Career and family priorities of college students

Career and family priorities of college students This study was designed to observe the career and family priorities of college students. It was studied to determine whether men and women differ in feelings towards career and family. It was hypothesized that there would be an inverse relationship between career values and the importance of family life between men and women furthermore; female students would value the family life role, whereas male would prefer the occupational life role. It was tested with the help of Life Role Salience Scale (Amatea, Cross, Clark, Bobby, 1986). Thirty female and thirty male college students rated the scale. Statistical analysis demonstrated that women valued family more than career and men valued career more than family. INTRODUCTION: Everyday decision can be related to the essence of human. In todays society, individuals are trying to do it all-to find life satisfaction through a combination of multiple roles (e.g., career, marriage, parenting, homecare). Super (1990) theorized that ones life career is made up of many different roles occupied over the life span, including the roles of career person, home and family person, community member, student, and leisurite. However, if they are not spending their time in ways that are congruent with their values, they are unlikely to find the happiness they seek. Greehaus and Beutell (1985) theorized that the more important a role is to an individual, the more time and energy that person will invest in it, which will allow less time and energy for other roles. Super discussed participation, commitment and value expectations in relation to life roles. Participation is the amount of time spent in a role, whereas commitment and values expectations reflect the importance of th e role to the individual, and the degree to which the individual can meet their needs through that role (Super Neville, 1986). Satisfaction in life is related to role congruence, which is the amount of congruence between the level of participation in each life role and the level of commitment to and valuing of that role. For example, if an individual highly values and is highly committed to the family role, but only participates in this role 5% of the time, that individual will be less satisfied with life than an individual with greater congruence between valuing/commitment and participation. Research has demonstrated that inconsistency between role participation and role commitment may cause increased psychological distress and decreased marital quality (Voydanoff Donnelly, 1999).Graduating senior women on the Berkeley campus overwhelmingly reported that they expected to be married, to have children and to have a career. Nearly nine-tenths are planning to earn graduate degrees in law, medicine, science, or business, and half expect to earn as much if not more, than their future husbands. Simultaneously, they hope to raise two or three children each and to interrupt their careers for extended amounts of time, (Six months to twelve years) in order to care for their children. Some researchers say that women place family before career and like to spend large amount of time at home, especially when their children are young. And women with children earn significantly less than either men or women without children. College women and men are quite similar in one respect they both want partners or spouses and they both want children. Ninety percent of the women and men in one of the research say that women hope to marry and have children. But one asks these students how they plan to combine their careers, marriages, and children, striking differences appear. They wanted their husbands to work continuously. It would be strange, said one, echoing the sentiments of man y, if I was at work and he was at home. But many of the men were tentative about their future wives employment. Several men stated they wanted there wives to stay home after she had children. Clearly, both women and men see the husbands job as essential to the economic well-being and survival of their future families and the wifes job as optional-a luxury they can choose to add on or take off at will. Most of the students come from fairly traditional homes-their mothers were responsible for cooking, doing the dishes, and cleaning the house while their fathers made money and fixed things around the house. Students say that mother took care of the kids and the house while father went out to work and earn money. Extensive research indicates that college men and women endorse both achievements goals such as career development and marital goals. Many researchers have found that college men and women are increasingly similar in their goals and value orientations. Scant information is avai lable about how women and men with similarly strong and equal motivations toward the achievement of goals and the maintenance of affiliative relationships will prioritize, make decisions, and interact when achievement demands and personal relationships conflict. Students reveal ignorance of the career hazards of interruptions in employment, and lack of awareness of the family sacrifices and stresses attendant to career commitment (Catalyst, 1987; Phillips Johnston, 1985; Zuckerman, 1980). As men and women in college today think about their future and plan for work and family, they are exposed to a variety of mixed messages relating to gender. Gender socialization continues to influence young peoples identities and stereotypes from the past frame choices (e.g., Angrist Almquist, 1975; Komarovsky, 1985; Machung, 1989) for students as they move into a society which, at least theoretically, permits equality of opportunities regardless of gender. Yet, participation of women in the work force has increased significantly and attitude surveys indicate that we are much more accepting of women taking active roles in our society (e.g. Mason Lu, 1988). Nevertheless, women still face considerable occupational segregation (Blau Ferber, 1985). Research suggests that women continue to oversee management of home, children and social activities of the family, while men help with household tasks (Hochschild et al., 1989) since discrimination results in women earning less money for eq ual time at work, men can justify their non-involvement in household chores because they must provide for the family. Thus, despite many changes, todays college students have grown up in traditional families where women have had to assume the majority of household tasks, whether they worked outside of the home or not. Consequently, many traditional gender expectations are maintained by the structural inequality in our society. According to Eccles, womens career choices will differ from mens because they place more value on family and relationships. Machungs (1989) interviews with 30 graduating Berkeley seniors, illustrates the contradictions which occur between the changing role of women in society and the traditional roles we still hold for women and men in the family. The women whom Machung interviewed wanted careers, but recognized that their career paths would be interrupted by family and children. The men researcher spoke to, on the other hand, planned their career with the exp ectation of having a support system (wives) to care for their homes and families. The women in other studies (e.g., Komarovsky, 1985; Maines Hardesty, 1987; Angrist Almquist, 1975) also express tentativeness of plans for their work life, in which career planning becomes contingency planning or planning around husbands and children. Women in these studies expect to be working most of their adult life, but also expect that their family will take priority over work as needed. Sociological functionalists saw employment and family in an earlier and family life in an earlier historical period as well-integrated (Parsons and Smelser 1956; Goode 1960). Only one person, the male breadwinner, participated in the labour force; the wife/mother met childcare, house-hold upkeep, and other pattern maintenance needs. Husbands and wives were thus specialists in their roles. Societal restrictions on employment for women of childbearing age reduced work/family conflict and stress. Today in our socie ty there is almost universal support in principle for equal opportunity however; traditional attitudes regarding womens family roles persist. Employed women thus experience conflict between work outside the home and family responsibilities (Mortimer and