status characteristics. A status characteristic is defined as any valued attribute implying task competence. Such characteristics are viewed as having two levels or states, one carrying a more positive evaluation than the other (Ridgeway and Smith-Lovin 1999). Similarity-attraction theory was also used by the researchers as a ground for the research. Similarity-attraction theory suggests that women and men in work groups are influenced by their intentions of instrumental career objectives or social support. Methods used             The method used for data gathering was survey. Survey is basically done to collect data from many individuals in order to understand something about them as a whole. The researchers used the survey research method to collect data on facts about the employees of an organization regarding a topic. The survey was intended to collect data on the employees’ reactions to the topic being investigated as well as their behaviors and unobservable variables such as attitudes, feelings and beliefs. Survey methodology according to Coldwell and Herbst (2004) is basically grounded on the idea of measuring variables through questioning respondents to examine the relationship between variables.             Although the researchers were able to achieve their research objectives through survey research, we must also bear in mind that the research has something to do with human behavior. It could have been useful to combine survey research with structured observation in this kind of research. Observing how employees behave in groups and how they react in group sex diversity can be useful in framing a conclusion for the research. Bryman and Bell (2007) argue that researchers conducting survey research encounter difficulty with this particular research method in investigating behavior. One of the these problems is problem of meaning in which differences in interpretation may affect the response of the respondents. Another problem is problem of omission in which respondents may accidentally exclude key terms in the question. These problems together with many others may affect the result of the research. Results of the study             In conducting the research, the researchers formulated 4 hypotheses which will be tested in the data gathering and interpretation stage. The researchers also identified the independent and dependent variables. After the data gathering and analysis procedure, the researchers found out that there is a difference between the reports of men and women on the likelihood that they will transfer out of work groups which is composed of both males and females. The results also reveal that women reported higher likelihood of leaving a balanced group than a female- or male-dominated group. The researchers also found out that women in groups with more women are more committed to the group while they are less committed to groups which are male-dominated. Men on the other hand, who worked in homogeneous groups are less committed compared to those who worked in balanced and male-dominated groups. Women also reported lower positive effect when working in male-dominated groups, while men reported high levels of positive affect while working in male-dominated groups. Lastly, women viewed their female-dominated work groups as more cooperative that men viewed their male-dominated work groups.             It is evident from the results of the research that there are difference between the reactions of males and females on the composition of work groups. The study conducted by the researchers, in this regard is helpful as it presents new data and information about the topic. The research will be helpful to organizations, managers, and human resource management personnel in creating teams. The research offers a new angle in studying employee behavior and performance in groups.               The research showed that men and women face different challenges and problems and imply that that managers offer different solution. Managers can use the research as a reference for better understanding men and women in work groups. Examination of the study A. Research Questions             The researchers used primarily used scales in investigating the topic. The researcher made used of existing questions (scales) that were formulated and used by previous researchers. The researchers also formulated their own scale, specifically designed for the research. The research questions that the researchers were appropriate for the topic being investigated and for the respondents. The research questions were designed to gather factual information (background of the respondents) and to measure attitudes, beliefs, and opinions.   B. Other Ways of Exploring the Research Questions             The researchers were effective in their exploration of the research questions and they were able to investigate on the research questions through the survey. The reviewer finds no other way of exploring the research questions. C. Results and Research Question             The results of the study answered the research questions identified by the researchers. D. Limitation of the Study             One limitation of the study is that it did not touch the topic of demography and its impact on the reactions of men and women in work group sex diversity.   References Berger, J, Rosenholtz, SJ & Zelditch, J 1980, Status organizing processes, in A Inkeles, N Smelser & RH Turner (eds), Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 6, pp. 479 – 508. Bryman, A and Bell, E 2007, Business research methods, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press. Coldwell, D & Herbst, F (eds) 2004, Business research, 2nd ed, Juta and Company Limited.   Kanter, R 1977, “Some effects of proportions on group like: skewed sex rations and responses to token women”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 82, pp. 965-990. Ridgeway, C & Smith-Lovin, L 1999, The gender system and interaction, in J Hagan & KS Cook (eds), Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 25, pp. 191-216.

