Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Harvard business review Essay

For each team, by submitting the document online, you claim that the document is original from your own idea. Each team must work on the assignments independently. All the materials submitted will be checked for plagiarism electronically. For more information, please refer to http://www.plagiarism.org/ Should you have questions and concerns in regards to plagiarism, you should contact the course coordinator immediately. Content Tutorial III consists of two parts. The first part includes case discussion while the second part focuses on the feedback to the common mistakes in the intermediate exam. Requirements First, all the students are required to be present and participate in the discussion. Second, all the students are required to read the following two cases: Case Part A: Toyota—Under†the†Radar Recall Response on Page 346 of the textbook; Case – Quality Parts Company on Page 426 of the textbook. Each team is required to write a case note for these two cases. In the case note, you need to give answers to the questions proposed in the corresponding cases. The length of the case note is at most three A4 pages with font size 12 and 1.5 line space, excluding the figure of value stream mapping. For Case – Quality Parts Company, you are NOT required to answer Question 2 and 3. Instead, you need to draw a value stream map for the production process of Model Z based on the symbols which can be found in exhibit 12.3 on Page 409 in the text book. Suppose that customers order every month. After orders are realized, Quality Parts Company orders from suppliers every month. The company does weekly delivery. Inspection is immediately executed after assembly. Every week a production plan is generated which serves as a template for the daily planning activities performed by the production manager. How much value-added time and how much non-value-added time can be found in the production process? Note that you have to ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼1 use Microsoft Visio 2010 to draw the VSM. Otherwise, no mark is given. You can directly copy the diagram from Visio to Word. Presentation Team 7 of all the groups and Team 12 of IEM groups should present Toyota. Team 8 of all the groups and Team 13 of IEM groups should present Quality Parts. Team 9 of Group 2, 5, 7 should present Quality Parts. The teams present separately. Each presentation takes five minutes. Please use Microsoft Powerpoint to prepare your presentation and the number of slides is at most 5. Please copy your powerpoint file into a USB stick and bring it to the tutorial. To prepare the presentation for cases, you need to present the solutions to the questions proposed in the case description and give a convincing argument for your solutions. The performance of your presentation will be counted for class participation. Submission Your assignment will be graded only if it is submitted online in the fold of Assignment on Nestor by the deadline and a hard copy is passed to your tutorial teacher in class. The deadline is by 24:00 on October 15. Note that write down your names and student numbers at the first page of your document. For the case note, please name your file as groupnumber_teamnumber_case, such as g1_t1_case. Please print your file with a double†sided format. For your presentation file, you only need to give the hard copy of your slides to your tutorial teacher. Topic

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

What +-Motivates Me

Different things motivate me to learn. I can relate to Sara’s story because I am about the same way when it comes to learning or doing something. I need to know I am going to gain something from it. I know that going back to school and getting my degree will better help my me get a better career and will benefit my family in the long run. I see myself making goals and visualizing me with my degree as Chris does with his â€Å"finish line† visual. I always prepare myself for something coming up and slowing me down which it has in the past. Real life experiences have knocked me down more than once and I can justify with Fred’s story on future and past experiences. I have been laid off first because I had no degree in my past and I look back at that and it motivates me a great deal to keep going forward with school. I like to learn new stuff and accept challenges in a new job or learning something new just like Jamie in her story. I think what content that motivates me the most me the most to learn is Practical context. It is hard for me to just go do something without knowing I am going to benefit from it. I am the type that has to have someone push me or set me straight. For example I went on a job interview and they really liked my experience and skills but told me I wasn’t going to work out because they needed someone with a BA degree and told me that once I got so many credits under my belt they would consider me in the future if a spot is available. I have seen several job postings and they want you to have college credits. I know if I get my degree I am going to gain a lot from it and that motivates me to get out there, learn and move forward. Personal context is something I can also relate to motivate me to learn because I always visualize me getting that degree and starting my career as a Social worker or a Parole officer, so when I actually see myself doing this I get motivated and excited to do my classes. If I ever have doubt or think I can’t, I really just visualize how it will be and it helps me.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Beowulf Literary Analysis Essay

Ronis Aba September 27th, 2012 Period 6th â€Å"No better king had ever lived, no prince so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praise. † This is an ultimate description of the heroic events of Beowulf, an old Anglo-Saxon poem about a warrior who battles and destroys three horrifying monsters. Although written long ago, the emotions expressed within this work, emotions of bravery, valor, and ethics still speak to us centuries later. The anonymous author of the poem convinces us through the masterful use of various literary elements that emphasize its meaning and message.Conflict, imagery and setting are three literary elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the poem. The use of conflict aids us to visualize the struggles between Beowulf and his opposing forces. To begin with, we are first introduced to Beowulf’s strength as we read lines 390-392; â€Å"and the bleeding sinew deep in [Grendel’s] shoulder snapped, muscle and bone split and broke. † This first battle exemplifies the readers respect towards Beowulf; this clearly demonstrates that the readers are in fact in awe of Beowulf’s strength and capability to fight Grendel with his bare hands.Furthermore in the story, we learn that Grendel’s mother â€Å"rose at once† and â€Å"repaid [Beowulf] with her clutching claws† (lines 513-517). This passage shows the readers, not only the struggle but, the effort Beowulf put forward to defeating Grendel’s mother in the hopes of glorification to his people and maintaining his pride. Finally, in lines 768-775, we read, â€Å"I swear that nothing ever did deserve an end like this†¦. As he dove through the dragon’s deadly fumes. † This final battle grants the readers with the logic of suspense.This is an epic scene because it is shown to the readers that Beowulf is indeed aware that this is his final battle meaning, with or without help, he would have to go to ulti mate ends in order to complete his mission of defeating the dragon. Finally, these are just some of the many conflicts that help us understand the fights between Beowulf and his differing opponents. Another literary element that offer meaning to the poem is imagery, by simply allowing the readers to envision the events of the story.In the first part of the story (129-134), Beowulf is described as coming over â€Å"seas beating at the sand† while â€Å"the ship foamed through the sea like a bird. † This scene truly guides the readers to admire the vivid description of how proud and tough the ship looks. This ship in this case, becomes a metonymy for Beowulf himself, who is certainly proud and strong, resulting in the readers’ admiration. Additional imagery is used describing the mere, or lake, discussed above, with â€Å"storms [an] waves splash[ing] towards the sky, as dark as the air as black as the rain that the heavens weep† (440-442).This clearly illu strates how dreadful Grendel and his mothers’ home is. It intensely aids us to picture how grotesquely unpleasant the lake actually is. Near the end of the tale (lines 651-653], Beowulf â€Å"[strides] with his shield at his side and a mail shirt of his breast†¦.. Toward the tower, under the rocky cliffs. † While Beowulf awaits the battle, the description of his armor and the details of each entry help us to respect how ready he is for his concluding battle. Even as an elderly man, Beowulf is a hero beyond compare.In closing, the use of imagery greatly enriches the readers’ experience of this heroic epic. Evidently, the setting of Beowulf helps the readers to better understand the cultures and events that occur in the story. In lines 60-63, the mead hall (Herot) is described as â€Å"[standing] empty, and stay[ing] deserted for years, twelve winters. † This makes the readers feel and understand the seriousness of Grendel’s attack. Before Grend el, Herot was described as a beautiful and happy place, and so the readers feel terrible regret when it is destroyed by the creature.Later in the story, we are shown the lair under which Grendel and his mother lives: â€Å"secret places, windy cliffs† and a lake which â€Å"at night†¦.. Burns like a torch† (424-433). This passage shows the readers the monstrous, awful conditions of where the monsters lived. It also causes us to feel disgust and revulsion at their horrible habitat. Finally, in the episode with the dragon, its cave is depicted as a â€Å"hidden entrance† with â€Å"a streaming current of fire and smoke block[ing] the passage† (lines 659-661). The cave is intimidating, helping the readers to believe that the upcoming battle will be a real challenge for Beowulf.And it turns out to be so as the powerful dragon ultimately causes the hero’s death. Evidently, these settings, along with others, make the stories come alive for the reade rs. The poet effectively combines the literary elements conflict, imagery and setting to show the reader the qualities of an Anglo-Saxon warrior and hero. To the old English people, no one was more praise worthy than Beowulf, Despite it being written over a thousand years ago, Beowulf shows one important detail of what it takes to truly be a hero, a standard to which we can still relate to today, perhaps more powerfully than ever.