London, 1984; Mortimer and Sorensen, 1984). Pleck (1984) finds that traditional norms promote asymmetrically permeable boundaries in the roles of men and women. For men, the work role dominates; the family is expected to accommodate to its requirements. To support their work involvement, men spend relatively little time on family work. Because the male family role inextricably entails being a good breadwinner (Bernard, 1984), male workplace success simultaneously fulfills both work and family role responsibilities. On the other hand, women are expected to stress family obligations over activities related to employment. Womens work roles often give to accommodate the family (e.g., women with young children often work part-time or inte rmittently). Thus, employment doesnt radically disrupt the traditional core wife/ mother responsibilities. In essence, employed married women have two jobs, one in the workplace, the second in the family; this normative pattern has negative implications for their socio economic attainment (Marini, 1989). Therefore what normative controls used to accomplish (i.e., a women was expected to quit work when she married or had children). Adolescence is widely recognized as a critical life stage for vocational development (Erickson 1963) and crystallization of future plans. Adolescent work and family orientations are therefore expected both to reflect changing work/ family linkages and to contribute to them in the future. Public opinion trends (McLaughlin, 1988) show that widespread behavioral change (e. g., wives employment) often precedes attitudinal change (e.g., approval of wives working). Moreover, status attainment researchers have demonstrated that educational and occupational aspirations influence attainments (Sewell and Hauser, 1975). Given these reciprocal relations of work and family structures, it is important to continually monitor trends in young peoples work attitudes and behaviors. Recent research shows that future work (Farmer, 1983; Shapiro and Crowley, 1982) and family (Affleck, Morgan, and Hays, 1989; Machung 1989; Joss Elson, Greenberger and McConchie, 1977a, 1977b; Maines and Hardest, 1987) cont inue to be central life interests for adolescent boys and girls, with both planning to spend significant portions of their lives in the labor force and in families. A major gender difference persists in that girls more often plan to work part-time and intermittently rather than full-time to accommodate competing work and family role demands (Machung, 1989; OConnell, Betz, and Kurth, 1989).Young women often anticipate that career and family life will be problematic if perused simultaneously (Machung 1989; Ward and Rubin1989; Archer1985; Crowley and shapiro1982). Tangri and Jenkinss (1986)1980 survey of 1967 college female graduates showed a dramatic increase in reported conflict between career and marriage in the post graduate years. Adolescent males ,in contrast ,see their adult work and family roles as more congruent; they see few problems in wanting both careers and families(archer1985).This is to be expected since families do not impede adult mens career(Mortimer and Sorensen 198 4 ).Maines and Hardesy (1987)conclude, young men and women anticipate participating in basically the same categories of activity(education, work, family),butà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦differ in their assumptions about the nature and extent of that participation. Men expect ability and labour market opportunities to determine their futures, while women face the problem of how to integrate these various dimensions of their lives (Maines and Hardesty, 1987). Regan and Roland (1982) investigated marginal shifts in university seniors life goals and vocational aspirations, finding that they had changed over the decade of the 1970s. Women graduating in1979 expected careers to be the primary source of future satisfaction but also indicated that family relationships were still very important. Van Maanem and associates (1977) argue that an understanding of careers should focus on the interaction among individual aspirations, family concerns, and work demands. We therefore, build a measure of lifestyle co mmitment, constructed from individuals ordering of life goals, to investigate relationships. Gender differences in work and family experiences have been a consistently important theme in work-family research (Lewis Cooper, 1999). On the basis of Greenhaus and Beutells argument about the importance of role salience to the work-family conflict (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985), many scholars have hypothesized that women experience more work-family conflict than men because of their typically greater home responsibilities and their allocation of more importance to family roles. However, more recent researchers have discovered that men and women do not differ on their level of work- family conflict (Blanchard-Fields, 1997). In those studies where gender differences were found. The unanticipated results regarding gender and the work-family conflict raise the possibility that researchers emphasis on between-gender differences may mask important within-gender variation in work- family conflict. Within-gender variation may be as critical as between-gender differences in explaining work-fa mily conflict. Gender identity does not stand separate from other identity issues. Rather, it is part of a complex psychological and social process whereby men and women adopt varying degrees of traditionally masculine and feminine roles and responsibilities (Anderson Leslie, 1991). Social and cultural factors, as well as the individuals abilities and personality characteristics, mediate the relationship between gender and work-family conflict (Farmer, 1985). Thus, individual variation within gender can provide valuable information beyond the mere knowledge of gender in order to explain differences among persons regarding work-family conflict. The range of findings in the literature highlights the need to attend to the variation in mens and womens beliefs about the importance of work and family roles, rather than to generalize to all men and to all women (Kerpelman Schvaneveldt, 1999). Understanding this variation may contribute to a more coherent and comprehensive explanation of work-family conflict. The aim of this study is to explore gender differences in work-family conflict while attending to both between- and within-gender variation in perceptions of importance of work and family life roles. In the study we considered the importance attributed simultaneously to both work and family roles by both men and women. This approach should facilitate more precise understandings and may clarify some of the mixed findings of previous research concerning gender differences in work-family conflict. Role salience was typically determined by examining commitment and values regarding work or family roles (Neville Super, 1986). It is important to note that these researchers investigated work salience or home salience without simultaneously considering the relative importance of both roles in an individuals life. Much of the research on career and family orientation has disregarded the perceived relative importance of both work and family roles. As a result, these studies do not reflect the growing recognition that work and family are interdependent spheres of life (Rapport Rapport, 1971; Westman Piotrkowski, 1999). Despite the increase in womens involvement in demanding occupations and the substantial rise of womens vocational aspirations over recent decades (Gerstein, Lichtman, Barokas,1988), mens occupational goals and aspirations frequently exceed those of women. For example, Leung, Conoley, and Schell (1994) found that women generally have lower career aspirations than do comparably talented men. During socialization to work and family roles, men are traditionally raised to pursue the provider role and women the marital/ family role (Major, 1989). Many women in the West continue to be socialized to believe that being a wife and raising a family is the first priority in life and that financial independence and career advancement is secondary (Gilbert, 1993) by this findings we can anticipate that more women than men will fit the Family profile that comprises ind ividuals who assign high importance to the family and relatively low importance to work. Similarly, if young men are raised to adopt the provider role more than young women, it is likely that more men than women fit