Similar to the manner

May 31, 1988, the day I was born. The significance of my birth was that I was born while my mother had her final exams in college! It was a terrible situation for her at that time and it was difficult to juggle studies with family but she kept struggling until her graduation! Really, it was a great accomplishment that I have yet to show her proper gratitude for and when I was born, my grandfather had the priority to name me and he selected my name because it is the same name of his mother! May 31, 1988 was not simply the day that I was born but it was so much more. My coming into the world could not have been foreboded in a better manner.Never was a birth into this world received with so much fanfare and celebrity. In fact, how many can claim that on the day they were born the earth shook and trembled? Seriously, however, Darwin, Australia, was shook by an earthquake that registered a 7 on the Richter scale. There were so many events that transpired on the day that I was born. While my birthday was not exactly featured on any major newspaper and neither did it grace the headlines of any tabloid (gratefully so), it did not mean that it was an uneventful day otherwise. In Brazil, the government made a major decision to revitalize the local economy by instituting fiscal reforms.Similar to the manner by which my parents were forced to make monetary adjustments to compensate for my arrival into this world and the horde of resources they would need to support me, Brazil too was forced to brace for the coming of financially challenging times and notches of belt tightening. In other parts of the world, my birthday was celebrated with the appointment of an Australian to the Secretariat of State of the Vatican. Though I would certainly like to claim that there were no misfortunes that occurred on the day that I was born I have to, perhaps, take the good with the bad or see things in a different light.Other people say that a man died the day that I was born but, on a pers onal level, the maxim out with the old and in with the new comes to mind. It was unfortunate that a man died when his boat capsized but then again I have somewhat believed in the circle of life and perhaps his passing had made way for my entrance into this world. Speculation aside, I am sure that the day that I was born will always be either a day of farewells or a day of greetings and salutations. Far from it for me to claim that the only newsworthy events that transpired on my birthday.In fact, there were other events that are indeed quite fitting to mark this occasion were the introduction of a new swimwear line made by known fashion designers. This was a line that decided to be risque and daring, much like the life I was destined to lead. It also marked a major landmark for sports news casting because CBS announced that it was expanding its roster of announcers and looking for black announcers. CBS was taking a step forward in race relations and breaking down established cultura l barriers by making that announcement.I could perhaps claim that my birthday was a day that boundaries in fashion and culture were broken. Finally, what would my birthday be like it consumerism was not celebrated and heralded at its finest for my birthday was the same day that Coach decided to launch its new model bag that would become the hippest bag in the United States that summer. Retailing for what at that time was already a huge sum of money, the new Coach bag with a tag price of US $138 as well as the Corum Admiral Watch at US $6,900 would be the perfect way to signal my arrival into this world.Exposed to expensive and soft leather, as well as courted by the bright reflections dancing on pieces of shining jewelry, this is the way I intend to lead my life. As I read the events that transpired on my date of birth, I am struck by a realization that makes me smile. While I am aware that the event of my birth will probably not be as well remembered by others, the annals of histor y will always show that something happened that day. It may not be my birth that people will remember but it whatever memory people will have will always occur on the birth date.

