Future Librarians Pro-Literacy Everything in Between

Future Librarians Pro-Literacy Everything in Between (0) Chancellor:     “You are obsolete, Mr.Wordsworth!” Mr. Wordsworth:    â€œA lie.  No man is obsolete!” Chancellor:    â€œYou have no function, Mr.Wordsworth. Youre an anachronism, like a ghost from another time.” â€"From “The Obsolete Man” episode of the Twilight Zone, written by Rod Serling The above dialogue excerpt is from an episode of the Twilight Zone (TZ) that aired on June 21, 1961 called The Obsolete Man. It is a conversation between Mr. Romney Wordsworth and the Chancellor discussing the reasons for his “liquidation”â€"Mr. Wordsworth is a librarian, and therefore obsolete. This episode of TZ interested me well before I even had the foggiest notion that Library Science existed. I have been watching TZ for as long as I can remember and even as a kid I could not understand what a librarian could possibly do that might even be considered obsolete. Fast forward to the recent past and and our present, rife with library closures, alternative facts, funding cuts and the MakerSpace craze, and people (including librarians) are left wondering what happens next. Where do we go from here?  What is the future of libraries? Reading is the foundation of libraries.  Without reading, there is no need for them to exist. Once upon a time In my mind, I can still follow the exact path I took in my elementary school library to find my favorite book. Through the door, a right after the first set of tables, through the alcove, bottom shelf on the left. There were the Dare Wright Lonely Doll books. My favorite was Edith Big Bad Bill, a story about Edith and Little Bear encountering a rather violent, bad guy, Bill. I chose this same book time after time.       Although it is out of print, I picked up a copy of Edith and Big Bad Bill on eBay and looking at it as an adult, I can see exactly why this was the book I sought out. I was a ‘lonely doll,’ of sorts, and I had a ‘bad guy’ in my life as well. Only he was my father. At the end of this book, everything is sorted out for Edith and things go back to normal. I did not know this at the time, but things would not go back to normal for me for many years. This book gave me hope that they could. Sitting on the floor of the library at P.S. 30, a reader was born. When children are given the chance to freely come to books of their own volition, amazing things will happen. Mrs. LiBassi introduced me to E.B White in 2nd grade by reading aloud Charlotte’s Web. My mother bought me my own copy so I could follow along with her and when we finished as a class, I reread it independently. Then I read and reread Trumpet of the Swan. Stuart Little was next.  Then books about mice, and pigs, and spiders and goslings and anything else I connected with the characters and themes in his books. By third grade I was hooked on words.  I read every single Roald Dahl book available to me at the library and then read them again.  Having three older sisters, I read all of Carolyn Haywood and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. I then read my mother’s books; The Life and Times of Heidi Abramowitz by Joan Rivers being my favorite; and my father’s magazines and newspapers. I relished reading for the sake of reading.   The library, for many, is the first exposure to this magic. It was magic yesterday. It is today and it will be tomorrow as well. In that, I am securely sure. For kids, this magic can serve as the jumping off point to boundless learning. The Pleasure Hypothesis FVR No conversation about reading for pleasure would be complete without discussing the seminal work of Dr. Stephen Krashen in Free Voluntary Reading (FVR).  According to Krashen, “There is massive evidence that self-selected reading, or reading what you want to read, is responsible for most of our literacy developmentIn fact, it is impossible to develop high levels of literacy without being a dedicated reader, and dedicated readers rarely have serious problems in reading and writing.”   The research on literacy and language development in Krashen’s eyes, points in the direction of the Pleasure Hypothesis: What is good for language and literacy development is perceived to be pleasant.  Several studies and case histories have been done and the results of these studies are consistent with the view that reading results in language and literacy development.   There is a fantastic TED Ed lesson created by Gordon Powell that features a video of Dr. Krashen speaking on the Power of Reading.  Krashen is a wonderful speaker and in the video he discusses the one word that will bring lower level readers to higher level readers. The one word that could develop academic literacy. The one word that could bring people to the highest levels of literacy.  And that one word is reading.   Krashen argues that FVR is the foundation for developing passion for reading, for making connections for deeper engagement with curriculum and for developing vocabulary and the knowledge of the disciplinary/technical language of each subject’s curriculum. FVR involves reading for reading’s sake without book reports, quizzes or responses. Practical Response on the Future of Libraries While the rate of people that read for pleasure has been increasing, demands to be literate are swelling at a faster rate. Up until recent times, we have been living with overwhelming information scarcity. I read a quote by Google’s Eric Schmidt on TechCrunch that said every two days the human race creates as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization to the year 2003. Think about that for a second! Relatively 2,000 years worth of data compiled every TWO days. It is no wonder why there is such a 21st century misunderstanding about the the purpose of libraries!   Because we are living in a period of such staggering information glut cluttered with fake news, alternative facts, and active measures campaigns, perhaps the answer to combat this sad reality is going back to basics and acquiring critical thinking rather than just learning about it. I believe the central way to accomplish this is through reading fiction. Because of the future, words are more important than ever and our familiarity with those words and ability to comprehend and use them is critical.   Reading fiction improves brain connectivity and function, as well as increases Theory of Mind (ToM). ToM is the ability to attribute mental states (like beliefs or intentions) to oneself and others, as well as understanding that others have beliefs and intentions that are different from one’s own. In this way, fiction allows the reader to flex their imagination in a way that is similar to the visualization of a muscle memory in sports. Cognitive Psychologist Keith Oatley likens the brain to a supercomputer running a simulation game when we read fiction. We are allowed to enter the mind of the protagonist and see the world through his eyes and think his thoughts. We are him. The details we know about him, learned through his words and the words of other characters and the narrator, we readers analyze and piece together another world through words that changes us mentally after the simulation is over. The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an e xperience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated. Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication. In this way, critical thinking is synonymous with fiction reading. Reading fiction widely can build ‘algorithms’ through critical thinking better than Facebook ever could write, and can allay the efforts of nefarious campaigns or clickbait come-ons. If we have learned nothing from the 2016 Elections, we are now all too aware of how fake-news is made to mislead us in order to gain financially or politically, often with sensationalist, exaggerated, or patently false headlines that grab attention.   The real educational challenge for school librarians in the future is teaching students the skills that make them careful and thorough researchers. For clarification, ‘research’ is not only done in schools and universities by students and researchers. Google defines research as “the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.” Research is a human skill. I could very easily change out the terms “fiction reading” and “critical thinking” for the term “research,” and the definition would still ring true. So why are we attempting to reinvent the wheel of our future role here, people?       The Magic of Books I’d like to shift focus onto Neil Gaiman and his view that our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. I feel that his knowledge and belief system as an author perfectly dovetails with Krashen’s research findings. I was forever changed when I read an article in the Guardian that featured a lecture Gaiman gave in 2013 to The Reading Agency, a London Based charity whose mission is to inspire people to read more, encourage them to share their enjoyment of reading and celebrate the difference that reading makes to all our lives. I have not been so affected by someone’s words as they pertain to my profession as I was having read Gaiman’s lecture.   