the Work profile, and assign high levels of importance to the work role and relatively low importance to family roles. By this we can say that women will be represented most often in the Family profile and least in the Work profile. Men were expected to most frequently fit the Work profile and least frequently the Family profile. In research we assumed that womens values and commitment regarding parent and spouse roles would be higher than mens. In addition, following most research findings (Major, 1993; Schwartzberg Dytell, 1996), we anticipated that mens values and commitment to the work role would be higher than that of women. Many women are expected to feel primary obligation to the family role (Schwartzberg Dytell, 1996; Tompson Walker, 1989). Many researchers ha ve found that college men and women are increasingly similar in their goals and value orientations. Scant information is available about how women and men with similarly strong and equal motivations toward the achievement of goals and the maintenance of affiliative relationships will prioritize, make decisions, and interact when achievement demands and personal relationships conflict. Students reveal ignorance of the career hazards of interruptions in employment, and lack of awareness of the family sacrifices and stresses attendant to career commitment (Catalyst, 1987; Phillips Johnston, 1985; Zuckerman, 1980). As men and women in college today think about their future and plan for work and family, they are exposed to a variety of mixed messages relating to gender. Gender socialization continues to influence young peoples identities and stereotypes from the past frame choices (e.g., Angrist Almquist, 1975; Komarovsky, 1985; Machung, 1989) for students as they move into a society which, at least theoretically, permits equality of opportunities regardless of gender. Yet, participation of women in the work force has increased significantly and attitude surveys indicate that we are much more accepting of women taking active roles in our society (e.g.. Mason Lu, 1988). Nevertheless, women still face considerable occupational segregation (Blau Ferber, 1985). Research suggests that women continue to oversee management of home, children and social activities of the family, while men help with household tasks (Hochschild, 1989; Bernardo, Shehan, Leslie, 1987; Coverman Sheley, 1986, Berk, 1985). Since discrimination results in women earning less money for equal time at work, men can justify their non-involvement in household chores because they must provide for the family. Thus, despite many changes, todays college students have grown up in traditional families where women have had to assume the majority of household tasks, whether they worked outside of the home or not. Consequently, many traditional gender expectations are maintained by the structural inequality in our society. The purpose this study was to identity the relationship between male and female college students priorities in terms of there future goals regarding career and family. It was hypothesis that there would be an inverse relationship between career values and the importance of family life between men and women furthermore; female students would value the family life role, whereas male would prefer the occupational life role. Methods Participants In the present study there were two groups consisting of total 60 subjects of which there were thirty female students and thirty male students in the age group 17-22 years. The samples were selected randomly from different colleges. Material The instrument used for the study was life role salience scale. The scale had four different sub-scales dealing with occupational, parental, martial and homecare. Life role salience scale was assed on five point Likert scale ranging from a score of (disagree-1, somewhatdisagree-2, neitheragreenordisagree-3, somewhatagree-4, and agree-5). The purpose of this research was to find reliable information. The first section of the survey consisted of a small section of demographics, including age, gender, major, ethnicity, and academic classification. The second part of the survey contained the Life Role Salience Scales (LRSS), which measured variables of gender, career goals, and family priorities (Amatea, Cross, Clark, Bobby, 1986). The LRSS contained forty value statements regarding feelings about work and family roles. In addition, the LRSS was assessed on a five point Likert scale, ranging from a score of one (disagree) to five (agree). The scale is geared toward role reward value and role commitment level (Amatea et. al., 1986). It also identifies four major life roles as occupational, marital, parental, and homecare. The purpose of this scale is to obtain reliable information pertaining to future career and family expectations of male and female college students (Amatea et. al., 1986). Design: The present study was quasi-experimental design. The subject variable was the gender of the participant, and the dependent variable was whether or not the participant rated his or her career role or family role as more important. This is determined by the participants score on the two Occupational subsets of the LRSS and the participants score on the Parental, Marital, and Homecare subsets. The age group of 20-25 was taken for the study. This particular age group was taken so as to see where this age is where people take decisions regarding career and family. Procedure: The students who volunteered where given consent form and the instructions were read aloud and were also mentioned in the questionnaire. The participants were debriefed on the true nature of the study. Specifically, they were told that the experiment was not about the social opinions about men and women, but on the priorities of male and female career and family values. Once again, all the questions were addressed and students received contact information for any further questions that they may have. Results The data analyzed for this experiment was based on the LRSS which measured family as a combination of homecare, parental and marital roles and assessed career values through occupational role expectations (Amatea al., 1986). Means and standard deviation for all the scales, by gender are shown in Table1. The data displayed variability between males and females in regard to parental role expectations. Overall, the means between genders exhibited significance, and were detected in levels of an independent samples t-test shown in Table 1.According to the data, their was large difference between both men and women in terms of parental role scale. (t=2.45*). As a result the difference between the results of both genders on LRSS reveals that females assessed a higher value towards the parental role than males. Furthermore, the differences between gender in relation to homecare expectation was significant (t=3.17*) which suggests that female preferred homecare role more than males. These res ults support our hypothesis, which stated that there is an inverse relationship between gender, career and family values. Table 2 presents the paired samples t-test; comparisons of the means between the occupational and parental roles were significant. (t=2.63*).table3 shows the paired samples statistics of life role expectation between males. By comparing the means, their was a significant difference (t=2.15*) between male occupational and marital views. Table 1- Gender Life Role Descriptive and Independent Samples Statistics Male Female mean sd mean Sd T Occupational 39.93 3.28 37.93 3.43 2.30 Parental 37.97 4.01 40.77 4.80 2.45 Martial 34.63 4.00 40.75 4.76 5.39 Homecare 37.63 2.16 40.47 4.39 3.17 P Table 2- Female Life Role Paired Samples Statistics mean sd T Occupational Parental 37.93 3.43 2.67 40.77 4.80 Occupational Martial 37.93 3.43 2.63 40.75 4.29 Occupational Homecare 37.93 3.43 2.49 40.47 4.39 P Table 3- Male Life Role Paired Samples Statistics mean sd T Occupational Parental 39.93 3.28 2.0722 37.97 4.01 Occupational Martial 39.93 3.28 5.6119 34.63 4.00 Occupational Homecare 39.93 3.28 3.2077 37.63 2.16 P Discussion This study investigated career and family values of college students. The first purpose of this study was to identify whether or not males and females had different priorities concerning family life and occupational roles. In the present sample of thirty males and thirty females, significant differences were observed between family and career expectations. According to our analysis, females appeared to value the parental role