Philosophy of human nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Philosophy of human nature - Essay Example Humans are the only beings who realize their mortality and are able to make a death the most sensational topic for discussions. Inevitability of own death is accepted by people not as an abstract verity but something that is able to bring the biggest emotional shock and touch the deepest feelings of personal inner world. To find the answers on the questions of life sense and existence of life after death, mythology, religion, philosophy and even art present numerous arguments to support both sides of the coin. The theme of life and death is everlasting and essential for the spiritual culture of humanity in all its manifestations. This permanent philosophical matter is widely covered in print and broadcasting media. Reflecting about possibility and existence of eternal life is intriguing, first of all, because we do not know the exact explanation with the lack of doubts in its veracity. Everything that is unconceivable and unknown causes interest and stimulates imagination. The proble m of death and everything that concerns it has been mentioned since ancient times by Plato. Humanity may have a great hope for the existence of life after death; however, there is no any certainty or scientific proof for conjecture. The only thing left is to make assumptions, which are able to form person’s belief and positive attitude or distrust and rejection. The discussion of death may cause various reactions including even groundless prejudices and undisguised fear. However, among respectable scientists, there are a lot of optimists who present persuasive arguments to believe that after death human’s soul does not disappear. One of such literary works that stimulates thinking process and force people to review own opinions is the article of Andrew Dell’Olio, who claims that near-death experience (NDE) is a valid ground to believe in eternal life. Due to the stories of people who have experienced near-death, it has been concluded that when a person dies, the brain still remains its activity and consciousness; otherwise it is hard to explain how people who return to life remember everything that has happened in addition to the new visions that they have seen during the death of the body. According to the statistics, the number of clinical deaths increases because of the technological development and innovations implemented to the medical services, which help to revive a person after death. Therefore, today there are more and more people who have had NDE and based on their memories and feelings some significant conclusions can be made. Despite ambiguity of philosophers’ attitude, Dell’Olio tries to find out whether there is a rational basis to believe that NDEs prove the eternal life. It is evident that studies on the matter of near-death should take into account such factors as mind and body illnesses of the patient and the nature of personal identity. In spite of the fact that life after death is genuinely philosophical i ssue, it is fair to admit that there is a tendency of philosophers to ignore this question mostly because of its over popularity and urgency. Materialists consider that NDE does not represent any interest for philosophy simply because it is only hallucinations, which are caused by the decrease of brain’s activity. Basing his argument on the religious aspects, Dell’

Sunday, July 28, 2019

The Theme of Death in the Works of Edgar Allan Poe Essay

The Theme of Death in the Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Essay Example Poe was then sent to both the Chelsea and the Stoke Newington boarding schools in the suburbs f London. Although he was a brilliant student, excelling especially in mathematics, he did not enjoy his days spent there. In July f 1820 Mr. Allan's business collapsed, and they were forced to return to Richmond in order to avoid the creditors that Allan was indebted to. Edgar Allan Poe was obviously not typical in his style f writing nor in his style f life. His father left the family when he was young and his mother was dead by the time Poe was three from tuberculosis. "So precocious a child must have carried with him, deeply imprinted, the waning figure and the coughing paroxysms f his mother." (Darkening 9). For the remainder f his tragic life, things never seemed to improve much. He lost his wife (also his cousin), Virginia, two years before his own death. After his trouble with alcoholism and general bad health, Poe died when he was about 40 years old. The exact events surrounding his death are still uncertain and somewhat mysterious. (Parker 1-5) Most f Poe's literary works were inspired by life. "Alone" is Poe's way f vocalizing the unique and dismal life that he led. He, from an apparently young age, finds himself with such different feelings about life than most people. In this poem, Poe describes his own condition f loneliness. In the first three stanzas alone, Poe discusses that since his early childhood he didn't see the world as others saw it. Even as a child his emotions were very hard to express. Anything he expressed he kept inside. In the sixth stanza, Poe writes "My sorrow; I could not awaken", meaning that because he had his emotions bottled up, he couldn't even express his sorrow. Because he couldn't express his emotions, anything he loved he couldn't love with another person, he could only love alone. There was no way he could express himself emotionally. Poe continues to reiterate that since his childhood he had this mystery surrounding him, following him wherever he went. When he did anything or went anywher e, there was this mystery or shadow that continued to bind him. This mystery could be the problem f not expressing his emotions he inherited as a child or the element f self-companionship. "His was a deviant mind, and his soul, ever lost in mystery, was possessed f demons; even elements f nature assumed their form."(Darkening 9). Ultimately Poe emphasizes this mystery as an evil or "a demon" that was haunting him. The demon was present everywhere; even the elements f nature assumed its form. Poe describes the demon as the sun rolling around him, as the thunder from the storm. Everywhere he turns and looks this evil is lurking around him, making Poe unique from others. Poe describes his uniqueness as a result f the demon that he is consumed by. The reason why he is alone, and why he can only love alone is because f this demon which he inherited as a child. (VanSpanckeren 1-5) Numerous events in Poe's life can explain why Poe may have written this poem. This poem was written in 1830, around the year where his stepmother had died and when his stepfather had remarried. The death f his "beloved step-mother reinforced the morbid consistency f Edgar's mind."(Darkening 4-5). Her death probably caused more psychological problems to Poe. He lost his biological mother and his stepmother, both f whom helped provide emotional support for

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Trends and Tactics used for Mobile Marketing Essay

Trends and Tactics used for Mobile Marketing - Essay Example Consequently, the customers are able to search for the product based on the simple captivating message given and eventually purchase the product (DeMers, 2014).Starbucks is another company that managed to effectively tap into the benefits of mobile marketing, through using the reward strategy; a reward system as the major strategy for attracting and retaining the attention of the customers (Vong, 2012). Starbucks has established a reward system program that rewards its repeat customers and then is divulging this advertisement through the mobile marketing platform. Consequently, the strategy makes it easier for the target customers to be reached personally, considering the fact that most of the consumers who own a mobile phone normally have the phone with them practically all the time (Richardson, 2010). This makes it possible for the attractive reward program by Starbucks to gain more attention both through mobile accessibility and the consequent word of mouth. The Starbucks strategy is becoming very effective because; when a reward system is communicated to a target consumer through their phone, it becomes more personalized and owned by the consumer as opposed to an advertisement that could be made through TV or print media.Thus, both Starbucks and Apple Inc. have been able to tap into the mobile marketing platform effectively through applying the simplicity and the reward system strategies respectively; and thus are consequently reaping the benefit of their unique mobile marketing strategies.

Friday, July 26, 2019

The Regulatory Response to the Corporate Scandals in the USA and the Essay

The Regulatory Response to the Corporate Scandals in the USA and the EU was Diametrically Different - Essay Example In order to have this assurance, investors generally rely on the published annual report and accounts of companies. However, although the annual report and accounts may provide a reasonable approximation of companies’ activities, there are issues not shown in the annual report and accounts that could affect these companies’ financial situations, as well as the reputation of international stock markets2. For instance, despite the fact that the annual report and accounts seemed healthy, the last decade faced a large number of corporate scandals and collapses. These corporate crises have affected several people, as in the case of shareholders, managers, directors, employees and consumers. Some would argue that the main cause of these corporate crises is the weakness of corporate governance regulations in the world, as well as a need to have good corporate governance codes in order to prevent further scandals and collapses.3 As a consequence, countries have been trying duri ng the last decade to develop and update their corporate governance systems. ... In this part, the shortcomings of the USA and the EU regulations that appeared after scandals will be mentioned. Subsequent to that, the difference of the USA response will be explained. In this part, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its new provisions, Sections 302 and 404, will be discussed. Finally, the differences of the EU response will be discussed in light of the national and the pan-European level. 1. Corporate Governance Evolution and Scandals It is widely believed that the development of corporate governance codes has often been driven by financial scandals, corporate collapses and similar crises. For instance, at the beginning of the 1990s various financial scandals and corporate collapses happened in the UK, as in the case of Coloroll, Polly Peck and Maxwell.5 These crises led the Financial Reporting Council and the London Stock Exchange to establish the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance in May 1991; Sir Adrian Cadbury chaired this council in order to i mprove the UK’s Code of corporate governance. As a consequence, in December 1991 the Committee issued the Cadbury Report that influenced many corporate governance codes across the world.6 The Report stated several recommendations that focused on corporate governance issues, in particular, the operation of the main board, the role of non-executive directors and the reporting and control mechanism of firm.7 Additionally, the development of corporate governance codes, supported by many non-governmental organizations, issued principles and practices that should govern corporates globally.8 For example, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its Principles of Corporate Governance in 1991; this was revised in 2004.9

Thursday, July 25, 2019

7 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

7 - Coursework Example Daniel Rendelman claims that  «we can reason excuses for Bible believers to celebrate Halloween but the argument does no good†. (Rendelman) The Church considers Halloween a satanic holiday – even the â€Å"trick and treat† tradition can be compared to the ritual of sacrifice to the dark forces. The Church also is trying to prove that Halloween causes in children anxiety, neuroses, psychical deviations, aggression, etc. D. Rendelman quotes the Bible when proving that Halloween should not be celebrated by the believers: â€Å"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil,† 1 Thesalonians 5:21-22†. (cited from: Rendelman) Because the holiday of Halloween is of Celtic origin, and the Celts believe that the new life was born from the death and worshipped the demon Samkhain (Saman) that was the Lord of Death, the Church condemns the holiday and claims it is of evil character. It says that by wearing the costumes of the evil forces (the dead), people abide to the Satan who is the embodiment of the dark and the evil. â€Å"Halloween practices, from dressing in costumes to bobbing for apples, were once part of pagan worship. These actions are repeated today by people who are unaware or simply don’t care about their true meaning. Time may have passed but their origins and true purpose remains the same†. (Rendelman) Other traditions of Halloween, such as various prophesies, magic rituals, fortune-telling, divination and others, are also, according to the Church, of Anti-Christian nature. Celebrating Halloween, the Church claims, often results in people’s interest towards the Satanism and occultism. However, there are opinions that Halloween and the Church holiday of All Saints that is celebrated on November 1 are closely interconnected. Kenneth C. Davis in his article asks a question if Halloween is â€Å"a day of innocent merriment or a celebration of sinister forces† and claims that the proof of both positions can be found in the course of

