Addiction to Technological Gadgets and Its Impact Essays

Addiction to Technological Gadgets and Its Impact on Health and Lifestyle: A Study on College Students Abstract In the present era the introduction of modern technological gadgets has captured the attention of global population. The dependency of people on these technological gadgets and services provided by these has reached at such level that, without these, they can't think a step forward in the direction of their growth. The degree of dependency is leading to addiction of the tech-devices and services. Youth is the most vulnerable group among the population to be addicted to technology. The study was designed to examine the use of tech-devices by youth i.e. the time spent with the gadgets, the purposes behind use, and its impacts on mental health and life style. Using structured questionnaire, unstructured interviews and observation by the researcher, primary data were collected from 150 respondents of NIT, Rourkela. Findings of the study showed that most of the young respondents spend a large amount of their time with their tech-gadgets and services provided by them. The purposes of use i n most cases are pleasure driven rather than necessity driven. Again, it reveals that addiction to tech-devices has many negative impacts on the aspects relating to mental health of the respondents and has become a causal factor in the change of life style of young participants. The results are interpreted based on the current theories and implications for future are pointed out. Key words: Addiction, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Technological Gadgets and Services CHAPTER I Introduction The term technology comes from the Greek word "techne", which means the art or skill used in order to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input/ output relation or perform a specific function; technology is the making, modification, usage and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques and method of organisation (Liddel, Scott, Jones McKenzie, 1940). That means, it can refer to the collection of tools, including machinery, modification, arrangements and procedures. Over the last 200 years there has been a significant change in the term technology. In the 20th century i.e. during the industrial revolution the term has gained its popularity worldwide (Cradock Baldwin, 1833). Technology is the energy that acts as the driving force to drive or to run our lives. It is nothing but the results of the innovations and creativity of human beings. It converts the natural resources into consumer goods which are used by the society and human beings. It has brought the automation level into such a height that human effort and his time has been saved to a great extent. Due to this, the access to information has now become easier and the distant locations are getting closer. IT and communication system has provided such facilities that the world is now feeling like a small globe virtually. However not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes. The development of weapons of mass destruction has created serious threat to society throughout history. Reference: http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/5544/1/e-thesis_19.pdf

Overview of Folk Etymology

Overview of Folk Etymology Folk etymology involves a change in the form or pronunciation of a word or phrase resulting from a mistaken assumption about its composition or meaning. Also called popular etymology. G. Runblad and D.B. Kronenfeld identify two main groups of folk etymology, which they call Class I and Class II. Class I contains folk-etymologies where some change has occurred, either in meaning or form, or both. Folk etymologies of the Class II type, on the other hand, do not usually change the meaning or form of the word, but function mainly as some popular, though false, etymological explanation of the word (Lexicology, Semantics, and Lexicography, 2000). Class I is by far the more common type of folk etymology. Connie Eble points out that folk etymology applies mostly to foreign words, learned or old-fashioned words, scientific names, and place-names (Slang and Sociability, 1996). Examples and Observations The process of altering otherwise incomprehensible words, in order to give them a semblance of meaning, is called folk, or popular, etymology. A product of ignorance, it nevertheless should not be underestimated as a factor of language history, for many familiar words owe their form to it. In kitty-corner, kitty is a jocular substitution for cater-. Cater-corner is an opaque compound, while kitty-corner (diagonally from) suggests the movement of a prowling cat. . . .Stepmother, stepdaughter, and so forth suggest the derivation from step. Yet a stepchild is not one step removed from its natural parent; -step goes back to a word meaning bereaved. Many people share Samuel Johnsons opinion that bonfire is a good fire, from French bon, but it means bonefire. Old bones were used as fuel down to the 1800s. The vowel o was shortened before -nf (a regular change before two consonants), and a native English word began to look half-French.(Anatoly Liberman, Word Origins: Etymology for Everyone. Oxford University Press, 2009) Woodchuck and Cockroach Examples: Algonquian otchek a groundhog became by folk etymology woodchuck; Spanish cucaracha became by folk etymology cockroach.