greater than males. This finding suggests that women assess a larger significance towards family priorities than men who value career. These findings supported our hypothesis, which said that there would be a difference in career and family priorities between genders. As hypothesized, females appeared to value the parental role greater than the occupational role. Thus, females held higher expectations for having a family, rather than a career. Likewise, males showed a preference for occupation, as opposed to marriage. Consequently, males viewed having a career a s a greater importance than having a family. Overall, the results of this study highlight the tendency for females to value family priorities, as opposed to males who value career. This finding is also different from gender-role traditionalism research, which suggests that both male and female attitudes change correspondingly during college (Bryant, 2003). Furthermore, results of the present study also indicated that among females, women were more likely to value family, as opposed to career. Past research, such as the Valedictorian Project, obtained results congruent with our findings. Arnold (1993) attributed these outcomes to lowered career aspirations possibly due to female beliefs regarding family-work conflict. In other words, women lowered their career goals to avoid future work conflict and experience fewer family life demands (Arnold, 1993). This finding suggested that external factors (such as occupational stress) tend to lower womens desire to achieve career goals. On the other hand, additional research indicated that universal work expectations were common between genders, in that both males and females contained aspirations in regard to high education, work, and family values (Maines Hardesty, 1987). Similar studies also suggested that women, who pursued high-level careers and contained greater occupational aspirations, appeared to value high quality career roles over family roles (Faver, 1982). These findings, although they were incongruent with our results, suggested that women and men valued career equally. Many studies have emphasized that womens career and domestic choices are situational and change over time, that women negotiate their positions and form ideologies in accordance with various circumstances encountered over their life courses (Gerson 1985; Hochschild with Machung 1989; Jacobs 1989). While not denying the validity of this position, the study suggests that many women students, even before they have had any experience with marri age, motherhood and extra domestic work are incompatible and that husbands are reliable lifelong providers -that help to shape their core identities we suggest that these ideologies influence the choices and decisions, students make as they go through college and enter the world of work, which in turn condition and limit other choices they may wish to make as the circumstances of their lives change. Ultimately, an individuals priorities navigate that person throughout life. A persons values guide him or her in attaining future goals. The very nature of human beings is dependent on critical decisions based on their priorities, which result in life roles. Thus, value lies in identifying gender priorities, in which future human behavior may be predicted. Consequently, future research on the career and family values of college undergraduates is needed to investigate how males and females of different ethnic backgrounds value career and family role expectations, whether or not an increas ed sample size would affect the results of the present study, and the influence of college environmental factors (size, religious affiliation, and location) on gender values. Finally, eliminating media tactics geared toward unrealistic gender stereotypes would decrease the gender-role social pressures exerted on males and females. By projecting realistic and non-traditional attitudes, both men and women would expand their life role opportunities. Womens achievement orientations are clearly not less than males. But women do not feel they must sacrifice their family roles to achieve the arenas of education and work. They anticipate that future family roles will be more important to them than males. Males see their future educational and work as more important than family. Although women expect to earn less than men, they have similarly high expectations for income as their male peers. However, we also find many differences between males and females which imply that traditional gender roles may be influencing plans for their futures. Of particular interest is the gender difference in self-perception. Although females perform well in academics than male they are likely to see themselves as less able than their male. The difference in self-perception is particularly perplexing. These findings support a traditional gender socialization model in which males and all things masculine are valued and females and all things feminine are devalued. Women may be socialized to devalue their own achievements whereas males, despite lower abilities would be pressured to overestimate their abilities. Therefore, responses such as these may be appropriate for both young men and women of marriageable age if they live in a world where men are expected to be superior (Eccles, 1987). We also find that men and women have very different expectations form roles in the home and work place. Although both sexes feel that a good marriage and family are important, men do not feel it is important for them to maintain household activities. Furthermore, males hold more traditional values about women combining work and family, and are more likely to wan their wives to remain at home. Likewise, women place more importance on hous ehold roles, expect to be employed for fewer hours, and are more likely than male

Technology Needs in the Special Education Secondary Classroom Essay

In secondary school settings the use of technology within the special education classroom is lacking. Special education class rooms and resource settings utilize only the basic, out of date technology that has been in use for many years. Typically the only available technology made available to special education or resource settings are the overhead projector, television, and tape recorder. According to the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (2009), seventy-five percent of students with disabilities rarely or never use computers. General education classes are more frequently equipped with current technology items such as smart boards, iPads, computers, projectors, write pads, and smart pens. Special education students, like their non-disabled peers, are learning 21st Century skills in the general education setting using 21st Century technology. Special education students needing remediation or small group instruction are hindered by the lack of available technological devices. According to King-Sears, Mainzer, and Swanson (2011) technology can be universally beneficial for all students as a vehicle for learner engagement or conveyance of instructional content, and it can promote participation, learning, and performance by students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who used computer-based instruction made improvements using technology that matched their learning needs, (King-Sears, Mainzer, and Swanson, 2011). Many students with disabilities have problems with mobility and use of their arms and hands. In classrooms where technology is obsolete it is impossible for these students to obtain educational success. Other students with emotional or social disabilities find it hard to convey... ...cation Technology, 24(1), 1-13. Demski, J. (2008). And access for all. T.H.E. Journal, December 2008, 30-35. Frank, F.X., & Xin, J.F. (2011). Using the smart board in teaching social stories to students with autism. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43, 18-24. Haywood, K., Johnson, L.F., Levine, A., & Smith, R.S. (2010). Key emerging technologies for Elementary and secondary education. Education Digest, 76(1), 36-40. LaFee, S. (2010). Taking the i21 initiative. Education Digest, November 2010, 47-51. King-Sears, M. E., Mainzer, L., & Swanson C. (2011). Technology and literacy for adolescents with disabilities. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(8), 569-578. Okolo, C., & Smith, S. J. (2010). Response to intervention and evidence-based practices: where does technology fit? Learning Disability Quarterly, 33(4), 257-272.