Principal Intern Essay

As I embarked into this higher education path I wanted nothing more than to be an administrator of an Elementary or Middle School in Texas. I was able to even envision myself in the school district I currently work in working in school administration at one of the schools I have taught at. I was fortunate on my internship year to have the position of being the instructional technology facilitator and was able to help more in depth with the administrators of my campus and learn the in and outs of the administration side of the school. Looking at all of this and having experienced it I am now thinking I am leaning towards more working towards becoming a department head or maybe the head of a academic department for the district. I am hoping the first step to this will be to become the department head for fifth grade on my campus and then moving towards becoming the English Language Arts and Reading department head. Eventually over time I hope to move into a more Reading Specialist position for a campus or even possibly a district. My ultimate goal is to move into the administration building and become a curriculum director for a district. As a leader I hope to accomplish many things to my employee’s and staff like being stronger leaders in the classrooms, stronger teachers, and being able to empower students for long term success. I have always wanted since I entered education to see the end result of my students to be a positive one and love to see the academic growth my students show over the course of a school year. I think that being able to show teachers and staff how to be and become strong leaders in the classrooms will help to majorly accomplish this goal. For me a leader is someone who listens and empowers its learners to learn in a way that fits their own personal needs and not necessarily the needs of the teacher themselves. I also think that using these techniques it will help teachers to become stronger educators in life and in the long run. Helping teachers, just like students, create a solid foundation is a great way to start them in the right direction and therefore it will be easier for them to lead themselves one day. And finally I would love to see in teachers, like I do with my students, long term success over the course of a year, two years and even ten years as they grow academically with the students. In Texas we are constantly changing the way things are being tested and handled. Being able to be a leader that is open to those changes will help me to accomplish my goals to the best of my ability while creating successful teachers and students. Reflective Practice In the beginning of these courses reflective writing did not seem to be an influential part of my learning process as a student myself. In my own classroom I did not use much reflective writing for my students because I saw it as time that I could be using on something else related to the content. Throughout the courses related to my master’s degree through Lamar University I have had to reflect in every course on what I learned throughout the class. At first I was skeptical about the reflective writing but as the course progressed I realized that by writing reflectively I was able to take the course material and transpose it into my own words. This helped me to have a clear understanding of what I learned and make it my own. One of the meaningful things that I feel I should have walked away from these courses is that the best way to become a leader is to create ownership for the staff, and I relate that to reflective writing. In my reflective writing I am walking away with a sense of ownership from my courses, and this helps to realize the main facts of what the course was about. Reflective writing now has a new meaning to me; it is now more of me creating my own ownership to the material presented in the course. I have even now find myself using reflective writing more and more in my own classroom and finding it a useful tool to assess what the students are walking away from my lessons with. To me reflective writing is a great tool to check students understanding of what was taught and what was learned. Reflective writing has had a significant influence on my practice currently in my classroom. Instead of using traditional quizzes and test I find myself using more reflective writings in my own classroom. It is a great form of writing to use to allow the students to use their own words to explain what they have learned in the classroom. In my future I plan on using reflective writing more and more in a leadership role for my staff to obtain information on how well the school is operating and working as a team. I feel that if my current principal used more reflective writing in our faculty meetings then he would have a better understanding of what is going on inside the campus. When I am a principal with my own campus I plan on using reflective writing responses in order to check if my staff walked away from staff developments with what was intended for them to learn and to also make sure that the training was effective or not to use on our campus. I would also like to implement a feedback process that involves reflective writing, which will allow staff to respond to any procedures implemented on campus that might need to be adjusted. By using this reflective writing process in the future I can make sure that my staff walks away with the knowledge they need in staff developments and in-services. This will prove to be an effective form of feedback for me and reflection on what skills they acquired. In Examining what we do to Improve our Schools Tool 8.1 the CARE Model: Planning Tool uses four steps to address change for the future the final step Evaluate allows the staff to reflective on the prior steps they have created (Harris). In this process the staff or administrator is to take steps into identifying and solving problems they are facing on campus. The first three steps are steps on how to implement and strategize the problem at hand. The fourth step in the CARE Model is to ‘identify the best ways to evaluate the implemented recommendations’ which is a way for the person(s) making the decisions can reflect on what they have created. In the same book Tool 8.2 (Harris) provides a list of reflective type questions to be answered to examine school improvement. These are great questions to guide someone’s reflection or at the very least jump start their reflection process so they have a starting point. An example of one of the questions asked in Tool 8.2 is ‘What am I doing to sustain improvement?’ These types of questions allow me as a future administrator to use for myself and others to reflect upon what we are doing as a team to create positive school improvement. Competency Development DOMAIN I School Community Leadership Competency 001- The principal knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community. In this competency I learned many things on how to create a vision for my campus and how to make it happen. I found it is not only important to make your school have a vision or just a common goal but the process of getting to that vision is equally important. Competency 001 is the foundation for that solid house you want to build, without the foundation a house will eventually fall and break, just like a school would without a solid foundation. As a leader of my campus it is my duty to look into creating a climate that promotes higher level thinking and teaching. When I do obtain my own campus I will be using this competency to ensure that higher expectations are required. It is not just enough to create higher standards and expect people to follow them it is equally important to create them in such a way that they can become obtained. In order to make these goals and visions obtainable and reachable it is important not to just let one person make these decisions, but to allow all stakeholders to have a say in the creation and implementation of them. I found throughout all of my courses that the most important factoring in leading your staff and students in any direction is the ownership that they have in the school. It is important that all stakeholders have a clear understanding that each party involved was and is clearly represented. I know that I feel better implementing a plan that I took part in planning or know someone in the plan that had my best interests and the student’s best interests at heart. I found myself spending 23 hours on this competency with my principal and assistant principal. The majority of the time was spent prior to school helping the committees to set up the vision and goals. We then revisited the vision in the middle of the school year to adjust to the changes our campus faces. It was also important that my principal have me sit in on grade level meetings to see if each grade level had a clear understanding of what the vision meant for them and what it looked like in their classrooms and for their students. I would say in this section of the domains I believe that I am walking away with the most mastery because of all of the actual hands on time I got to spend working with my campus vision and missions. Competency 002 The principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, responds to diverse interests and needs, and mobilizes resources to promote student success. In this section I learned the importance of correctly communicating with all staff, students, and community stakeholders for my campus. Although it was difficult at times to get parents to communicate and participate at school functions I was able to learn a lot about the process of correctly communicating with them. I was able to assist in almost every letter we sent home with students explaining our events. We not only had to have a copy in English but we also had to translate all letters in Spanish as well. Over the course of the year, logging over seven hours, as paper became more and more precious I was able to focus more on call outs over the phone system and also to work on maintaining accurate information on the schools website. I had a bit of the upper hand in comparison to others in these course because I was able to find ways through our website to communicate effectively with the community. In our many multicultural events we held on campus (Hispanic Heritage Art Contest, Black History Writing Contest, Math Night, and Science Night) I was able to have exposure to the positive effect it has on students through multicultural awareness. On this competency I spent around seven hours of internship time (I believe more logged hours were possible). Another wonderful thing I learned during this lesson was how to correctly manage school wide communication that took place on campus. I was very fortunate to have a very supportive principal who was willing to take me under her wing and allow playing a huge role in all activities on the campus. My principal always told me anything you would not say out loud make sure you do not put it in writing. She taught me through example and doing how to effectively write and create e-mails to be sent to the staff. I know now the importance of tone in my writing to ensure the way the e-mail is received it is received correctly. Competency 003 The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner. One of the most memorable things I will walk away from this course is the question to always ask myself â€Å"Is the decision to the question in the best interest of the child(ren)?† My mentors (principal, assistant principal, counselor, veteran teachers) taught me this valuable lesson that any decision, no matter the size, has to have the student’s best interest at heart. This is a great way to keep you in check to make sure you are being ethical and act with integrity in everyday decisions as a campus administrator. The legal portion of this competency comes with the knowledge of making sure to follow all state guidelines set for by the Texas Education Agency. One of the best ways I found to make sure you are following the rules legally is to ask questions. My internship supervisor, Sherry Gore through my eighteen internship hours, taught me to never be afraid to ask questions or research the answer before making a decision. The way she taught me this was not in a direct manner but more indirectly. By demonstrating to me on topics that she was unfamiliar with how she asked other principals or administrators to solve her problems I learned his valuable lesson. With the ever changing ways of education in the State of Texas, and the Country for that matter, it is important for an administrator to make sure they are up to date with all their knowledge about the laws concerning the education of the children in their school. It is also the responsibility of the principal to make sure their staff knows about any changes in laws and procedures. Making sure the staff knows of these changes it will make the transition to the new ones a smoother one for their campus and thus make the impact less stressful on the children. DOMAIN II Instructional Leadership Competency 004 The principal knows how to facilitate the design and implementation of curricula and strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment of curriculum, instruction, resources, and assessments; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance. One of the major witnessing to competency 004 was that of how our campus was having year after year to adjust to its ever growing numbers of bilingual and ESL students on our campus. Each year we a faced with the challenge of how to adjust to the growing numbers not only with resources but also with the staffing of these new positions needed. In all campus purchases, technology or academic workbooks, we find ourselves looking as administrators on the campus at what kind of Spanish and ESL supplements were available and how well they will work for our students needs. I found it very interesting in choosing our new reading textbooks in how different the Spanish supplements are for the different adoptions. As a person on the committee, logging over twenty-three internship hours, for our school to help us choose our next adoption it was made very clear to us at the beginning of the process that we needed to make sure we are considering not only the English portion of the textbook but the ESL materials are equally important. I knew going into it that the ESL supplements were important but it never crossed my mind how important it is to our campus. With my campus being one of two bilingual campuses it was important to my principal that our vote was heard at the district level when choosing the newest adoptions. The next step in this was implementing a new reading textbook while adjusting to the new district wide curriculum CSCOPE. It was my principal’s job to make sure that all of her staff was well aware of how to use the materials mandated by the district for our new instructional focus always keeping the students best interests at heart when training the teachers to prepare for our school year of academic success. Competency 005 The principal knows how to advocate, nurture, and sustain an instructional program and a campus culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. All too often there is going to be a change in policy or educational law, and with these changes there is always going to be changes in educational practices that have proven to be effective. The older methods of teaching are not necessarily the best methods to be used to reach the students of 2011. This competency ensures that the principal keep up with the best practices and methods out in the world to use for the success of our students and staff. This includes making sure that the staff is up to date on the latest practices in teaching in new and exciting ways to reach children. I spent close to twenty-one hours working with my principal and instructional facilitators to ensure that our campus had what we needed to implement new teaching practices in our classrooms. This section requires a lot of research into the newest needs of the students and then the needs of the staff to meet those needs. One example of a staff development that I was part of implementing with the principal and instructional facilitators was when we had to move into a new online lesson planning system. This system was completely online and making paper lesson plans not necessary. It was my responsible to make sure the staff was trained in how to use this new system to its full potential. I had to attend training provided by the company ht owned the software as well as district training to show me how to show the staff how to use this new system. It was essential that the staff knew how to implement this program because it was soon to become a mandate by the district to improve district lesson plan sharing throughout the entire district. The essential great thing for the teachers was that of making teachers resources more readily available to district employees across the di strict. Competency 006 The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to improve the performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate models for supervision and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for personnel management. With this area I feel I need a little more practice, and that is my fault in the internship hours and plan. I do however plan on using my current principal to help me to understand the evaluation process of a staff member. With only putting in eight hours into this area of focus I feel that I need to focus more on the PDAS system. I know the system as a teacher but I feel I need to works towards better understanding of the administrator side of the evaluations. I did focus my attention on part of this aspect as determining the needs of the staff and creating a staff development for the staff to grow from. With the help of the assessment specialist on my campus I found that we as a staff needed more focus on how to properly prepare the kids to take tests for a long period of time. We gathered information and tips for the staff to use while preparing the students for their long awaited TAKS tests. We then used a simple evaluation survey at the end of the training to evaluate the effectiveness of the training to meet the needs of the teachers and students. We produced a lot of reflective time for teachers to share their own experiences in the classroom that allowed students to work to their best potential. With the knowledge of the results of the survey we used the knowledge we gained to conduct follow mini-trainings to assess the needs of the staff after they implemented the practices. The reason we conducted the mini-follow ups was because of the survey evaluation at the end of the training said they enjoy the trainings we have but they need further help after we implement the training in our classrooms. Competency 007 The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment. Spending close to eighteen hours working on this competency it clear to see that this competency is an important one in relationship to the effectiveness of a campus. One major thing I learned from my principal was that you need to be organized enough to make sure you put together a quality interview to ensure that you put together a quality staff. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit in the interview process of one of our future teachers. The before part of the process was the preparation in getting ready for the interview, my principal using the Gallup interview process so she must be organized and ready. During the interview quality questions prove to be the most effective in choosing future staff members. Following the interview there is a debriefing with the hiring committee to ensure that the newest staff member would be a good fit for our campus and our students. We then moved onto working with the staff and interviewing them on what needs to be improved on campus. The next step in this process for my principal and I was to look towards the staff and see how well they internalized or resisted change in our continuous improvements implemented at the campus. We had to look at what changes were the best for the students as a whole and the needs of our at risk students.