(Sol Steinmetz, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings. Random House, 2008)   Female Historically, female, from Middle English femelle (from Old French femelle, a diminutive form of Latin femina woman/female), is unrelated to male (Old French male/masle; Latin masculus (little man/male); but Middle English femelle was clearly remodeled into female based on the association with male (approximately the 14th century) (OED). The remodeling of female brought female and male into their current and apparently sense-related and asymmetric relationship (one that many of us, now, are going to some lengths to unmake.(Gabriella Runblad and David B. Kronenfeld, Folk-Etymology: Haphazard Perversion or Shrewd Analogy.  Lexicology, Semantics, and Lexicography, ed. by  Julie Coleman and Christian Kay. John Benjamins, 2000) Bridegroom When people hear a foreign or unfamiliar word for the first time, they try to make sense of it by relating it to words they know well. They guess what it must meanand often guess wrong. However, if enough people make the same wrong guess, the error can become part of the language. Such erroneous forms are called folk or popular etymologies.Bridegroom provides a good example. What has a groom got to do with getting married? Is he going to groom the bride, in some way? Or perhaps he is responsible for horses to carry him and his bride off into the sunset? The true explanation is more prosaic. The Middle English form was bridgome, which goes back to Old English brydguma, from bride guma man. However, gome died out during the Middle English period. By the 16th century its meaning was no longer apparent, and it came to be popularly replaced by a similar-sounding word, grome, serving lad. This later developed the sense of servant having the care of horses, which is the dominant sense toda y. But bridegroom never meant anything more than brides man.(David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003) EtymologyFrom the German,  Volksetymologie

Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener or Gail Godwin, A Sorrowful Essay

Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener or Gail Godwin, A Sorrowful Woman choose one - Essay Example s and actions and the actions of the people around her, the objectivity of the voice is a mask for the subjectivity of womanhood where womanhood is subjective because society narrowly defines and controls it. The narrator of the story is an objective omniscient narrator because she can follow any character around and do not provide interpretations. The narrator provides information on other characters which makes her omniscient. The narrator follows what the father and son to do together one time. The woman is sleeping, but the narrator knows what the father and child did together: â€Å"He took the child for a walk, and when they returned, red-cheeked and boisterous, the father made supper† (Godwin 1). The narrator also turns to other characters to inform the audience of what they are doing. The narrator, furthermore, is also objective because she does not offer judgments or interpretations and lets the readers interpret what is happening. For instance, as the story ends, the narrator describes everything the woman did and then adds: â€Å"The house smelled redolently of renewal and spring† (Godwin 5). There is something ironic about â€Å"renewal and spring† when t he woman plans to kill herself after doing her household duties. The narrator is then leaving the interpretation to the readers. Aside from being objective and omniscient, the narrator’s subjectivity helps readers to understand that the objective tone is ironically subjective because focusing on women’s roles and responsibilities showed that the woman wanted to die because she is tired of being a woman. The narrator hides her subjectivity through objective omniscience. Still, it is clear that the narrator is obsessed with feminine roles and obligations. For example, the narrator describes what the girl maid did as part of her daily work: She painted the room white, fed the child lunch, read edifying books, raced the boy to the mailbox†¦She knitted dresses for herself and played chess with the

Shitaos Drunk in Autumn Woods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Shitaos Drunk in Autumn Woods - Essay Example Concurrently, trees at the center of the painting are denser in darker hues of gray and black. These trees have shades of orange and rust in their leaves. It is at this focal point where viewers get the chance to observe that there are people (friends) in three sets of settings amidst the conglomerate of autumn trees. At the left and middle portions, there are two sets of friends in groups of three which could be interpreted as drinking and sharing stories. They are seated on the grass and garbed in traditional Chinese robes. In addition, also at the mid-section, there are also friends seen to be walking where two friends are side by side and one is situated at the back just beneath a tall tree. Likewise, at the right side, on the banks of a river and sitting on a small boat is another person. These friends could be analyzed as on their way to a destination beyond the small bridge. In addition, just perpendicular to the bridge, two friends on horseback are seen riding. Finally, at the left lower portion of the painting, there are people seated on the porch of a house, apparently waiting. More trees are shown in the lower portion of the painting sharing similar shades of gray some with orange leaves. The painting could be interpreted as a venue where friends share memorable moments through sharing stories and a drink under the autumn trees. Other people are travellers on a journey who seem to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the environment. The positioning of images in strategically selected positions.