Alternative Power Solutions Essay -- Technology Electricity Essays

Alternative Power Solutions Our society has become reliant upon technology and continues to increase with time. Computers and many other electronic devices are used in the houses and educational applications. These technologies depend on the energy companies to function. The quality of power that the consumer receives is determined by the area that they live. There are many different ways that these companies go about providing energy. The largest form of energy in the United States is coal. Coal is a general term for a wide variety of solid materials that are high in carbon content. Most coal is burned by electric utility companies to produce steam to turn their generators. Some coal also is used in factories to provide heat for buildings and industrial processes; and a special, high-quality coal is turned into metallurgical coke for use in making steel. (Yergin and Stobaugh) Of the 1.2 billion tons of coal expected to be extracted in the United States this year, more than 80 percent will be used to generate electricity. Indeed, nationwide, about 52 percent of the electricity generated in the country are produced by coal-fired power plants. (Reeves) There is a very large quantity of coal that is produced in America that results in a low cost. However coal plants yield a by-product of sulfur dioxide particles, nitrogen oxide and other airborne toxins. These gases are referred to as green house gases that produce acid rain and global warming. The main reason for the use of this form of energy is the expense. Coal is a very cheap form of energy and is a very plentiful natural resource but is not the best energy source. Another way to make electrical energy is to use a nuclear reactor. â€Å"Nuclear Energy ... ...There is a definite need to refine this technology to make it more marketable to the consumer to compete with other energy companies. This technology has a great potential for getting rid of tacky power lines, transformers, meter boxes and other devices used to transmit power. Losing power has to be one of the most inconvenient things to have happen. For example: a storm comes through the night before (insert some big event) and all of the power in the area is knocked out. That morning would be a nightmare if it was ever to happen but I am sure it happens every now and then. So why should the customer rely on factors that are beyond control? If customers buy a fuel cell they will have a self-sustained power supply that is reliable and safe. In conclusion, the fuel cell is the best form of alternative energy source and is the most feasible among all of them.

Vietnam: A History :: essays research papers

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Vietnam War, to me, is the most interesting war in American history. As someone once said, it is like a â€Å"shroud of a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma.† Before reading this book I had a general knowledge of the war. I knew about the communist insurgents, the Gulf of Tonkin, Saigon and Ho Chi Mihn. I knew about Presidents Johnson and Nixon, posttraumatic stress disorder and demonstrations. What I did not fully understand was why. Why were the North Vietnamese so resilient? Why did the US make such poor judgment? Why were we really there? What was Vietnam’s history prior to our arrival?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"History is an organic process, a continuity of related events, inexorable yet not inevitable.† (pg 11) The roots of America’s involvement in Vietnam were nurtured by what Professor Daniel Bell has called America’s concept of its own â€Å"exceptionalism.† George Berkeley, an Anglican bishop and philosopher stated in 1726 as he departed from England to America, â€Å"Westward the course of empire.† The phrase, ‘manifest destiny,’ was coined in 1845 to promote the annexation of Texas, originally, and to extend America to its natural boundaries. Promoters of the Homestead Act sought to open new territory for small farmers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Idealists such as Walt Whitman intended to project America’s â€Å"happiness and liberty† to the ancient cultures of Asia, â€Å"facing west from California’s shores, inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound†¦the land of migrations, look afar†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Around the turn of the century, America did grab Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, but it seemed that America kept a hands off approach with Asia, which the Europeans already had their hands on. There was little inclination for America to dominate foreign territories, since Americans were former British Colonial rebels. So Cuba was granted independence, and bids by Haiti and San Domingo to become American dominions were rejected. America, unlike Europe, refrained from plundering China, however, the ‘pacification’ program in the Philippines foreshadowed US strategy in Vietnam. America’s expansionism was almost evangelical, â€Å"as if the United States had been singled out by some divinity for the salvation of the planet.† (pg13) After World War II, FDR stressed that international post-war peace and stability would depend on America’s global leadership, and Woodrow Wilson pledged to â€Å"make the world safe for democracy.† Meanwhile, American missionaries began pouring into China. Many prominent Americans envisioned a Christian China with crosses on every hill and valley.

