Music of world culture Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Music of world culture - Term Paper Example Moreover, they were sung by neighbors and the communities, when there were major events (Dzuris 331). In explaining folk music, I have not found an accepted definition, but this does not mean that it does not have a definition, but it ranges with the understanding of the subject. Folk music can be described as the music for and of the people, a nation, a community, or a subculture that carries messages with specific meaning regarding the people’s life and experiences (Dunaway and Beer 7-10). Music in the Western World In reference to the North America, folk music has been there before the arrival of the immigrant from Europe and later from Africa. The European immigrant brought with them ballads and other acoustic instruments. Folk music has been practiced for centuries, was, and is still referred to as the music of the masses. In the 17th century, most of the people in Europe were peasants, and folk songs transferred stories of event through oral narration. By this time, fo lk music was rarely performed musically. There composition was of simple form and represented the identity of the poorer in the communities (Dunaway and Beer 7- 17). In the period when Christianity movement started in Europe, folk music was at the centre stage of the expansion of the religion. It was highly associated with heathenism due its singing styles. Thereafter, folk music became more popular in society in sensitizing the masses in the start of the romantic period. People like Haydn, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky identified themselves with folk music. During this time, there were no cities and people lived in villages and urban communities. And with these settings, folk songs were recognized as a treasure and people identified themselves with the different styles of folk music. Each political beliefs, ethnicity, race, and religion had identified itself with specific style of folk song. Therefore, folk music played an important role in passing on the culture and the history of a particular community or country from one generation another. By the end of 19th century, folk songs had become unpopular in Western Europe and later in Eastern Europe and North America, during this time only the older individuals knew and sung folk songs. Still in the century, cities were established and people were moving from the rural areas to urban cities and this resulted to diminishing of the folk traditional music. Nevertheless, urban folklorists stimulated by a person known as Thomas Percy a British, Johann Gottfried, a German and an American by the name Francis James collected and later published volumes where they emphases on the different age of the folk songs and their meaning in the society. However, there work did not save the diminishing trend of folk songs and the music had little attention by this time. In 1899, Cecil Sharp an English scholar toured various communities in Britain collecting folk songs. He later established a society to preserve the songs, dances and other traditions of communities at that time (Dunaway and Beer 17-23). In the late 19th century, the documentation of folk songs started and more of the songs were recorded on a wax cylinder, and folk songs and other traditions were consolidated and shared far and wide as opposed to being confined within the borders of a community. Later in the same period, some new tradition begun to emerge in the urban districts where the

Medina highschool footbridge design Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Medina highschool footbridge design - Coursework Example The design of the bridge has to consider various elements such as the weight of the materials, foundation as well as the hydrology of the area. In the design, safety of the student is given the highest priority, but the structural competency is a necessity. This report encompasses the decision of the design, the materials used as well as the specifications for the design. The design that is to be chosen has to be ergonomic, economically viable and purposeful to the users. The nature of the design has to incorporate the readily available skill, material as well as funds, while ensuring the safety of the users and constructors. The design process has to ensure that the final design shall support the weight of the users, consist of measures against failures in overturning and sliding and also have features that can be repaired when need be. This report shall analyze possible designs and the incorporation of designs to carter for the needs of the community it is to be designed. Introduct ion Bridges are structures that are constructed to ease connectivity over a given area, while providing safe passage for the community in that particular region. The bridge is a construct that is cheap and solves the problem of congestion, in some cases the bridges are an attraction site based on the engineering done on the bridge. A bridge is mostly defined as a structure built to connect two points, usually built overhead. The bridge may be built over land or water depending on the needs and established necessity for the bridge. A bridge in the Medina high school area provides the students with a communication channel that minimizes the risks they would face in travelling using the road and tram network in the area near the school. From the behaviour patterns of the school and traffic, the need for a bridge in the region is justified. The morning and evening hours in the Medina region is under a lot of traffic with people reporting to their working stations and coming back home in the evenings. The considerations in the overall design of the bridge should include the mode of transport commonly used by students. Students are prone to using scooters, bicycles and skateboards. These factors should be considered in designing the pedestrian bridge. The following were the suggestions made by the class on the problem of the footbridge in the Medina area: Rationale for the development: The problem 1. Developments in retailing Whereas 100 years ago, all the major towns on the Isle of Wight were effectively self-contained, with examples of all types of shops (for example, butchers, bakers, grocers, clothing, hardware etc), modern supermarkets have tended to concentrate in the Newport town area. Part of the result of this has been to kill off small retail shops in the smaller towns and villages; even the general village store is having a hard time. We see examples of this when we visit Ventnor and Shanklin on the Isle of Wight (Geotechnics) field course. Not only are t he prices in the larger supermarkets better than in small shops (due to turnover), parking in many of the small towns is difficult. It is therefore important that people have access to Newport for their basic shopping. However, room for car parking is exhausted, and for those without cars, the journey to and from Newport is inconvenient, irregular and slow. In bad