Communication and practice within the early years environment Essay

Communication and practice within the early years environment - Essay Example By the exhaustive definition, we can say that it’s a process that can be termed as complex because it’s not a just a one way sending of message but also, receiving it and understanding its exact intent. It also requires the receiver to send a feedback to the sender of the message stating that he has understood the message. Wilbur Schramm (1954) said that the feedback is very important, because it justifies the extent to which the receiver has grasped the message, and if there is any mistake in the understanding of the meaning, it can be corrected there and then itself. It involves information from many sources, therefore the sender has to refine the raw data that he comes across and put it together in a more comprehendible manner so that it becomes easier for him to send the message as well as the receiver to understand it. The content of the message should be relevant to the situation the sender is in and it should also be clear and precise. This was also illustrated b y the model given by Shannon and Weaver (1949) namely The Information Processing Theory. Wherein he said that a full loop of communication has a source, source’s message, a transmitter, a signal and a receiver. The receiver again sends a message which has to be sent to a particular destination. After this model Wilbur Schramm (1954) said that the sender encodes the message and the receiver decodes it to make sense of what has been imparted through the medium of a transmitter (a phone, a letter, face to face interaction, gestures etc.). According to him, the individual’s knowledge and experience play a vital role in the communication. The importance of feedback was also reinforced through his work. Next came the Berlo’s Model of communication in 1960. He argued that the source and receiver should communicate at the same level. With respect to children, Bandura (1977) devised a theory of imitation. According to him, children learn to communicate by observing and i mitating the parents and teachers. They try to make role models out of them. Seeing them behave them in particular manner, they act in the same way. When these associations happen over a period of time, these behaviors get reinforced and get deep seated. Interpersonal communication is a selective, systemic, unique, processual (is an ongoing process) transactions that allow people to reflect and build knowledge of one another and create shared meaning (wood, 2010). Dainton (2011) also argued that interpersonal communication as a process occurring between two individuals, when they are close in proximity, able to provide immediate feedback and utilize multiple senses. If we ponder over the former definition, we come to segregate the definition into its various subparts. Interpersonal communication has a selective nature, which means that we select people with whom we want to communicate. We meet a plethora of people every day, but we don’t quite have any associations with these people. Secondly, we can describe the aforementioned phenomena as systemic, which means that it takes place within and around before stated systems that are valid as well as reliable. Thirdly, the process of interpersonal communication is unique in its own right because like it’s mentioned above, every human is different and therefore the way

Employee empowerment and direct parcipitation in management

Employee empowerment and direct parcipitation in management In his opening lines Beirne (2007) posits that empowerment is one of the most controversial yet celebrated business subjects of recent years. Several writers have contributed to the ongoing debate about employee empowerment and direct participation in governing and managing todays organisations. To start off this essay, a clear definition of empowerment is in place. Several definitions of empowerment have been advanced. The definitions seem to vary across different socio-cultural and political contexts but certain central themes runs through the literature. These include; self regulatory, self power, the feeling of common ownership, employee advancement, personal and personnel growth and development and nurturing autonomy. Page and Czuba (1999) define empowerment as a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own livesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, their communities and in their society, by acting on issues they define as important (abstract). Another definition advanced by Tan (2010) based on a management context is empowerment is the act of giving power and authority to a person to perform his designated tasks in whatever way he wants, and having the power in decision making. Spreitzer (1995) noted that Thomas and Velthouse (1990) provide a broad definition which factors in many aspects of the multifaceted concept of empowerment. The researchers defined empowerment as increased intrinsic task motivation manifested in a set of four cognitions reflecting an individuals orientation to his/her work role; meaning, competence, self-determination and impact (Spreitzer, 1995, p 1443). These definitions are arguably broad in context but it brings into perspective the arguments that will be made in this essay. Empowerment largely represents power sharing down the hierarchy chain with employees given the leeway to participate in firm decision making. This is in stack contrast to early theories of scientific management (Taylorism) propounded by Frederick Taylor at the turn of the 20th century. The remit