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Social media in the health communication fields Research Paper

Social media in the health communication fields - Research Paper Example Information was flowing in one direction only, and even if there were replies they were not instant like in the case of the social media (Park, Rodgers and Stemmle, 2011). The social media has revolutionized the way people generate, disseminate and even appreciate information because of its unique abilities. First, it is device indifferent. As long as a person has internet access one can access the social media through different devices such as mobile phones, desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones among others. The social media also enables communication in different perspectives, from one-to-one communication to one-to-many. Most importantly, the social media allows for real time communication and different levels of interactivity and engagement. These unique characteristics and capabilities have made the social media a popular media across the globe and across the different sectors of the global economy. The health sector is one of the sectors that have been influenced by the use of social media (OED, 2013). Here, the social media has revolutionized how people get health information and how health information is disseminated by health experts. The social media has proved to be a reliable media that is highly efficient in getting health-related information out. Currently, health messages are already forming a substantial part of messages being conveyed through the many social media platforms. This paper investigates the different ways the social media is being used in the health communication fields to disseminate information. The paper shows the influence this use of social media has on the people’s attitudes and knowledge as far as their health and health services are concerned. A research conducted in 2012 by Cogitamus about the use of social media in the health sector established that nearly 32% of the adults use the social media to communicate

MARKET RESEARCH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MARKET RESEARCH - Essay Example â€Å"Different kinds of market research need to be conducted during different periods in the life cycle of a company and those of a product† (Hewitt, 2011). For a market oriented company like Kellogg’s, market research adds business value and improves the company’s competitive advantage. Before launching a new product, Kellogg’s usually conducts a market research to understand the preference of consumers concerning new products and this helps them to reduce the chances of failure. The major difference between qualitative and quantitative research are that the qualitative one is subjective and the quantitative one is mainly objective. Inductive method is used in qualitative while the deductive method is used in quantitative research. The qualitative research is text-based whereas the quantitative one is number-based. The method used under qualitative research involves focus groups and in-depth interviews while surveys and structured interviews are the meth ods adopted in quantitative research. Qualitative research focuses on smaller groups, on the other hand, the quantitative one deals with larger groups. The former one spends more time for selecting subjects, while the latter takes more time on data processing. The data collected using qualitative research is unstructured whereas quantitative research collects structured data. â€Å"Kellogg’s has flourished through skilful marketing of good products, and by creating and sustaining a highly valuable brand name† (Kellogg’s: Revitalizing a valued character, n.d). Kellogg’s company faces the problem of innovation when compared to other competitors. Further qualitative and quantitative research is necessary to know the consumer preference and to increase the demand for commodities. Competition from other companies can only be reduced by introducing new innovative products, which is possible through market research. The problem of substitute goods is faced by th e company, which can be tackled only through perfect knowledge about the market and this further increases the need for market research. To expand market internationally, the knowledge of foreign market is a must and so further qualitative and quantitative research is required. Section 2- Findings from marketing research: Critically analyze the 4 stages that Kellogg’s underwent in order to launch the new Crunchy Nut bites. Provide a critical analysis for each stage. Also provide 2 suggestions to improve Kellogg’s marketing research in this instance. Kellogg’s is concentrating on importance of market research during the launch and development of Crunchy Nut bites. Kellogg’s undertook four different stages of research in order to develop this new product. Stage 1: Discovery: Kellogg’s is a market oriented organization, wherein, market oriented means that the entire organization focuses on the needs of its customers. So, in order to find the needs of the customers, Kellogg’s has done a research to identify a set of new food ideas that would be appropriate for developing the new Crunchy Nut product. The company has also conducted secondary research to find out modern trends in the cereal market and to acknowledge new products, flavors and food from around the world. â€Å"Kellogg’s have a world-class food research and development facility, Kellogg’s food scientists, nutritionist and engineers turn wholesome grains and other

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 92

Assignment - Essay Example Experience is the best teacher, they say. Experience is something that people go through in the course of their lifetime that instills new knowledge to them. A teacher, therefore, may not only be in human form. A successful teaching process is one in which both the teacher and the student end up satisfied with the action. The knowledge has to be passed in a particular way so that the teacher ends up fulfilled, and the student understands. For a teaching method to be successful, there should be a definite goal (Ingvarson, 2013). A goal is a definition of what people desire to achieve. The lesson objective should, therefore, be clear, and the student should know what they should make by studying that particular subject. The goal is the main reason for a study subject, and it acts to the level of knowledge attained. The goal should, therefore, be clear, precise and to the point. A successful teaching method should deal with specific educational content. Research findings have continuously confirmed that it is more difficult to concentrate on a full field of view than on a particular scope or subject (Rodgers, 2014). Educational material is therefore divided into subjects, topics and subtopics. There should also be a large scope of educational activities, apart from the basic classroom part. Activities like physical education and subject experiments should be part of the learning activity. Time is an essential factor for the success of every activity in life. Teaching should, therefore, include a drafted calendar for the activities that the students expect to take place at different intervals of the day. The schedule should contain no unnecessary information and should be very precise and understandable. The teacher should also provide the feedback to the learner. There should be regular updates on how the student is progressing and the areas that need improvement. The whole objective of the teaching process is to ensure that the

Monday, July 22, 2019

Decorating Appropriately Essay Example for Free

Decorating Appropriately Essay Ornament, is generally defined as a decoration used to embellish parts of a building, has also been a controversial debating topic when architecture was introduced to the Modernism period. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, absence of ornaments became a hallmark of Modern architecture and equated the moral virtues of honesty, simplicity and purity. Le Corbusier, one of the prominent modernist figures, had always supported the ideals of simplistic and honest design. He blamed the deceit in ornamentations as it disguised the flaws in manufacture. However by the mid-1950s, he broke his own rules by producing several highly expressive, sculptural concrete works due to his realization of ornaments could equally serve practical purposes in architecture. In the essay Decorating Appropriately, French architect and theorist Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc unfolded numerous clear ideas about how and in what circumstances ornament should be employed by looking at different approaches to ornamentation in the cultures of Egypt, Greece and the Middle Ages. The first and perhaps the oldest approach is the natural ornament adopted by the ancient Egyptian culture. Ornaments were inherent in the building’s material and they took the forms from the natural world and decorated with the images of it. The second approach of ornamentation is the result of ancient Greek civilization. Many new forms of ornaments were created at that time and they served to articulate the building visually, organizing it into a series of coordinated visual units that could be comprehended as a whole. Viollet-le-Duc believed this approach is the most rational because its fitness and clearness have unified the entire structure. Aside from the Parthenon mentioned in the essay, the Temple of Hephaestus is another example that belongs to the second approach of ornamentation. Only 18 of 68 metopes of the temple were sculptured and they were mostly located on the east side of the structure, the rest of the metopes were painted. The third ornamentation system appeared in the Middle Ages, it was a system derived from the Egyptian and the Greek approaches yet developed differently regarding to the composition. Although colossal sculpture and bas-relief were not allowed, figures are grouped and concentrated to create a scenic effect and dynamic contrast between the rich and plain parts. Viollet-le-Duc appreciated this system remarkably in his essay as it provided the greatest variety of expression that can be achieved. In conclusion ornamentation functions beyond a decoration but equally a cultural reference, a symbolic communication, a suggestion of individuality, as well as design tactics for establishing scales, signaling entries and aiding direction finding. The notions suggested by Viollet-le-Duc on the application of ornaments should be considered as very valid and still applicable to architectures today. Ornamentation should always engage in the building structure as a whole to create sympathy between ornament and structure so that each enhancing the value of the other. From the ancient Egyptian time to the current technology-dominated era, ornament continuously evolves to have a broader meaning and different definition. Historically the surface behind the ornaments has been seen as a background wanted to be wore. The technology and software at our disposal now gives us enormous control over the form and therefore ornaments and structure are no longer an individual unit. One of the greatest examples would be the residential tower in Dubai designed by Zaha Hadid, which the skin is perforated with hundreds of geometric openings in an amazingly complex arrangement producing a graphically elegant facade treatment. As the tower rises, the frequency of openings becomes greater so that the cladding becomes lighter as it reaches up toward the sky. Today ornamentation has been integrated into architecture structurally and conceptually. Whether we are about to enter a digital age with the intellectual ornament that has been substantially altered, a century after Viollet-le-Duc’s great polemic, his considerations are still truly applicable to the architecture in the present days.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Effect of Stress on Job Performance