Benefits of Early Intervention Social Work

Benefits of Early Intervention Social Work A definition of Early Intervention can be to engage in childrens and young peoples life at the earliest possible stage, regardless the fact that a problem has already emerged or not, using mainstream/ universal or targeted/ specialist services. In the first place, Early Intervention programmes provide and support children and young people with appropriate equipment (social, emotional, physical) to start or continue their life with the best chances becoming better parents in the future, for example Childrens Centre for Early Years, SEAL and PATH programmes in Primary school, Life Skill Training programmes in Secondary schools. In the second place, Early Intervention programmes provide support as soon as there is evidence that a child is or may be in need, so the situation need to be resolved at the earliest possible preventing more harm. For example, Safer Families Project where domestic abuse and conflicts are present in the family without reaching the social care intervention thresh old, Family Nurse Partnership provided to the first time mothers meeting the criteria, Functional Family Therapy for young people with early symptoms of behaviour disorders. The programmes can be offered to either all children or targeted ones. Early Intervention does not refer only to Early Years as childrens and young peoples needs may occur during several stages in their life, for example during transition or transfer from the primary to secondary settings, after a difficult and life changing situation like a death of a parent or teenage pregnancy. According to the literature, Early Intervention provides beneficial outcomes to children, family and community; maximizes the childs and familys chances for success, provides lasting benefits in childrens life, prevents persistent social problems, social exclusion and damaging parenting and is cost-effective with long term public savings (Allen, 2011, Pithouse 2007, Barnes and Freude-Lagevardi 2002; Early Intervention: Securing good outcomes for all children and young people, 2010). In a sense it is about break in a causal chain (Pithouse, 2007), and we can achieve this by making children ready for school, ready for secondary school and ready for life (Allen, 2011; Allen and Smith 2008). It is, also, mentioned in Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability (2011) that key aspects for childrens future success are the early identification of a problem and timely engagement and support. Moreover, independent reviews (Munro 2011, Field 2011, Allen 2 011, Tickell 2011) have concluded that it is important to provide support at the earliest possible opportunity so as to improve a childs life. Even if a problem appears later than early years, early intervention means to deal with the problems as soon as possible. Factors for effective Early Intervention According to Doyle et al (2007) quality, dosage (intensity), timing, service orientation, differentiated benefits (able to recognize risks and address childrens multiple problems) and continuity of support (long lasting) are basic factors making Early Intervention programmes effective. Pithouse (2007) adds to this list that Early Intervention programmes need to be preventative, protective, holistic, flexible, no stigmatizing and able to build trust and provide long term beneficial outcomes. Holistic Considering Early Intervention, we need to take into account children and young peoples context that is family and community. For example, in several cases, school attendance and behaviour are connected to issues related to family, school and community factors like parents/ carers out of employment, young carers, looked after children, high rate of community crime or gang activity. There are little chances to reach our outcomes, if we try to resolve attendance and punctuality concerns in one dimension omitting the multidimensional aspect of the problem. According to Taylors recommendation (2012) for improving overall school attendance, we need to focus on and identify vulnerable pupils since primary school years (even nursery and reception), who raise concern and support parents who fail to get their child to school regularly. According to the Government (Gove, 2012), the main concept is to get students into good habits of attendance from an early age; which along with punctuality are important skills for their future professional life and benchmarks to maximise the opportunities to achieve their potential. Long Lasting In Early Intervention: Next Steps (Allen, 2011), a number of programmes are presented which have been evaluated by specific standards and selected by their effectiveness and cost effectiveness. Still there is work to be done to improve, evaluate and apply them to national level. In general, regarding early intervention we need to wait for the long term effects to be present. For example, as Pithouse (2007) mentions the effectiveness of Sure Start pre-school programmes cannot be evaluated as the Government will replace them with Childrens Centre services. It is, though, important support to be provided after the intervention stage is completed to maintain the benefits and positive