of Taylorism was that workers could not be relied upon, lacked talent and intelligence and therefore workers should be told what to do and when to do it (Kanigel, 1997). Empowerment can therefore be seen to have been generated from subsequent schools of thought such as human relations theories of management put forward by writers such as Elton Mayo, Henri Fayol, Victor Vroom and Abraham Maslow amongst others (Kyle, 2006). The next three sections of the essay look at the benefits of empowerment, the challenges of managing innovation at work and the ways in which challenges can be managed and empowerment promoted in the work place. A concluding section surmises the main ideas advanced in the work. The benefits of employee empowerment and participative work redesign programmes An intriguing paper by Malone (1997) showed that empowerment is a response to fundamental changes in the economics of decision making that are enabled by new technologies (p. 141). The argument advanced in this paper is that empowerment (and decentralisation) is actually an efficient way of operating in modern organisations where communication costs are minimal. Malone (1997) argues that as communication costs fall, firms can improve competitiveness by allowing their employees to combine the best information available with their own knowledge, energy and creativity in order to foster and facilitate innovation (p. 142). Management researchers do not generally perceive empowerment as a response to new developments (Malone, 1997) but as an approach to get the most out of their employees. Several researchers have highlighted the need for new management styles that promote employee involvement, employee autonomy, workforce participation and the development of self managing work teams (Paul et al., 2000). The general consensus seem to be that employee empowerment turns to contribute significantly towards improving the commitment of the workforce, improving well being at the workplace, improving employee motivation and therefore improving the performance of employees (Paul et al., 2000; Cohen et al., 2007) Empowerment has particularly been successful in hospital management through primary nursing. The nursing case (discussed in the lectures) illustrates the role of empowerment in improving the quality of patient care and the levels of job satisfaction for nurses. As indicated in this case, this contributes towards reducing worker turnover rates and levels of stress. One way of achieving employee empowerment is through the institution of training and development programs within the institution. Researchers in the management literature have established empirical links between employee empowerment through training and development and performance (See Koch and McGrath, 1996 and Jacobs and Washington, 2003). Empowerment can be expected to improve employee motivation as they feel more valued within the work place. Kominis and Emmanuel (2007) showed that as motivation increases effort exerted increases and this will turn to improve performance. Denton (1994) used the case of Ford Motor Company to illustrate how employee empowerment translates to corporate empowerment. Empowerment turns to humanize the work place. As employees are empowered they feel a sense of belonging, community and ownership and strive to protect the image of their company through their dealings. The result for Ford was the creation of a lasting legacy. Participative work redesign programs are empowerment programs in the wider sense. These are essentially programs which set out to involve employees in the planning and scheduling of their work. Like other empowerment programs, participative work redesign programs have been shown to improve motivation and commitment, increase employee output, reduce employee turnover and reduce absenteeism (Pearson and Chatterjee, 1984). In Kanters (1977) structural theory of power in organisations, Kanter argues that to allow for empowerment employees must be given the right resources, provided with sufficient information, and have access to programs that will enable them develop, improve and enhance their performance. As noted in Ozaralli (2003) for empowerment to work effectively, there must be a culture of trust, mutual respect and commitment in the organisation. This indicates that empowerment is a two way process; senior managers seek to empower employees employees show commitment, developing themselves to effectively manage new powers. Both elements must be present for empowerment to work effectively and this might make the implementation of empowerment programs difficult in practice. On the subject of why empowerment might present a dilemma, Paul, Niehoff and Turnley (2000) argue that empowering employees creates belief about entitlements, once these beliefs are unfulfilled (which they argue, will eventually be the case) there is a breach of psychological contract (between employer and employee) and such as breach leads to counterproductive behaviour on the part of employees. This leads us to the practical challenges of empowerment at work Challenges in managing change innovation at work Current trends in globalisation and development have pushed businesses to continuously adapt by implementing several changes within their work environments. Business leaders are constantly seeking out better ways to do business, ways to cut costs, improve output and eventually improve profitability. Arguably one of managements most colossal challenges will be the management of organisation change. This challenge is significantly amplified by the fact that change is sometimes