Effect of Stress on Job Performance STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE People react to stress in different ways. Some copy much better than others and suffering fewer of the harmful effects of stress. Just as stress differs as a function of the individual, it also differs as a function of ones type of occupation. Some occupations are, of course, inherently more stressful than others. All of the stress-strain-health relationships have an obvious impact on the organization and industry. Both physical and mental illness renders the employee unlit for work, and combine both to lessen the satisfaction obtained from work and reduce job performance and productivity levels. There are various ways that stress symptoms or outcomes are reflected in the workplace. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests that certain individuals, in a variety of occupations, are increasingly exposed to unacceptable levels of job-related stress (Schultz Schultz, 2002). Occupational stress is any discomfort which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by in stances, events or situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a persons coping capabilities and resources to handle them adequately (Malta, 2004) Occupational stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or need of the worker (Sauter and Murphy. 1999). Performance is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued by the organization or system that one works in. Each individual is exposed to a range of stressors both at work and in their personal lives which ultimately affect his or her performance. Pressure at work can be positive leading to increased productivity. However, when this pressure becomes excessive it has a negative impact. The individual perceive themselves as being unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skills to combat their stress. Stress is acknowledged to be one of the main causes of absence from work (Mead, 2000). The occupational stressors can be categorized into four major groups. Firstly, the working conditions, including shift and week-end work, inadequate remuneration, hours of work, discrimination and safety at the work environment. Secondly, relationship at work including quality of relationships with peers, subordinates and supervisors. Thirdly, role conflicts and ambiguity including ill-defined role, functions, expectations, and duties. Fourthly, organization structure and climate which includes communication policy and practice, major changes in the workplace, culture of the organization, and lack of participation in decision-making. Another cause is career development including under utilization of skills or failing to reach full potential. Another contributing factor is the nature of the job which might amount to an immense amount of physical and emotional exhaustion (Parikh Taukari, 2004) The main objective of this study is to identify role of different contributing factors of job stress and to investigate level of stress on those factors in the organization. And also to find that how job performance is affected by job stress. There are different factors of job stress i.e. work overload, work under load, supervision role conflicts, career development, physical environment repetitive work, work family conflict and coworkers. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES There is difference in level of occupational stress among the employees of different departments of the organization. High level of stress adversely affects the performance of the employees. STRESS AT WORLKPLACE (OCCUPATIONAL STRESS) In todays changing and competitive work environment stress level is increasing both in WORKERS as well as MANAGERS .As a result of this work stress, more and more managers are showing signs of chronic fatigue and burnout. Research has concluded that stressed out managers are not good for organization and shareholders also .In most case stress reduced efficiency among individuals as well as reduced productivity also. Stress is the problem in amongst all the countries of the world ,irrespective of whether the economy is strong or weak .To know about the actual work stress we should have to know about the behavior of the individuals ,causes of the stress, its consequences and then how it can be reduce . â€Å"Considered from an individual`s points of view stress is our body`s physical, mental and chemical reaction to circumstance that frighten, confuse, endanger or irritate to any person†. If controlled stress, is a friend that strengthens us for the next encounter .if handled poorly, it becomes an enemy which can cause diseases like high blood pressure, ulcer, asthma, and over reactive thyroid. As per the medical explanation of the term â€Å"Stress is the body`s general response to environment situations.† it can lead to Physiological discomfort. Some kind of emotional unhappiness. Strained relationship with other people. In very simple words stress refers to an individual`s reaction to a disturbing factor in the environment. Different discipline and different professional have viewed it differently. Agarwala at 1979 believed that the confusion in definition is primarily due to the fact that the same term is used variously by scholars of different disciplines .Thus, in physic, stress is a force which acts on a body to produce strain. According to Beehr and Newman â€Å"Job stress is a condition arising from the interaction of the people and their jobs, and characterized by changes within people and force them to deviate from their normal functioning.† Stress can be defined as â€Å"Bodys non specific response to any demand made on it. Stress is not by definition synonymous with nervous system tension or anxiety. On one side Stress provides the means to express talents and energies and pursue happiness, on the other side it can also cause exhaustion and illness, either physical or psychological† One of the common accepted views of stress is provided by Selye through THREE STAGE MODEL OF STRESS. He called it General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Selye defines stress as â€Å"an adoptive response to the external situation that results in physical, physiological, and behavioural deviation for organizational participant.† He has suggested a three stage model and states that when an organism is confronted with a threat the general physiological response occurs in the three stages . Selye said that †¦There can be up to three phases that our resistance levels go through when we are exposed to a stressor. The first is the alarm phase. The bodys resistance to physical damage drops for a short-time. This is so our bodies can prepare to cope with the stressor by using up available energy and normally protective stress hormones. Temporarily some of our defenses against physical damage drop so that our blood pressure increases, blood-sugar rises, muscle tension increases, we breathe faster and deeper and we get a surge of adrenaline-like substances to give us extra physical capabilities should we need them. If the stressor no longer exists the body returns to its normal level of resistance. However if the stressor persists, (we cant fight or flee from it or and this goes beyond his original thinking we are unable to apply counteracting psychosocial resources) our level of resistance increases beyond normal, relaxed levels When our bodies start to run in higher gear. High levels of stress hormones continue to help us cope with the stressor. This is appropriately called the resistance phase. If there is no relief the body can continue for days, weeks, even years until either the stressor is suddenly removed or because it is very energy-consuming our body collapses often with more dangerous and extreme physical reactions. They are the same as in the alarm phase only more intense and more relentless. It is here in this third or exhaustion phase that our health suffers or even death can occur. Our level of resistance to physical disorder, disease and psychological pressure is at its lowest. It is characterized by feelings of lethargy an absence of energy and bodily resources to cope. MEASUREMENT OF ROLE STRESS: In the context of India two measures have been developed by Indian researchers and have been extensively used in research in India. They are given below: ORGANIZATIONAL ROLE STRESS: This instrument developed by Pareek (1983) this instrument based on the key concept t understand the integration of the organization .It is through this role that the individual interacts and gets integrated with the system. An n organization can be defined as system of roles, where role has been defined by the expectations various significant persons, including himself / herself, have from that position. The concept of role and the related concepts of ‘role space and ‘role set have a built- in potential for conflict and stress (Pareek 1999). From the point of view of an individual, two role systems are important: Role Space and Role Set. ROLE SPACE:- Each individual occupies and plays several roles simultaneously. A person can be a son a father a member of a club and so on at the same time. All these roles constitute role space time. All these roles constitute role space. In the center of the role space is the self. Role space is the self. Role space thus can be defending as â€Å"the dynamic inter-relationship between the self various roles an individual occupies.† ROLE SET;- The individual`s role in the organization is defined by the expectations of other significant roles and those of the individual himself .thus the role set is â€Å"the pattern of relationship between the role being considered and other roles. The organization role stress scale consists of 50 items measuring ten different types of organizational role stresses. These roles stress are Following: Inter role distance (IRD):-it is expected when there is a conflict between organizational and non organizational roles. Role stagnation (RS):- it is the feeling of being stuck in same role. Role expectation conflict (REC):- Stress is generated by expectation of different significant persons such as superior , subordinate, and peers ,about the same role and the role occupant`s ambivalence as to whom to please. Role Erosion (RE); Here stress is the function of the role occupant`s feeling that some function which should properly belong to her role are transferred to some other role. Role Overload (RO) ; when the role occupant feels that there are too many expectations from her. Role Isolation (RI); Stress refer to the psychological distance between the occupant role and other roles in the same role set. Personal Inadequacy; It arises when the role occupant feels that he does not have the necessary skills and training for effectively performing the function expected from his role. Self Role Distance (SRD):- When the role the person occupies goes against his self concept. Role Ambiguity (RA):- It refers to the lack of clarity about the expectation of the role. Resource Inadequacy (RIN):- Stress is evident when the role occupant feels that he is not provided with the adequate resources for performing the function expected from his role. SOURCES OF STRESS It has been said that stress result form a misfits between environmental demands and personal adequacies to meet these demands .However, management of stress is not possible unless the individual is aware of the specific source of stress. Stress can be emanating from variety of sources. Pestonjee (1983) has identified three important sectors of life in which stress originates .These are (a) Job and organization (b) Social Factors (c) Inter Psychic sector .The first namely , job and organization, refers to totality of the work environment (task ,atmosphere, colleagues , compensations, policies ,etc.)The social factors refer to the social / culture context of life .It may include religion, caste, language, dress and other factors. The intra psychic sector encompasses those things which are intimate and personal like temperament, values, abilities, and health. It is contended that stresses can originate in any of these sectors or in combinations thereof. Factor intrinsic to the Job: These are related to poor working conditions shift work, long hours, poor technology, travel, risk and danger, work over load. Role in the organization: When a persons role in an organization is clearly defined and understood, and when expectation place upon the individual are also clear and non- conflicting, stress can be kept to a minimum. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) have identified three critical factors- role ambiguity ,role conflict , and degree of responsibility for others are major source of stress. Relation -ship at work: The working relationship which one has with people working in the same organization can also be a major source of stress. Career Development : A host of issue such as job security , fear of job loss, obsolescence or retirement and numerous performance appraisals can create pressure and strain. Organizational structure climate: just being part of an organization can present threats to a persons sense of freedom and autonomy. It seems that the position in the organization has something to do with stress. However the research evidence its inclusive .some studies have found that position in the organization does make a difference in job stress. Nature of Profession: The research evidence suggests that certain kind of occupations cause greater stress. Than others in a study of comparative degree of stress amongst professionals Mishra(2001)collected data from 144 doctors and 82 nurses drawn from various hospitals , their result show that nurses experience greater stress in their job as compared to doctors. Predispositional stress: The degree of stress seems vary with the personality and predispositional factor. Some individuals experience greater stress than others. Doctors with internal locus of control reported higher organizational stress than the internal . (Kumar 1988) The below chart shows one example of the structure of a department in an organization, indicating typical causes of stress that may effect stress at certain levels in the structure, and particular. Causes that are affecting individuals. Stress is contagious; anyone who is not performing well due to increases the amount of pressure on their colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. SYMPTOMS OF STRESS As stated earlier Stress is caused by or reaction to the external events and bring about changes in our response and our general behavior. The presence of Stress can be estimated by the analysis of certain symptoms an individual shows. These symptoms can be divided into three different categories. They are Feelings ,Behavoiur and pshysological . When the individual experience Stress, one or more of the following symptoms can be exhibited: Feelings The individual becomes anxious about the outcomes and is scared. The person feels that he has got something to loose or something wrong will take place. In an anxious state the person does not want to be corrected or interrupted. He looks out for other areas where he can forget about the stress-causing event for a while. The person becomes irritable and moody. During high level