I like that this piece deals specifically with the future. Fiction, according to Gaiman has two uses. First, fiction is a “gateway drug to reading.” What a wonderfully enlightening analogy, and so very true. The drive and motivation to know what happens next, to visualize, to question, to infer themes and motivations are all very real. These are the skills necessary in critical thinking.  Says Gaiman, the simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. That means, at its simplest, finding books they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.     Second, reading for pleasure builds empathy and social skills. I love how Gaiman describes the difference between seeing a movie vs. reading a book. With prose fiction, the reader uses 26 letters and a few punctuation marks, and using one’s own imagination, a new world is created filled with people, places and things. Reading fiction helps the reader to see the world through others’ eyes and allows us to be someone else, if only for a moment, and when it is all over, we readers are changed. Gaiman describes empathy as a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals. It lets people know that the world does not have to be like this. Things can be different.   Libraries, and school libraries in particular are about freedom and equity. Libraries level the playing field between the haves and the have-nots. It is widely known that there is a correlation between children from poverty and reading scores. In a study of factors that best predicted reading scores from The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the factors of poverty, a Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) program, and the presence of a school librarian were isolated. Poverty has a strong factor with a negative effect. The presence of a school librarian was a very strong, positive factor in predicting reading scores and its effect was nearly as strong as the effect of poverty.   According to Krashen this suggests that supplying books in a school library can mitigate the effects of poverty on reading comprehension scores. The majority of public school students in the United States are in poverty. I work in a school whose population is 100% free and reduced lunch. My students are ‘my kids’ and their reading life is very important to me. But for the school library, my kids’ access to books would be zero. In my school of 570, I circulated 15,000 books this year.  No Accelerated Reader, either. That is an average of 26 books per child. Allow me to mention that reading scores in my school have been rising steadily over these past few years. I am not taking full credit for these gains but I know that what the library offers accounts for a solid part of them.   The “Future-Readyifying” of Libraries Reading has become buried under Makerspaces, 3D printers, gadgets, and people’s visions of the ‘future of libraries’ so much so that I believe we have lost sight of our purpose as librarians and the field of school librarianship as a whole. I say that the best way to become more digitally literate is by becoming more literate. The Future Ready Initiative was launched in November 2014 by the White House Office of Educational Technology. “Future Ready” is a ubiquitous term these days it seems. I think it is important to think about the future but also to examine those who are defining the future for educational purposes. Enter nonprofit Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE). The mission of AEE is “to promote high school transformation to make it possible for every child to graduate prepared for postsecondary learning and success in life.” AEE is funded through grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates and Macarthur Foundations as well as other corporate and private donations. Future Ready Schools is a registered trademark of the Alliance for Excellent Education. In 2015, the Alliance created a separate project under its umbrella called Future Ready Schools (FRS) to help school districts develop comprehensive plans to achieve successful student learning outcomes. Also in 2015, the American Association of School Librarians announced their decision to join the coalition for Future Ready Schools. Future Ready Librarians is an expansion of the Future Ready initiative aimed at raising awareness among district and school leaders about the valuable role librarians can play in supporting the Future Ready goals of their school and district.   Although outside the scope of this article, I think this story from the L.A. Times about the failure of philanthropists in setting the public school agenda is timely and worth a read. Some of my knowledge of Future Ready Libraries has come from their Facebook group, Future Ready Librarians (FRL). I will not speak to the content on this page since posts are third-party and may not necessarily reflect the views and mission of Future Ready Schools. I will however speak to the public group photo that is used for this page. Being owner and admin of many groups on Facebook, I understand the importance of those 801 x 250 pixels. This image must convey your group’s intention, purpose, validity, and value in one glance. The FRL picture depicts a group of 8 children and, perhaps their teacher. They are lounging on the floor and each is totally engrossed in a device, not interacting with one another at all. Directly behind them are bookcases packed with books shelved museum-neat. Behind them. Backs to the books. A picture is worth 1,000 words.         I feel strongly that some fundamental research about reading was ignored in a rush to conform to the Future Ready agenda. The FRL framework is lacking a major component. If we assume that the libraries of the future actively value reading and literacy development and their continuous improvement over time, we school librarians have to actively engage with the body of research and scholarship around reading and literacy development. I also feel strongly in the professionalism and ability to discern and adjust to current trends in education and librarianship that I and my school librarian colleagues posses. We are a very swift bunch and we take to change rather well. I can speak for myself and many colleagues nationwide that are Future Ready Librarians today in 2017.     The FRL framework on its own is admirable. I do appreciate the developers’ interpretation of the future and I do see value in forecasting the future. But the future is tomorrow. Not some nebulous point down the track. We librarians should be on the frontlines of the digital transformation of learning but no matter what transformation happens, reading will be as important 100 years from now as it is today. There will be no “future ready librarians” of any kind if we continue to ignore the foundational assumption about libraries in favor of the newest gimmick and fad. If READING is not part of the Future Ready equation, there is no “future” in “Future Ready Libraries,”  that is the bottom line. I am NOT anti-MakerSpace. I am NOT anti-technology. I am pro-literacy. I do not feel that we cannot have all three. Quite the opposite. I know we can be all-inclusive because I have a MakerSpace and use technology on a daily basis to facilitate understanding. I am a proponent of gaming in the library and have regular Roblox tournaments and Minecraft building sessions.  But everything I do has its roots in the pure definition of the library: to provide access to books (whatever their format) and advocate for free voluntary reading. Everything is secondary to that.   As formats change in the future so will my job description but my convictions and what is in my professional psyche will not. I do not foresee ever being obsolete because I am confident in myself and the collective body of school librarians and library scholars to ensure that the school library of the future is one based on solid research in reading. Let us move forward into the future, but not with our backs to the books. Let’s instead get back to books and we will reap the fruits of our labor in a very verdant future. Future Ready Librarians embrace change. For change to take place there has to be a beginning, and change does not necessarily minimize the beginning. For future ready librarians, that beginning is reading and literacy development. In maintaining that beginning, we are able to meaningfully respond to change and what the future brings.       A full list of all references can be found linked here. They were created using EasyBib citation tools, which are available in MLA format, APA format, and many other citation styles.