AIDS Em Sao Paulo(POR) Essay Example For Students

AIDS Em Sao Paulo(POR) Essay AIDS em Sao PauloO Brasil ocupa lugar de destaque entre os paises com maior numero de casos conhecidos de AIDS, contabilizando 170.073 casos (ate 30/08/99), com a epidemia sem evidencias de controle. A AIDS vem infectando principalmente pessoas cada vez mais jovens e pobres. As praticas sexuais sao as formas de transmissao mais importante. Por outro lado, as mulheres vem sendo infectadas mais e mais, com uma velocidade de aumento da epidemia superior ao que ocurre entre os homens, sendo que nos ultimos anos a relacao entre os casos notificados em homens e mulheres e de 3 a 1. Um reflexo da epidemia alcanca cada vez mais as mulheres, e a crescente repercussao na transmissao materno-infantil do HIV. No Estado de Sao Paulo, este situacao e particularmente mais grave, aqui ja foram notificados 85.590 casos de AIDS (ate 31/12/99), que e cerca de 50% dos casos notificados no Brasil. A Cidade de Sao Paulo, com uma populacao 30.000.000 habitantes, acumula 39.042 casos notificados (ate 31/12/99), representando praticamente 25% dos casos do Pais. Aqui, a AIDS, representa a segunda causa de morte entre homens adultos desde 1991 e a primeira causa de morte entre as mulheres da mesma faixa etaria desde 1993. Com 70% da populacao que ganha ate tres salarios minimos e quatro milhoes de menores abandonados, nao e dificil compreender a suitacao. O crescimiento pode ser justificado por varias razoes, tais como: mudancas do comportamento sexual; a relacao direta e indireta com as drogas; a epidemia de AIDS; a dificuldade dos portadores de DST no acesso aos servicos publicos de saude; entre outras. Esta dificuldade de acesso aos servicos publicos de saude e observada em muitos estudos. Sao Paulo, sendo a cidade mais grande do Latin America, da um terrivel prognostico de o que pode ocorrer no resto de continente. A economia de Sao Paulo, que #7869; responsavel por a mitade da economia do pais, se ha visto afectada por AIDS. E muito importante que medidas preventivas sao usadas para combatir a epidemia, ou o que Sao Paulo ha visto ate agora e nada comparado com o que o futuro nos trara.

Art for Individual And Social Changes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art for Individual And Social Changes - Essay Example Her exhibit showcased portraits from each of these women. They allowed themselves to be vulnerable, so that they can share their experiences and lessons with the world. The main argument of the article is that art can be used to promote individual and social changes through accepting one’s vulnerabilities, while having hope in life’s possibilities. This paper analyzes the rhetorical strategies used to assert this primary argument, specifically repetition, emotional appeals, and anecdotes, which are effective in illustrating the transformational power of homelessness, and using art to be released from its financial and psychological trauma. Before this paper proceeds to analyzing the rhetorical strategies of this article, the premises of the article will be examined first. The stated premises are: art provides deeper self-understanding; art presents universal meanings that people from different backgrounds can relate to; and more artists should engage in activist art, in order for them to address contemporary social and political issues using their talents. The implicit premises are: 1) art is the language of the human soul and 2) even those in the margins have a capacity for making art and making sense out of art. In essence, even the poor have art in their hearts. These premises are relayed to the rhetorical strategies used in the article. ... ough† and â€Å"poor† are repeated twice in this statement, as well as the word â€Å"African American.† This statement effectively shows that minority groups have rougher lives than the white population, because there are fewer economic and social opportunities for them. Because of these rough lives, they can also easily slide back to poverty, even when they have escaped it earlier in life. For instance, many of these women in the article, when they lost their jobs, husbands, or homes, declined from middle class status to lower class. The older they get, the more vulnerable they are, because society views the old as dispensable beings. As a result, an old African American woman is exposed to the greatest risk of being homeless and poor. This article also made successful employment of emotional appeals, without sounding naive or sentimental, and instead, they underscore the universal feelings, dreams, and fears of people, whatever their race, age, gender, and soci al class might be. Fulmer discloses how these women’s art will also emotionally affect her: â€Å"The act of creating the artwork meant permitting myself to feeling vulnerable to their experiences that may hurt, twist, turn, and otherwise impact my own personal psyche.† She is saying that when these women become vulnerable, she becomes vulnerable too. They open their hearts, which opens hers in the process. When they go back to the past and remember their pain and suffering, Fulmer cannot help but identify with them, not because she has been homeless before, but because at different points in their lives, people also experience the same hopelessness and loneliness that homeless people feel. In addition, Fulmer also reflects on her writing, which helps her cope with the emotional engagement she feels with this