of Stress the individual develops a negative frame of mind and suffers from low self-esteem. The person loses faith in his capabilities and is afraid of the failures. The individual does not have a focused approach and is not able to concentrate and is involved in his own plans and thoughts. Physiological and Behavioral Changes Speech problems. Impulsive Behavior Crying for no apparent reason. Laughing in a high pitch and nervous tone of voice. Grinding of teeth Increasing smoking and use of drugs and alcohol. Being accident-prone Perspiration /sweaty hands Increased heart beat Trembling/Sleeping problems Diarrhea / indigestion / vomiting/ nausea Butterflies in stomach Headaches Premenstrual tension Pain in the neck and or lower back Susceptibility to illness Loss of appetite Nervous ticks Dryness of throat and mouth. Tiring easily or over eating CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS The effect of stress is closely linked to individual personality. The same level of stress affects different people in different ways each person has different ways of coping. Recognizing these personality types means that more focused help can be given. Stress shows itself number of ways. For instance, individual who is experiencing high level of stress may develop high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness, and the like. These can be subsumed under three categories: Individual consequences Organizational consequence Burnout Individual consequences: Individual consequences of stress are those, which affect the individual directly. Due to this the organization may suffer directly or indirectly, but it is the individual who has to pays for it. Individual consequences of stress are broadly divided into behavioral, psychological and medical. v Behavioral consequences of stress are responses that may harm the person under stress or others. Behaviorally related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, paid speech, and sleep disorders. v Psychological consequences of stress replace to an individual mental health and well-being from or felling depressed. Job related stress could cause dissatisfaction, infact it has most psychological effect on the individual and lead to tension, anxiety irritability, and boredom. v Medical consequences of stress affect a persons well being. According to a research conducted, it revealed that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates, increases blood pressure bring out headaches and induce heart attacks. Organizational consequences: Organizational consequences of stress have direct affect on the organizations. These include decline in performance, withdrawal and negative changes in attitude.  ¯ Decline in performance can translate into poor quality work or a drop in productivity. Promotions and other organizational benefits get affected due to this.  ¯ Withdrawal behavior also can result from stress. Significant form of withdrawal behavior is absenteeism.  ¯ One main affect of employee stress is directly related to attitudes. Job satisfaction, morale and organizational commitment can all suffer, along with motivation to perform at higher levels. Burnout:- A final consequence of stress has implementation for both people and organizations. Burnout is a general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual simultaneously experiences too much pressure and few sources of satisfaction. STRESS AND YOUR PERFORMANCE So far, we have seen that stress is a negative experience. We have seen the short-term burnout. The Positive Effects of Pressure Sometimes, however, the pressures and demands that may cause stress can be positive in their effect. One example of this is where sportsmen and women flood their bodies with fight-or-flight adrenaline to power an explosive performance. Another example is where deadlines are used to motivate people who seem bored or unmotivated. We will discuss this briefly here, but throughout the rest of this site we see stress as a problem that needs to be solved. The Negative effect of pressure In most work situations jobs, our stress responses cause our performance to suffer. A calm, rational, controlled and sensitive approach is usually called for in dealing with most difficult problems at work: Our social inter-relationships are just too complex not to be damaged by an aggressive approach, while a passive and withdrawn response to stress means that we can fail to assert our rights when we should. Before we look further at how to manage stress and our performance, it is important to look at the relationship between pressure and performance in a little more detail, first by looking at the idea of the â€Å"Inverted-U†, and second by looking at Flow. This is the ideal state of concentration and focus that brings excellent performance. Pressure Performance – the Inverted U The relationship between pressure and performance is explained in one of the oldest and most important ideas in stress management, the â€Å"Inverted-U† relationship between pressure and performance. The Inverted-U relationship focuses on peoples performance of a task. The left hand side of the graph is easy to explain for pragmatic reasons. When there is very little pressure on us to carry out an important task, there is little incentive for us to focus energy and attention on it. This is particularly the case when there may be other, more urgent, or more interesting, tasks competing for attention. As pressure on us increases, we enter the â€Å"area of best performance†. Here, we are able to focus on the task and perform well – there is enough pressure on us to focus our attention but not so much that it disrupts our performance. The right hand side of the graph is more complex to explain. Negative Thoughts Crowd Our Minds We are all aware that we have a limited short-term memory: If you try to memorize a long list of items, you will not be able to remember more than six or eight items unless you use formal memory techniques. Similarly, although we have huge processing power in our brains, we cannot be conscious of more than a few thoughts at any one time. In fact, in a very real way, we have a limited â€Å"attention capacity†. As we become uncomfortably stressed, distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thinking begin to crowd our minds. This is particularly the case where we look at our definition of stress, i.e. that it occurs when a person perceives that â€Å"demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.† These thoughts compete with performance of the task for our attention capacity. Concentration suffers, and focus narrows as our brain becomes overloaded. As shown in the figure, this is something of a slippery slope: the more our brain is overloaded, the more our performance can suffer. The more our performance suffers, the more new distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thoughts crowd our minds. Other research has shown that stress reduces peoples ability to deal with large amounts of information. Both decision-making and creativity are impaired because people are unable to take account of all the information available. This inability accounts for the common observation that highly stressed people will persist in a course of action even when better alternatives are available. It also explains why anxious people perform best when they are put under little additional stress, while calm people may need additional pressure to produce a good performance. Notes on the research behind the Inverted-U: While this is an important and useful idea, peoples evaluations of stress and performance are by necessity subjective. This has made it difficult to prove the ‘Inverted-U idea formally. Also, for ease of explanation, we show a smooth curve here. In reality, different people have different shaped and positioned inverted-Us at different times and in different circumstances. This is all part of â€Å"lifes rich tapestry†. Entering a State of Flow When you are operating in your â€Å"area of best performance†, you are normally able to concentrate, and focus all of your attention on the important task at hand. When you do this without distraction, you often enter what Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University describes as a state of ‘flow. This involves â€Å"being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and youre using your skills to the utmost. You perform at your best in this state because you are able to focus all of your efforts, resources and abilities on the tasks at hand. While you are sufficiently motivated to resist competing temptations, you are not so stressed that anxieties and distractions interfere with clear thought. This is an intensely creative, efficient and satisfying state of mind. It is the state of mind in which, for example, the most persuasive speeches are made, the best software is developed, and the most impressive athletic or artistic performances are delivered. Helping Yourself to Get Into Flow One of the frustrations of management is that managers can feel that they lose the ‘right to these periods of deep concentration when they must be readily available to others, and be able to deal with the constantly changing information, decisions and activities around them. Studies of good managers show that they rarely get more than a few minutes alone without distraction. This alone can be frustrating, and can contribute strongly to managerial stress. In jobs where concentration is a rare commodity, there are various solutions to creating the periods of flow that sustain good performance. Solutions include working from home, or setting aside parts of the day as quiet periods. Another solution might be to delegate the activities that require the greatest levels of concentration, allowing the manager to concentrate on problems as they arise, serving to create a flow of its own. One of the key aims of this site is to help you manage stress so that you can enter this state of flow, and deliver truly excellent performance in your career. MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORK PLACE Every responds to stress in a different way, it is only by understanding the nature of individual responses that you can start fighting stress yourself and others. Reduction or elimination of stress is necessary for psychological and physical well being of an individual. Efficiency in stress management enables the individual to deal or cope with the stressful situations instead of avoidance. Strategies like tie management, body-mind and mind-body relaxation exercise, seeking social support help individual improve their physical and mental resources to deal with stress successfully. Apart from helping employees adopt certain coping strategies to deal with stress providing them with the service of counselor is also useful. Many strategies have been developed to help manage stress in the work place. Some are strategies for individuals, and other is geared toward organizations. Individual coping strategies: Many strategies for helping individuals manage stress have been proposed. Individual coping strategies are used when an employee under stress exhibits undesirable behavior on the jobs such as performance, strained relationship with co-workers, absenteeism alcoholism and the like. Employees under stress require help in overcoming its negative effects. The strategies used are: Exercise: One method by which individual can manage their stress is through exercise. People who exercise regularly are known to less likely to have heart attacks than inactive people are. Research also has suggested that people who exercise regularly feel less tension and stress are more conflict and slow greater optimism. Relaxation: A related method individual can manage stress is relaxation. Copying with stress require adaptation. Proper relaxation is an effective way to adopt. Relaxation can take many forms. One way to relax is to take regular vacations; people can also relax while on the job (i.e. take regular breaks during their normal workday). A popular way of resting is to sit quietly with closed eyes for ten minutes every afternoon. Time management: Time management is an often recommended method for managing stress, the idea is that many daily pressures can be eased or eliminated if a person does a better job of managing time. One popular approach to time management is to make a list, every morning or the thins to be done that day. Then you group the items on the list into three categories: critical activities that must be performed, important activities that should be performed, and optimal or trivial things that can be delegated or postponed, then of more of the important things done every day. ROLE MANAGEMENT: Some what related to time management in which the individual actively works to avoid overload, ambiguity and conflict. SUPPORT GROUPS: This method of managing stress is to develop and maintain support group. A support group is simply a group of family member or friends with whom a person can spend time. Supportive family and friends can help people deal with normal stress on an ongoing basis. Support groups can be particularly useful during times of crisis. BEHAVIORAL SELF-CONTROL: In ultimate analysis, effective management if stress presupposes exercise of self-control on the part of an employee. By consciously analyzing the cause and consequences of their own behavior, the employees can achieve self-control. They can further develop awareness of their own limits of tolerance and learn to anticipate their own responses to various stressful situations. The strategy involves increasing an individuals control over the situations rather than being solely controlled by them. COGNITIVE THERAPY: The cognitive therapy techniques such as Ellis rational emotive model and Meichenbaums cognitive strategy fir modification have been used as an individual strategy for reducing job stress. COUNSELING: Personal counseling help employees understand and appreciate a diverse workforce, the holistic approach adopted by the counselor gives him a comprehensive view of the employee as client and enable him to deal the issues of work related problems in a larger context with his awareness of the inter-relationship among problems in adjustment with self, other and environment and that a work concern will effect personal life and vice-versa, the employee would receive help regarding the problem in all life. One of the advantage of the individual interventions is the individual can use these skills to improve the quality of life in offer domains like family, social support and self, thus reducing the negative carry of experiences in these domains into the work life which might effect his occupation mental health. ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES: The most effective way of managing stress calls for adopting stressors and prevent occurrence of potential stressors. Two basic organizational strategies for helping employees manage stress are institutional programs and collateral programs. Work Design Stress Management programs Work schedules Health promotions programs Culture Other programs Supervision Institutional programs: Institutional programs for managing stress are undertaken to established organizational mechanism Effect of Stress on Job Performance Effect of Stress on Job Performance STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE People react to stress in different ways. Some copy much better than others and suffering fewer of the harmful effects of stress. Just as stress differs as a function of the individual, it also differs as a function of ones type of occupation. Some occupations are, of course, inherently more stressful than others. All of the stress-strain-health relationships have an obvious impact on the organization and industry. Both physical and mental illness renders the employee unlit for work, and combine both to lessen the satisfaction obtained from work and reduce job performance and productivity levels. There are various ways that stress symptoms or outcomes are reflected in the workplace. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests that certain individuals, in a variety of occupations, are increasingly exposed to unacceptable levels of job-related stress (Schultz Schultz, 2002). Occupational stress is any discomfort which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by in stances, events or situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a persons coping capabilities and resources to handle them adequately (Malta, 2004) Occupational stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or need of the worker (Sauter and Murphy. 1999). Performance is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued by the organization or system that one works in. Each individual is exposed to a range of stressors both at work and in their personal lives which ultimately affect his or her performance. Pressure at work can be positive leading to increased productivity. However, when this pressure becomes excessive it has a negative impact. The individual perceive themselves as being unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skills to combat their stress. Stress is acknowledged to be one of the main causes of absence from work (Mead, 2000). The occupational stressors can be categorized into four major groups. Firstly, the working conditions, including shift and week-end work, inadequate remuneration, hours of work, discrimination and safety at the work environment. Secondly, relationship at work including quality of relationships with peers, subordinates and supervisors. Thirdly, role conflicts and ambiguity including ill-defined role, functions, expectations, and duties. Fourthly, organization structure and climate which includes communication policy and practice, major changes in the workplace, culture of the organization, and lack of participation in decision-making. Another cause is career development including under utilization of skills or failing to reach full potential. Another contributing factor is the nature of the job which might amount to an immense amount of physical and emotional exhaustion (Parikh Taukari, 2004) The main objective of this study is to identify role of different contributing factors of job stress and to investigate level of stress on those factors in the organization. And also to find that how job performance is affected by job stress. There are different factors of job stress i.e. work overload, work under load, supervision role conflicts, career development, physical environment repetitive work, work family conflict and coworkers. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES There is difference in level of occupational stress among the employees of different departments of the organization. High level of stress adversely affects the performance of the employees. STRESS AT WORLKPLACE (OCCUPATIONAL STRESS) In todays changing and competitive work environment stress level is increasing both in WORKERS as well as MANAGERS .As a result of this work stress, more and more managers are showing signs of chronic fatigue and burnout. Research has concluded that stressed out managers are not good for organization and shareholders also .In most case stress reduced efficiency among individuals as well as reduced productivity also. Stress is the problem in amongst all the countries of the world ,irrespective of whether the economy is strong or weak .To know about the actual work stress we should have to know about the behavior of the individuals ,causes of the stress, its consequences and then how it can be reduce . â€Å"Considered from an individual`s points of view stress is our body`s physical, mental and chemical reaction to circumstance that frighten, confuse, endanger or irritate to any person†. If controlled stress, is a friend that strengthens us for the next encounter .if handled poorly, it becomes an enemy which can cause diseases like high blood pressure, ulcer, asthma, and over reactive thyroid. As per the medical explanation of the term â€Å"Stress is the body`s general response to environment situations.† it can lead to Physiological discomfort. Some kind of emotional unhappiness. Strained relationship with other people. In very simple words stress refers to an individual`s reaction to a disturbing factor in the environment. Different discipline and different professional have viewed it differently. Agarwala at 1979 believed that the confusion in definition is primarily due to the fact that the same term is used variously by scholars of different disciplines .Thus, in physic, stress is a force which acts on a body to produce strain. According to Beehr and Newman â€Å"Job stress is a condition arising from the interaction of the people and their jobs, and characterized by changes within people and force them to deviate from their normal functioning.† Stress can be defined as â€Å"Bodys non specific response to any demand made on it. Stress is not by definition synonymous with nervous system tension or anxiety. On one side Stress provides the means to express talents and energies and pursue happiness, on the other side it can also cause exhaustion and illness, either physical or psychological† One of the common accepted views of stress is provided by Selye through THREE STAGE MODEL OF STRESS. He called it General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Selye defines stress as â€Å"an adoptive response to the external situation that results in physical, physiological, and behavioural deviation for organizational participant.† He has suggested a three stage model and states that when an organism is confronted with a threat the general physiological response occurs in the three stages . Selye said that †¦There can be up to three phases that our resistance levels go through when we are exposed to a stressor. The first is the alarm phase. The bodys resistance to physical damage drops for a short-time. This is so our bodies can prepare to cope with the stressor by using up available energy and normally protective stress hormones. Temporarily some of our defenses against physical damage drop so that our blood pressure increases, blood-sugar rises, muscle tension increases, we breathe faster and deeper and we get a surge of adrenaline-like substances to give us extra physical capabilities should we need them. If the stressor no longer exists the body returns to its normal level of resistance. However if the stressor persists, (we cant fight or flee from it or and this goes beyond his original thinking we are unable to apply counteracting psychosocial resources) our level of resistance increases beyond normal, relaxed levels When our bodies start to run in higher gear. High levels of stress hormones continue to help us cope with the stressor. This is appropriately called the resistance phase. If there is no relief the body can continue for days, weeks, even years until either the stressor is suddenly removed or because it is very energy-consuming our body collapses often with more dangerous and extreme physical reactions. They are the same as in the alarm phase only more intense and more relentless. It is here in this third or exhaustion phase that our health suffers or even death can occur. Our level of resistance to physical disorder, disease and psychological pressure is at its lowest. It is characterized by feelings of lethargy an absence of energy and bodily resources to cope. MEASUREMENT OF ROLE STRESS: In the context of India two measures have been developed by Indian researchers and have been extensively used in research in India. They are given below: ORGANIZATIONAL ROLE STRESS: This instrument developed by Pareek (1983) this instrument based on the key concept t understand the integration of the organization .It is through this role that the individual interacts and gets integrated with the system. An n organization can be defined as system of roles, where role has been defined by the expectations various significant persons, including himself / herself, have from that position. The concept of role and the related concepts of ‘role space and ‘role set have a built- in potential for conflict and stress (Pareek 1999). From the point of view of an individual, two role systems are important: Role Space and Role Set. ROLE SPACE:- Each individual occupies and plays several roles simultaneously. A person can be a son a father a member of a club and so on at the same time. All these roles constitute role space time. All these roles constitute role space. In the center of the role space is the self. Role space is the self. Role space thus can be defending as â€Å"the dynamic inter-relationship between the self various roles an individual occupies.† ROLE SET;- The individual`s role in the organization is defined by the expectations of other significant roles and those of the individual himself .thus the role set is â€Å"the pattern of relationship between the role being considered and other roles. The organization role stress scale consists of 50 items measuring ten different types of organizational role stresses. These roles stress are Following: Inter role distance (IRD):-it is expected when there is a conflict between organizational and non organizational roles. Role stagnation (RS):- it is the feeling of being stuck in same role. Role expectation conflict (REC):- Stress is generated by expectation of different significant persons such as superior , subordinate, and peers ,about the same role and the role occupant`s ambivalence as to whom to please. Role Erosion (RE); Here stress is the function of the role occupant`s feeling that some function which should properly belong to her role are transferred to some other role. Role Overload (RO) ; when the role occupant feels that there are too many expectations from her. Role Isolation (RI); Stress refer to the psychological distance between the occupant role and other roles in the same role set. Personal Inadequacy; It arises when the role occupant feels that he does not have the necessary skills and training for effectively performing the function expected from his role. Self Role Distance (SRD):- When the role the person occupies goes against his self concept. Role Ambiguity (RA):- It refers to the lack of clarity about the expectation of the role. Resource Inadequacy (RIN):- Stress is evident when the role occupant feels that he is not provided with the adequate resources for performing the function expected from his role. SOURCES OF STRESS It has been said that stress result form a misfits between environmental demands and personal adequacies to meet these demands .However, management of stress is not possible unless the individual is aware of the specific source of stress. Stress can be emanating from variety of sources. Pestonjee (1983) has identified three important sectors of life in which stress originates .These are (a) Job and organization (b) Social Factors (c) Inter Psychic sector .The first namely , job and organization, refers to totality of the work environment (task ,atmosphere, colleagues , compensations, policies ,etc.)The social factors refer to the social / culture context of life .It may include religion, caste, language, dress and other factors. The intra psychic sector encompasses those things which are intimate and personal like temperament, values, abilities, and health. It is contended that stresses can originate in any of these sectors or in combinations thereof. Factor intrinsic to the Job: These are related to poor working conditions shift work, long hours, poor technology, travel, risk and danger, work over load. Role in the organization: When a persons role in an organization is clearly defined and understood, and when expectation place upon the individual are also clear and non- conflicting, stress can be kept to a minimum. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) have identified three critical factors- role ambiguity ,role conflict , and degree of responsibility for others are major source of stress. Relation -ship at work: The working relationship which one has with people working in the same organization can also be a major source of stress. Career Development : A host of issue such as job security , fear of job loss, obsolescence or retirement and numerous performance appraisals can create pressure and strain. Organizational structure climate: just being part of an organization can present threats to a persons sense of freedom and autonomy. It seems that the position in the organization has something to do with stress. However the research evidence its inclusive .some studies have found that position in the organization does make a difference in job stress. Nature of Profession: The research evidence suggests that certain kind of occupations cause greater stress. Than others in a study of comparative degree of stress amongst professionals Mishra(2001)collected data from 144 doctors and 82 nurses drawn from various hospitals , their result show that nurses experience greater stress in their job as compared to doctors. Predispositional stress: The degree of stress seems vary with the personality and predispositional factor. Some individuals experience greater stress than others. Doctors with internal locus of control reported higher organizational stress than the internal . (Kumar 1988) The below chart shows one example of the structure of a department in an organization, indicating typical causes of stress that may effect stress at certain levels in the structure, and particular. Causes that are affecting individuals. Stress is contagious; anyone who is not performing well due to increases the amount of pressure on their colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. SYMPTOMS OF STRESS As stated earlier Stress is caused by or reaction to the external events and bring about changes in our response and our general behavior. The presence of Stress can be estimated by the analysis of certain symptoms an individual shows. These symptoms can be divided into three different categories. They are Feelings ,Behavoiur and pshysological . When the individual experience Stress, one or more of the following symptoms can be exhibited: Feelings The individual becomes anxious about the outcomes and is scared. The person feels that he has got something to loose or something wrong will take place. In an anxious state the person does not want to be corrected or interrupted. He looks out for other areas where he can forget about the stress-causing event for a while. The person becomes irritable and