Managing Change in Organisations - Improved HR onboarding process Essay Example for Free

Managing Change in Organisations Improved HR onboarding process Essay The main goal of this change initiative is to improve the financial results of the company by improving the engagement and performance of the new HR employees at Mars, Inc. It’s aimed to be achieved by introducing a new, globally aligned, best-in-class 1-year-long induction process with supporting tools and learning events. The target group of new HR associates1 includes those who joined HR at Mars less than 12 month ago, either from externally (from other company) or internally (from other department). As Mars,Inc. is a large family-owned business with over 100 years of history and globally well known brands. It has unique and mature company culture which is driven by its 5 principles: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Effectiveness and Freedom. These principles drive the behaviour of the employees at all level of the hierarchy and have been shaping the characteristics of the organisation. Mars, Inc. fits well to ‘elaboration of structure phase’ (Granier 1972) of the organisational life-cycle: the company is led by a team of professional managers and is very much decentralised with a small headquarter. The business units of the countries therefore enjoy a lot of freedom and responsibility to drive the local business effectively. This approach reflects also in the way they shape the processes within the company: the global process standards are mainly just broadly defined with limited (if any) written documentation about them, which lets the local teams shape it and use it as best fits to their needs. As it has the advantage to allow tailor-made solutions to best assist local business objectives, it also has disadvantages. It is not uncommon that extra local resources are needed to shape the process, and when the process has changed too much, it becomes difficult to compare the practices and results of different units. It also often happens that local units come up with very similar best practices after investing significant resources locally in process development, which resources could have been reduced if globally – or at least regionally – someone would have co-ordinated these development initiatives. As part of the company culture, Mars, Inc. refers to employees as associates, therefore in my paper I will use both terms to reflect the same concept. Realising the potential of this kind of centralisation led the business leaders to setting up global functional centres of expertise, like the Mars University (Mars U) is for learning and development within Mars, Inc. The Mars U is responsible for designing and deploying world-class learning programs, which enable the competency building of employees, so they can achieve their full potential in contributing to the business to achieve its goals. It has matrix structure and its smaller teams are set up by functions (named â€Å"Colleges† of HR, finance, supply, etc.), regions (they coordinate the deployment of functional development programs in a region) and special learning and development related areas (like learning technology). Mars U therefore faces the challenge of balancing between centralisation and decentralisation by providing centrally defined and globally aligned learning solutions in a matrix organisation with decentralised leadership. That is the same challenge in case of the new induction process initiative. In the near past an introductory training program existed for new HR employees, which was similar in all the regions, but inconsistent in content, so it gave a lot of space for local solutions to flower. Moving from this decentralised approach to a more centralised one may cause push backs from the associates in these local units, thus careful change management is essential. Nature of change By assessing the nature of change based on the description above, this change can be categorised with the terms of Ackerman (1997) as ‘transitional’ as the intention is to â€Å"achieve () a desired state† by setting up a globally aligned world-class induction process for new HR associates, which is a significant difference from the current decentralised approach. One can argue whether it is not defined as ‘transformational change’ as it can result a difference in an organisational process and change in the culture, but as it won’t change fundamentally neither areas, the definition of ‘transitional change’ fits better in this case. To give a full picture about the nature of change, it need to be emphasised that after finishing this particular change project, the change itself will not stop, it will continue as ‘developmental change’ by continuously improving the set up induction process. From another perspective, using the categories of Mintzberg and Waters (1985) this change initiative can be identified as ‘determined’ or planned change as the goal, that need to be achieved, is clearly set, as well as the process how to get there. It does not mean though, that ‘emergent’ changes will not come up during the project, as it may happen that a locally designed induction process which works well will have an improving effect on the globally designed process and tools to ensure the implementation of the best possible practices. Drivers of the change This change initiative has mainly internal triggers. First and foremost, improve the productivity of every new HR associates by providing them all the essential knowledge, competencies and network they need in their new role. Improving their engagement level is also an important trigger, as engaged associates have usually better performance and they less likely to leave the business (Buckingham and Coffman, 2005). In case of HR department, better performance of associates, among other things, could lead to better internal and external customer satisfaction or decrease of costs by effective ways of working, while improved retention cut the costs and time invested in recruitment and training of a new employee. Although the internal triggers are more relevant in this case, the external drivers also need to be mentioned. Mars, Inc. had several acquisitions in the last few years which led to an incoherent culture in the different business segments. To enable exchangeability of human resources and best practices, setting up centrally aligned processes is a key. Also, considering that Mars, Inc. operates in a quickly changing market (FMCG), being innovative and best-in-class in its processes could ensure competitive advantage and retention of employees. Nonetheless, the change needs to be done in a global environment fitting to the expectations of different cultures in different regions. Key Stakeholders As in case of most major changes in an organisation, winning the support of top level management is essential. In this case the management means the Global HR Leadership Team of Mars, Inc. who also plays the role of sponsor of the project and expected to play a key role by being role model in using the new induction process. Their influence is very high as they could stop or change this initiative any time. Their attitude toward the change to be expected very positive, still, contracting with them is critical as many priority projects are currently going on in the business so need to ensure proper focus. Driving the change process requires change agents to ensure smooth implementation: the Mars U associates in the regions and other (local) learning or talent development specialists. As the project aligns well with their general purpose of their roles – to improve associates capabilities, – their attitude is expected to be positive. As they will play the role of connecting the project leaders with associates in their regions or units, their influence is also very high, but mainly only in their area of responsibility. The communication and deployment of the change will focus mainly on the HR managers as they will be the most affected by the change, as they need to change their ways of working the most. Thus, 5 their attitude can be either positive or negative depending how valuable the new process seems to them. Their influence can be high in the area of their responsibility – so the more senior the manager is the higher is the influence. Also important stakeholders, but less influential, are the new HR associates. The new process is all about them, but from change management perspective they play a smaller role, as their attitude to be expected very positive. In any case, careful communication toward them needs to be planned to ensure their full involvement in the process and gain feedback from them to identify potential areas for improvements. There are also some other key stakeholders, like the trainers of the courses, whose contribution to the success can be very important, but as they are interchangeable in the roles, their influence on the process can be categorised as moderate. Furthermore, there are some other subject matter experts (e.g. learning technology or global communication specialists), who will be involved during the design and communication phases, but their influence is rather small and their attitude is expected to be supportive. Management objectives To summarise the main objective, the goal is to implement in all business segments and units of Mars, Inc. a newly designed, globally aligned, efficient and engaging functional induction process with its supporting tools (guides and learning modules) for every new HR employees, which supports their development in the first 12 months after joining in their new role and covers the essential Mars specific knowledge and provides network needed for achieving high performance. The new process and tools should be used by mid of 2013 in all business units. Task 2 For a successful change project it’s not only important to see where we would like to go, but to be able to define how we will get there, we need a careful and detailed analysis on where we are at the moment. Besides a general process overview in the organisation (e.g. by the support of models like ‘McKinsey 7S’ (Waterman et al. 1980) or ‘Burke-Litwin Causal model’ (Burke Litwin, 1992)), we also need to understand why do we have the problem in our organisation. For this we may use problem analysis models, like the ‘Fishbone diagram’ or the ‘5 Whys?’ (Taiichi 1988) model. Input-Transformation-Output model To better understand the functional induction process, by the ‘Input-Transformation-Output model’ (RDI, 2012a) the main elements can be summarised visually: This model can support the planning process in several ways. It is easier for the change leaders to identify the key stakeholders (see the detailed stakeholder analysis above), to keep objectives always in mind and focus on the processes which need to be changed in order to be able to achieve the desired output. Furthermore, it gives a great overview about who shall be involved in reviewing and developing the process by providing feedback before, during and after the change. Nonetheless, it is essential to be clear on both the transformed and transforming resources required for the whole process to avoid disturbance due to the lack of them. Cause-and-Effect Analysis After having a broader overview of the issue, before taking any actions, a thorough problem analysis is a must. Even though having an initial idea about what can improve the current situation, in a complex organisation with a huge overall impact of the topic, the change leader need to ensure addressing the right issues and providing the right solutions based on that. In defining all the relevant causes of a problem can help the Cause-and-Effect Analysis (Ishikawa, 1968) or Fishbone diagram. In case of our described example, the model looks like this: After defining the list of important causes, the major ones to be selected by the analysing team then the potential actions can be planned. When it’s presented to the management team, their duty is then to decide on which topics to focus on the actions. In this example case, a globally aligned process with supporting tools and metrics are very much missing. When it’s designed and ready to be deployed, then these should be available to all HR managers to be able to drive the induction processes locally and measure their own efficiency. Plan the change After the green light of the management team concerning the project initiative, can start the proper, detailed planning: the development of the change strategy, in which the desired outcome, key actions, milestones, action owners and resources needs are defined. Winning the commitment of the key stakeholders also need to be carefully planned with a supporting communication plan. As unexpected situations are likely to disturb the planned flow of actions, to minimise the potential disturbance, a risk analysis in advance of doing actions can help the project management team to prepare for these scenarios or totally avoid them. Also, a continuous review of the change project is highly recommended to ensure the project execution is on track to achieve the project goal (see the 8 potential feedback sources in the Input-Output model) – this also can be part of the change strategy plan. The next step is then to execute the plan. When unexpected situations happen, continuous adjustments of the plan may be required to ensure proper improvement and keep the progress to achieve the final goal. After all planned actions are executed, the project leader should control that the project goal has been achieved as defined. If no, the project still continues. If yes, the project shall be formally closed with the involvement of the project sponsors and the success should be feed back to the key stakeholders. Task 3 Business Process Transformation Although Mars, Inc. in this situation chose to go on with a change project concentrating on only one function (HR) to improve its induction process, using the Business Process Transformation (BPT), i.e. Business Process Re-engineering model could have led to better results. By talking generally about the BPT model, one can say that improving the customer engagement and cutting the operational costs by improving and simplifying processes (cross-functional) within the company, is in the heart of this approach (Hammer 1990). Let use the definition of re-engineering by Hammer and Champy (1993) to show the key characteristics of this model: the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary modern measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed. This approach is one of the favourites currently in change management, as it promises â€Å"dramatic improvements† in business performance and customer satisfaction, even though it has its own challenges. The most important is that it requires a holistic view from the business leaders to face the issues within an organisation. It needs broad perspective to be able to come out of functional silos and to view the process as a whole, from the very beginning till the very end. If the change project happens only within a single function, there is high probability of missing some important opportunities of improvement. By using the example of Mars, a cross-functional approach could lead to a different, although very thorough solution – like implementing a standardised, world-class induction experience in every part of the company, during which the new employees can learn the most important functional and business knowledge to best support the customer focused processes. Based on its holistic view, the BPT approach requires more complexity from change management perspective as well as total alignment and drive from the top management team. The process improvement strategy should be aligned with the vision, mission and business strategy of the company, while the desired behaviours and key performance indicators should be also clearly defined and communicated to support the process and the measure of success (RDI 2012b). The process improvement initiative should start with a company-wide analysis of the current situation, keeping in mind not only how the processes can be simplified, but also what could be the benefits for the customers by the change initiative. The analysis then will be followed by the definition of the detailed plan: to where and how the company would like to get. To achieve great improvement in company results, increasing the amount of invested efforts and resources and high risk taking is unavoidable – although most probably in mid- and long-term the investment of these extra resources will pay. All these mentioned characteristics of the model lead to the fact that this model can’t be used without a heavy top down and centralised approach due to its holistic nature and complexity. Starting a process improvement initiative from any other level of the organisation without the full support and involvement of the company top leaders can lead to only a temporary and restricted (to a region or function) solution. Managing the implementation of the change at Mars, Inc. Although the change project defined by Mars also intends to improve the measures mentioned in the re-engineering definition, the main difference lies in the adjectives used by the authors: dramatic, fundamental and radical. So in this case we can’t really talk about BPT approach, as it would rather mean taking the whole on-boarding and induction process in all functions of the company and use that to work on, even though it could be very beneficial for the company. Also, without winning the top management support for a holistic change approach, the project leader of this initiative better use a general Change management (RDI 2012c), or preferably, the Total Quality Management (TQM) 2 methodology with using some holistic OD models – like the ‘Burke-Litwin model’ (Burke Litwin 1992) or the ‘McKinsey 7S model’ (Waterman et al. 1980) – for analysing the potential areas of change interventions. Definition of TQM by Kanji (1990): â€Å"TQM is the way of life of an organization committed to customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. This way of life varies from organisation to organisation and from one country to another but has certain principles which can be implemented to secure market share, increase profits and reduce costs.† The principles of the TQM approach fits well to the culture of Mars, Inc. by focusing on continuous improvement opportunities, on customer needs and motivating employees at all level of the organisation to take part of this and drive innovations. It also reflects in all of the 5 principles of the company3. The management style also resonates well with the principles of TQM, as it engages the collaborative company culture with empowering and motivating the employees to drive continuous improvement for achieving better quality in everything within the business. Although a lot of things fit well to use this model for the change case at Mars, to fully benefit of the TQM methodology, the project leader and the participants shall be skilled to use all its principles to achieve the best possible result, which is currently not yet the case. Task 4 Measure of Success – Processes There are certain elements of the change process, which we can check and measure during and after the project to evaluate the success. Firstly, it is inevitable to set with involvement and communicate to the key stakeholders a clear vision, a well defined ‘S.M.A.R.T. objective’ (Doran, 1981) and some key performance indicators regarding the desired end result of the change initiative. Additionally, it is also important element of the second success factor, which is the level of commitment to the change of the key stakeholders. During the implementation phase, the success of the process can be measured at the key milestones: whether they were achieved on time by providing good quality results within the allocated resource limits. In this phase, the ability of flexible to any disturbance and opportunities through the process is also essential, to keep or even improve the result quality of the change, or to use less resources to achieve the original goal. It may be measured by reaction the quickness of the response or the amount of extra resources needed to keep the good progress. In connection to this, reviewing the key challenges and capturing the lessons learnt for the future also shows the efficiency of the process. Last, but not least, a clear project closure can also indicate how well the project went. Measure of Success – Outcomes If we have a closer look on the change initiative of Mars, Inc., the desired outcome which we wish to measure lies in the main objective4. The company’s main goal is to improve the efficiency and Quality, Mutuality, Responsibility, Effectiveness and Freedom For details see the Management Objective paragraph performance of the new HR employees. As HR is a support department with less direct impact on financial results and the quality of end products than other areas in the business, measuring these goals may be difficult, especially if we need to focus on only the new employee. So it’s advised to define other measures, like the individual performance or future career potential of the new employee, which can be measured by the company globally standardized performance evaluation system. Although the improved employee performance is difficult to be described with exact figures, we can also use historical data to compare the past and the present, and measure factors which can influence performance (e.g. the Line Manager’s evaluation of the performance or the engagement level of the new associate). Besides the employee performance, the efficiency of the new process shall be measured as well (e.g. could we involve everybody we intended to use the new process). Furthermore, as in case of all change projects, defining the return on investment can show the level of success. For example the cost of resource investment of the change project may be compared with the amount of money were saved by better retention of the new associates. By measuring the outcome of a new process we also need to investigate the resource needs of sustaining the process efficiently on long term. 1References: Ackerman, L., 1997, Development, transition or transformation: the question of change in organisations. In: Van Eynde, D., Hoy, J and Van Eynde, D (eds) Organisation Development Classics. San Francisco, Jossey Bass. Buckingham, M. and Coffman, C., 2005. First, Break All The Rules: What the Worlds Great Managers Do Differently. Simon Schuster. Burke, W. W. and Litwin, G. H., 1992. A causal model of organizational performance and change. Journal of Management, 18 (3), 523-545. Doran, G. T., 1981. Theres a S.M.A.R.T. way to write managements goals and objectives. Management Review, Volume 70, Issue 11, pp. 35-36.