Lorenzo the Magnificent Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lorenzo the Magnificent - Research Paper Example Some of his well-known achievements include preservation of the independence and the regional integrity of Florence and assisting in the creation of peace through the whole of Italy through his diplomatic policies. Though Lorenzo lived only forty-three years, he managed to gain the title of one of the most significant masters during renaissance and became the exemplar of what is presently referred as the Renaissance man4. Lorenzo had an interest in almost everything and prospered in almost everything that he attempted. However, he was admired and at the same time loathed. His interest in music, religion, art, literature, and philosophy grew with time and could hold extravagant parties at the family palace to discuss on numerous classical literature works and philosophy5. Lorenzo was born in 1449 to a family of five and was the elderly son to Piero, his father6. Lorenzo’s family, the Medici, was at this time involved in the banking sector and other businesses within the region7. Additionally, his family was also involved in the running of the republic. His grandfather, Cosimo de’ Medici, was the ruler of the republic while at the same time involved in the banking business8. Both Cosimo and Piero loved, supported and collected arts. Lorenzo’s mother wrote sonnets and poems and was actively involved in supporting arts during this period. During his childhood, Lorenzo was deemed as the brightest among the siblings of Piero9. He took part in hunting, jousting, and horse breeding10. However, his father died while he was young, and his mother took over the responsibility of bringing him up. While still alive, his father had sent Lorenzo on numerous significant diplomatic missions. For instance, his father had sent him to Rome to meet t he pope and other significant political and religious leaders11. Lorenzo, unlike his brother Giuliano, did not have good looks and had short

Ratio Analyzes of Marks & Spencer Company Research Paper

Ratio Analyzes of Marks & Spencer Company - Research Paper Example And secondly it enables the organization to understand which products or assets of the company are producing more revenues for the company, how efficiently these are being utilized and which products or assets are not profitable and should be replaced or eliminated. From the reporting perspective, accounting provides the bookkeeping of day-to-day activities and every transaction that is taking place. This essential role of reporting enables the company to evaluate itself and avoid any frauds or misinterpretations. Form the decision making perspective, the decisions to evaluate the growth opportunities for the organization, for analyzing the performance of the company, for analyzing the company's ability to pay its suppliers and shareholders etc. a number of operational and strategic decisions like budgeting and investigating are made though accounting. Ratio Analysis is basically analyzing the relationship between different sections of the various financial statements and this analysis is based on a comparison. Ratio analysis can be of two kinds: Comparative Analysis in which the ratios are compared with the industry average ratios and Trend Analysis in which the ratios of the same company are compared on a periodic basis i.e. a year is compared with the previous year. The profitability ratios show that overall the company is in profits and will achieve more profits in future. This is because the profit on sales is higher than the previous year and also the return that the company is getting on its assets has been increasing. Although the return on equity has been decreased which makes the shareholders to resist from investing in future but the shareholders are still expected to invest because the return they are getting is still high and not very low considerably. 3.2. Liquidity Current Ratio Current Ratio = Current Assets/ Current Liabilities For year 2006: = 1142.1/ 2017 = 56.62% For year 2007: = 846.4/ 1606.2 = 52.69% Quick Ratio Quick Ratio = Current Assets - Inventories / Total Current Liabilities For year 2006: = 1142.1- 374.3/ 2017 = 38.06% For year 2007: = 846.4 - 416.3/ 1606.2 = 26.77% The liquidity ratios portray that the company's liquidity has been decreased over time and less cash on hand is present. This portrays that the company is investing more and is therefore low on liquidity. But these

Immigration Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Immigration - Research Paper Example The idea of pull factors is based on the main pull that causes immigrants to come to a nation. There are seven main areas that create a pull for immigrants to go to another country. Economy is the most important reason why many migrate, specifically with the desire to gain more stability with wealth in another country with the reasons associated with the need to keep a family safe through a sense of wealth. Other reasons include network effects, labor market, education and training, health care and integration. It is known that there is not one dominate reason why the pull factor exists, but instead most that are drawn to another country are interested in the several reasons that are associated with assimilation into another area. It is also known that these driving forces change the demographics from a given society while changing the outcome in different communities (Lowell, 61). The push factors are another effect which changes the immigration level. The push factors are defined as a drive that causes an individual or family to leave their country to move to another area. A common reason for push factors is based on the political changes within a region, often which are a result of instability and problems within society. Individuals may be forced to leave the region because of conflict and political upheavals which are occurring, as well as a sense of disagreement with the current society. The push factors are furthered with societal trends, such as disagreements with societal values and thinking that leads one into a different country. Other concepts relate to education which is noted through immigration fluctuations such as the brain drain. The inability for a country to offer the same incentives as other areas can push a set of individuals into another country for more opportunity (Cornelius, Rosenblum, 99). The push factors are mostly

Leadership Characteristics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership Characteristics - Research Paper Example â€Å"Student leaders who possess high self concept often strive for self-development† (Ahmad, Ghazali, and Hassan, 2011, p. 24). Trustworthiness of a leader plays an integral role in his/her success in the contemporary age of competition (Caldwell, Hayes, and Long, 2010, p. 497). Hence, both self-confidence and trustworthiness of an individual are equally important in making him/her effective as a leader. A leader has several motives. Drive means a leader’s motivation to achieve the goal. Tenacity means the leader’s strength or cohesiveness with the followers. Resilience means the power of a leader to take pressure and yet deliver the work. I believe that there are both positive and negative motives for leadership. â€Å"[Positive Leadership] motives that have received most attention are those of power, affiliation and achievement† (Marti, Gil, and Barrasa, 2009, p. 268). The negative motives for leadership include aggression, and authoritarian style. For example, tenacity helps a leader overcome obstacles. â€Å"[A]long with basic leadership essentials such as honesty and integrity, tenaciously seeking the truth is one of the most important characteristics a leader can have† (Harms, 2006, p. 49). Likewise, resilience helps a leader make informed decisions in the times of extreme pressure. Once, I was made the leader of a project in school. I had four members in my group excluding me. We had to make a group presentation. As the leader, factors that were within my control were roles of individual group members that I could assign as per my wish, the schedule for making the presentation, and the professional standards to be followed in the presentation. Factors that were beyond my control in that group project included occasional dissatisfaction of the group members with their roles, grudges between the group members leading them to interpersonal conflicts, and limitation of the resources for the project since we had to complete it within

Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Finance - Essay Example domestic country Australia and foreign country Namibia1. The company influences corporate social responsibilities in the form of its responsibilities to the shareholders, employees and the broader community involved in this business. The board, management and employees of this organization are responsible for the corporate responsibilities to the share holders and social responsibilities to the community on behalf of the company. Responsibility to environmental: Metals ensure all the internal as well as external stake holders of the company that the company highly cares for the environment involved in all properties of the company. According to the company’s disclosure in its Annual report 2011, there are no environmental issues for which the company is responsible. Responsibility to the community: Metals recognize and consider the environment for each of its operation and legally respect the involved environment, culture heritage and native title issues which arise by the company’s activities. Responsibility to individual: The Company respect the rights of any individual related to its business and follow the law regarding privacy and confidential information2. The company discloses its corporate social responsibilities qualitatively that means it does not have any specific activities for its all society, environment and its internal stakeholders apart from the general legislative responsibilities which it have to do for performing ethical business practice. Disclosures of CSR include financial and non financial information of the company for its different kind of stakeholders who are involved into this business. The extent of disclosure is very detail and transparent of the same and also have not changed since GFC 2008. But the company’s performance has changed remarkably after GFC in terms of revenue growth and net worth of the company3. Metals Australia Ltd does not perform any particular CSR

Staark Accessories Essay Example for Free

Staark Accessories Essay SALES DISTRIBUTION A fashion line is designed and created a year in advance according to season specific, so it will hit the shop floor at least 2 months before the next season comes around. When you’re still rocking denim shorts and having summer days at the park, the shop elves are busy implementing the new fall collection. It’s true that each Brand has its own style of working, different sales and distribution strategy; Staark Accessories Pvt ltd (Licensee of Spykar) follows certain strategies too. Before proceeding let us introduce you to Staark Accessories Pvt ltd. It is a Licensee of Spykar (a well known brand in India) for Personal care products and own innovative brands like Scoops (Pocket Perfumes) and are still in the process of launching comprehensive range of Personal Care products. The range will cover entire olfactory spectrum to suit all moods types of the individual through our multi brand strategy. Our endeavor is to become India’s pioneer to launch entire gamut at one go obviously become an indigenous leader in the field Present Scenario: The Staark accessories are currently present in 8 States – Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu Kashmir; Andhra Pradesh Karnataka (South India). Staark Accessories are in the market with the products like Scoops (Pocket Perfumes – 8 variants), Deodorants (Spykar Brand – 2 females, 2 Gas Free, 7 Male); 4 Perfumes. Working Style: In each state, a universal work flow is being maintained (as shown below): Super Stockiest (Advance Business 100%) Distributors Retailers (Staark Team) Retail network are built by the Staark team. The team builds the order and passes it on to the Distributors and then to the Super Stores. Road Map: * Number of Additional State openings in FY 13-14: 10 State openings * Number of Product Launching in FY 13-14: Face Wash; Soap; Mid-Price Perfume for Spykar Staark Accessories, Scoop- Travel Kit; Mid Size Perfume * PAN INDIA presence in FY 14-15 * New Products FY 14-15 : Mobile Cleaner; Deo Drops; Hair Gel; Shaving Cream; Shaving Gel / Foam; Wet Tissue Additional Revenue for Business (FY 14-15): Besides model of Staark Accessories would evolve through the planned verticals listed below: * Spykar License Spykar has given the license given to Staark Accessories Pvt Ltd to manufacture distribute Spykar personal care products- PAN India. Current Product Range Perfumeries Deodorants New Launches: Soap, Face Wash, Hair Gels, Shaving Cream, After Shave Lotion, Wet Wipes, Body Talc * Staark Branded products Innovation product – Scoops in FY 13-14 Current Product Range Perfumes (Scoops) New Launch: Hair Gels, Shaving Cream, After Shave Lotion, Soap, Face Wash, Mobile Cleaner, Deo Drops, Body Talc * Sales Network spanning the country Currently present in 8 states with robust and qualified sales personnel. In addition to this, procedures are in progress to cover Pan INDIA by FY 14-15. * Corporate Sales Today corporate selling has become a phenomenon practice in business where an organization gifts another organization to strengthen the relationship between the two entities. Corporate sales can be described as a large order or sale that occurs between two large companies. It involves sale of products and services to a large sector of entities. It is different from the normal sales which targets individuals. Corporate sales help to release the companies’ stocks. Staark accessories shall have a different team looking after selling the products to boost sales by performing bulk orders for following products under the Brand name SPYKAR. The products that can be sold as Combo gift sets / corporate gifting are Deodorants, Belts, Wallets, T shirts, Jackets, Perfumes, Socks, Eye-Wears, Foot-Wears and Jeans. * Licensing more brands After acquiring the licensee of Spykar and successful achieving the desired target, the credibility to license other brands shall enhance (for personal care products) * CSD Canteens The Canteen Stores Department (CSD) is owned by Government of India Enterprises under Indian Ministry of Defense. The department procures consumer goods and consumer-durable products in bulk directly from suppliers and positions them at 33 Area Depots (acting as whole sale depots), spread all over the country, for meeting the requirements of over 3500 URCs which function as retail outlets. Many of the URCs are located in remote/inaccessible parts of the country. Extending hands in this area would be an additional benefit for the brand. * E Sales Staark accessories can differentiate the business by creating a personalized shopping experience for each customer – delivering relevant content and offers and dynamically changing the experience to suit an individual customer’s context. Thus this will also increase sales opportunities and lifetime value of online customers through delivering a relevant online experience, turning browsers into buyers, delighting customers and building brand loyalty. * Modern Trade Modern trade as opposed to traditional retail shops refers to a full range of sale methods based on marketing techniques. For instance in self-service shops you have no more sales attendants behind a counter; now the customer can touch the articles. The more expensive goods will be ready at hand whereas youll have to bend to reach well with fewer added values for the store. A few articles will be offered at rock bottom prices with much publicity in order to attract as many customers as possible. The display of goods is very important and needs an elaborate know-how Here we are looking at big / Mega stores like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Big Bazaar, Hyper city, etc where we can perform in bulk Intra-Structure Media Planning In FY 13-14, Electronic media support, print media support Social network Once present in Pan India in FY 14-15, we plan to form Mother Deports (CNF) and divide our manufacturing units in 4 major states – Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Kolkata to cover the entire Pan India.