moody. During high level of Stress the individual develops a negative frame of mind and suffers from low self-esteem. The person loses faith in his capabilities and is afraid of the failures. The individual does not have a focused approach and is not able to concentrate and is involved in his own plans and thoughts. Physiological and Behavioral Changes Speech problems. Impulsive Behavior Crying for no apparent reason. Laughing in a high pitch and nervous tone of voice. Grinding of teeth Increasing smoking and use of drugs and alcohol. Being accident-prone Perspiration /sweaty hands Increased heart beat Trembling/Sleeping problems Diarrhea / indigestion / vomiting/ nausea Butterflies in stomach Headaches Premenstrual tension Pain in the neck and or lower back Susceptibility to illness Loss of appetite Nervous ticks Dryness of throat and mouth. Tiring easily or over eating CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS The effect of stress is closely linked to individual personality. The same level of stress affects different people in different ways each person has different ways of coping. Recognizing these personality types means that more focused help can be given. Stress shows itself number of ways. For instance, individual who is experiencing high level of stress may develop high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness, and the like. These can be subsumed under three categories: Individual consequences Organizational consequence Burnout Individual consequences: Individual consequences of stress are those, which affect the individual directly. Due to this the organization may suffer directly or indirectly, but it is the individual who has to pays for it. Individual consequences of stress are broadly divided into behavioral, psychological and medical. v Behavioral consequences of stress are responses that may harm the person under stress or others. Behaviorally related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, paid speech, and sleep disorders. v Psychological consequences of stress replace to an individual mental health and well-being from or felling depressed. Job related stress could cause dissatisfaction, infact it has most psychological effect on the individual and lead to tension, anxiety irritability, and boredom. v Medical consequences of stress affect a persons well being. According to a research conducted, it revealed that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates, increases blood pressure bring out headaches and induce heart attacks. Organizational consequences: Organizational consequences of stress have direct affect on the organizations. These include decline in performance, withdrawal and negative changes in attitude.  ¯ Decline in performance can translate into poor quality work or a drop in productivity. Promotions and other organizational benefits get affected due to this.  ¯ Withdrawal behavior also can result from stress. Significant form of withdrawal behavior is absenteeism.  ¯ One main affect of employee stress is directly related to attitudes. Job satisfaction, morale and organizational commitment can all suffer, along with motivation to perform at higher levels. Burnout:- A final consequence of stress has implementation for both people and organizations. Burnout is a general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual simultaneously experiences too much pressure and few sources of satisfaction. STRESS AND YOUR PERFORMANCE So far, we have seen that stress is a negative experience. We have seen the short-term burnout. The Positive Effects of Pressure Sometimes, however, the pressures and demands that may cause stress can be positive in their effect. One example of this is where sportsmen and women flood their bodies with fight-or-flight adrenaline to power an explosive performance. Another example is where deadlines are used to motivate people who seem bored or unmotivated. We will discuss this briefly here, but throughout the rest of this site we see stress as a problem that needs to be solved. The Negative effect of pressure In most work situations jobs, our stress responses cause our performance to suffer. A calm, rational, controlled and sensitive approach is usually called for in dealing with most difficult problems at work: Our social inter-relationships are just too complex not to be damaged by an aggressive approach, while a passive and withdrawn response to stress means that we can fail to assert our rights when we should. Before we look further at how to manage stress and our performance, it is important to look at the relationship between pressure and performance in a little more detail, first by looking at the idea of the â€Å"Inverted-U†, and second by looking at Flow. This is the ideal state of concentration and focus that brings excellent performance. Pressure Performance – the Inverted U The relationship between pressure and performance is explained in one of the oldest and most important ideas in stress management, the â€Å"Inverted-U† relationship between pressure and performance. The Inverted-U relationship focuses on peoples performance of a task. The left hand side of the graph is easy to explain for pragmatic reasons. When there is very little pressure on us to carry out an important task, there is little incentive for us to focus energy and attention on it. This is particularly the case when there may be other, more urgent, or more interesting, tasks competing for attention. As pressure on us increases, we enter the â€Å"area of best performance†. Here, we are able to focus on the task and perform well – there is enough pressure on us to focus our attention but not so much that it disrupts our performance. The right hand side of the graph is more complex to explain. Negative Thoughts Crowd Our Minds We are all aware that we have a limited short-term memory: If you try to memorize a long list of items, you will not be able to remember more than six or eight items unless you use formal memory techniques. Similarly, although we have huge processing power in our brains, we cannot be conscious of more than a few thoughts at any one time. In fact, in a very real way, we have a limited â€Å"attention capacity†. As we become uncomfortably stressed, distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thinking begin to crowd our minds. This is particularly the case where we look at our definition of stress, i.e. that it occurs when a person perceives that â€Å"demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.† These thoughts compete with performance of the task for our attention capacity. Concentration suffers, and focus narrows as our brain becomes overloaded. As shown in the figure, this is something of a slippery slope: the more our brain is overloaded, the more our performance can suffer. The more our performance suffers, the more new distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thoughts crowd our minds. Other research has shown that stress reduces peoples ability to deal with large amounts of information. Both decision-making and creativity are impaired because people are unable to take account of all the information available. This inability accounts for the common observation that highly stressed people will persist in a course of action even when better alternatives are available. It also explains why anxious people perform best when they are put under little additional stress, while calm people may need additional pressure to produce a good performance. Notes on the research behind the Inverted-U: While this is an important and useful idea, peoples evaluations of stress and performance are by necessity subjective. This has made it difficult to prove the ‘Inverted-U idea formally. Also, for ease of explanation, we show a smooth curve here. In reality, different people have different shaped and positioned inverted-Us at different times and in different circumstances. This is all part of â€Å"lifes rich tapestry†. Entering a State of Flow When you are operating in your â€Å"area of best performance†, you are normally able to concentrate, and focus all of your attention on the important task at hand. When you do this without distraction, you often enter what Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University describes as a state of ‘flow. This involves â€Å"being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and youre using your skills to the utmost. You perform at your best in this state because you are able to focus all of your efforts, resources and abilities on the tasks at hand. While you are sufficiently motivated to resist competing temptations, you are not so stressed that anxieties and distractions interfere with clear thought. This is an intensely creative, efficient and satisfying state of mind. It is the state of mind in which, for example, the most persuasive speeches are made, the best software is developed, and the most impressive athletic or artistic performances are delivered. Helping Yourself to Get Into Flow One of the frustrations of management is that managers can feel that they lose the ‘right to these periods of deep concentration when they must be readily available to others, and be able to deal with the constantly changing information, decisions and activities around them. Studies of good managers show that they rarely get more than a few minutes alone without distraction. This alone can be frustrating, and can contribute strongly to managerial stress. In jobs where concentration is a rare commodity, there are various solutions to creating the periods of flow that sustain good performance. Solutions include working from home, or setting aside parts of the day as quiet periods. Another solution might be to delegate the activities that require the greatest levels of concentration, allowing the manager to concentrate on problems as they arise, serving to create a flow of its own. One of the key aims of this site is to help you manage stress so that you can enter this state of flow, and deliver truly excellent performance in your career. MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORK PLACE Every responds to stress in a different way, it is only by understanding the nature of individual responses that you can start fighting stress yourself and others. Reduction or elimination of stress is necessary for psychological and physical well being of an individual. Efficiency in stress management enables the individual to deal or cope with the stressful situations instead of avoidance. Strategies like tie management, body-mind and mind-body relaxation exercise, seeking social support help individual improve their physical and mental resources to deal with stress successfully. Apart from helping employees adopt certain coping strategies to deal with stress providing them with the service of counselor is also useful. Many strategies have been developed to help manage stress in the work place. Some are strategies for individuals, and other is geared toward organizations. Individual coping strategies: Many strategies for helping individuals manage stress have been proposed. Individual coping strategies are used when an employee under stress exhibits undesirable behavior on the jobs such as performance, strained relationship with co-workers, absenteeism alcoholism and the like. Employees under stress require help in overcoming its negative effects. The strategies used are: Exercise: One method by which individual can manage their stress is through exercise. People who exercise regularly are known to less likely to have heart attacks than inactive people are. Research also has suggested that people who exercise regularly feel less tension and stress are more conflict and slow greater optimism. Relaxation: A related method individual can manage stress is relaxation. Copying with stress require adaptation. Proper relaxation is an effective way to adopt. Relaxation can take many forms. One way to relax is to take regular vacations; people can also relax while on the job (i.e. take regular breaks during their normal workday). A popular way of resting is to sit quietly with closed eyes for ten minutes every afternoon. Time management: Time management is an often recommended method for managing stress, the idea is that many daily pressures can be eased or eliminated if a person does a better job of managing time. One popular approach to time management is to make a list, every morning or the thins to be done that day. Then you group the items on the list into three categories: critical activities that must be performed, important activities that should be performed, and optimal or trivial things that can be delegated or postponed, then of more of the important things done every day. ROLE MANAGEMENT: Some what related to time management in which the individual actively works to avoid overload, ambiguity and conflict. SUPPORT GROUPS: This method of managing stress is to develop and maintain support group. A support group is simply a group of family member or friends with whom a person can spend time. Supportive family and friends can help people deal with normal stress on an ongoing basis. Support groups can be particularly useful during times of crisis. BEHAVIORAL SELF-CONTROL: In ultimate analysis, effective management if stress presupposes exercise of self-control on the part of an employee. By consciously analyzing the cause and consequences of their own behavior, the employees can achieve self-control. They can further develop awareness of their own limits of tolerance and learn to anticipate their own responses to various stressful situations. The strategy involves increasing an individuals control over the situations rather than being solely controlled by them. COGNITIVE THERAPY: The cognitive therapy techniques such as Ellis rational emotive model and Meichenbaums cognitive strategy fir modification have been used as an individual strategy for reducing job stress. COUNSELING: Personal counseling help employees understand and appreciate a diverse workforce, the holistic approach adopted by the counselor gives him a comprehensive view of the employee as client and enable him to deal the issues of work related problems in a larger context with his awareness of the inter-relationship among problems in adjustment with self, other and environment and that a work concern will effect personal life and vice-versa, the employee would receive help regarding the problem in all life. One of the advantage of the individual interventions is the individual can use these skills to improve the quality of life in offer domains like family, social support and self, thus reducing the negative carry of experiences in these domains into the work life which might effect his occupation mental health. ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES: The most effective way of managing stress calls for adopting stressors and prevent occurrence of potential stressors. Two basic organizational strategies for helping employees manage stress are institutional programs and collateral programs. Work Design Stress Management programs Work schedules Health promotions programs Culture Other programs Supervision Institutional programs: Institutional programs for managing stress are undertaken to established organizational mechanism