Name of case

Texas Instruments (TI), a high-tech semiconductor giant, gunning for the technology boom, went up like a rocket, and proceeding in the wake of the technology bust, came down like the stick. The business free fall jolted TI. Its giant feet, it figuratively reduced, to fit in their customers’ shoes. Fitting in their shoes is renewing customer awareness, and walking in them is focusing on their happiness. BTS USA, a global supplier, trained the TI’s executives and managers in learning how to walk toward the customer-centric direction. Ironically, the quickest walk from TI to its customers is on that road that threads through the heart of the front-line employees – the ones that should have walked first in the customers’ shoes. Review/Analysis of the Case The nostalgic expression â€Å"customers waited in line† conjures up a unique image of a cross of Pied Piper and Lady Luck, both legendary personifications of power and fortune – the twin business goodies coming out of the technology boom. At its height, TI had its hands full of such goodies. The Pied Piper’s power was in his magic pipe that lured rats to follow him in a long line. TI needed a jolt to wake up to the call of those customers that waited in line who, unlike Pied Piper’s rats, were people with human wants and needs to satisfy. TI needed a jolt to wake up to the call of its Lady Luck who, in the wake of the technology bust, was running out of luck. Then, BTS USA, a global supplier of computer-based simulations of learning, came in and played the role of a hero. The Training and Development play was a typical example of a book-line theory put on a real-life practice. That is, an external change (technology bust), stirred an organization (TI), that egged on a problem (dissatisfied customers), which required a consultant (BTS USA), in carrying out the following basic process (training and development): Diagnosing needs, gathering data, planning actions, building teams, developing groups, and conducting evaluations (Davis, 1981, p. 261). Analysis of Findings In real world, TI would need all pair of hands to give its customers a lift, and all pairs of feet to walk in their shoes. To satisfy customers, product quality and price should meet their expectations, and services should match their perceptions. Product quality and price is performance-driven while customer service, on the other hand, is behavior-driven. Training and Development seems to emphasize behavioral processes rather than job performance (Davis, 1981, p.271). The pairs of hands and feet – that produce products with quality and price the customers expect – belong to the front-line employees. Therefore, their level of training priority must be stamped: High. Recommendations TI would achieve competitive advantage in real world by totally satisfying its customers. It would require organization-wide changes that would transcend major traditional turfs with diverse conflicting goals: Marketing aims at increasing volume, Production, minimizing cost, and Finance, maximizing profit. Amid the radical change, Training and Development, according to Davis (1981, p.257), plays a vital role as a â€Å"change agent† that breaks through, if not breaks down, the organization’s turfs, stimulates sweeping changes across-the-board, at the same time, rolls those turfs together into one harmonious work force. Summary and Conclusions TI’s ultimate climb to the top must be steered with durable ROI at the bottom. What awaits TI at the summit is a highly coveted business trophy – customers-waiting-in-line reality. To earn such trophy needs no magic from Pied Piper and Lady Luck. TI must only enlist all pairs of corporate hands in a â€Å"Total Customer Satisfaction Boot Camp.† After fitting up to great shape, all the pairs of corporate feet would be let loose to walk in their customers’ shoes. Walking together hand-in-hand while commanding a view of the top, TI’s climbers and their customers alike, would loudly cheer, â€Å"We’re Number One!† References Davis, K. (1981). Human behavior at work: Organizational behavior. Arizona. McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Comparison of the Guggenheim Museum, New York and the National Gallery, London

Using the Physical, Economic, Socio-cultural -political and Technological Contexts of Building attack describe and analyze the Guggenheim museum in New York designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in comparing with the National Gallery in London by William Wilkins. Throughout history, galleries have exhibited originative architectural signifier at its best. In fact the architecture of many galleries can be considered to be a piece of art itself. Both the Guggenheim Museum in New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the National Gallery in London, designed by William Wilkins, are indispensable edifices in architectural history. Despite being stylistically in resistance the aim of both these constructions is to expose adult male ‘s extreme originative accomplishments. By comparing and contrasting their economic, cultural, political and historical fortunes, I will analyze the architectural similarities and differences between the National Gallery, a gallery of the nineteenth century and the Guggenheim, a gallery of the twentieth century. The National Gallery and the Guggenheim museum were designed and built in several cultural conditions that immensely influenced their development and building. The art and civilization of 1960 ‘s New York was blossoming into a period of booming Modernism and Minimalism. The Guggenheim Museum presents a brilliant rendering of the architectural manners of its epoch with ‘it ‘s snail- like exterior and coiling incline inside ‘ ( Wilkinson 2009 ) . The Guggenheim separated itself from New York ‘s conventional constructions of ‘skyscrapers and brownstones, of consecutive avenues and rectangular metropolis blocks, this is a construction based on circles and spirals ‘ ( Wilkinson 2009 ) . The Guggenheim museum was built to house the Guggenheim aggregation and was designed to be an iconic museum ‘unlike any other ‘ ( Wilkinson 2009 ) , nevertheless, the National Gallery in London was ab initio built as a position symbol. In the early 19th century, king George IV recognised that art galleries were being built and opened to the populace in legion European metropoliss. In 1824 George Iv, non desiring the state to look inferior, persuaded the English authorities to buy, the first abode of The National Gallery, the house of the merely deceased art aggregator John Julius Angerstein. Angerstein ‘s House was ridiculed by the imperativeness due to the size of the edifice in comparing to other European Galleries of its epoch. Therefore, in 1831 it was determined by Parliament to build a new edifice for the National Gallery on the site of the King ‘s Mews in Charing Cross, on Trafalgar Square. The location of the construction is a important factor for both undertakings. During the eighteenth century there was a huge societal and cultural divide between the citizens of London. The site of King ‘s Mews in Charing Cross, on Trafalgar Square was chiefly selected to enable the National Gallery to be accessed by citizens of all societal categories. Situated between the affluent West End and low-level countries to the E, the location was highly of import to the undertaking. However, due to a barracks and a workhouse being located straight behind the Kings Mews, the site simply allowed the construction to be one room in breadth. Besides the porticoes on the eastern and western surfaces of the facade were erected to let entree to the public right of manner that ran through the edifice significantly impacting its design. On the other manus, Frank Lloyd Wright was clearly displeased by New York being the location for the Guggenheim as ‘to Wright the metropolis was overbui lt, overpopulated, and lacked architectural virtue ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) . Wright was more accustomed to planing architecture for distant countries of the United States as about all of his old edifices had non been