Reframing the Organization and the Role of a Change Agent

Reframing the Organization and the Role of a Change Agent Change management is a comprehensive effort to lead an organization through transformation. It is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. Most importantly, the transformation effort must be actively led and managed with a clear set of objectives and an agreed plan for achieving these objectives. This process can be unnerving to employees if communication it not used wisely. Effective change management is important for the growth and development of the organization and for ensuring employees are properly engaged and informed throughout the process. Change management is a critical part of any project that leads, manages and enables people to accept new processes, technologies, systems, structures and values. My paper will educate the reader on the process of change management and the role of the change agent. Finally I will discuss the steps for reframing the organization. Change management considers the individuals and teams behavior and attitude during the change transition as well as the culture. Changes not only affect people it could affect the business processes, technology implementation or any other policies Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level. A somewhat ambiguous term, change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change. A proactive approach to dealing with change is at the core of all three aspects. For an organization, change management means defining and implementing procedures and/or technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities. Many people are interested in answering the question: How much change is too much change? Webster defines change as to make different in some particular, to make radically different or to give a different position, course, or direction. Isnt this the perfect environment for most cutting-edge companies? I am a supporter of change however; companies who change often may sometimes be operating in a state of chaos. It is best to take a strategic approach when initiating the change process in an organization structure. The key is a well defined strategic plan and great leadership at the executive level; this is fundamental during change management. It is the positive catalyst for keeping an organization on task during the chaotic moments. Almost every company will face the need to change due to the need for a culture change, competitive pressures, economic challenges, or skills shortages. Two-third of all organizations have experienced some type of change in the past year, whether it is a merger, acquisition, or downsizing initiative. Less than half of employees say that change is implemented well. A company periodically needs to mix it up a bit. Restructuring gets people to start forming new networks, making the organization as a whole more creative. The most successful organizations not only master the art of change; they demonstrate an understanding and acceptance of change as a constant. Fortunes Worlds Most Admired Companies research specifically examined how 18 world-class corporations handled change. Notable similarities were revealed. In approaching major transformations, successful firms: Vision was defined. They got consensus at the highest level about when they wanted the company to be in the very near future They sought to understand the behavior in as many ways as possible through systems, staff, structure and processes in order to drive and reinforce the change They devised a plan to systemically measure what they were trying to change They ensured that their basic human resources practices, reward systems, career development systems, selections procedures, performance management strategies and leadership styles supported the new direction What differentiates successful firms from the rest? They make sure everybody leaves a meeting with the same priorities in mind. Until agreement is reached, it is practically impossible to allocate the sense of urgency to specific issues. Research has shown how difficult it is for an organization to gauge its distance from its target. One study by the Hay Group, in which executive teams ranked 56 internal cultural elements to form snapshots of both desired and current cultures, found that 9 out of 10 executive teams were more divided on defining their culture than in describing future cultural priorities. Cultural change is enormous. It can feel very uncertain. That is why it is so important for a company to identify precisely what it is that it seeks to change. Change is good for an organization it disrupts all the routine in an organization that collectively stifle innovation and adaptability. Restructuring breaks up the outdated power structures that may be quietly misdirecting a companys resource allocation like silos. However without proper planning the process can be catastrophic. Over time, informal networks mirror formal structure, which is how silos develop. Silos can be considered as specific department being incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related departments within one organization. The expression is typically applied to teams where the focus is inward and information communication is vertical. In some silos managers serve as information gatekeepers, making timely coordination and communication among departments difficult to achieve, and seamless interoperabi lity with external parties impractical. Employees are also guilty of hoarding information. Both managers and employees consider this a form of job security. The problem with silos is that communication and collaboration tend to become trapped in specific business units or departments. Change will break down these silos creating a better company. Breaking down the silos is so important because the longer things are done a particular way, the harder it is to adapt to when change is required. Successful adaptation to change is as crucial within an organization as it is in the natural world. Just like plants and animals, organizations and the individuals in them inevitably encounter changing conditions that they are powerless to control. The more effectively you deal with change, the more likely you are to thrive. Change must be managed using an ethical and professional approach with common sense. Due to the changing economic state over 30 million Americans have been dislocated by restructuring. Companies expect to cut an average of 15 percent of their workforce over the next decade. Today, change is continuous and enormous. It is important that companies create a strategic plan to manage the change process and control resistance. However, they often forget about how to handle or who will handle the transition from the old way to the new way of doing things. The transition period is where people get immovable. People become anxious, confused, angry and often unproductive. On many occasion the task of helping people through the transition is the responsibility of frontline management but can become difficult for them. The most logical approach is for the company too employee a change agent. Change agents carry many titles but have some distinctive characteristics. A Change agent is an individual whose presence or thought processes cause a change from the traditional way of handling or thinking about a process. They must possess qualities such as experience in providing direct services to management in the public sector and private sector, particularly to those with multiple problems. Strong communication skills, including writing and public speaking abilities are critical. They must have the ability to communicate changes effectively across the entire organization. This helps them build consensus among groups of diverse stakeholders. In addition, they need the ability to sense and manage controversy. A person who is known for this type of work may promote credibility among other stakeholders. In a final analysis, the personality and interpersonal skills that change agents bring may be far more important qualifications than any advanced degree or specialized training. Im plementing change requires a specialized group of people. Hiring the right person to lead the team is a delicate and subjective task. A change agent leader may come in the form of a Change Management Project Manager. A change management Project Manager focuses on executing standard Change Management methodology which will facilitate the business partners planning and execution of new standards. The Project Manager will be directly allied to the company transformation champion or Change Manager. The role of a change manager is to be a leader who can alter forces that can impact the change project. Depending on the magnitude of the change, this leader might be the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director, Vice President or department manager. If the organization culture must change to accommodate a new way of working, the leader must be the top dog of the company. Company culture is created from the top of the organization. The project manager may hire a change management analyst. They are responsible for auditing and evaluating the change management process of a business. Change management is aimed at helping system users to adopt the new system and use it productively. The role of the change management analyst includes ensuring that adequate documentation and support are available to the users. These are a few people who could make up the team that ultimately facilitate the transformation of an organization. It is imperative that the company take great care in selecting the right people to help support change within the organization. They must be skilled and have the ability to devise and execute a plan from start to finish. Companies excel at creating plans on change but selecting the correct change management team is often overlooked. Some executive think using an internal resource to champion alone and a few memos to the staff announcing the persons new role while noting the upcoming changes will suffice. This notion is far from the truth and will result in rebellion. It is necessary for the positive success of the change that serious thought is put into the change management agent selection. For some reason, there is often more power in what an outsider says than in the same suggestions coming from the inside. This power should be used to reinforce the direction in