Biography of Queen Min, Korean Empress

Queen Min (October 19, 1851–October 8, 1895), also known as Empress Myeongseong, was an important figure in Koreas Joseon Dynasty. She was married to Gojong, the first ruler of the Korean Empire. Queen Min was highly involved in her husbands government; she was assassinated in 1895 after the Japanese determined that she was a threat to their control of the Korean Peninsula. Fast Facts: Queen Min Known For: As the wife of Gojong, the Emperor of Korea, Queen Min played a major role in Korean affairs.Also Known As: Empress MyeongseongBorn: October 19, 1851 in Yeoju,  Kingdom of JoseonDied: October 8, 1895 in Seoul, Kingdom of JoseonSpouse: Gojong, Emperor of KoreaChildren: Sunjong Early Life On October 19, 1851, Min Chi-rok and an unnamed wife had a baby girl. The childs given name has not been recorded. As members of the noble Yeoheung Min clan, the family was well-connected with Koreas royal family. Although the little girl was an orphan by the age of 8, she went on to become the first wife of the young King Gojong of the Joseon Dynasty. Koreas child-king Gojong actually served as a figurehead for his father and regent, the Taewongun. It was the Taewongun who selected the Min orphan as the future queen, presumably because she did not have the strong family support that could threaten the ascendancy of his own political allies. Marriage The bride was 16 years old and King Gojong was only 15 when they married in March 1866. A slight and slender girl, the bride could not support the weight of the heavy wig she had to wear at the ceremony, so a special attendant helped hold it in place. The girl, small but clever and independent-minded, became Queen Consort of Korea. Typically, queen consorts concerned themselves with setting fashions for the noble women of the realm, hosting tea parties, and gossiping. Queen Min, however, had no interest in these pastimes. Instead, she read widely about history, science, politics, philosophy, and religion, giving herself the kind of education ordinarily reserved for men. Politics and Family Soon, the Taewongun realized that he had chosen his daughter-in-law unwisely. Her serious program of study concerned him, prompting him to quip, She evidently aspires to be a doctor of letters; look out for her. Before long, Queen Min and her father-in-law would be sworn enemies. The Taewongun moved to weaken the queens power at court by giving his son a royal consort, who soon bore King Gojong a son of his own. Queen Min proved unable to have a child until she was 20 years old, five years after the marriage. That child, a son, tragically died three days after he was born. The queen and the shamans (mudang) she called in to consult blamed the Taewongun for the babys death. They claimed that he had poisoned the boy with a ginseng emetic treatment. From that moment on, Queen Min vowed to avenge her childs death. Family Feud Queen Min began by appointing members of the Min clan to a number of high court offices. The queen also enlisted the support of her weak-willed husband, who was legally an adult by this time but still allowed his father to rule the country. She also won over the kings younger brother (whom the Taewongun called the dolt). Most significantly, she had King Gojong appoint a Confucian scholar named Cho Ik-Hyon to the court; the highly influential Cho declared that the king should rule in his own name, even going so far as to declare that the Taewongun was without virtue. In response, the Taewongun sent assassins to kill Cho, who fled into exile. However, Chos words bolstered the 22-year-old kings position sufficiently so that on November 5, 1873, King Gojong announced that henceforth he would rule in his own right. That same afternoon, somebody—likely Queen Min—had the Taewonguns entrance to the palace bricked shut. The following week, a mysterious explosion and fire rocked the queens sleeping chamber, but the queen and her attendants were not hurt. A few days later, an anonymous parcel delivered to the queens cousin exploded, killing him and his mother. Queen Min was certain that the Taewongun was behind this attack, but she could not prove it. Trouble With Japan Within a year of King Gojongs accession to the throne, representatives of Meiji Japan appeared in Seoul to demand that the Koreans pay tribute. Korea had long been a tributary of Qing China (as had Japan, off and on), but considered itself of equal rank with Japan, so the king contemptuously rejected their demand. The Koreans mocked the Japanese emissaries for wearing western-style clothing, saying they were no longer even true Japanese, and then deported them. Japan would not be so lightly put off, however. In 1874, the Japanese returned once more. Although Queen Min urged her husband to reject them again, the king decided to sign a trade treaty with the Meiji Emperors representatives in order to avoid trouble. With this foothold in place, Japan then sailed a gunship called Unyo into the restricted area around the southern island of Ganghwa, prompting the Korean shore defenses to open fire. Using the Unyo incident as a pretext, Japan sent a fleet of six naval vessels into Korean waters. Under the threat of force, Gojong once again folded; Queen Min was unable to prevent his capitulation. The kings representatives signed the Ganghwa Treaty, which was modeled on the Kanagawa Treaty that the United States had imposed on Japan following Commodore Matthew Perrys 1854 arrival in Tokyo Bay. (Meiji Japan was an astonishingly quick study on the subject of imperial domination.) Under the terms of the Ganghwa Treaty, Japan got access to five Korean ports and all Korean waters, special trading status, and extraterritorial rights for Japanese citizens in Korea. This meant that Japanese accused of crimes in Korea could only be tried under Japanese law—they were immune to local laws. The Koreans gained absolutely nothing from this treaty, which signaled the beginning of the end of Korean independence. Despite Queen Mins best efforts, the Japanese would dominate Korea until 1945. Imo Incident In the period after the Ganghwa incident, Queen Min spearheaded a reorganization and modernization of Koreas military. She also reached out to China, Russia, and the other western powers in hopes of playing them off against the Japanese in order to protect Korean sovereignty. Although the other major powers were happy to sign unequal trade treaties with Korea, none would commit to defending the Hermit Kingdom from Japanese