located in the hum of a big metropolis. Nevertheless, Wright decided on the current site of Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets as its propinquity to Central Park was indispensable. Wright believed that Central Park was every bit near as you could acquire to the natural universe in New York and that it offered a sanctuary from the bunco and hustle of the metropolis. There is a immense contrast in exterior architectural design and manner between the outsides of Wilkins and Wrights constructions. Willard huntington wrights is non merely placed close to the most natural portion of New York but besides draws its inspiration from nature. ‘The Guggenheim Museum is an incarnation of Wright ‘s efforts to render the built-in malleability of organic signifiers in architecture ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) . The exterior focal point of the museum is a strengthenedconcrete spiral, smaller at the underside and broadening towards the top making a in writing, shell like exterior swirling towards the sky. Wright ‘s construction appears to be reminiscent of an upside-down zikkurat as the shell like outside of this Guggenheim is similar to the consecutive phases of the Mesopotamian temples that day of the month back from the 3rd millenary B.C. This may be due to Rebays petition for Wright to construct a â€Å" temple of the humanistic disciplines â₠¬  as referenced by Jane Turner in the Grove Dictionary of Art, Vol. 33. Or possibly Wright even took inspiration from the Tower of Babel due to the spiritual referencing in his instructions. Furthermore, William Wilkins design besides looks back in clip for inspiration with its neo-classical columnsand stick outing portico. Wilkins construction is influenced by the Classical period of Greek and Roman architecture. This typical manner is clearly present in the galleys munificent portico, a porch taking to the entryway of the edifice covered by a roof held up by columns. The Galleries columns are carved with a fluted ( grooved ) shaft and excessive decorations that flare upwards and resemble leaf and flowers, such as the acanthus leaves, all typical characteristics of a Corinthian column. Wilkins hoped his construction to be a â€Å" Temple of the Arts, fostering modern-day art through historical illustration † . However, the committee was blighted by frugalness and via media and therefore the eventful construction was, about on all histories, considered a failure. Willard huntington wrights edifice, however, was a great success. His apposition of the gyrating focal point with the sweeping canopy that extends above the entryway truly expresses Wright ‘s alone perceptual experience on modernist architecture ‘s rigorous geometry. The inside of these edifices reinforces the architectural manners of their epoch. While the National Gallery was being designed in the early nineteenth century Neo-classical architecture was in manner. The Neoclassic manner consumes this edifice from the high ceilings to the cosmetic trim on the walls, reflecting the regal, classical manner of art work on show in the gallery. Even when sing the edifice today we can still detect the wonderful refined inside informations of the inside of the rotunda. This cardinal characteristic of the edifice reminded me of the Vatican Gallery in Rome with its gold leaved carvings, delicate mosaics and interior Corinthian marble columns, giving this breath taking room a Romanesque feel. On the other manus, the Guggenheims inside is merely every bit dramatic as its outside and is clearly influenced by the bold modern art that was traveling on show in the gallery. The spiral of his exterior construction is mirrored in the built-in 400m coiling rotunda, a kind of modernist version of the colossal staircases found in refined and epicurean American constructions. When planing the Guggenheim, Wright decided to take an unconventional attack to gallery design by taking visitants to the top of the coiling construction in the lift and allow them get down walking down towards the issue of the gallery, forestalling them from holding to.retrace their journey and walk back down the coiling when go forthing. The artworks themselves are displayed in separate sections along the uninterrupted incline, ‘ divided like the membranes in citrous fruit fruit, with self-contained yet mutualist subdivisions ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) besides comparable to ‘a nautilus shell, with uninterrupted infinites fluxing freely one into another. ‘ ( Drutt 2014 ) . However, some critics have complained that the organic form of the edifice did non accommodate its intent. The coiling stairway forced the visitants to ever see the graphics from an angle an d the walls were reasonably low for a museum blockading several of the pictures from being displayed right. On the other manus, the terrazzo floors o f the unfastened rotunda allows visitants to unambiguously see several subdivisions of work on different degrees and from different angles. Additionally both the Guggenheim and the National Gallery boast a dome on top of their edifices, an architectural design dating back to the epoch of Classical Roman architecture, such as the pantheon. Although both domes are made out of glass to convey visible radiation into the edifices, Frank Lloyd Wright use this big sweep of glass to do the construction experience unfastened to the elements and nature and to farther set up a sense of tranquility in such a helter-skelter metropolis. Time both evolves and takes it ‘s toll on architectural constructions. Both the Guggenheim and the National Gallery have had their just portion of extensions and redevelopments. During the 2nd universe war the gallery sustained serious harm from the London bombardment foraies, go forthing many of the exhibition suites necessitating extended fix. The construction had to finally travel under Restoration when it re-opened after the war, chiefly to reconstruct suites and to take the Tarpaulin and corrugated Fe that had been used as a last resort to replace subdivisions of the roof. In 1965 the Guggenheim was besides renovated, nevertheless, this was non due to damage but to suit the museums spread outing lasting aggregation in the little rotunda. On the other manus, Wrights original program for a tower was n't realized until the Restoration and extension of 1968, finishing Wright ‘s vision 35 old ages after get downing building. The National Gallery besides acquired an extens ion in 1991 designed in by postmodernist designers, Robert VenturiandDenise Scott Brown. This edifice in comparing with the deluxe embroidery of the original construction, was much plainer and simpler taking evident inspiration from Dulwich Picture Gallery. The Gallery was designed to make a focal point by alining the Galleries to make an extending corridor, ornamented with columns that draws the oculus to the focal point. Nevertheless, the monetary value of Waless disliked the extension abundantly and openly made a address comparing it to a â€Å" monstrouscarbuncleon the face of a much-loved and elegant friend † . Furthermore, in 1992 the Guggenheim was renovated once more due to miss of insularity doing condensation jobs. This was fixed by repairing strips of C fiber inside the concrete construction of this edifice to organize an shield of protection. Harmonizing to Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times, due to the hapless quality of building the edifice was ‘stripped of every bit many as 11 beds of pigment, and experts conducted a 17-month study of 1000s of clefts of changing magnitude in the frontage. ‘ Changes in use The Guggenheim Museum and the London National Art Gallery are first-class constructions in their ain right and both represent a turning point in the Architectural history of their civilization and typology.Published: September 10, 2007 New York Times The Restorers’ Art of the Invisibleâ€Å" A address by HRH The Prince of Wales at the hundred-and-fiftieth day of remembrance of the Royal Institute of British Architects ( RIBA ) , Royal Gala Evening at Hampton Court Palace † .