inevitable. Empowerment can be viewed as one of those change processes or an innovation that can be introduced within a work place. The major huddle here is that change such as the introduction of empowerment schemes involves the alteration of human behaviour- employee behaviour. Change requires that individuals leave their comfort zones and engage in different tasks, take more responsibilities, participate in decision making and reshape their work processes. The effects of proposed changes always affect employees in different ways. Some employees might have to loose their roles and positions for others to be empowered. Because of this resistance can always be expected from those who are affected adversely by proposed changes. This is evident in the position the current coalition government of UK faces. The reduction in the deficit is largely perceived as a good thing for the country but the steps taken to reduce the deficit are opposed (or praised) differently by different groups. University st udents are opposed to the proposals because it will mean they will have to pay higher tuition fees in the future. Most of the working class who do not have to pay such fees and who do not have children at university support these measures. Like all change programs, it can be expected that management will encounter many challenges while seeking to empower employees. The proposals of the UKs coalition government to empower NHS doctors by giving them more powers and control over the management of their clinics have been received with mixed feelings. Certain doctors are concerned that this will mean they will spend more time on management and less time on actually serving their patients. Some doctors welcome such changes arguing that it will cut unnecessary bureaucracy, improve responsiveness and therefore boost their overall performance. Clearly, major challenges will be faced by the government in pushing through such innovation which empowers NHS doctors. Though theoretically sound, empowerment programs are often met with many practical challenges. I will review some of these challenges by asking some pertinent questions which can undermine the success of empowerment schemes. Are the benefits of empowerment to employees clear? The benefit of empower programs to managers is always clear to employees. They see this as a way for managers to get more for their money through increased delegation of responsibility. Sometimes the benefits of such programs to employees are not very clear as they usually do not mean increased wages. Managers can therefore find it challenging to sell the empowerment idea to their employees. Do employees really want to be empowered? Are employees willing to take on extra responsibility? This is major stumbling block to empowerment programs. Usually empowerment results to increased responsibility without an associated increase in financial reward. For employees empowerment means expending some discretionary energy which might not be compensated, acknowledged or appreciated. As such some employees can prefer the status quo where their reward is commensurate to the work they do. Is empowerment the culture of the organisation? This is also important as certain cultures (work or individual) can make empowerment difficult. One of Hofstedes cultural dimensions is high uncertainty avoidance and high power distance. These sorts of cultures do not allow for employee empowerment as employees in these cultures loathe risk taking and therefore decision making, and work well under situations where hierarchy can clearly be identified. Does the work structure actually allow for empowerment of employees? Despite the criticism that has been levelled on Taylors principles of scientific management, these principles are still very useful in many institutions today. Considering a large factory employing hundreds of factory level workers for example, I argue that empowerment might be a difficult concept to implement within such an environment given the organisational structure. When should management hands-off? Empowerment requires that management allow employees to participate in critical decision making and management should delegate responsibility to such employees. The buzz-word around empowerment is trust. The literature advocates that management should trust employees and allow them the leeway to make serious decisions. This could be problematic given that employees could have limited experience in the area despite training. Supervision by senior management might still be required and this in effect constitutes waste. Reference to the nursing case study The case study (nursing case) highlights other potential challenges in an empowerment program in a hospital scene. The case starts by putting primary nursing (a program that empowers nurses, improves their performance and job satisfaction) in a positive light. The case highlights the role of sectionalism and elitism in hampering the success of such empowerment programs. Empowerment in the nursing case meant that nurses took full control of their patients sometimes carrying out simple tasks which were traditionally carried out by trained doctors. This potential blurs the boundaries between the different professions (such as doctors, nurses, hospital managers) involved in administering health care. The case highlights opposition from some medical experts registered in accounts provided by Pearson (1988) and Walby et al., (1995). The case also highlights the potential for segregation and discontentment which might arise from an empowerment program. Not all groups of workers can receive