Self Efficacy Among Academically Low And High Achievers

Self Efficacy Among Academically Low And High Achievers The present study aims to assess the relationship of mindfulness with self-efficacy among academically low and high achievers as Confidence and belief in achieving goals is a good predictor of success. Mindfulness is an inherent state of consciousness that differs among individuals for a variety of reasons and that can be changed by individual. The definition of mindfulness points out that it is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment (Kabat-zinn, 2003). It is considered a capacity available to everyone, although individuals differ in their tendency to be mindful (Brown Ryan, 2003) When students can learn to be fully present they can increase the quality of their learning performance by being more focused and become better able to deal with stressful situations and through their increased learning they can achieve considerably high grades (Langer, 1993). When a student is mindful he/she becomes able to approach learning situations from a novel perspective while drawing upon previously learned material. They can learn the material and are better able to relate it with their previous knowledge (Langer, Hatem, Joss, Howell, 1989) Mindfulness is an element of consciousness that is characterized by a heightened state of awareness in which an individual is attentive to being in the present moment. This enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience or present reality has been shown to be associated with enhanced self-awareness, self-regulated behaviors, and positive emotional states. (Brown, Kirk Richard, 2003) Attention plays a role in a students life to achieve high grades if they pay proper attention at the appropriate time. To be in a state of mindfulness in reference to academics we mean conscious awareness in which the individual is aware of the context and content of information. Increasing mindful awareness can deepen and broaden the understanding of the context and content of the subjects. Attention is a complex construct and is related to a variety of cognitive processes (e.g., perception, memory, planning, and speech) (Mirsky, Fantie, Tatman, 1995; Zimmerman Leclercq, 2002). Because of its centrality in the education it is of significant importance. The individual have tendency and opportunity to continually process information from various perspectives and it helps in increasing levels of creativity and knowledge. When students use mindfulness in their learning processes they utilize creativity, experience cognitive flexibility and are thus able to better use information and retain that information for a longer period of time (Langer, Hatem, Joss, Howell, 1989; Thornton McEntee, 1995). More recent studies in education have revealed a sharp increase in memory and creativity for mindful treatment groups (Langer, 1997). It has been observed that mindful learners are more mentally present and active (Langer, 1993). They plan what they will learn and the strategies they will use and they control and self-regulate their learning. As readers, they use strategies to organize, elaborate on, and evaluate text (Paris, Wasik, Turner, 1996). They integrate what they learn in school texts with their personal experiences to actively construct their own meanings and ideas and to use them in flexible ways. For the reasons that they are more constructive and give meanings to world according to their understandings thats why they are considered to be more real and are original thinkers. More mindful individuals are generally perceived as being more genuine than less mindful individuals and this has been shown to increase positive effect (Langer Moldoveneu 2000). Attention is the foundation of better retention of information and better cognitive functions in our life style (Cooley Morris, 1990), where multitasking has become the norm. Children also are multitasking as they face information overload due to watching hours of television, playing video games, surfing on internet, doing their home works and preparing for their exams etc. Developmental research indicates that childrens attention to specific information depends upon the importance they place on the information and that children in later stages of development are better able to logically control their selective attention (Wright Vliestra, 1975). In a study of mindfulness practice by Richart and Perkins (2000) in the classroom and took an example of a math lesson from a traditional didactic instructional classroom and a mindful constructivist classroom where students had more freedom to explore answers on their own. Second grade students were given the following problem: There are 26 sheep and 10 goats on a ship. How old is the captain? 88% of the students from the traditional classroom setting answered 36. Not one student commented that the question did not make any sense although they averaged in the 85th percentile on the tests. In contrast nearly a third of the students in the more mindful constructivist classroom questioned the sense of problem. (p29) In order for children to learn in the classroom they must be able to focus their attention. Mindfulness affects the grades in such a way that if the student present in the class is not paying attention to the lecture being delivered, then the understanding of the syllabus will not be as easy as it wouldve been had he/she been paying attention hence clearing concepts and asking questions to understand the confusions hence mindfulness is necessary for achieving academic achievements. The more mindful the student in the class, the better is his achievement. In one of the studies by Langer, Hefferman, Keiester, (1988) mindfulness in the workplace showed increase in creativity, decreased burnout and greater enjoyment of tasks Researchers in social psychology have also found benefits of mindfulness in a range of areas including increased creativity, increased productivity in the workplace (Park, 1990), increased attention (Langer Bodner, 1995), greater liking of a task (Langer et al., in press), and use a lot of effective learning methods (Langer Piper, 1987; Langer, Hatem, Joss, Howell, 1989; Langer, 1997). Education is an area that often seems to prosper in mindlessness. Traditionally, children have been taught to memorize course content and view what is being offered in the classroom from the teachers perspective. Children need to make sense of what they learn instead of solely memorizing facts. In the educational context other mindful manipulations have involved asking students to make material more meaningful for themselves, compared to groups asked to memorize it (Lieberman Langer, 1997). As students memorize most of the things that they do not understand. They do not pay attention to clear their concepts and just learn it by rote. As we know that material learned by rote memory has no personal meaning. Many problems are not solved because many students think in automatic and habitual ways. This automatic mode of thought is called mindlessness. The cost of mindless thinking is significant because it limits our ability to make good decisions (Langer, 1997) As discussed earlier that the mindful students retained the information better, for a longer period of time and was able to utilize it in more creative ways. Perspective should be taken into consideration because it brings out better performance (Lieberman Langer, 1997). Almost all of the facts most of people learned in school were taught to us in a perspective-free way that encourages mindless use of the information because it does not occur to us to question it again. In contrast, information presented in the mindful, perspective-taking condition was learned better by high school students, even though they had to deal with more information. In this way mindful teaching practices can have a mark effect on student learning and it also shows that students who learn mindfully can retain the information better. Individuals develop patterns of stress response from birth through continued interaction with the environment. Young (1995) acknowledges that educators today recognize that students are suffering from stress in very different ways than a decade ago. The literature indicates that children are under a great deal of external pressure both at home and in school, resulting in many of the same physiological symptoms of distress as adults (Miller McCormick, 1991). While much of the research on children and stress was conducted two decades ago, available research indicates that environmental stress negatively affects children. In a study seven and eight year olds were studied for two to four years, researchers found that increase in stressful life events were related to decrease in ratings of academic performance, though unrelated to ratings of social behaviors (Kiselica, Baker, Thomas Reedy 1994). Mindful teachings and mindful learning by the students can decrease this stress. Academic achievement Academic achievement is defined as excellence in academic disciplines, in class. Loe Fieldman, (2007) define academic performance as ones ability to complete class work and homework and they define academic underachievement as problem in learning and applying knowledge including earning poor grades. As this study is in Pakistani perspective so we first need to know the Pakistani educational system. There are two main types of schools in Pakistan government and private. In both school types, almost always, the formal education system comprises of 5 years of primary, 3 years of middle, 2 years high (Metric/GCSE) and 2 years of higher secondary schooling (FA/FSc. O level/A level). While similar in their educational structures, the two school-types differ in terms of financing and regulation. Public schools are schools that are provided by state and federal funding. Schools are heavily dependent on the state, although in recent years the system has become considerably decentralized and responsibility for the delivery and management of education has shifted to the districts. The government provides free education till primary although government primary schooling is mandated to be tuition-free and there are nominal fees in middle and high school. Most of the Government schools are single-sex schools (exceptions occur when schools are coeducational up till primary after which they be come single-sex). (Monazza, 2009) Some of the major problems faced by public schools include limited financial resources, poor quality of content and a greater demand for education amongst parents of school-aged children. Pakistans public schools are overcrowded and underfunded. In Public schools classes are often overcrowded. As Class size is a factor that can cause various difficulties in understanding the lecture. The smaller the class size, the more attention each individual student will receive. In a smaller class, child will get personal attention (Grace, 2007). Class size effect the attention student seeks from the teacher as well as he pays in understanding the concepts. Sometimes due to larger class size, students cannot see the blackboard. They then lose their interest in the lecture being delivered, get engaged in gossips with their friends and other activities. And so by wasting their precious time their grades in class gradually decrease. Another reason is that in our schools generally is no concept of s eats rotation due to which the pupils who are less competent always try to sit at the back rows of the class. They become habitual back benchers and the ones who are more competent and capable always try to grab seats in the front rows. As a result teachers pay more attention to them, consequently making them able to remain attentive and engaged in class lessons and activities resulting in higher grades. Since learning is more personal and responsibility is more on the shoulders of the students, education requires students to monitor and regulate their own learning. In order to achieve goals students should have mindfulness i.e. paying attention to the studies and self-efficacy beliefs that will lead to achievement of goals. Students can help themselves by focusing more on what they are studying and it would lead enhance their learning performance/meaningful learning and hence they can better deal with stressful situations. Self-efficacy on the other hand involves confidence in achieving goals and it also in return helps decrease academic stress. Students perceptions of their abilities contribute to their self-esteem, confidence and ultimately to the level of motivation towards their studies are related to educational achievement. Attention is related to motivational processes (Parasurman, 1998; Zimmerman Leclercq, 2002). When student is motivated they will form beliefs about what they can do and set goals for themselves and hence pay more attention to their studies and will eventually