which you want to go. Outsiders bring important information and a fresh perspective; which is why great team selection is critical It is no secret that much is documented about the course or stages of change however; while process is clearly important, what is the defined role of the change agent and what characteristics are critical to be an effective change agent? After careful research there were a few characteristics that seem to echo. Motivation is what keeps the momentum going, even when things are tough. Change is tough and if they are not highly motivated, the change may not come. Commitment is another essential characteristic of successful change agents. The level of personal commitment influences behavior which in turn influences results. They must be a planner with ability to plan effectively; no real change can happen unless it is planned and thought through. Being a risk taker is a good trait. You cannot steal second if you are afraid to leave first. Change requires an element of risk. When you take risks they sometimes result in success but can result in failure. When you fail you learn. In fact, the most successful people always state that they learned more from when they failed than when they succeeded. Change without some risk taking is not an option. Changes agents must start with a goal in mind and be outcome focused. If they dont know where the organization wants to go, they are incapable of helping the company get to the anticipated finish. While this might seem like stating the obvious, it is surprising how many organizations start to embark on change without absolute clarity. It is important that they believe change is possible. Failure to do so will result in resistance and creativity blocked. In any change difficult choices will need to be made and communicated. Many of these changes will be unpopular and impact on a lot of people. Those that excel as change agents have the courage to follow through on the changes and stay focused on their goal and outcome while being empathetic and flexible. While there is a need to be courageous and move things forward, high degrees of empathy are important. Change agents need to be ready to see different perspectives and be able to step into the shoes of others. Even the best laid plans dont materialize as expected. As a change agent they need to be able to adapt to changing circumstances internally and externally to the organization. Change agents always need the ability to get all people affected by the project involved, to ensure their support and commitment. Change projects involve a great variety of factors and forces. Many change projects challenge the existing cultural framework of an organization. Efforts to change such lasting values, however, lead to resistance and denial. It takes the acceptance and the support of all people affected by such projects to make them succeed. It is the change agents task to generate this acceptance in order to implement change with the people, not against them. Rosabeth Moss Kanter a tenured professor in business at Harvard Business School where she holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship and author numerous books on business management techniques, particularly change management, mentions that many emotional components among the most important characteristics of change agents. Change agents should realize that there is more than one right solution. The change agent has to be able to evaluate facts from different points of view. Additionally, Moss Kanter writes about the significance of alliance building, which she describes as an often-ignored step in change processes. Change agents should identify and involve leaders, decision makers on resources, functional experts and other important persons as early as possible in the project. Selecting the proper change project to put into action first is vital. Proven techniques such as cost benefit analysis, return on investments calculations and risk analysis are well defined protocols for selecting what need to be tackled first. These tasks are often performed by a change agent analysis. This data is transferred to the change management Project Manager. The change team and employees affected by the change initiative must not feel like as if they are just the tools for change or the subject of change. Genuine commitment can only be gained by giving people the chance to become actively involved. People will develop a sense of ownership for the project, which, in turn may serve as a major source of motivation when it comes to the inevitable problems and barriers which manifest into full blown mutiny also known as resistance. Resistance to some employees is used as a survival mechanism. Most people are reluctant to leave the familiar behind making change incredibly difficult. We are naturally concerned about how we will get from the old to the new; especially it involves something new and risking failure. The change agents role is designed to help facilitate and make the transition uncomplicated. Based on research resistance to change is the most prevalent reason change never happens or takes years to implement in an organization. Resistance is simply a very powerful, very effective, very useful survival mechanism. The biggest obstacle to change for a new on the job change agent is dealing with a companys past success. It is difficult to ask people to change when things have gone so well in the past. The idea that anyone would challenge this reasonable and rational way of doing business is ludicrous. The change professional must have the ability to notice these changes and react immediately. People may begin to feel a loss of security. Employees no longer feel in control of their destiny. They may question where they stand in the organization. People will no longer know what to do or how to manager. Their understanding of where they are going is lost. The companys mission and vision often becomes unclear. Resistance can affect many other aspects of change. A change agent must monitor productivity during times of resistance because typically it declines. People are often upset and downbeat. Resistance is not a pleasurable experience for the employees or the change agent. The change agent is often blamed for everything that is going on at moment. Workshops arranged by the change agent typically help neutralize this problem. During workshops employees are encouraged to openly express their feelings. Expressing feeling about the entire process is what helps employees change. People need a way to say good bye to the old and welcome in the new. A well trained change agent views resistance as a gateway or filter. This opposition helps them select from all the probable changes the one that is most suitable to the current situation. The utilization of compassion makes it possible for them to respond empathetically. Communication becomes essential to worker buy-in; the reason for why change is necessary must be clearly defined and communicated. The project manage need to keep the employees informed of any new development and give then as much data as possible. The workshops should be followed up with one on one meeting if necessary. Statics show that when 5 percent of the people, in a group, adopt a change, the change is imbedded. When 20 percent adopt it, the change is unstoppable. An experience change agent focus on the innovators, people who try things first followed by the early adopters. Some individuals are harder to get involved and more often than not become somewhat the focus of the project manager. Change agents who repair damaged relationships and restore trust both before and during change are less likely to encounter resistance than agents who do not; research shows that falling to repair damaged relationships can lead to lowered commitment (Dean, Brandes, Dharwadkar, 1998). Agents can reduce the chances of such damage by being truthful and realistic as possible including revealing what they do not know. As a matter-of-fact, change agents are encouraged to communicate frequently and enthusiastically about change (Lewis, Schmisseur, Stephens, Weir, 2006). Even communication cannot eradicate all forms of resistance. Rational resistance forms when employees feel uninvolved. They think change is being forced upon them. These are the people who refuse to budge. This is what a change agent faces when someone ignores or does not embrace the idea of change. This can be cancerous. One way to help is to create an environment where learning is the norm. Motivating employees to change by celebrating small successes can help people inspire to embrace change. However in some cases irrational resistance gets the best of the most experienced change professional. There are people for whom no amount of verification, persuasion or motivation will suffice to get them to willingly adopt change. Since it is the goal of the change agent to persuade individuals to change a change professional may make use of McGuires theory of inoculation. Inoculation Theory was developed by social psychologist William J. McGuire in 1961 to explain more about how attitudes and beliefs change, and more important, how to keep original attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face of persuasion attempts. According to McGuires theory of inoculation, change recipients success in resisting influence is determined by their ability to refute arguments that challenge their prevailing beliefs (McGuire). Inoculation is a theory developed to strengthen existing attitudes and beliefs and build resistance to future counterarguments. For inoculation to be successful it is critical that the motivation for resistance is imposed upon these existing ideas takes place after the inoculation. The argument that is presented through inoculation must be strong enough to initiate motivation to maintain current attitudes and beliefs, but weak enough that the receiver will refute the counterargument. Inoculation theory has been successful in increasing college stu dents resistance to credit card advertisements (Compton Pfau, 2004). Change recipients reactions to change are not necessarily dysfunctional obstacles or liabilities to successful change. Quite the opposite, recipient reactions can have value serving as an asset and a resource in its implementation and successful accomplishments (Knowles Linn, 2004). Resistance is one possible form of engagement with change and may, in some cases