the same treatment in an empowerment program. In the case, the need for primary care meant that registered nurses (RGNs) had to be given preferential treatment (training and development) and provided the resources and support to assist their decision making with respect to the patients under their care. Other junior nurses (grades A, B, F and G) received little attention as no empowerment program was designed for them. These grades of nurses are bound to feel less valued in the work place which might affect their motivation and lead to counterproductive behaviour. This occurrence is potentially not limited to a hospital setting. Empowerment programs are always staged to achieve a certain goal which could be improving the quality of a service or adapting to other changes in the work environment. This means that certain groups of employees will be at the forefront of the program while others will feel less involved and therefore less valued. The challenge therefore is how empowerment programs can be used effectively so that some employees dont feel left out or let down by senior management. Guidance to senior management on how to overcome difficulties and promote empowerment at work The management literature is littered with varying recommendations on how the difficulties of instituting change and promoting empowerment at work can be managed. Several models of change management have been developed and tested over the years. This discussion shall proceed by reviewing recent change models and discussing their implications in practice i.e. how management can manage change successfully. I consider empowerment as a major organisational change and should therefore be approached in the same way organisational change is approached. In an organisation where delegation is not the custom or culture employees might find it unacceptable if the managers starts to delegate duties. This may be looked upon as an unwelcomed shift of responsibility without a corresponding increase in reward. In the subsequent discussion, I will recommend certain measures that can be used to promote empowerment once employees are ready to be empowered. Inspiration for these recommendations will be drawn from ideas presented by different writers (see Beirne, 1999, p. 219, for example). How to manage organisational change in general An early model of organisational change management was presented by Kurt Lewin in his 1951 paper (Clarke, 1994; Okumus and Hemmington, 1998). This model presented the management of change as a simple process involving three stages; unfreezing (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the old pattern), change (introducing the new pattern), refreezing (the new pattern) [Okumus and Hemmington, 1998]. Needless to say, this model has been severely criticized for being over simplistic. Several models have been proposed for managing change. What I take from these models is the role of employee readiness and participation in the change processes and its ability to significantly improve the chances of successful organisational change (See Armenakis et al., 1993 and 1999). With respect to the institution of empowerment programs, the employee readiness concept suggests that prior to empowerment staff are made ready through training and development programs, information sessions and participative deliberations etc. If st affs are fully informed and are part of setting up the empowerment program, then there will be little resistance to such programs and its chances of success will be high. Beirne (1999) contends that the literature on empowerment has documented the fact that the initial impetus to empowerment often comes from external factors, including consumer demands, technological innovations, quality audits, and more specifically, the Patients Charter and internal market (p. 221). The implication of this is that several external pressures drive the need for empowerment thus presenting a second agenda and external priorities to the empowerment process. Effectiveness is thus reduced as the focus is on achieving other goals through employee empowerment. Considering for example a situation where there is the need for more front line managers during the Christmas period within a firm. Staffs are empowered through delegation to fill this decision making role. The tendency will be for staff to be pulled back from managerial roles when the peak period is over. This type of ad-hoc empowerment which is common in most institutions can result to counterproductive behaviour. Employee wellbeing, development and empowerment needs to be crafted as one of the core strategies of the company. It should not be an issue that is regarded as discretionary within the firm and it handled differently by different managers. It should be stated as firm policy to increase is seriousness both for management and employees. This will show that the company as a whole values its workforce. John Lewis for example has what I will class as one of the most valued set of employees. The firm officially calls its employees its partners, allowing them to own shares in the firm in order that they can share in its profitability and its losses. This increases the sense of belonging and community and encourages employees to be innovative and hardworking. At this stage management needs to ensure that both management and employees share the vision, mission and objectives of the firm. This could be through periodic publications, staff meetings and conferences to reinforce the visions and objectives of the firm. It might also be important to set out clearly defined goals and guidelines