lead to academic achievement. Self-efficacy suggests to peoples beliefs about their abilities to perform a task successfully at selected levels (Bandura, 1986, 1997). It influence the choices one makes and the courses of action one performs and so Self efficacy can also be explained as a belief in ones capabilities to organize and perform the tasks required to deal with the future situations (Bandura, in press, p. 2). These beliefs of personal proficiency effect behavior in several ways. Individuals typically select tasks and activities in which they feel capable and avoid those in which they do not. Students who are confident in their ability to manage, perform, and regulate their task performance at a designated level of competence are representing high self- efficacy. The construct of self-efficacy helps in explaining the findings that the behavior of individuals is not always perfectly predicted from their capability to complete a specific task but how a person believes they will perform is often more importa nt. According to Bandura academic self-efficacy is grounded in self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). According to this theory, it is an individuals self-confidence in his/her ability to manage and carry out a given course of action to resolve a problem or achieve a task (Eccles Wigfield, 2002, p. 110). Academic self-efficacy refers to ones belief that one can successfully achieve at a designated level on an educational task or get a specific academic goal and it is positively related to academic achievement (Bandura, 1997; Eccles Wigfield, 2002; Elias Loomis, 2002; Gresham, 1988; Linnenbrink Pintrich, 2002; Schunk Pajares, 2002). Self-efficacy theory suggests that academic self-efficacy may differ in strength as a function of problem solving. Some individuals may believe they are most efficient on difficult tasks, while others only on easier tasks. Ones self-efficacy has a great influence over ones choice of action, the kind of effort one spends, and how much one is able to keep that effort in the face of difficulty (Bandura, 1986, 1997; Schunk, 1995). Thus, self-efficacy beliefs have been found to influence students approach, their academic grades, their engagement in an activity, and how planned they may be while doing a task (Pajares Johnson, 1996; Pajares Miller, 1994, 1995). Therefore, Self-efficacy is supposed to effect performance via the influence on task perception. Each task achievement is assessed as a threat or a challenge, and persons with high self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to evaluate the tasks as a challenge (Chemers, Hu, and Garcia, 2001; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Pintrich and De Groot, 1990). That is, the degree to which a person feels confident about his or her capability to handle a given situation affects whether a certain task is supposed as stressful or threatening, rather than as a challenge. When a task is assessed as a challenge, one is more likely to select an effective coping strategy and to carry on the task. Self-efficacy also influences performance, confidence and self belief. Individuals with high self-efficacy practice challenging targets (Locke Latham, 1990), do their best, search for new solutions, and carry on in difficult task; this behavior leads to the improvement of actual ability and to goal achievement (Tuckman Sexton,1992). On the other hand, individuals with low self-efficacy practice lower levels of performance. Doubt and uncertainty during task performance weaken their concentration, and they give up easily when faced with difficult tasks. This process adversely affects the development of actual ability, which is reflected in lower achievement (Tuckman Sexton, 1992). A research suggests that high self-efficacy produces a feeling of calmness when approaching difficult tasks while low self-efficacy may result in an individual perceiving a task as more difficult than reality, which, in turn, may create anxiety, stress and a narrower idea on how best to approach the resolving of a problem or activity (Eccles, 2005). Students self-efficacy beliefs also seem to be considerably associated to the stress and their academic performance (Lane Lane, 2001). Therefore, lesser the stress better will be the performance and more a student will be motivated and more the stress the poor will be the performance and student will be less motivated. Moreover researches show that self-efficacy beliefs have positive effects on student motivation and achievement (Pintrich De Groot, 1990; Zimmerman, Bandura Martinez-Pons, 1992; Pajares Miller, 1994). Self-efficacy beliefs can determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves, and behave. Consequently motivation is improved when students recognize that they are making improvement in learning or feel they are competent enough of handling the task. In turn, as students make effort to do the tasks and become more  skillful they develop a sense of self-efficacy for performing well (Schunk, 1991). Self-efficacy beliefs play a key role in the self-regulation of mot ivation (Bandura 1994). According to Bandura, people motivate themselves and they form beliefs about what they can do, they set goals for themselves and plan courses of action designed to understand valued futures. Individuals who have a high sense of self-efficacy for accomplishing a task work harder and persist longer when they come across difficulties, whereas those who do not feel efficacious may give up or avoid a task (Schunk 1991). . Those who are more competent seem to set higher performance goals, get rid of faulty strategies more quickly, find out solutions in the face of difficulties and work more accurately than those with lower efficacy. Students who are confident in their capability to organize and achieve task performance are showing high self- efficacy. Whereas, students who are uncertain about their ability to successfully complete a task often participate less readily, do not work as hard, and give up quickly when faced with difficulty. Due to repeated failures in the classroom, it was hypothesized that students may feel that they cannot adequately perform certain behaviors and tasks to achieve a desired outcome. The resultant negative outcome may be lower academic self-efficacy. (Bong Skaalvick, 2003; Eccles Wigfield, 2002; Elias Loomis, 2002; Gresham, 1988; Schunk Pajares, 2002; Wentzel, 1999). However, negative self-efficacy could also disappoint a student and cause a student to fail in their personal or professional activities. Thus, students may face stress which may negatively impact academic achievement. Self-efficacy and stress are closely related concepts. According to a research by Zajacova, Lynch Espenshade investigates the joint effects of academic self-efficacy and stress on the academic performance. The survey was used as an instrument to measure the level of academic self-efficacy. The results suggest that academic self-efficacy is a more healthy and consistent predictor than stress of academic success. Self-efficacy is a better predictor of academic success than stress. Studies suggest that both academic stress and self-efficacy have some effect on academic outcomes, and there is some evidence that self-efficacy may be a better predictor (Pintrich and De Groot, 1990). Self efficacy and stress joint influence as determinants of academic success in schools/college. In a study by Hackett, Betz, Casas, and Rocha-Singh, (1992) identified both stress and academic self-efficacy as predictors of good grades. Good grades were associated with low perceived stress and high self-efficacy. In case of education, self-efficacy is seen to be related with effort, persistence and achievement. In one of the research by Chemers, Hu Garcia (2001), shown that children with higher self-efficacy strived for longer periods and used more useful problem solving strategies than students with lower self-efficacy. Therefore, self-efficacy changes the way a student works in order to get good grades and becomes more experienced and accurate about getting good grades in class and they keep on comparing themselves with their peers. Furthermore, classrooms that allow for extensive social comparisons (with the performance of other students) tend to lower self-efficacy of students whose performances are viewed as deficient when compared to others. People with low self-efficacy may believe that things are tougher than they really are, a belief that promote stress, narrow vision of how best to solve a problem. High self-efficacy, on the other hand, helps to create feelings of calmness in approaching difficult tasks and activities. As a result, self-efficacy beliefs are strong determinants and predictors of the level of achievement that individuals finally attain. The relationship between gender and self efficacy has also been a focus of the previous researches. It is assumed that Girls often outperform than boys. However, it is reported that males are tend to be more confident than females in academic areas related to mathematics, science and technology despite the fact that achievement differences in these areas are diminishing (Fuller, Hua Snyder, 1994). While in areas related to language, arts both male and female students exhibits similar confidence and this is also a truth that girls typically are high achievers (Pajares, in press) Keeping the above literature in view the rationale behind this research is to find the relationship between mindfulness and self efficacy among academically low and high achievers. There are a number of factors that may affect students achievement. These may include personal characteristics such as confidence in their abilities and attention they pay while studying. Confidence and belief in achieving goals is a good predictor of success. An increased academic self-efficacy may encourage the students confidence in utilizing his/her abilities to understand the course content, and achieve high grades. Simultaneously being mindful in the classroom can increase students ability to keep their attention which increases learning and academic performance. Moreover study will also allow the readers to understand that high achieving students might have different motivation to study than low achievers and that they are able to organize their study materials and study habits more efficiently. Act ive and independent engagement in the learning process might be more favorable to achievement than a passive and instructor dependent one. Although a lot of work is done on self efficacy and mindfulness in the education field but the lack of research in reference to Pakistan provided a rationale for examining the relationship between mindfulness and self efficacy. The research also investigates that which of these factors are characteristics of high-achieving and low-achieving students in the hope that the outcomes can be utilized to enhance student performance in the future. HYPOTHESES On the basis of the literature review the hypotheses formulated are: There exists a positive/significant correlation between mindfulness and self-efficacy among students. Students who are academically high achievers will perform high on mindfulness and self efficacy as compared to academically low achievers. Method The present study was conducted to find out the Relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy among academically low and high achievers Participants In the present study convenient sampling technique was used. The sample consisted of 70 students out of which 35 were girls and 35 were boys within the age range of 13 -16 studying in 9th and 10th grades at government schools. Co relational research design was used. Inclusion criteria The participants selected for the research were low and high achievers. Above 70% were considered as high graders and below 50% were considered as low graders. Girls who were above 70% were taken as high achievers and boys who were below 50% were taken as low achievers. The students of age ranging from 13-16 years were included in the study. The sample was collected from government schools to maintain the consistency. Exclusion criteria Students who were average i.e. between 50% 70% were excluded from the study. Also girls below 70% and boys above 50% were excluded from the study. Students suffering from any physical and mental disability to answer were also not part of the study. Instruments The data was gathered by the use of the mindfulness based self efficacy scale and Toronto mindfulness scale. Demographic data sheet Demographic questionnaire (see appendix C) was designed by the researcher for this study to provide descriptive information about the participants name(optional), age, gender, grade, school, hobbies, their grades in last class, their personal evaluation of grades and their participation in co curricular activities and in sports. Academic achievement The academic achievements of the