outcomes (Doyle, 2007). Preventative According to Pithouse (2007), prevention is better than cure. It is well stated in Allen (2011), that English policies have funded millions in later intervention; however early intervention is cost effective with pay offs. It is also summarized in Making Sense of Early Intervention: A Framework for Professionals (Centre of Social Justice, 2011) that there is a need of commitment to prevention. Timing Moreover, intervening early to childrens life provide better benefits in long term. Considering Early Years, early childhood is a key period for cognitive, brain and emotional development and if issues are not resolved during early years then later attempts are less likely to succeed (Allen and Smith, 2008). However, Government may be slightly oriented to Early Years (Her Majestys Treasury et al., 2006) we need to focus and engage early in childrens life and all professionals working with children, young people and families need to be able to notice the early signs of a problem and be adequately trained either to provide support or refer the case. As mention above, within the idea of early intervention, multi-agency working is most of the times needed to address and identify needs, to implement strategies and provide support to child and his family. The strategies of the early intervention implemented in each country, though affecting each other and based on same needs for children (illness, mental health, family, pre-school support, attainment) are part of the welfare system and defined by economic and cultural factors. There are for example the universal systems and the more targeted systems, differing on the physical and ideological nature of provision. The history and culture of the country and the definitions of normality, for example the structure of the childhood, the meaning of a good citizen define the strategies that take place and the targets that need to be met (we intervene in a childs and young persons life to provide support and guide them to a better future according to the societys standards) One of the questions rising is after the recognition of risks and problems how we can evaluate the depth and the immense of the problem identifying the child and the services we need to provide, and how we select the child, according to which selection criteria, is he/she the right person or they are the ones asked for the programmes? For example, in a school environment a child being polite and quite may slip through the net; when there are problems we need to make professional decisions following the standards put by the school, community, government. Following, by the intensity of the provision; it will be a long term or short intervention? Also, we need to take into account the timing of the intervention and whether a proposed intervention is feasible in a communitys context and nature. Another, basic question is about the quality of the programme and how flexible it can be. As we talk about individuals needs, the targeted programmes need to be as personalised as possible to meet the childs needs. From my perspective, it cannot be one programmes fits all. Taking into account, the school community, with a small number of 700 students, and 100 students with attendance concerns; it happened to have 50 different personal attendance plan for each of them as each one had specific needs. How feasible is that to happen nationally (Education and Health plan); however, time and resource consuming it is small units may worth applying identified action and progress plans. Check QUALITY. Regarding the long lasting effect it is hard to have a general yes answer as we have narrow trials, but we can use the example of US Head Start pre-school. Finally, as we have already mention, a programme need to be holistic taking into account the childs needs, physical, emotional, social development, strengths and weaknesses and, also, taking into account family and community aspects. Sometimes people receiving targeted services feel stigmatised and it is better these services to be provided universally, however it may be costly. Now, if we invest in early years then less and less targeted services will be used in the future. We can notice the governments aspiration to support families through projects like Safer Families, Family Focus, Childrens Centres (support to parents), and Family Nurse Partnership etc. Moreover, the new CAF orients to a whole family approach rather than child one. Finally an important factor is trust and good relationship, shared decision making and cultural background so children and families can rely on the professional (see also the paper of the view of young people) According to Pithouse, there is positive evidence for small innovative programmes regarding short and intermediate outcomes for child health, safety and wellbeing and for parent self-esteem, parenting and parent employment. There also the following questions to be asked (1) Who does What, when, where, with whom and how we ensure that it happens (2) how we disperse the available resources and dispose them to have the desired impact (3) are we looking for short term, intermediate or long term benefits (4) decide which of the strategies in what time were effective and successful. As early intervention is a multifaceted approach Finally, we need to take into account the relationship between universal/ mainstream and targeted services and the relationship between information technology and frontline workers. As the pressure on professionals is increasing to meet targets and provide beneficial outcomes, there can be challenges in the relationship between universal and specialist services. For example, universal services claim that due to resources they can provide standardize and brief services however they could provide more if they have the appropriate resources and workforce, which prefer to be employed by the targeted services. At the end, children return to mainstream after the targeted services, however there is need to sustain balance and mutuality between mainstream and targeted services to sustain the gains from the provision. Regulatory