reflect a higher level of commitment that acceptance, because some resistance is thoughtful. Change agents can use resistance as feedback on a stakeholders engagement. It can become an indicator and a valuable source of feedback for improving the process and conduct of change. In fact, change agents may want to consider the absence of resistance as a sign of disengagement and harbinger of future problems from unthinking acceptance (Wegener et al., 2004). The change professional must surely include responsibility for the relationship with recipients, as well as the tactics of change implementation. Change is nothing more than a simple shift in technology or some reporting relationship. They are the cornerstone of forward progress. The effect of the change professional is important to the execution of a successful positive transformation and culture shift. The culture change of a company can be achieved by giving employees the means by which they could successfully do their jobs. It is communicating clearly to employees what their jobs are and providing the training and tools to enable them to perform those jobs successfully. Organizations need to bear in mind that throughout the process of making improvements, individuals will be thinking about WIIFM (whats in it for me). This doesnt mean solely the financial impact of the change. The typical Western approach to organizational change management is to start by trying to get everyone to think the right way. This causes their values and attitudes to change, which, in turn, leads them naturally to start doing the right things. It is imperative that the company starts by influencing a culture change. The first change should focus on how people think. The focus should be on behavior modifications which align with the mission and vision of the company. Putting together the change management strategy is the first significant step in implementing change management methodology. This can also be considered reframing the organization. The strategy provides direction and results in informed decision making throughout the change process. A well-formulated strategy really brings the change to life, describing who and how it will impact the organization. People will follow a person who inspires them. The change must start with a solid vision and passionate leadership. A change plan is necessary to ensure that the initiative becomes a living breathing document. The change management plan is documented by the change professional and includes but is not limited to: Communication plan Resistance management plan Training plan Reinforcement planning This plan must address getting buy-in from key stakeholders and the naysayers. Top management must fully support the change. Leadership has to understand the employees and business units being impacted by the change. These stakeholders should be addressed personally by senior leadership. Showing how they will be positively impacted enables the employees to better appreciate the vision. The leader new vision has to be communicated throughout the organization. Understanding the employees perceived level of commitment will have more to do with the success or failure of the change than anything else. This must be evident to the employees. It is critical, if leadership is commitment is poorly communicated the change will more than likely be resisted. We previously addressed resistance and ways to deal with or embrace the process. In addition to a solid strategic plan, the leaders must be willing to look at the company through a different set of lenses. Different lenses can bring organizational life into a different or clearer focus. Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal authors of Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership argue that it is impossible to really understand an entire organization without using a multi-framing perspective. Although there are no right or wrong ways to view organizations, one of the most practical theories, suggested by Bolman and Deal (1984), advocates looking at organizations from four different perspectives or frames. These frames are often described as windows, maps, tools, lenses, orientations and perspectives because these images suggest multiple functions (Bolman Deal, 2003). The four frames are: (a) structural (emphasizes specialized roles and formal relationships), (b) human resource (considers the needs of the individual), (c) political (focuses on bargaining, negot iating, coercion, and compromise), and (d) symbolic (views organizations as cultures with rituals and ceremonies). Each of the frames is powerful and coherent, and collectively, they make it possible to reframe Re`frame ´Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   v. t. 1. To frame again or anew.   or view the same situation from multiple perspectives (Bolman Deal, 2003). . They allow the leader to view the workplace from different images to make judgments, gather information and get things done. Not every framework works well in every situation. The change agent will find that all or most of the frames will be employed by the people they will be dealing with. The idea to creating change in an organization is to figure out which frame offers them the best opportunity for focusing all the individuals on a feasible solution. Basically they are going to have to convince some people to change their frame of reference, at least when they are thinking and talking about the changes that are coming. Once the situation or problem has been successfully reframed, the change professional will need to help people reinterpret the new framework in terms of their preferred approach. No one uses only one frame all the time, although people often show a preference for one or two frames. The structural and political are the most prevalent frames shown by people during change. Both can be used to demonstrate different analytical approaches to describe an organization. Bolman and Deal (2003) are careful to explain the steps that ought to be taken to prohibit greed and encourage morality in the politically fueled workplace. For example, negotiation can be seen as a win-win as opposed to a positional ordeal. If there is potential for both sides to benefit through bargaining, it is optimal to go about this process in such a way that does not insist on a clear win-lose outcome. Similarly, they describe ethical issues in bargaining and general organizational politics. The symbolic frame looks at the core beliefs and values that employees of organizations possess in common. These beliefs represent what people stand for and shape their identity. This frame suggests that what happens in organizations is not as important as what these phenomena mean to people. The symbolic fram e is concerned with organizational culture and the culture is significant and well-established in most companies. This frame is important because it is directly tied to the emotions of the people. Most people dont like change because it represents uncertainty. Quoting Burns, If leaders are to be effective in helping mobilize and elevate their constituencies, leaders must be whole persons, persons with full-functioning capabilities for thinking and feeling (217). In this way, the authors encourage leaders to be both aware of the importance of the power they wield, and to lead by example as an ethical individual. The end result is to learn the importance of stepping back and looking at a situation from more than a single pane of glass. This is vitally important because most of us have the tendency to look at situations or problems from a limited narrow perspective, and this hinders our ability to be effective and visionary leaders. Below is a chart that outline the reframing process. Reframing Organizational Process Frame Structural Human Resources Political Symbolic Strategic Planning Strategies to set objectives and coordinate resources Gatherings to promote participation Arenas to air conflicts and realign power Ritual to signal responsibility, produce symbols, negotiate meanings Decision Making Rational sequence to produce right decision Open process to produce commitment Opportunity to gain or exercise power Ritual to confirm values and provide opportunities for bonding Reorganizing Realign roles and responsibilities to fit tasks and environment Maintain balance between human needs and formal roles Redistribute power and form new coalitions Maintain image of accountability and responsiveness; negotiate new social order Evaluating Way to distribute rewards or penalties and control performance Process for helping individuals grow and improve Opportunity to exercise power Occasion to play roles in shared ritual Approaching Conflict Maintain organizational goals by having authorities resolve conflict Develop relationships by having individuals confront conflict Develop power by bargaining, forcing, or manipulating others to win Develop shared values and use conflict to negotiate meaning Goal Setting Keep organization headed in right direction Keep people involved and communication open Provide opportunity for individuals and groups to make interests known Develop symbols and shared values Communication Transmit facts and information Exchange information, needs, and feelings Influence or manipulate others Tell stores Meetings Formal occasions for making decisions Informal occasions for involvement, sharing feelings Competitive occasions to win points Sacred occasions to celebrate and transform the culture Motivation Economic incentives Growth and self-actualization Coercion, manipulation, and seduction Symbols and celebrations Source: Bolman Deal (1997), pp. 267-268 The uses of the multiple frames assist the leader to distinguish and recognize more broadly the problems and potential solutions available. It encourages the leader to think flexibly about their organization and opens a range of opportunities to the leader to view events from multiple angles. Lastly, employees should feel comfort in knowing that their participation in change is moving the organization toward a more healthy state. Collaboration gets all employees to work together. Their thoughts and opinions are sought and valued by leadership. Communication is important to create awareness about why the change is needed. The word about the change should be talked about daily. In most cases several times a day if needed to get stakeholder buy-in. It is imperative that this message comes fro