child were screened through his/her examination record in the previous class. Academic achievement was accessed in form of grades that student got. The divisions of grades according to the percentages are given below: Grade A Above 70% Grade B 60-70% Grade C 50-60% Grade D 40-50% Mindfulness Based Self Efficacy Scale (Cayoun Freestun 2004) Self efficacy was measured by mindfulness based self efficacy scale (See Appendix D) The MSES is a 35-item scale and consists of 7 subscales of self efficacy, each containing 5 items. Behavior (items 1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Cognition (items 2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Interoception (items 3, 10, 17, 24, 31), Affect (items 4, 11, 18, 25, 32), Interpersonal (items 5, 12, 19, 26, 33), Avoidance (items 6, 13, 20, 27, 34), Mindfulness (items 7, 14, 21, 28, 35). To calculate self-efficacy, 18 items must be scored in reverse. These are: 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35. High scores indicate high self efficacy and low scores indicate the low levels of self efficacy. The cronbachs alpha reliability of the scale was 0.71. There was no cultural bias item in the questionnaire. This scale is valid and reliable. Participants were asked to evaluate their perception of self-efficacy on a 5-point Likert-type scale (0= not at all, 4=completely). The estimated time to complete the instrument was 10-15 minutes approximately. Scale was administered in English. No special permission was taken from the researcher as questionnaire was easily available on internet. Toronto mindfulness scale (Lau, Bishop, Segal, Buis, Anderson, Carlson, Shapiro, Carmody, Abbey, Devins, 2006) Toronto mindfulness scale (TMS) (See Appendix D) consists of 13-items. This instrument has two-factors Curiosity and Decentering. For the curiosity score following items are summed 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13. For the Decentering score following items are summed 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11. All items were written in positively keyed direction. The cronbachs alpha reliability of the scale was 0.72. The items of Factor 1 (Curiosity) reflect an attitude of wanting to learn more about ones experiences e.g. I was curious to see what my mind was up to from moment to moment .The items of Factor 2 (Decentering) reflect a shift from identify personally with thoughts and feelings to relating to ones experience in a wider field of awareness e.g. I was aware of my thoughts and feelings without over identifying with them. Each item was rated on 5 point likert scale (0=not at all, 4=very much). The estimated time to complete the instrument was 8-10 minutes. Questionnaire was easily available on internet. There was no cultural bias item in the questionnaire. Scale was administered in English and is a reliable and valid scale. Procedures Before starting the data collection, a pilot study was conducted on a sample of 7 students. It was done to check the reliability and validity of the instruments and to determine the time needed to complete the instruments to assess the self efficacy and mindfulness in students by the researcher. The results of the present study indicated that the reliability of MSES was .71 (See Appendix E) and the reliability of the TMS was .72 (See Appendix E). This indicated that the scales are reliable. After doing the pilot study the data was collected from 35 girls and 35 boys. The research was conducted in F.G Girls Public High School Lalazar, F.G Girls High School No 2 Iqbal Road and F.G Technical School for Boys. All the schools were taken from Rawalpindi. Participation was voluntarily and data was collected in the classrooms. After the approval of the principal students were contacted. Participants were then provided with a consent form (see appendix A). In order to participate in the study it was required that they confirm consent by signing it. After participants agreed to the consent form, instructions were provided followed by an administration of both the MSES and TMS scales. Data collection was completed in about six or seven days. Average time taken by an individual was 20-25 minutes. It took about 30-35 minutes in each class due to instructions given to children, in distribution and collection of questionnaires. A little difficulty was faced by the students to comprehend the questions like I was more invested in just watching my experiences as they arose. Than in figuring out what they could mean. But later on it was resolved by the researcher. The data was analyzed with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS Version 13.0). For the purpose of analyzing Pearson correlation was used. And to see the difference of low and high achievers regarding variables of self efficacy and mindfulness in data independent sample t-test was applied. Results The study was conducted to find out the relationship between self efficacy and mindfulness among low and high achievers. A sample of 70 students (both girls and boys=35) within age range of (13-16). The sample was collected from 3 government schools of Rawalpindi and questionnaires were administered. Then the data collected was analyzed with statistical package for social sciences (SPSS Version 13.0). Descriptive statistics were computed for demographic characteristics of the participants. For this purpose Pearson correlation was used. And also to see the difference of low and high achievers regarding variables of self efficacy and mindfulness in data independent sample t-test was applied. Cross tabulation was also applied on the academic achievement of the students according to the ranges of self-efficacy. Table 1 Frequency and Percentage of participants according to demographic variables of gender, age, grade and academic achievement (N=70) Variable Label Frequency(f) Percentage (%) Gender Girl

Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant :: essays research papers

Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant Introduction The Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant is located Southeast of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario (See map). Its purpose is to provide safe drinking water to our taps by filtering the water. The water is gathered from Lake Ontario. This plant has a production capacity of 455 million litres per day to supply the residents of Toronto with drinking water. Its average production of drinking water is 355 million litres per day. It is also the newest filtration plant in Toronto. History The Frank J. horgan Filtration Plant was built from 1974 to 1979 on property acquired from the city of Scarborough, It opened on May 22,1980. When it opened, it was not named Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant but was names Easterly Filtration Plant. This was because the plant was on the eastern side of Toronto. The name seemed appropriate at the time. The name was changed to Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant at 1990 by the commissioner of works for Metro Toronto. This plant cost about 57 million dollars to construct. About nineteen major contractors worked on this plant and were supervised by the Engineering firm of James F. Macharen Limited. Although it is the newest plant, it had it’s disasters. Their intake value exploded twice between 1980 and 1995 because of the extreme pressure and Wight of the water. these incidents cause a shutdown of the plant until they could repair it. Production The Frank J. Horgan Filtration Plant needs only one row materials to operate, which is water. The plant is right next to lake Ontario, collecting water to purify. The water enters the plant by means of two 114 and four 182 million litres per day pumps, sum 18 meters below sea level and 2960 meters off the shore. Since the pressure of the water at that depth is so strong, there is no need for any mechanical pumps. They just let pressure and suction to do the job. The water is now treated with chemicals which are aluminium sulphate (alum), lime and chlorine. Alum is used to stick dirt particles together, to make large clumps of dirty called "floc". A lot of chlorine is added to the water to kill the bacteria. If we were to drink it, you would die from chlorine poisoning. The Chlorine, by the end of the filtration, drops to a safe level. This is where the alum does its work. Coagulation is basically mixing the alum with the water. This is a achieved by high speed in-line mechanical blenders. Flocculation occurs right afterwards.

Tori Amos Biography :: essays research papers

Tori Amos, Goddess of Rock and Roll, and the piano. The girl who has been through so much, but still lives to tell about it and share all of her life experiences through her songs. Her life is almost like a song itself, with all of the trials and tribulations one can imagine.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Amos, who was born in Newton, North Carolina on August 22nd, 1963 wasn’t originally called Tori. Her given name was Myra Ellen. The change of her name came later in her career. Right from the beginning, her talents on the piano were recognized. At the young age of three, before her legs were even long enough to reach the pedals, she was climbing up to the piano bench to play a song. By the age of five, she was the youngest student to ever be accepted to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She stayed at the Conservatory for several years, but by the age of eleven she was asked to leave because she didn’t want to play the music that was required of her. She once stated in an interview on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, â€Å"Those guys are dead, why do I want to play that crap! I want to be a composer...don’t we all...but I did.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After getting kicked out of the school she began playing at piano bars. Her father always was tagging along, because she wasn’t old enough to go alone. She played at the bars, in addition to a Marriot hotel, until she graduated from high school. Sometime after that Ellen, as she was called, changed her name. One of Tori’s sisters brought her boyfriend to one of Tori’s shows one night to see her play. After the show the boyfriend told Amos that she indeed was not an Ellen. She looked like a Tori, and that is how it all began.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After high school, she joined a band called Y Kant Tori Read. The band signed to the Atlantic record label, and worked on the release of their first album. Their CD release flopped, and the band broke up. When their CD was first released, not many people wanted it. Amazingly enough, the CD now goes for around one hundred dollars as a Tori collectors item.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During this time, Tori was still doing little gigs here and there. One night after a show, something happened that changed her life dramatically. Tori offered a member of the audience a ride home after the show, and he raped her in the back of the car with a gun to her head.

Darwin Vs. Pearson :: Natural Selection Essays

The writing of Charles Darwin focuses on the concept of natural selection and its implications on the human race. Darwin understands that allowing weaker people to pass on their genetic shortcomings will ultimately prove to be detrimental. People should have the same reproductive rights and opportunities as all other people. The writing of Karl Pearson also focuses on natural selection and its implications upon the human race. Pearson, however, believes that the weaker people of society should be forced to die off so as not to pass on their genetic malfeasance. Darwin and Pearson agree on the process of natural selection but disagree on how society should utilize the knowledge gained from understanding natural selection. Darwin & Pearson both believe that left unchecked the human race would evolve positively by not allowing unfit people to reproduce. Darwin says, â€Å"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health.† Darwin believes that people, without the constraints of society, would allow the weaker elements of their offspring to die off without reproducing. Since people operate in a civilized society, they must tolerate the people who are weaker than they are, even if it is a detriment to society at large, â€Å"We must therefore bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind.† Karl Pearson believes that the knowledge gained from understanding natural selection should be utilized to stop the human race from declining, â€Å"I want you to see selection as something which renders the inexorable law of heredity a source of progress, which produces the good through suffering, an infinitely greater good which far outbalances the very obvious pain and evil.† Pearson believes that even though it will be hard to do, society must stop allowing inferior people to reproduce.