expansionism. In 1882, Queen Min faced a rebellion by old-guard military officers who felt threatened by her reforms and by the opening of Korea to foreign powers. Known as the Imo Incident, the uprising temporarily ousted Gojong and Min from the palace, returning the Taewongun to power. Dozens of Queen Mins relatives and supporters were executed, and foreign representatives were expelled from the capital. King Gojongs ambassadors to China appealed for assistance, and 4,500 Chinese troops then marched into Seoul and arrested the Taewongun. They transported him to Beijing to be tried for treason; Queen Min and King Gojong returned to the Gyeongbukgung Palace and reversed all of the Taewonguns orders. Unbeknownst to Queen Min, the Japanese ambassadors in Seoul strong-armed Gojong into signing the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1882. Korea agreed to pay restitution for the Japanese lives and property lost in the Imo Incident, and also to allow Japanese troops into Seoul so they could guard the Japanese Embassy. Alarmed by this new imposition, Queen Min once again reached out to Qin China, granting them trading access to ports still closed to Japan, and requesting that Chinese and German officers head her modernizing army. She also sent a fact-finding mission to the United States, headed by Min Yeong-ik of her Yeoheung Min clan. The mission even dined with American President Chester A. Arthur. Tonghak Rebellion In 1894, Korean peasants and village officials rose up against the Joseon government because of the crushing tax burdens imposed upon them. Like the Boxer Rebellion, which was beginning to brew in Qing China, the Tonghak or Eastern Learning movement in Korea was anti-foreigner. One popular slogan was Drive out the Japanese dwarfs and the Western barbarians. As the rebels took provincial towns and capitals  and marched toward Seoul, Queen Min urged her husband to ask Beijing for aid. China responded on June 6, 1894, by sending in almost 2,500 soldiers to reinforce Seouls defenses. Japan expressed its outrage (real or feigned) at this land-grab by China  and sent 4,500 troops to Incheon, over the protests of Queen Min and King Gojong. Although the Tonghak Rebellion was over within a week, Japan and China did not withdraw their forces. As the two Asian powers troops stared one another down and the Korean royals called for both sides to withdraw, British-sponsored negotiations failed. On July 23, 1894, Japanese troops marched into Seoul and captured King Gojong and Queen Min. On August 1, China and Japan declared war on one another, fighting for control of Korea. Sino-Japanese War Although Qing China deployed 630,000 troops to Korea in the Sino-Japanese War, as opposed to just 240,000 Japanese, the modern Meiji army and navy quickly crushed the Chinese forces. On April 17, 1895, China signed the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, which recognized that Korea was no longer a tributary state of the Qing empire. It also granted the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands to Japan, and agreed to pay a war indemnity of 200 million silver taels to the Meiji government. As many as 100,000 of Koreas peasants had risen up late in 1894 to attack the Japanese as well, but they were slaughtered. Internationally, Korea was no longer a vassal state of the failing Qing; its ancient enemy, Japan, was now fully in charge. Queen Min was devastated. Appeal to Russia Japan quickly wrote a new constitution for Korea  and stocked its parliament with pro-Japanese Koreans. A large number of Japanese troops remained stationed indefinitely in Korea. Desperate for an ally to help unlock Japans stranglehold on her country, Queen Min turned to the other emerging power in the Far East—Russia. She met with Russian emissaries, invited Russian students and engineers to Seoul, and did her best to stoke Russian concerns about the rising Japanese power. Japans agents and officials in Seoul, well aware of Queen Mins appeals to Russia, countered by approaching her old nemesis and father-in-law, the Taewongun. Although he hated the Japanese, the Taewongun detested Queen Min even more  and agreed to help them get rid of her once and for all. Assassination In the fall of 1895, Japanese ambassador to Korea Miura Goro formulated a plan to assassinate Queen Min, a plan that he named Operation Fox Hunt. Early in the morning of October 8, 1895, a group of 50 Japanese and Korean assassins launched their assault on Gyeongbokgung Palace. They seized King Gojong but did not harm him. Then they attacked the queen consorts sleeping quarters, dragging her out along with three or four of her attendants. The assassins questioned the women to make sure that they had Queen Min, then slashed them with swords before stripping and raping them. The Japanese displayed the queens dead body to several other foreigners in the area—including the Russians  so they knew their ally was dead—and then carried her body to the forest outside the palace walls. There, the assassins doused Queen Mins body with kerosene and burned it, scattering her ashes. Legacy In the aftermath of Queen Mins murder, Japan denied involvement while also pushing King Gojong to posthumously strip her of her royal rank. For once, he refused to bow to their pressure. An international outcry about Japans killing of a foreign sovereign forced the Meiji government to stage show-trials, but only minor participants were convicted. Ambassador Miura Goro was acquitted for a lack of evidence. In 1897, Gojong ordered a careful search of the woods where his queens body had been burned, which turned up a single finger bone. He organized an elaborate funeral for this relic of his wife, featuring 5,000 soldiers, thousands of lanterns and scrolls enumerating Queen Mins virtues, and giant wooden horses to transport her in the afterlife. The queen consort also received the posthumous title of Empress Myeongseong. In the following years, Japan would defeat Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and formally annex the Korean Peninsula in 1910, ending the Joseon dynastys rule. Korea would remain under Japans control until the Japanese defeat in World War II. Sources Bong Lee. The Unfinished War: Korea. New York: Algora Publishing, 2003.Kim Chun-Gil. The History of Korea. ABC-CLIO, 2005Palais, James B. Politics and Policy in Traditional Korea. Harvard University Press, 1975.Seth, Michael J. A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Rowman Littlefield, 2010.