Article Review On Asymmetric Reactions To Work Group Sex Diversity Among Men And Women” by Chatman and O’Reilly

Introduction This paper presents an examination of the journal entitled “Asymmetric reactions to work group sex diversity amo...

Article Review: NIHR School for Social Care Research Communications Strategy

Article Review: NIHR School for Social Care Research Communications Strategy   Education has been the proposed priority of the different countries all over the world in an effort to develop the social abilities of the children who will be taking over the country in the future and will be leading it to another way of growth. High school is viewed to be an important time for the students especially as it is a transition between the time of elementary learning and into specialized learning (Armstrong, 1998). Moreover, it is also situated during the development years of the adolescent which may factor to their presence of mind while developing for their future needs.             In order for schools to provide efficient learning for the students, communication strategies are important. The article that will be given emphasis in this paper is the article about the Communication Strategy: 2004-2014 by the School of Social Care Research. This article provides the background for the essential communication responsibilities of the school with respect to their research programme and different leadership roles.  An efficient communications strategy –giving for ongoing two-way dialogue – is crucial. This article sets out communications activities for the NIHR SSCR and is targeted at all those being involved as well as interested in the School’s communications activities.  Communication approach gives emphasis on the entire relationship aspects of the communication activity towards the target audience in schools. This can be done by various communication strategies that will mainly focusess on communicating and relating with the audience in school events. According to the article, it has been done done by series of various communication method such as press, advertisement, website, seminars, and other events that are related to the regarded aspects. In terms of this approach, the consideration of combined communication approach will be regarded.             Through the combined communication activities, audience in school events will be strategically promoted through the consideration of various promotional elements as well as marketing process to communicate the message of the entire city and the brand to the specified target audience in schools (Moore and Thorson, 1996). It has been noted that combined communication activities is aiming on using direct communication so as to bring behavioural changes among consumers who will purchase a specific brand. Combined communication activities also relate the message to the client which brings behavioral changes that helps the brand to establish a strong and tight relation with the target audience in schools. Furthermore, the context of combined communication activities stresses on the significance of coordination and synergy so as to develop and sustain a strong brand image. By using various communication instruments through the integration concept of communication activitiess, industries have the ability to consideration effective methods to strengthen their brands with their target audience in schools and promote stronger brand names to their targets. In this article, it can be said that the author has been able to provide pertinent infomration and analysis on how this communication strategy can help in their school activities. Accordingly,  the aim of the Strategy are to provide strategic direction for everyone involved in communications within the NIHR SSCR and to set out procedures for doing so. Standards as well as procedures for evaluation of communications are also described. Communications will be in line with the regulations and procedures of the NIHR.   What Did I learn from the article             Upon reading the article, I have learned that comunication strategy also changes and these changes should be considered in every organisation. I have learned that goodc communication is important among managers and the use of an effective communication system must be considered specifically mobile communication system. I have learned that using mobile communication is more advantageous that wired communication system and can help us have the most efficient.  I also learned that there are different types of communication strategy available and we must know their differences and how they can be helpful for our personal use. In this research, it can be said that the author have considered the use of specific method to communicate. In addition, it also provides understanding on the current status of the communication approach in the school. As noted, the communications strategy needs to be flexible in order to respond to changing external environments; it will be reviewed regularly by the Executive Group and discussed annually with the School’s Advisory Board to identify areas where improvements could be made. Assessments have been undertaken and illustrative examples were provided to show differences. In this regard, the article shows that the structure of the impact assessment has yet to be decided. Further such impact assessments should be annually considered.

Article Review: NIHR School for Social Care Research Communications Strategy

Article Review: NIHR School for Social Care Research Communications Strategy Education has been the proposed priority of the diff...