The One Scene That Sealed Titanic’s Fate Essay

Titanic is thought to be one of the most iconic films to ever hit theaters. According to the film industry, the film by James Cameron falls into the realm of an epic romance/disaster genre. Released in 1997, Titanic was an international box office sensation, due to the director providing equal importance to history, fiction, and romance. The film is set in April of 1912, where Jack Dawson played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Rose DeWitt Bukater played by Gloria Stuart and Kate Winslet share a love story that cannot be broken. The movie also gives a historical overview of what happened that dreadful night. This critical analysis of the film Titanic provides an overview that the innovative mode of storytelling (flash back and other techniques) can portray both a love story and the historical background while using a dissolve editing method, in which â€Å"the end of one shot gradually merges into the beginning of the next. The effect is produced by superimposing a fade-out onto a fade-in o f equal length of imposing one scene over another† (Petrie and Boggs 160). This editing effect was used at the beginning of the movie, in which at 21:03, the wreckage of the Titanic is seamlessly and effortlessly transformed into the beautiful masterpiece of a ship that it once was. This effect is also used when Jack and Rose are standing together â€Å"flying† on the edge of the Titanic, later to be transformed back into the ship wreck. This scene brings the audience back into the present and shocks them back into the harsh reality that the scene was merely a memory from Rose, and no longer the reality (Titanic1997). The editing in Titanic is truly remarkable, bringing the audience from the future into the past, shocking the audience by showing both first-class and lower-class struggles, and showing not only the love story between Rose and Jack, but the life and death of the Titanic and the two thousand people aboard. Through the use of other film techniques such as editing and camera work, set design, imagery and color, James Cameron created one of the most influential and moving works of art the film world has seen. The editing style and technique brings new life to the cinematography world, and â€Å"rejects the norms of modern Hollywood style† (Butka). In all film elements, visual effects, cinematography, color palette, editing, sound design, and music, contributes to the film as a whole. Cameron, â€Å"who has been pushing the boundaries of the Hollywood classical cinema since The Terminator, finally reached a career high point with Titanic’s synthesis of compelling storytelli ng and dexterous style and technique† (Butka) Visual effects, color, imagery, and set design play an important role in all forms of movie and television. These elements are the core foundation of the overall feeling that the audience experiences when watching a particular film. One particular element of film that impacts the story line is the setting of the scenery. Setting may â€Å"often seem unobtrusive or be taken for granted, it is an essential ingredient in any story and makes an important contribution to the theme of total effect of the film† (Petrie and Boggs 82). The setting of a film should be carefully analyzed because of the effects it has on the interrelationships of the characters, plot, and overall general feeling that the movie brings out in its audience. In Titanic, the setting plays a major role in the fact that the first class citizens were held to a higher standard that the lower class citizens. This set the mood for the rest of the film and sets up the segregation that separates Jack and Rose. The col ors also provide a strict divide between the upper and lower classes aboard the Titanic. The royalty wore brighter, more vibrant colors, as well as more flashy materials, whereas the lower class wore much more torn clothing, all of which were dark and dirty colors. These elements ultimately set the tone for the rest of the movie, and would be a constant struggle for Rose and Jack to keep their bond strong. James Cameron put an emphasis on the difference between these classes in order to give the audience the sense of segregation. James Cameron is a critically acclaimed film director known for some of the biggest box-office hits of all time. A science-fiction fan as a child, Cameron â€Å"went on to produce and direct films including The Terminator, Aliens and Avatar. He has received numerous Academy Awards and nominations for his often large-scale, expensive productions† (Biography Editors). His most noted work, 1997’s Titanic, became the first film â€Å"to earn more than $1 billion and landed 14 Academy Award nominations. Cameron took home three Oscars himself for the project: Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture† (Biography Editors). To re-create one of the greatest disasters at sea in history, â€Å"James Cameron had a special studio built in Mexico, which featured a 17-million-gallon water tank and the 775-foot replica of the Titanic,† this proved to help the film be a successful blockbuster hit (Biography Editors). James Cameron’s techniques used in Titani c became immensely popular as the film became popular. Cameron’s own â€Å"documentary urge was so intense, that he created new diving and photographic equipment – at an extraordinary expense for his studio – to achieve textural authenticity by recording and presenting the eighty-five-year-old wreck of his subject. The film, then, like so many other fictional films, says the ultimate compliment to the documentary form: Cameron uses the real thing to inform his reel thing† (Petrie and Boggs 468). The main purpose behind editing a film is to keep the film in continuous motion, regardless if the time periods switch rapidly, much like in Titanic, where Rose goes from being a seventeen year old girl, to a one-hundred year old woman explaining the history of the Titanic as she remembers it. The editing techniques that were used were ultimately used to shock the audience through â€Å"sudden, jarring cuts between the third- and first-class, [which] build the antithesis between the classes and accentuate the conflicts. Some of the examples include: the cut between the steer get berthing space when Jack and Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) first arrive on the ship and Cal’s private promenade deck; the cut between Rose and Jack dancing in the steerage party scene and the first-class smoking lounge (which is such an abrupt change of atmosphere and energy that it comes as quite a cinematic shock to the viewers); the cut between the flooding in the steerage with rats on the run and the pro priety of a first-class corridor that does not even hint at the impending tragedy† (Butka). Throughout the movie, the film consists of scenes mainly from the Jack and Rose era, however in the beginning of the film, the director made use of flashback technique to unearth the romantic story of the lovers in the film. To be specific, the plot moves from present condition (say, 1996) to past (say, 1912) and to present (1996). In the opening scene, the director portrays the effort of Brock Lovett (say, a treasure hunter) to unearth the secret behind a necklace sunk with RMS Titanic in 1912. Gradually, the director portrays the love affair between Rose and Jack. In the end, Rose drops the necklace into the Ocean and returns. The film ends with a fictional reunion between the lovers. Dissolves are very important to the film, â€Å"particularly those between different time periods, and even fades are used occasionally to mark important points in the film (e.g., when Rose finishes her story)’ (Butka) Cameron also uses â€Å"establishing shots regularly, thus preserving a locale orientation for the viewers: not only do we always know exactly where we are, but these establishing shots also help us grasp the ship’s enormous dimensions† (Butka). Even in the period section of the film, â€Å"there is a separation between two distinct photographic styles: â€Å"In the first part, the camerawork is rather polite, graceful and even eloquent. [Carpenter] was trying to reinforce the opulence and beauty of the time with lighting,† (Butka). This eloquent style gives a feeling of tranquility and perfection to the first class shipmates, providing deep segregation to the boat, thus bringing about the conflict of Jack and Rose’s love. This camera and editing style let the audience feel the same way that the characters were feeling, eloquent and fashionable. When looking at the color of the first class section of the boat, â€Å"there is also use of amber, a color Ca meron has not used before; in addition, the first-class sections of the ship are even more colorful, which is undeniably helped by the exquisite costuming† (Butka). In the second part of the film, the camera work and editing becomes much more violent and choppy, showing the struggle the passengers endured as the ship hit the iceberg and ultimately began to sink. The camerawork â€Å"quickly loses that polite edge and segues into this very kinetic, sometimes violent movement. It’s jarring and bumpy, which suggests the panic of the situation. This is a point that Cameron, Carpenter, and Muro worked on together; later in the film, initial smooth and refined camera movements transform into â€Å"less elegant and more nervous. There’s a lot more handheld work and Steadicam, and its rough† (Butka). The overall production of the Titanic came at quite a cost but was a tremendous success, to say the least. Titanic’s production was a â€Å"famously difficult and complex one, a shoot on an almost unprecedented scale which featured tough technical challenges and which was overseen by a director who knew exactly what he wanted and who demanded the utmost from