Organizational behavior - 1577 Words

Organizational Behavior: An Analysis of Helm Fire and Rescue Company Introduction Organizational Behavior is referred to as the study of individuals and their relative behavior subject to the existing organizational environment. The concept applies in a diverse workplace setting in different ways and had diverse impacts to the organization. Organizational behavior field includes communication, sociology, psychology, and management. The concept is subject to both internal and external factors affecting the organization. The formula for success in business as noted by Millstein et al. (1998, p.7) requires two elements including the external environment and the individual. Major scholars have also noted that removing one of these values is†¦show more content†¦The findings provided from the analysis indicated that a Helm fire and rescue service was an effective organization though in some of the departments, it required improvements. Francis and Fred (2009, p.69-76) was of the view that management must continuously be the main element palpating the pulse of the specific organization and at all times know their opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses. They noted that four cardinal contributors to a success within an organization are the way in which that particular organization is governed, the way it attains and establishes its goals and objectives, its strategies to promote ethics, and if the strategic maintenance of aspects that reflect a healthy organization. To effect change and allow for full operations to take place at Helm fire and rescue services management has been the key element of consideration. Helm fire and Rescue Company has its mission as being effectively saving property, lives and the environment. The strategies implemented to accomplish this mission, and the identified values are subject to management (Millstein et al 1998, p.7). 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Pharmacia is an example of a company that: a. experienced culture clashes as a result of a merger. b. ignored technological advances to its harm. c. is a great employer in terms of human resources, but an unprofitable company. d. focused on balance sheets rather than human resources. Answer a Page 2 2. _____ is a structured social system consisting of groups and individuals working together toRead MoreOrganizational Behavior And Organisational Behavior2512 Words   |  11 PagesNowadays with the new millennium speeding towards us and competitive advantage more rapidly than ever, organisational behavior is one of the most direct relevance study for deeper understanding of management context. Indeed, it’s about how people organised and managed at work, which contains the study of leadership, motivation and organisational design to examine human behaviour in relation to various psychological, social and political conditions. The purpose of study this subject from regulatoryRead MoreOrganizational Culture And Organizational Behavior Essay922 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction Culture play major role within the organization. It exists and plays a very crucial role in carving organization’s behavior. Organizational culture positively influences organizational behavior. People join number of organizations during their life. The organizations act as social tools to build the relationships between the individuals. Organizations are boundary maintaining, socially constructed and goal directed system, which focuses on the processes involved in the persistence, genesis

How to Survive the 1st Week of College Free Essays

How can you survive the first week of college Do you ever find yourself anxious, nervous, and afraid of the first week of college? Well, you shouldn’t be. College is the best time you will have during your life time and shouldn’t be wasted especially the first week which is the most energetic time. To survive the first week of you college, all you need to do is have proper hygiene, quickly accommodate yourself with new friends, including peers and teachers, and lastly you should adapt yourself to your new environment. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Survive the 1st Week of College or any similar topic only for you Order Now Do you like people that come to school with morning breathe, sweat, and look as if they’ve been up for five days straight? A clean person is a healthy person. Without good hygiene you will have a bad first impression. It is important for a student to take care of themselves by properly taking a refreshing bath, so that all the sweat accumulated over night can be washed away and you could feel refreshed and rejuvenated. It is also a good practice to come to college with your teeth brushed and your breath smelling fresh and new just like your body after a shower. This will let your peers know that you are properly cleansed and are ready to presume with the educational process. They will also like to be around you for your fresh and new smell. You should not only have proper hygiene but you should also accommodate yourself with new and reliable friends. You should not only make friends with your peers but also with teachers. This will help you to socialize and widen the amount of friends you currently have. Moreover, they will get you out of harsh and intense situations such as a quarrel or argument. Befriending teachers is very useful because they could help you to understand the work better and give you easy learning methods. College provides stress daily; therefore, could bring down your mental focus and also bring down your grades which will then affect your GPA. However, with good companions this will not happen because they will brighten up your day and take away your stress. Your new friends, including peers and teachers will then be your new family during college hours. You guys will be looking out and taking care for one another. Basically, you should always make new friends during your first week of college because in the longer run you will need their help for support and encouragement. Secondly, not only should you have and show good hygiene and make new friends but you should also adapt with your new surroundings. You should learn and adapt to your surroundings as soon as possible so that you can become familiar and comfortable in your new environment. This will help you to easily maneuver your way through the structure of your college. Furthermore, knowing your surroundings is essential so you can prevent getting going astray and having to ask directions. Knowing your surrounding is a good way not to get into trouble, you do not want to find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. In short, the first week of college can be easily survived by have proper hygiene, finding and accommodate yourself with new friends, and lastly adapting yourself with your new environment. You do not want to show a bad first impression, you do need the help of new friends which include classmates and teachers, and you surely have to learn and intertwined yourself with your new surroundings so that it becomes a part of you. These steps will greatly impact your first week in college and make it more comfortable for you to overcome your anxious, nervous and scared feeling. How to cite How to Survive the 1st Week of College, Papers

To what extent was the United States responsible for the collapse of the Grand Alliance at the end of the Second World War Essay Example