Project life cycle Essay

Projects are the way through which work gets done. Whether big, small, simple or complex, projects possess various common characteristics. Firstly, they have a start and an end. They do not run to infinity. Secondly, they are all unique. They may resemble other earlier projects but they are unique in various variables. These variables include their environment, period and resources. Thirdly, they lead to the creating deliverables. Finally, they all have resources assigned to them. The resources may either be part-time, full-time or a combination of the two. Projects are undertaken by all organisations. Their management can be done using a common range of project management procedures. Similar project management procedures can be used irrespective of the project being undertaken. Projects must have a definition and a plan. They should also have procedures for management of risks, quality, status and scope. Despite projects being unique, common lifecycle models are applied in building the deliverables. But most importantly, scalable and common project management processes are applied effectively on all projects. Regardless of whether one is managing a small or large project, various leadership styles are used. It is very important to understand these styles and their effect in order to become a better and more flexible leader. The most common styles are autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic Laissez-faire and people oriented types of leadership. Others include servant, task-oriented, transactional and transformational. In a project environment, one requires flexibility in these leadership styles since the various phases have got their specific demands that may be different from the other phases. General leadership styles and skills Project managers must show two leadership styles: transformational and transactional. He should give guidance to the team by identifying their role and responsibility in the project. He should give inspiration to them in order to finish the project’s tasks. It has been established that people with outstanding leadership skills turn out to be good in management of projects too. This is because they are visionary, motivating and can bring people together. Above all, they have great accomplishments (Bryman, 1986). Project managers must be competent in the project’s technology and generally how to manage a business entity. This will lead to mutual respect and confidence between him and the other members of the team and administration. Management skills as well as business management competence are essential. The project manager must use sound management skills consistent with the organisation’s management style. The project manager must be alert, quick, a good listener, versatile and above all very flexible. He should be able to adjust any current plan to a better one. Being flexible means having a tough willingness in changing plans to acknowledge current realities for the sake of the project’s successful completion. The project manager must be of good ethics and full of energy. He should adjust to working for over forty hours per week. He should also be always available to the various people involved and interact with them. A good project manager must always be interested in details and possess great optimism with a strong belief that it can be done. He should not assume anything he is not sure of. He should always speak his mind and mean it. In addition, he should regard others as allies and not foes. Respect for other people and acknowledgement of good performance is important. He must always see the bigger picture and keep that perspective. Moreover, he should be interested in knowing why things have to be one in a certain way and not the other. Above all, a good project manager must be both a manager and a leader for a project to be completed successfully (Glanz, 2002). A good project manager must also be a good problem solver. He should be able to handle a situation where he is presented with tough choices to make. Problem solving will involve recognition of the problem and acknowledging that endeavouring to solve the problem is worthwhile. This has to be done with a positive attitude. The next step is defining the problem and clearly understanding it. The third step involves generating alternative solutions for the problem. Finally, one must narrow down the alternatives after a thorough examination of each of them, and then decide (Heerkens, 2001). The project manager must foster teamwork among the members. The most important resource in a project is the team. It is about the people one works with. This team can comprise members from various different departments of the organisation or just one department. The recommended project team comprises members drawn from different organisations. The team has the following responsibilities: To understand the work to be accomplished Planning of the activities in detail if need be Completion of the work assigned within the timeframe, budget, and the desired quality Informing the manager about scope changes, risk, issues and quality concerns Proactive communication of status and management of expectations. A team is formed by people who understand their role. They are led by a project manager who is interested in the success of the project. The project manager is vital. He must display a flexible approach in his leadership style (Lewis, 1995). Leadership style and skills through the phases Regardless of the complexity or scope, all projects go through various phases during their lives. There is initiation where output and essential factors of success are defined. The planning phase, whose principal characteristic involves a break down of the project into smaller manageable units. Next is the execution phase where the planned project is carried out. Finally there is exit phase marking the project completion (Visit Ask, 2004). Initiation This is the initial stage of the project where a clear definition of the project’s scope is done alongside the approach to be employed in delivering the required output. This is where the project management team is chosen basing on their experiences and skills. The project leader must be very flexible to allow a change or overhaul of the scope if need arises. His leadership style should be such that it allows contributions of all the team members for the project to run smoothly. This will make use of the various skills, experiences and talents that will go a long way in delivering a high quality output. Planning This stage involves identifying in detail all the tasks and assigning them. It also involves analyzing risk and defining a criterion for successfully completing every deliverable. This is where the definition of the governing process is done. Identification of stakeholders, period of reporting and the channels are agreed. Business Plans are used in this stage. The project manager should be able to assign tasks and responsibilities to the right people basing on their experience, skills and talents. The project leader should be flexible enough not think he is the most knowledgeable and experienced of all the team members. He should do more of coordination since he is good among equals. The governance process of the project should also avoid rigidity to allow free participation of all members of the team. In as much as it is important to adhere to the time schedule, this should not compromise the quality of the output. The team should therefore have an allowance within its stipulated completion of the various tasks. This will involve extending the time for some tasks while reducing it for others. The plans used in the project should also have contingency alternatives to be used in case of failure of the original. This should be done in consultation with other team members and stakeholders and of course the client. Execution and controlling This is where one ensures proper control and execution of project activities. During this phase, the earlier plan is implemented in solving the particulars of the project’s specifications. When developing the product and system, a design that results in a particular set of product requirements is made. Measurement of the convergence is done using prototypes, tests and a review. During the execution stage, a plan for the final testing, producing and support is made by the various groups in the organisation. Some of the tools employed during this phase include Milestones Reviews and Business Plan. This is a very sensitive area that needs proper teamwork. Models and prototypes are developed and tested. There should be flexibility to allow improvement of the prototype. Again, the skills, talents and experience of the team members should be used for the sake of a good quality project output. Closure This is the final stage of the project. The manager ensures the project is completed properly. A formal project review report is written. It involves the client officially accepting the product, comparing the client specifications with those of the product. Other contents include a reward to the team, lessons learned, release of the project’s resources and an official closing notification to the top management. Conclusion Project management is an important aspect of many organisations. It is therefore important that these projects deliver their desired results within the stipulated period of time. This calls for teamwork among the stakeholders, clients and the project team members. Most importantly, the project team needs to work together. The team leader must therefore ensure the team works together harmoniously. He should therefore adopt a flexible style in leadership to accommodate all the skills, talents and experiences of the members. This will ensure that good quality output is delivered at the end of the project.