everyone until he got it, but it was a tough journey to get there† (Braund). Production of the film began in 1995, when â€Å"Cameron shot footage of the real wreck of the RMS Titanic. He envisioned the love story as a means to engage the audience with the real-life tragedy. A shooting took place on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh — which aided Cameron in filming the real wreck — for the modern scenes, and a reconstruction of the ship was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California. Cameron also used scale models and computer-generated imagery to recreate the sinking. At the time†, the pict ure became the most expensive film ever made, costing approximately US$200 million with funding from Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox (Butka). â€Å"Principal photography for Titanic began in July 1996 at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In September 1996, the production moved to the newly built Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, where a full-scale RMS Titanic had been constructed (Marsh). Special effects played an important role in how the movie filmed. Many critics were skeptical about how Cameron would portray such a disastrous scene, including the deaths of all of the people aboard the ship. Cameron then went on to say that †the people were all computer graphics. The way we did it was, we had people act out all of those individual behaviors in what we call a ’motion capture environment.’ So, a steward pouring tea for a lady seated on a deck chair – that was all acted out and then that motion file was used to drive and animate those figures. The end result is like you said: We pull back down the full length of Titanic, and you see 350 people all over the decks, doing all those different things. The same technique was used for the sinking when you see hundreds of people on the ship jumping off or rolling down the decks† (Ebert). Cameron also did not want to cut corners in regards to the props and sets used. In addition to the life-size model of the Titanic, Cameron also had â€Å"construction crews build two huge water tanks. One was 90 foot deep and over 800 foot wide in which the model could slowly sink into 17 million gallons of water fed directly from the Pacific Ocean. The second tank was 30 foot deep. It contained 5 million gallons of water and housed the elegant first class dining saloon and the three story Grand Staircase† (Titanic and Co). One of the most impressive interior sets was the recreation of the famed Grand Staircase— the most famous room Titanic contained. Additionally, the Staircase, â€Å"as mentioned by one of the film crew personnel, ended up acting almost as a character in the film, due to it being the location of several pivotal scenes, including the ending scene. Interestingly, the staircase presented in the film is slightly larger than the one on the real ship. The reason for this was because people in 1912 were shorter than they are today. As a result, the staircase was scaled up to make the actors look smaller† (IMDB). For the exterior shots of the ship sinking, the almost â€Å"full-scale ship was placed in a 3 foot deep, 17 million gallon tank and tilted using a crane. For the interior shots of the sinking ship, the sets were enclosed in a 5 million gallon tank and again tilted in the water using a crane. This was the method used for the Grand Staircase. However, to make the destru ction of the Grand Staircase more dramatic, Cameron and his team dropped 90,000 gallons of water onto it. Because the Staircase would be destroyed, there would be only one attempt to get it right. Unexpectedly, the massive volume of water ripped the Staircase from its steel-reinforced foundations, collapsing certain sections of it† (IMDB). This destruction of the stair case was relatively dramatic and saddening to the characters and audience because it had become such a vital work of art in the movie. These stairs were much more than just stairs; they were the place in which Jack fell in love with Rose, the place Rose and Jack embraced in their final kiss in the final scene; a true masterpiece that had become one of the characters, gone in an instant. Roger Ebert became â€Å"film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. He is the only film critic with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named honorary life member of the Directors’ Guild of America. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screenwriters’ Guild, and honorary degrees from the American Film Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder† (Ebert). He then went on to interview James Cameron on his success and struggles with the making of the Titanic. The footage of the sunken ship was mainly real footage of the actual sunken Titanic. James Cameron believed that in order for the movie to have a more authentic feel, that he should take actual film himself with his own camera. Cameron wasn’t content to buy footage from documentaries about the search for the Titanic; he shot the film’s undersea footage himself, new for this film: †It’s all our own. I made the dives and operated the camera and we lit it and every thing† (Ebert) Cameron then went on to explain the struggles that appeared when creating the interior of the Titanic. â€Å"It’s consistent with what Titanic looks like† Cameron mentioned. â€Å"We couldn’t explore the whole interior of the ship. We could only get a glimpse into some areas. We went down some corridors to the D-deck level and saw a lot of the remaining hand-carved woodwork, the wall-paneling, and the beautiful ornate carved doors. A lot of it is still there. It’s very, very cold, which helps preserve things. There are marine organisms that will eat wood, but in certain areas the wood was covered with white-leaded paint that protected Titanic† (Ebert). As morbid as it sounds, it was important to display the fear and anguish on the faces of the people trapped on and inside the sinking vessel. Even though this was a Romeo and Juliet type of love story, the overwhelming message was to portray the absolute disaster the Titanic was and to show the terror on the faces of those involved. Cameron goes on to say that many died in terror, you know, when you look at the numbers, if you were a third class male on Titanic you stood a 1-in-10 chance of survival. If you were a first class female, it was virtually a 100 percent survival rate. It broke down along lines of gender and class. If you were a first-class male, you stood about a 50-50 chance of survival. And the crew took it hardest.† Of the 1,500 who died, 600 or 700 of them were crew members. The people who stayed in the dynamo room and the engine room, to keep the lights on so that the evacuation would not become panicked – who stayed till the end and missed their opportun ity to leave the ship – that’s something you’d see less of today† (Ebert). This just goes to show that Cameron felt very passionate about the way he needed to portray this type of despair in his movie, and in order to do that he needed have the film crew work extremely hard in order to portray that same anguish. †That was our most dangerous work,† Cameron said. †The stunt team worked for weeks in advance, videotaping each one of those stunts and rehearsing it and showing me the tapes. It was all intensely pre-planned and the set was made about 50 percent out of rubber at that point, all padded up. But there’s always an X-factor. We had 6,000 stunt person days on this film – the equivalent of one man doing stunts seven days a week for 16 years. But it was all happening at once. We did have a guy break his leg, which I hated. I don’t think anybody should get hurt for a film. So I decided to do more of it with computer graphics† (Ebert). This made it more apparent that special effects had to be made more in order to keep the cast and crew safe. Therefore, the scene in which the Titanic is actually sinking was almost entirely CGI when the camera was sweeping over the boat in a birds eye view. Cameron goes on to talk about the importance of human nature and how the story of Titanic is iconic not because of the class struggles, but once tragedy strikes, we are all on the same level fighting for survival. Cameron goes on to state that the â€Å"great lesson of Titanic for us, going into the 21st century,† he said, † is that the inconceivable can happen. Those people lived in a time of certainty; they felt they had mastered everything – mastered nature and mastered themselves. But they had mastered neither. A thousand years from now Titanic will still be one of the great stories. Certainly, there have been greater human tragedies during this century, but there’s something poetically perfect about Titanic, because of the laying low of the wealthy and the beautiful people who thought life would be infinite and perfect for them.† What would you have done? Anyone seeing this movie, I said, will have to ask them this question: Would I have fought t o get on a lifeboat? Would I have pushed a woman or a child out of the way? Or would I have sat down in the lounge and called for a brandy, like Guggenheim, and faced the inevitable with grace† (Ebert)? In conclusion, Titanic taught the general public that the human race is not invincible and that nature does not care whether you are rich or poor, perfect or imperfect, or nothing at all. Through the masterful works of camera angles, visual imagery, editing, and specific scenery, director and writer James Cameron was able to recreate the tragedy of the unsinkable Titanic through the camera lens. Cameron was able to display the struggles of love, life, death, and historical understanding through the eyes of Jack and Rose, and through the magic of filmmaking, teach an incredible lesson that will live on through eternity.