framework of assessment procedures, metrics and timelines, electronic monitoring, information sharing claim their capacity to help us react early, swiftly and transparently however is early intervention applied? Can early intervention be delivered in front of a computer rather than by front line workers? Is information reaching the front line practitioners or stays in a loop for managerial aspects? Can complex human problems be identified by computers? Are all practitioners accessing computers to share their information? Who is accessing the information, is family under surveillance? The benefit is that early needs may indeed be identified early and we can monitor if services are responding. We can check if services were timely and commensurate however we cannot check if intervention met a set of human encounters. Emerging Paradigm As we have already mentioned, early intervention needs to consider childrens à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ family community outcomes. For example, we cannot improve a childs attendance when he is a young carer with one parent on drugs without any provision provided form the community; for every action taken we need to take into account this childs context. France and Utting (2005), proposed a more flexible and multi layered approach based on risk and prevention focused intervention. Our aim is to minimize and reduce risks factors and incidents of future problems via strategies that support and protect children. We need to promote resilience to children through strengthening the bonds among children, family, school and community and rewarding positive behaviours. The challenges of this approach are the timing, process and setting of the strategies and also the closeting, duration and intensity. In the UK, work is under progress so this programme has universal and effective aspect as strategies have been taken nationally (ten years plan to improve and promote services à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Every Child Matters, Department of Health and Department of Education and Skills 2004), regionally (multi-agency joined up working and partnership for childrens services) and locally (community based children services, extended school, family focus and support). From the above initiatives we need to wait to see if there is evidence of benefits reducing children misfortune. For example the initiative for extended child care helps mother to get back to work. However, is that a good benefit or young children miss attachment? Intervention programmes so far are based on UK and US studies, however we need to have clear proof of what work in there will be a new policy. (Allen, 2011). It may be politically and morally uncomfortable to wait but it is better to have assurance rather than assumption of benefits. From a professionals point of view, early intervention is effective and provides benefits, however from a users point of view early intervention can be thought as invasive (justified by all when urgent protection is needed), ineffective and wasteful, for examples when benefits are not immediate, harmful, as users can be stigmatised and expensive, considering this money to be provided in a different urgent service. For example, students feel ashamed when parents come to school to discuss concerns and there are examples of parents refusing to come due to not be stigmatised that there is a problem. Another example, from our Extended School is that parents are reluctant to engage as there are no obvious immediate benefits for their child. A proper campaign and rise national awareness about early intervention and available services need to be on top of governments agenda. Early intervention needs to take into account childrens right, provide participative dialogue, tackle systemic inequalities and build social capital (trust, commitment, and adherence to socially approved and legitimate norm). This can lead to minimizing crime and maximizing social stability. There is a need for an integrated prevention paradigm taking into account the child, the family and the community. Government is in favour of prevention and early intervention (Early Intervention Grant, Early Intervention Foundation) however children are still slipping through the net as our main concerns were reorganisation, network coordination and information sharing and not provide the basics to our children. As it is made obvious from the above, multi-agency working needs to be supported and reinforced to provide effective services. Conclusion We need to support strategies that they can lead to solidarity supporting each other, minimizing social exclusion and dysfunction, investing in the social capital as, especially in the UK, communities are multi-ethnic and multi-racial with fewer and more subtle relationships among its members. The effects of economic and global culturalization had changed the demography, identities, competences and life pathways so we need to learn about the children and their experiences. We cant think the same cases that we thought twenty or even ten years earlier. Early intervention and early years services need to take into account shared identities and solidarity and they need to be mentioned in policy. As we have already mentioned, early intervention programmes need to take into account the wider problems of family instability, community decline and youth disorder. Knowledge of children in need is bigger and better; issues of risks and resilience are more familiar; importance of working together; there is a small but robust evidence for effective early intervention; early intervention needs to engage with children and families in multiple ways and levels; multidisciplinary practice and research should be high on the policy agenda; in the US clear cost benefits from early intervention, now studies are conducting in the UK. Our meta-policy challenge of our era is with what idea, from where and with whom we will co-construct better practice to meet the challenging needs of children. There is need for more comparative policy research, national benchmarking and peer review of initiatives in other countries.