outlining expectations so that employees are aware of set targets and time lines. It is necessary to help staff to be ready for empowerment. It is pointless to delegate duties to staff who are not well trained, qualified or prepared to accept new levels of responsibility. Staff will resist empowerment and share decision making if they dont feel confident that they would be successful or meet the new expectations. Employee training and development can be used to improve staff skills and awareness to ensure that they are ready to take on new roles and make informed decisions. This will also build their confidence and allow them to be innovative. Empowerment will only be successful if management can trust and show that they trust employees. After delegation of duties, management should not spend time second-guessing or doubting employees. Management therefore needs to trust that employees will make the right decisions and perform tasks correctly. Without trust, the whole empowerment framework fails. Management can further foster empowerment through the provision of sufficient information and resources to facilitate employee decision making. Staff should be properly assessed and their capabilities and strengths highlighted. Staff will be more successful if their empowerment process matches their strengths and capabilities. It is tempting for empowerment through delegation to be misinterpreted leading to failure. Management may turn to delegate the more mundane yet demanding tasks to employees. This will reduce employee interest and increase resistance to empowerment schemes. It is recommended that authority and power itself be delegated. Employees should be given the opportunity to participating in high level decision making and interesting tasks such as participating in committees or representing the company at certain events. Again it is important to provide constructive feedback to employees acknowledging their achievements and providing suggestions on how certain aspects of their performance can be improved in the future. It is also important to solicit feedback and employee opinions to understand their concerns in order to make future improvements. Conclusion Several pertinent issues have been discussed in this essay on the subject of empowerment, workplace change and innovation. I have considered the benefits and challenges of empowerment schemes and have made certain recommendations to practising senior management on how employees can be empowered successfully in a corporate context. To surmise, I will reiterate that despite the challenges that managers face in implementing such schemes, the benefits of empowering employees cannot be overemphasized.

Aptitude Treatment Interaction Research :: Education Classrooms Essays

Aptitude Treatment Interaction Research Since the beginning of formal education, teachers/educators have sought the best method of instruction to maximize the learning potential of their students. It was recognized early that students differ in intelligence, ability to learn, background, environment, learning style, and many other factors that affected their progress through the educational system. Over time the classroom became the place for a teacher’s intuition, experiences, and impressions of the child to be the guidebook (Cronbach & Snow, 1969). As a result, aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) research developed as a way to find the best methods of instruction for the student population. Historical Perspective and Definitions ATI hypotheses were in ancient Chinese and Hebrew writings, in early Greek and Roman teaching, and early European philosophies. ATI, however, emerged as a modern research program when defined by Cronbach (1957) for instructional psychology. Since then, ATI research has been used extensively in the field of education and more recently in industrial and clinical psychology (Snow, 1991). As with any study, definitions are integral to the understanding of the topic. According to Snow (1991), "aptitude should refer to any measurable person characteristic hypothesized to be needed as preparation for response to treatment to successful goal achievement in the treatment(s) studied" (p.205). This writer prefers the definition given by Cronbach and Snow where "aptitude is defined as any characteristic of the individual that increases (or impairs) his probability of success in a given treatment" (Cronbach & Snow, 1969, p. 5). Cronbach and Snow also say that aptitude is, essentially, whatever makes a person ready to learn rapidly (or to adapt effectively to his environment). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language simply states that aptitude is the ability or inclination of an individual to develop skills or acquire knowledge (1969). Intelligence, motivation, and anxiety seem to be the most common aptitudes studied. Snow states that treatment is any manipulative situation variable (Snow 1991). In the education field, treatment refers to the teaching methods and techniques measured by the outcome of a post-test (Peck, 1983). Teacher characteristics and differences in teaching styles are treatments affecting the learning of students. Interaction is defined statistically as the degree to which results for two or more treatments, or one treatment over two or more trials, differ for persons who also differ on one or more aptitude measures (Snow, 1991). This writer believes that interaction in the context of ATI refers to bi-directional action observed between the aptitude variables of the subject and the teaching techniques and methods of the instructor.