Kolb Model

Tata Motors’ Singur Case (Nano Controversy) Introduction I have taken the case on Tata Motors Ltd. The case was all about on the Tata Nano Singur Controversy. This controversy refers to the Tata’s Nano Factory at Singur in Hooghly district in West Bengal, India. Since Tata Motors Started constructing the factory over there in Singur, the small place comes into the media worldwide. Tata Motors started this factory to manufacture 25000 cars firstly. The plans of Tata Motors were that Nano will come out from the factory by 2008 for rolling out the roads. Tata Motors Ltd. s the largest Indian automobile company having the revenues of USD 20 billion in 2009-10. Tata Motors is the leader in the manufacturing of commercial vehicles. It is among the top three in the passenger car and also in mid car segment. The organization stands at number four in truck manufacturing worldwide and stands at number two in bus manufacturing. The total workforce of Tata Motors worldwide is near about 24000 employees. Tata Motors established in 1945, Tata Motors is present across the India and even world wide as they have acquired the two brands of Ford Motors.The total quantity of the vehicles which rolling out on Indian roads by Tata Motors are near about 6 million. The company has its manufacturing units all across the India i. e. Jamshedpur, Pune, Lucknow, Pantnagar and Karnataka. In 2005, Tata Motors set the alliance with Fiat Motors at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra to produce bith Fiat and Tata cars. The company is also establishing the new manufacturing unit at Sanand( Gujrat). The company has a good dealership network in India. Abstract The controversy of Tata Motors was due to Land Acquisition at Singur for its Nano Project 4 years back. The Tata Motors have the dream to run a Rs. lakh car on Indian roads. In 2006, the CM of West Bengal Mr. Bhuddadeb Bhattacharjee’s vision was to make the West Bengal an industrialized state so that it can compare to other states i n India in industrialization. As the land in Singur was not so fruitful, so the government had decided to give it to Tata Motors for the Nano Project, so that the state will get benefit out of it. But the opposition had the continuously eye on this issue, they do not want that the poor farmers’ land will be taken from them under the government pressure. The political factors come into the picture against this project at Singur.The opposition was playing with the emotions of the farmers. The opposition put the arguments that the land is scarce resource in the West Bengal. The opposition does not want that the project will start here and it will end up at its scheduled time. The opposition got successful in its operations for the Tata Motors and finally Supreme Court asked the Ratan Tata to chuck out their plant from the Singur. The main person behind all this was Ms. Mamta Benerjee, she was adding fuel to the fire always at the time of issue. So, at the end Tata Motors have st opped its operations and went ahead to the place in Gujrat. Comparative AnalysisThe comparative analysis can be defined in terms of issues of the case and their depth analysis from the point of view of stakeholders. It can be explain in terms of some external forces which play important role in this issue as given below: First of all in this case, legal aspects in the land acquisition by Tata at Singur come into the play. Due to globalization, most of the developing countries want to have the shift from import substitution based strategy for the land acquisition. SEZ i. e. special economic zones are the geographical regions which have the economic laws more liberal than the economic laws in the whole country.By offering the all these privileged terms from the SEZ to the company, it will attract the investment from the investors, foreign exchange, boost the employment and improving the infrastructure facilities which will help in the growth of the particular location. The same reason was here in the case also. Tata want to improve the industrialization in the West Bengal though their Nano Project. As the Nano project will be beneficial for the both parties, Tata will get the desired place for the manufacturing of the Nano and West Bengal will also benefited.In this case, the main issue was that Industry, government and agriculture comes at the crossroads. There are so many implications for the external factors which come into this picture. As CPI had won the election for the seventh consecutive time in West Bengal, CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has the vision to make the West Bengal an industrialized state which will help the people to upgrade their standards. CM was very happy that government has recommended the Singur for the Nano Plant. As Ratan Tata was looking for the place where he would able to control the cost and place would be cheap so that he can provide the people the car of worth Rs. lakh. So, Ratan Tata accepts the proposal from the West Bengal gover nment because at Singur the cost of its operation would be less and Tata will get benefited out of it. The statistical data of Hooghly district on Singur block is that 83% of the land is irrigated and crop density is 220%. The landholders in the Singur were very small. All have the land in the small proportions. There are a large number of migrant workers over there; it implies that Tata would get the cheap and easy labor over there in the Singur.On May 18, 2006, there was the announcement by the West Bengal government for the beginning of the project at Singur. Ratan Tata promise to complete the project in 2 years. The whole project was spread into 2 parts, one part having the land of 700 acres and another part of 300 acres which was kept for the ancillary production for the project. The project has created the 10,000 direct and indirect jobs over there in Singur. On Jun 19th2006, Tata got a notification from the government under the section 9(1) of land Acquisition Act of 1894 to the affected farmers due to this project.The Act mentioned that the land acquired by Tata needed to be taken by the government/ government authorities for the public purposes, employment generation and socio economic development of the state. After some time on Jul 27, 2006 the state government sets the 6 months deadline for acquiring the land. After that this land acquisition got challenged by the Kolkata High Court. Some people in the Singur got their cheques for the compensation from the government as they protest against the government for the cheques. After that there is state wide violence in the Singur began.The monitoring protesting starts in the Singur. Ms. Mamta Banerjee took the lead for the opposition of the project. On 22th Jan, 2007 there were near about the 1000 guards arranged for Tata Motors’ plant to save it from the protesting people on the day of Bhoomi Pujan. There are the people from the all parts of the society come in the Singur to protest this movemen t. On 4th Feb’07, HC issued a prohibitory order under the section 144 Cr at Singur and announce that it was the only use of power and unreasonable restricted practices by the government authorities.After some days, the government asked for the file an affidavit which will show all the details for the legality of the land acquisition by the Tata Motors at Singur. Here comes the issue whether land acquire though under the two different section of land acquisition act 1894, it got directed towards the farmers who receive the compensation from the government. After messing with government, finally Tata got the approval for the plant on March, 07. The government signed an agreement to lease the 949. 5 acres to the Tata Motors for 90 years.After some time, government felt that an advocate made some mistakes and the same case got filed again, government found that only 30% of the farmers signed willingly and yet other people do not want. The state government admitted that Till April 25, 07 only Rs. 90. 35 crores have distributed and rest the people are left undistributed the money where as their land had already acquired. In the meanwhile the Nano got unveiled in Delhi’s pragati Maidan on Jan10, 08. On Jan 18, 10, Calcutta High Court sealed the land acquisition in Singur and asked the Tata to roll out the Nano without completing the project.The Chief Justice dismiss the all the 11petitions filed by the Tata. Tata has not paid the people which are CPI(M) supported. Now there are cpnditions got critical and Ratan Tata decide to roll out the project from the Singur on Oct 3, 08 due to worried about the safety concern of the Mangers and their families over there. Implications on Stakeholders The stakeholder impacts the case a lot from the point of view of their different place in the organization. The implications of all the stakeholders are given below: Tatas Prospective Investors Ancillary Units Competitor to Nano Farmers Stakeholders WB Government Employ eesMamta Banarjee Different Stakeholder Values The primary stakeholders for the Tata project were Tatas, government of west Bengal and farmers. The government plays a critical role in pulling out the project by Tatas. Mamta Banerjee played with the emotions of the Farmers by making them ignited for the opposition of this project. Every stakeholder thinks from its prospective of getting the benefit out of this problem. Talking about the farmers, as they firstly persuaded for the land acquisition but they were opposing it because due to increase in the land prices as they are demanding now the high prices for their land.As the West Bengal is a agriculture state, there is a lack of industrialization in the West Bengal. The issue was taken up by the opposition due to this factor also. The main role played by the Mamata Banerjee by taking the help of political and government issues which are totally external, could not able to handle by Tatas. The formulation of Tata-Singur case is very much uncertain. There are too many speculations over there for unsatisfied farmers as they demanded more money now. Returning 400 acres to the farmers which was unwillingly for the Tatas or the main reason was the political factors.Theory of Socialism Socialism is a theory related to the political and economic factors of the public or for the mutual ownership of the people in particular regions. It has a lot of importance in the means of the production and makes the resources allocated among all the departments. The theory of socialism plays an important part in Singur Case. As the socialism theory will have the care for the people in the society, it will help the people to co operate the each other. The Tatas can carry out the production by the free association of the workers to use the maximum optimal resources.The co-ordination planning is the major part of this theory and I think in co-ordination or in the planning of the co-ordination Tata is the best in the industry. The decis ions about the investment, distribution of the surplus money or invest in the production methods give the advantage over the others. Socialism is the theory which is based on the arrangements for labour time, all the units of power and other factors of the production. In the case of Singur, there are a lot of political factors or forces Tata faced by the government. The socialism theory originated from the intellectual and the working class of the society.So it impacts a lot of the political movement of the Tata Motors which arises from the fact of industrialization in the state. The main issue which comes into the picture was the private properties of the farmers in the Singur. As the West Bengal is an agriculture state, the Singur is totally depending upon the agriculture. But due to government rule, the land which is about irrigated from a long time it could be comes under the SEZs. Under SEZs the land will be used under the various government laws to start with some industries o ver there.The theory also emphasis on the fact about the issue at the Singur case is that due to socialism, the modern values to rationalize economic activities by the eliminating the capitalist production at the plant. It would also allow the workers for the economic output and the power to be distributed on the base of extended work in the manufacturing of the Nano Project. Theory of Pluralism Final Outcome All Organizations face a business environment in which international and macroeconomic phenomena Matter, The same with happened to TATA in Singur They faced a huge protest by the farmers in the land acquisition matter.The problem in Singur is essentially just that: the irresistible coming up against the immovable. While the government wants to develop industry in the state, farmers are worried about losing their land and procuring the next meal for themselves and their families. The trinomial congress, with its honorable leader Mamta Banerjee had a right intention of protecting the interests of the local farmers, started off well and managed to get a lot of political support from rural Bengal. As Nano factory was nearing completion, The CM of Bengal Mr.Bhattacharya stepped back and soon to come up with support and not putting up the factory in Singur. The Tata's mistake was to put too much faith in west Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and to depend only on him to provide them with easy possession of land on favorable terms, and to sort out all political problems. After that TATA had offered many compensation package in exchange of the acquired land to the farmers but their leader Mamta was not interested whatsoever in any package that endangers the survival of the problem.Taking a drastic site-selection turn, Tata Motors has abandoned the site in eastern India where its 2,000-employee plant was going to manufacture the new Nano mini-car. Prompted by months of often violent opposition from uprooted farmers, the pullout from the city of Singu r came only after Tata had reportedly spent almost US$350 million, working for two years to ready the operation in West Bengal state to make the low-cost â€Å"People's Car. Instead, the automaker is relocating to Sanand, Gujrat, where it will construct a $417 million facility to make the Nano mini car. Critical Recommendations The TATA motors should have entered into direct negotiations with the farmers, tried to understand their problems with empathy and offered them a higher price and employment for at least one member of each affected family. Tata motors should not have gone so far ahead in construction before critical land acquisition issues were settled