Up-hill and Looking Back and Afterwards Essay -- Christina Rossetti Th

Up-hill and Looking Back and Afterwards The poems I am going to analyse and compare are 'Remember', 'Up-hill' and 'Looking Back' by Christina Rossetti and 'Afterwards' by Thomas Hardy. These poems reflect on the theme of loss and how it affects the poets when they reflect on it. The poems also show the poets' preoccupation of death. In these poems, the poets approach the theme of death using various different techniques and linguistic devices. Christina Rossetti is a passionate and powerful poet; the majority of her poetry has contained the themes of either love or death, and in many cases both. Even in the poems which she wrote for children, these themes are prominent. Hardy too was very close to nature. In his poem there are vivid descriptions of objects and the element of nature is almost always present. The titles of these poems all give a hint about what the poem is about. 'Remember' tells us that the poet wants to be remembered for something. Often one is remembered after her death because the pain of loss keeps bringing back her memories. In the poem Rossetti does ask her lover to remember her and demands that he should "Only remember me". 'Up-hill' tells us that that the poet is probably going on a journey. This journey is the journey of life, which Rossetti is inquiring about in her poem. 'Looking back' shows us that the poet is reflecting on something. Again, one always 'looks back' on life when he is near his death to see what he has done and evaluate his life. 'Afterwards' is also a title which could refer to the theme of death. Hardy wants to know what will happen 'afterwards' when he is dead. He wants to be remembered not for his fame but for his closeness to nature and for the person ... ...ill' on the other hand shows how heaven will be - a place of comfort after a journey which "take the whole long day". 'Looking Back' is meant to convey that death is a time of evaluation of one's life. One should look back "along life's trodden way" and meditate on the mistakes and hardships of life. In 'Afterwards' Hardy says that death is a time of evaluation from others and that you should be remembered for what you are and not because you are famous or have achieved something. He also hopes that he will be remembered for his familiarity with nature and how he "could do little" for it even though he tried. I feel that all the poems effectively convey the theme of loss. All poems have a different approach but the basic idea is clear: death is inevitable. However, the poets have different views on death and its effect on them and those close to them.

French Lieutenant’s Woman

The novel begins with voice of Thomas Hardy’s †³The Riddle†³ which is quoted by the author. This quotation is an apt description for The French Lieutenant’s woman which portrays a singular figure, alone against a desolate landscape. The novel portrays Victorian characters living in 1867, but the author, writing in 1967, intervenes with wry, ironic commentary on Victorian conventions. In fact, it is parody of Victorian novel with chatty narrator and narrative juggling. The most striking fact about the novel is the use of different authorial voices. Voice of the narrator has a double vision: The novel starts off with an intrusive omniscient, typically Victorian, voice: â€Å"I exaggerate? Perhaps, but I can be put to the test, for the Cobb has changed very little since the year of which I write; [†¦]† (Fowles, p.10). In chapter 1 we hear an extensive, detailed description of Lyme Bay. The narrator makes it a point to insist that very little has changed in Lyme Regis since the nineteenth century to the present day. The narrator deftly moves between the two centuries and comments on the present day events in the same tone in which he comments on the Victorian period. We hear the voice of narrator as a formal, stiff Victorian tone while narrating the events in the novel yet the content of what he says is contemporary. The illusion of a Victorian novel is soon broken by a narrator, who introduces his modern 20 century point of view. For example, in Chapter 3, he alludes to devices totally unknown to Victorian society and the illusion of the typically Victorian novel is broken. â€Å"[Charles] would probably not have been too surprised had news reached him out of the future of the air plane, the jet engine, television, radar: [†¦]† (Fowles, p.16). In Chapter 13 he finally reveals himself as a modern narrator when he admits to live in the age of Alain Robbe-Grillet and Roland Barthes (Fowles, p. 80). Voices of the novel seem to belong to John Fowles, the author. The narrator not only comments the whole narrative but he also intrudes in order to make comments on the characters. His authorial intrusions are very pointed and sometimes biased. The narrator’s voice plays the role of both participant and observer. The first person voice occurs in different roles. It seems to be an artist, a novelist, a teacher, a historian and a critic who surveying the scene with a modern and ironic eye, constantly reminding the reader this is not a typically Victorian novel. The third person voice, on the other hand, represents all features associated with an omniscient narrator. It misleads the reader and sometimes even ridicules characters: â€Å"He would have made you smile, for he was carefully equipped for his role. He wore stout nailed boots and canvas gaiters that rose to the encase Norfolk breeches of heavy flannel. There was a tight and absurdly long coat to match; a canvas wide awake hat of an indeterminate beige; a massive ash-plant, which he had bought on his way to the Cobb; and a voluminous rucksack, from which you might have shaken out an already heavy array of hammers, wrappings, notebooks, pillboxes, adzes and heaven knows what else.