To what extent was the United States responsible for the collapse of the Grand Alliance at the end of the Second World War Paper The Grand Alliance was the term given to the co-operative mutual assistance relationship between the western powers, especially the United States and Britain, and the Soviet Union, which was formed to engineer the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. For the duration of the conflict, relations between these nations were fairly good: the Americans supplied billions of dollars worth of war material to the USSR under the Lend-Lease arrangement (though with little enthusiasm: the first shipments did not arrive until late 19421), the Allies made attempts to co-ordinate their military activity, and all were agreed on the common understanding that defeating Hitlers Germany was essential for world peace and international security. Propaganda photographs of American and Soviet troops exchanging handshakes over the ruins of a defeated Third Reich gave every impression that the era of antipathy and hatred between nations was over, and that a new order of peace and prosperity would be built on the back of a crushed swastika. 2 In reality however, by the end of the war the alliance was falling apart. Even before Germany had been defeated, major chasms were opening between the allied powers, and after the war concluded these divisions only widened. The exact date by which the alliance had totally collapsed can be disputed, but it would be uncontroversial to assert that this date can fall no later than the end of the Berlin blockade in May 1949. All semblances of co-operation disappeared, and the world was plunged into a four decade-long confrontation of nuclear proportions, the Cold War. We will write a custom essay sample on To what extent was the United States responsible for the collapse of the Grand Alliance at the end of the Second World War specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on To what extent was the United States responsible for the collapse of the Grand Alliance at the end of the Second World War specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on To what extent was the United States responsible for the collapse of the Grand Alliance at the end of the Second World War specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It has been argued that the actions of the United States were primarily responsible for the alliances collapse, that the foreign economic policy of America after 1945 represented an attempt to expand its influence into the already-agreed-upon Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe, or certainly nothing less ambitious than a drive to revitalise west European economies, the better to use them as allies and buffers in a showdown with communism. The Marshall Plan refers to the economic initiative launched by the United States on June 5th, 1947, to assist European economies in recovering from the devastation of World War Two. Though the sums of money involved fell short of the $17bn4 which the Truman administration had initially requested, the amount of aid given between 1948-52 eventually amounted to over $13bn, around 1. 3% of total US economic output during the same period. After some flirtations with accepting Marshall dollars from the Americans, Soviet authorities rejected the assistance both for themselves and their satellite regimes in what Arthur Schlesinger calls the point of no return for US-Soviet relations during the postwar period, in July 1947. Undoubtedly the plan had a political motivation as well as an economic and compassionate one: concerns were rife that if west European countries, especially France and Italy, were allowed to collapse in the aftermath of the war, then communist parties within those countries would win support and possibly even general elections (see below); the Marshall plan was in part intended to end the social discontent on which communist theory thrives, and also to demonstrate to Europeans the ability of capitalism to satisfy their basic needs. The United States was fairly open about this aim: General Marshall himself stated that one of the goals of the initiative was, the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. 7 The Soviets believed that the Americans intended to undermine the USSRs attempts to construct centrally planned economies in eastern Europe, or, in the event that they were refused access to these countries, to build up western Europe as a strong opponent of communism. Soviet spokesperson at the UN Andrei Vyshinsky spoke for the Stalin regime when he told the assembled diplomats: [T]his plan is an attempt to split Europe into two camps , to complete the formation of a bloc of several European countries hostile to the interests of the democratic countries of Eastern Europe and most particularly to the interests of the Soviet Union. 8 (italics original). Some historians since have been sympathetic to this view; W. A. Williams argues that the postwar atmosphere degenerated into hostility in large part because of American insistence on an open-door policy of total free trade between nations, rather than, offer[ing] the Soviet Union a settlement based on other, less grandiose, terms. 9 However, this argument is predicated on the assumption that eastern Europe was already in economic isolation from the west, whereas in fact this was a state of affairs forcibly created by the USSR. Therefore, if the Marshall Plan did increase postwar tensions this was only because of the actions already taken by the Soviet Union; without communist domination of east Europe, a plan to revive shattered economies in former warzones would not have had the degenerative effect on international relations which it evidently did have. In this sense, the Marshall Plan was a response to the Soviet aggression which had caused Cold War tensions to increase, rather than an ipso facto cause of antipathy itself. There are other examples given of where the west was responsible for an increase in superpower hostility following 1945 however. One episode deserves special mention: US interference in the Italian general election of 1948. American and British officials were concerned that in the war-ravaged countries of France and Italy, economic hardship might result in communist parties coming to power through free elections; by 1946 such organisations already seemed poised to become the largest single political forces within those countries. 0 These worries quickly disappeared in the case of France, but when an election was scheduled for April 18th 1948 in Italy, the Italian communist party, at two million members the largest outside of the Soviet bloc, was poised certainly to win a large enough share of the vote to make it impossible to keep them out of a governing coalition, and possibly an outright majority. The United States decided to intervene. A massive letter-writing campaign was organised, resulting in some ten million letters being sent by Italian-Americans to relatives in Italy arguing against a vote for the communists, and the CIA in conjunction with the Catholic Church ran a huge anti-Marxist propaganda campaign. In addition, some $2-3 million was distributed by the CIA to various anti-communist political parties in Italy. When election day came the communists were humiliated, their share of the vote halved from what they had achieved in the 1946 local elections. 