† (Fowles, p. 43) In Chapter 13 the first person narrator suggests to stand out against the third person narrator when he admits not to be able to control the thoughts and movements of his characters. He denies having all the god-like qualities associated with the classical role of a narrator who knows all the moves of his characters beforehand and he gives a definition of his status: â€Å"The novelist is still a god, since he creates [†¦] what has changed is that we are no longer the gods of the Victorian image, omniscient and decreeing; but in the new theological image, with freedom our first principle not authority.† (Fowles, p.82). What the narrator does is to break the illusion of being the authoritative voice by providing the further illusion of not being it, insisting on the fact that the characters are allowed their freedom. The narrator seems to become just another character of the story, and first and third person narration overlaps. This illusion of the narrator being a fictional character finally dissolves when he appears in person: first as a fellow passenger in the train in Chapter 55 and a second time in the last chapter. This technique of hearing different voices in a narration is called heteroglossia. The narrator guides the reader through the novel. In summary, the narrative’s voice works on different levels: firstly there is protagonist, Charles, and his struggle to overcome his Victorian mind, secondly the narrator claims his characters to be free of authorial supervision. In fact, the narrator is only concealing his real authority. For example in Chapter 55 when he flips a coin in order to decide how to end his narrative and at last there is the reader whom the narrator allows to break free from the narrative illusion. Character Analysis: Charles and Sarah The first picture we get of Charles is that he is a Victorian gentleman who is in all respects at the height of his time. He has a similar outside and inside. He is dominated by the social conventions of his time, particularly in his attitude towards women, and the only thing he lacks is mystery. He seems to be a flat character that only has inner struggling. His character is developed gradually through the novel. Actually his first meeting with Sarah, is his first step of development which leads him from complacency to doubt, from the known to the undiscovered, and from safety to danger when he realizes that there is an alternative to the puritan world of Ernestina which is the free and spontaneous world of Sarah. In short, his first meetings with Sarah sharpen his awareness of that existentialist freedom she embodies and throughout the novel he is torn between the conventional Victorian ideas and this proposal of personal freedom. It stretches as far as Chapter 44. Throughout all these chapters Charles is torn in between behaving the normal, Victorian way, rating his short relationship with Sarah as a minor, unimportant incident or accepting the full consequences of not behaving in an appropriate Victorian manner. He is fascinated by the enigma which Sarah represents and wants to solve it but on the other hand he is caught in his Victorian pattern of thought. When he decides to visit Sarah in Exeter we are dealing with his second development. He is prepared to accept the consequences of not behaving like a Victorian in order to fulfill his personal ideas. But he is still caught in this particular pattern of thought; maybe this is best expressed by his intention to marry Sarah. He has yet not fully understood the ideas of existential freedom. Charles enters the third stage of development when he realizes that Sarah has left without leaving any trace for him to follow. It is then when he settles to follow the path he had decided to take, whether he will be able to find her or not. The months he searches for Sarah are the final stage of his development in which he is able to get the taste of freedom he once tried to gain. His meeting with Sarah at the end of the novel is the final test he has to go through. On the other hand, from the very beginning, Sarah seems to be a round character. She has different inside and outside. Sarah acts as a counter to Tina, the model of Victorian womanhood. Sarah does not match with the time she lives in especially in her behavior. But her strangeness should be considered in the light of the Victorian age. Her actions are governed by her refusal to follow tradition and by her quest for freedom. She rejects the subservient role which her society tries to force on her, determined to get what she wants and express her desires freely. Although some conflicts about Sarah resolved when she told her story to Charles but some of them has still remained till the end of the novel. In the two endings, Sarah's need for freedom conflicts with her love for Charles. One ending suggests that Sarah will be able to remain outside the confines of Victorian society while still being able to establish a family with Charles and marriage will exact its own conventions which will be difficult to escape. Another ending focuses on her total freedom but also her estrangement from the man she loves. This conflict never resolved!!

Treetop Forest

Statement of the problem The packaging team at Treetop Forest is experiencing many problems. Their productivity is decreasing and affecting the rest of the departments negatively. The unsupervised employees are slacking off, are not motivated and are adopting norms that are not fitted with the company. Inventory costs and the risk of damaged stocks are also increasing. The quality of the appearance of the finished products is also decreasing, resulting in a loss in the market share in the industry, hence being unable to compete with other companies. Cause of the problem Social loafing is causing the decrease in productivity in the packaging team. This tendency to withhold physical or intellectual effort when performing a group task[1] represents the slacking behaviours of the employees in that department. The lack of supervision is also one of the main causes of most of the problems stated. The group’s cohesiveness is causing them to behave in similar manners, as additive tasks, even though the behaviours adopted are not in line with the norms of the rest of the company (taking longer breaks etc). Because this department’s location is further than all the other ones, the employees feel isolated and excluded from the company, causing their lack in motivation. The group’s poor performance is causing an overstock which results in high inventory costs and risk of damaged stocks since they have to be stored outside ultimately causing the poor appearance of the finished product which affects the buyer’s decision. It can be assumed that it is a larger group due to the tasks that need to be performed, which affects the group in many ways. In larger groups, friendships develop, participation decreases and disengagement increases resulting in process loss: a group performance difficulty stemming from the problems of motivation and coordination in larger groups. [2] Solutions and Consequences 1. To counteract the social loafing the company should: Increase feelings of indispensability. Doing this within the group would motivate the employees. Increase performance feedback, so that employees will know how to improve themselves as well as knowing what they did well. Reward group performance. Pros: Highly motivated in what they are doing †¢ They would feel belonging to the company since they would know what the company’s goals are. 2. To have a more structured environment, Treetop should hire and train a new supervisor only for the packaging department. Pros: †¢ This solution will decrease inventory costs and increase the production and quality of the finished products. †¢ Effective communication betwe en the other departments to balance the productivity levels Cons: †¢ The salary and training of this new employee will increase the company’s costs. 3. To reduce the overtime costs, limits should be put on the amount of overtime hours an employee is allowed to use, along with a deadline for a specific amount of products. Pros: †¢ This would decrease the overtime salary costs †¢ This would increase productivity due to the fixed goals. †¢ This would decrease the extended break and lunch times. Cons: †¢ Because these goals are imposed, the employees may be reluctant to achieve them. To avoid this situation, the goals could be discussed therefore increasing the probability of their achievement. Recommended Solution It would be recommended to implant supervision since it is the main cause of all the problems the company is faced with and because of the many effects it would have on the situation. The group needs structure and a supervisor would therefore help resolve most problems. Implemented Solution Immediately, communication should be improved between the departments to stop the unbalanced productivity. This would resolve part of the inventory costs problems. Upper management should also put someone in charge of the packaging team. If costs of hiring a new supervisor are too high, an existing supervisor could be given more shifts. Although hiring and training costs are high, the company will benefit from this addition in the long-term. The new supervisor would counteract the social loafing the company is experiencing. The supervisor could be trained to focus on the motivation of his group (rewarding good performances etc). This supervisor is also the one who should limit the employees to a certain amount of overtime hours they are allowed to. The supervisor would reinforce the company’s norms, eventually eliminating the self-imposed ones in the group (longer breaks†¦). The supervisor would also promote group cohesiveness and a pleasant working environment. In the short term, upper management could host a meeting or assembly between all departments to make them feel interrelated and important to the company. This could be a great motivation for the employees. In the long term, group evaluations could be necessary to measure the group’s performance and to see if the actions taken are resolving the problems. ________________________________________ [1] Johns,G, & Saks, A. M. (2008). Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition, Toronto: Addison-Wesley-Longman. [2] Johns,G, & Saks, A. M. (2008). Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition, Toronto: Addison-Wesley-Longman.