1 This is not the place to discuss whether American actions were justified, but undoubtedly the precedent set by the Italian effort, and its resounding success, resulted afterwards in the United States being far more willing to engage in anti-Soviet activities elsewhere, and this case is therefore cited as an instance where the actions of America contributed to the breakup of the Grand Alliance. Another reason sometimes given is the American monopoly on nucl ear weapons in the aftermath of World War Two. On July 16th 1945, the largest man-made explosion in history took place at the Alamogordo test site in New Mexico,12 and the United States was immediately catapulted into a position of total military superiority. Though the Soviet Union had ended the war with colossal conventional armed forces, the atomic bombings of Japan in August of that year left the Russians in no doubt that their on-paper ally had become indisputably the most powerful military force in the history of the world. It has therefore been argued that this obvious fact caused Stalin and his government to feel threatened and bullied by the United States, and that this was the reason for the antagonistic nature of postwar negotiations. Williams again writes: Particularly after the atom bomb was created and used, the attitude of the United States left the Soviets with but one real option: either acquiesce in American proposals or be confronted with American power and hostility. 13 Undoubtedly the US was sometimes guilty of flaunting its nuclear dominance: American officials evidently thought that the Paris Peace Conference of July 1946 would be far more productive were it to be immediately preceded by two nuclear weapons tests. 14 On the other hand, it is quite possible that considerations of American nuclear power did not factor significantly into Soviet thinking. At the Potsdam conference (July-August 1945), more than one western official observed Stalins surprising calmness, even nonchalance, when told by President Truman that the US was in possession of a new weapon of unusual destructive force. Only later did it transpire that not only did the USSR have an atomic weapons programme dating back to 1942 but that, due to the laxness of the Manhattan Projects managers respecting its wartime ally,15 the Soviets had spies passing nuclear secrets to Moscows scientists. 6 Stalin was therefore fully aware that the United States monopoly on atomic weapons would be only temporary, and therefore that this need not be factored into long-term Soviet strategic thinking. Furthermore, the aggressive actions taken by the USSR in the postwar period (see below) show no signs of restraint by Russian leaders on account of the destructive capability of the Americans nuclear arsenal. The Berlin Blockade (June 1948-May 1949) took place and concluded before the Soviets successfully tested a nuclear bomb of their own on August 29th 1949. 7 The USSRs leaders seem to have calculated, probably correctly, that the United States wanted to avoid war with the Soviet Union at almost any cost; after August 1949 this only became more true as MAD thinking began to gain widespread acceptance. The more orthodox interpretation of the postwar period is that the alliance collapsed primarily because of the actions taken by the Soviet Union after the defeat of Germany, especially concerning the areas of Europe occupied by soldiers of the Red Army. At the Yalta conference in February 1945, only months away from the defeat of Germany, major disputes arose over the fate of European nations such as Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia which had been liberated from German control by the troops of the Soviet Union. The western leaders, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, wanted Stalin to conduct free and fair elections with the aim of establishing self-governing sovereign entities, but were under no illusions that the Soviet leader intended to turn them into friendly buffer states, and probably totalitarian one-party regimes at that. With respect to Poland especially, Stalin had already shown his contempt for national democracy movements by allowing the Wehrmacht to crush the Warsaw uprising in August-October 1944, and had a pro-Soviet puppet government ready and waiting to take over from the German authorities. 18 Previous Soviet treatment of Finland and the Baltic states gave every indication needed of how Stalin would react to attempts made at installing democracy in other countries. Section V pledged all of the allied powers, including the Soviet Union, to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people, and asserted the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live. 19 It does not need to be repeated that Stalin never had any intentions of carrying out the requirements of this passage. Immediately after the war the leaders of national communist parties, many of whom had spent the pre-war and wartime years in exile in Moscow and had long been subdued under Stalins whip, began their gradual accumulation of power. Invariably, the communists would contest a free-ish election under the auspices of the Red Army, win a minority of the vote (as little as 17% in Hungary and never more than 38%, in Czechoslovakia), and then agree to take part in a coalition government. Under pressure from Stalin, their rivals would agree to give communists control of ministries of justice and of the interior, which would then be used to disappear political opponents. In Poland the Soviet puppets methods were less subtle: a massive campaign of violence and intimidation preceded the first postwar elections in 1947, and the communists claimed 80% of the vote. 20 Despite assertions by some historians that western leaders handed over Eastern Europe to the Soviets at Yalta, short of a full-scale war with the USSR there was little if anything Roosevelt and Churchill could have done to prevent Stalin from turning eastern European countries into satellite states. Nevertheless, the dictators flagrant violations of the USSRs promises at Yalta created a chasm between the former Allies even before V-E Day, and is therefore frequently cited as the primary reason for the collapse of the Grand Alliance. As Roosevelts biographer Conrad Black has written, The issue of whether the British and Americans (and Frances) foremost ally would be Germany or Russia would be determined by whether Stalin could resist the temptation of enslaving Eastern Europe. 21

How To Say Again in Spanish

How To Say Again in Spanish Although Spanish has no single word that means again, it has at least three common ways of expressing the concept. They are usually interchangeable. Key Takeaways: 'Again' in Spanish The most common way of expressing the concept of again in Spanish is by using the verb volver followed by a and an infinitive.The adverbial phrases otra vez and de nuevo also are frequently used to mean again.The phrase una y otra vez can be used to strongly emphasize the concept of again. Volver a + Infinitive Volver typically means to turn or to return, but when followed by the preposition a and an infinitive it is perhaps the most common way of saying again. If you think of volver a as meaning to return to, you can see how it can be used in all tenses and moods. Nunca volverà © a trabajar en esta ciudad. (I will never again work in this city.)Es probable que no vuelva a escribir. (She probably isnt writing again.)El jefe vuelve a vender acciones de Microsoft. (The boss is again selling shares in Microsoft.)Es importante que volvamos a tener un cierto respeto por el acto de comer. (It is important that we again have a certain respect for the act of eating.)Costanzo volvià ³ a defenderse. (Costanzo again defended himself.)No quiero que vuelvas a llorar. (I dont want you to cry again.)Quiero volver a viajar con mi madre a Buenos Aires. (I want to travel again with my mother to Buenos Aires.) Otra Vez Literally, otra vez means another time. Note that una should not precede this phrase. Its use is especially common in partial sentences, i.e., ones with no verb. In complete sentences, otra vez, like most adverbs, is usually placed next to (either directly before or after) or after the verb it modifies. The same is true for other again phrase show below. Siento que otra vez va a pasar lo mismo. (I feel the same thing is going to happen again.)Mucha tarea otra vez. (Much homework again.)Est otra vez de moda. (Its in style again.)Parece que olvidaron otra vez explicarme el problema. (It seems that they again forgot to explain the problem to me.)El mecanismo empezà ³ otra vez a responder. (The mechanism began to respond again.) De Nuevo Like otra vez, de nuevo can be used in partial sentences without a verb. Unlike the English equivalent of anew, its closest equivalent, de nuevo has colloquial as well as formal usage. Brasil, de nuevo campeà ³n mundial. (Brazil, again the world champion.)Voy a escribir de nuevo a usted tambià ©n. (Im going to write to you again.)Hace unos meses me hablà ³ de nuevo. (A few months ago she spoke to me again.)Empezarà © de nuevo sin mirar atrs. (I will begin again without looking back.)Tan pronto la tenemos, contactaremos de nuevo contigo. (As soon as we have it, we will contact you again.) Miscellaneous Translations of 'Again' A common equivalent of again and again is una y otra vez. El nuevo presidente se contradice una y otra vez. (The president contradicts himself again and again.)Es importante escuchar una y otra vez. (It is important to listen again and again.) ¿Hay pelà ­culas que podrà ­as ver una y otra vez sin cansarte? (Are there movies you could see again and again without getting tired of them?) There are a few idioms where again doesnt mean another time. Among them are its uses in the phrase now and again, which can be translated as de vez en cuando, and the phrase then again, which can be translated as por otra parte. Los delfines nos visitan de vez en cuando. (Dolphins visit us now and again. You could also translate this sentence to English using phrases such as occasionally and from time to time.)Si no te equivocas de vez en cuando, es que no lo intentas. (If you dont make a mistake now and again, its because you arent trying.)Por otra parte, no vamos a confiar en este software. (Then again, we arent going to trust this software. You also could translate this sentence using phrases such as on the other hand or furthermore, depending on the context.)Por otra parte, no queremos acusar a ellos de ser locos. (Then again, we dont want to accuse them of being crazy.)

About Seppuku and Samurai Ritual Suicide

About Seppuku and Samurai Ritual Suicide Seppuku, also known less formally as harakiri, is a form of ritual suicide that was practiced by the samurai and daimyo of Japan.  It usually involved cutting the abdomen open with a short sword, which was believed to immediately  release the samurais spirit to the afterlife. In many cases, a friend or servant would serve as a second, and would ritually decapitate the samurai to provide release from the terrible pain of the abdominal cuts. The second needed to be very skillful with his sword to achieve the perfect decapitation, known as  kaishaku, or embraced head. The trick was to leave a small flap of skin attached at the front of the neck so that the head would fall forward and look like it was being cradled by the dead samurais arms. Seppukus Purpose Samurai committed seppuku for a number of reasons, in accordance with bushido, the samurai code of conduct. Motivations could include personal shame due to cowardice in battle, shame over a dishonest act, or loss of sponsorship from a daimyo. Often times samurai who were defeated but not killed in battle would be allowed to commit suicide in order to regain their honor. Seppuku was an important act not only for the reputation of the samurai himself but also for his entire familys honor and standing in society. Sometimes, particularly during the Tokugawa shogunate, seppuku was used as a judicial punishment. Daimyo could order their samurai to commit suicide for real or perceived infractions. Likewise, the shogun could demand that a daimyo commits seppuku. It was considered far less shameful to commit seppuku than to be executed, the typical fate of convicts from further down the social hierarchy. The most common form of seppuku was simply a single horizontal cut. Once the cut was made, the second would decapitate the suicide. A more painful version, called  jumonji giri, involved both a horizontal and vertical cut. The performer of jumonji giri then waited stoically to bleed to death, rather than being dispatched by a second. It is one of the most excruciatingly painful ways to die. Location for the Ritual Battlefield seppukus were usually quick affairs; the dishonored or defeated samurai would simply use his short sword or dagger to disembowel himself, and then a second (kaishakunin) would decapitate him. Famous samurai who committed battlefield seppuku included Minamoto no Yoshitsune during the Genpei War  (died 1189); Oda Nobunaga  (1582) at the end of the Sengoku Period; and possibly Saigo Takamori, also known as the Last Samurai  (1877). Planned seppukus, on the other hand, were elaborate rituals. This might be either a judicial punishment or the samurais own choice.  The samurai ate a last meal, bathed, dressed carefully, and seated himself on his death cloth. There, he wrote a death poem. Finally, he would open the top of his kimono, pick up the dagger, and stab himself in the abdomen.  Sometimes, but not always, a second would finish the job with a sword. Interestingly, ritual seppukus were usually performed in front of spectators, who witnessed the samurais last moments. Among the samurai who performed ceremonial seppuku were General Akashi Gidayu during the Sengoku (1582) and forty-six of the 47 Ronin in 1703. A particularly horrifying example from the twentieth century was the suicide of Admiral Takijiro Onishi at the end of World War II. He was the mastermind behind the  kamikaze  attacks on Allied ships. To express his guilt over sending some 4,000 young Japanese men to their deaths, Onishi committed seppuku without a second. It took him more than 15 hours to bleed to death. Not for Men Only Seppuku was by no means a solely male phenomenon. Women of the samurai class often committed seppuku if their husbands died in battle or were forced to kill themselves. They also might kill themselves if their castle was besieged and ready to fall, so as to avoid being raped. To prevent an unseemly posture after death, women would first bind their legs together with a silk cloth. Some cut their abdomens as male samurai did, while others would use a blade to slit the jugular veins in their necks instead. At the end of the Boshin War, the Saigo family alone saw twenty-two women commit seppuku rather than surrendering. The word seppuku comes from the words setsu, meaning to cut, and fuku meaning abdomen.