Saturday, July 20, 2019

John Locke Primary and Secondary Qualities

John Locke Primary and Secondary Qualities Locke, when presenting his theory of representative realism, focused on the differences that existed between the primary and secondary qualities. His work on this subject is basically a rectification of the naive mindset of the people. It is because of this naive nature that the people tend to confuse the two qualities together. Locke while explaining the human psyche said that the images of the items present in the real world are formed in our minds as ideas and are only symbolic representations of what is actually present. He is of the opinion that all the items and things present in the external world are analysed by our mind on the basis of having two types of qualities either primary or secondary. The primary qualities are the ones that have a direct relation to the objects being. This means that if the objects picture that is in our mind is not having the primary quality than the picture would remain incomplete and the true sense of the object would not be formed in the mind. Because of this integral relationship in between the primary quality and the object our mind visualizes the primary quality as the object itself. The example of primary quality would be mass and not weight. This is because mass is not dependent while weight depends on gravity. The secondary qualities on the other hand are not that important for the visualization of the object in its true form. The secondary qualities are merely the additional features that add variety to the object if anything. Locke says that the secondary qualities only exhibit themselves when they come in contact with the primary qualities. The perfect example of a secondary quality is colour. Even if the colour of an object in our mind is different from the objects colour in reality it would have no bearing on the physical being of the object. Thus, according to Locke colour is not a primary quality even though many people because of having a naive mind set think that colour is necessary for the visualization of the object in its entirety. Locke is of the opinion that size of an object is the primary quality and not its colour because our mind formulates the ideas that are blurry and have no structural form so that they might have an effect on our senses. Thus, a round thing which is r ed in colour would be visualized by our mind as a round figure without colour. The secondary qualities only have an effect on our senses and they do not play any part in the existence of the object. Locke is very clear in his mind about the differences that are present in between the primary and the secondary qualities. He even has come up with classifications of the qualities in terms of being secondary and primary. In the secondary category he has listed the colour, sound and taste while in the primary category he enlists solidity, figure, size and number. This classification is not approved by all and many people have begged to differ from it. Firstly, people say that solidity is temperature dependent so it cannot be a primary quality. Secondly, number is not a quality of an object it is a man-made concept so its inclusion is baffling to say the least. Because of these disorientations, it is best to not focus on classifying the qualities in to secondary or primary but to just find an explanation if the qualities can even be distinguished as primary or secondary. The causality law presented by Locke is at loggerheads with this resemblance issue. Locke opines that the perception of the objects made by our mind and the objects in real both are linked together in a causal way. The basis of his theory is that all the objects that are idealized by our mind are for any cause and it is this cause which is responsible for the objects existence in the real world. Berkeley opposes this concept of Locke and says that if such a causal relationship would have existed then the independent analysis of the cause and effects would have to be made. Lockes ideas are not necessarily proven wrong if the ideas presented by Berkeley are taken in to account. The idea that Berkeley advocates is that there can be no causal relationship in between the ideas made by our minds and the objects that are real still it is a fact that there exists a causal relationship in between our ideas and God. Moreover, Locke in his theory of representative realism negates the idea that objects that we make perceptions of are not present in the real world. He just denies the idea that our mind can visualize an abstract thing that has no representation in the real world. Still this discrepancy of Lockes theory does not make the entire theory flawed. The concept of primary and secondary qualities is a little difficult to understand still if we look to other sources for the proofing of the concept we might find a better explanation to the idea. Locke not only used the method of variability in his studies to differentiate between the two but also employed the method of measurability. According to him, if the object is measurable then it definitely is a primary quality because only the primary qualities can be measured like the size and mass. But with the advancement of science we now know that even the colours can be measured through frequency and wavelengths measurement which are considered secondary qualities by Locke. Hence, the measurement idea is not true. Because of the failure of the concepts of Locke in discriminating between the primary and secondary qualities it is best to look elsewhere for evidences that support the primary and secondary quality theory. Once we broaden our research and look away from Locke, we find that many other philosophers also have worked on the theory presented by Locke. Aristotle was the one who first presented the idea that there is a difference in between the objects that are concerned with a single sensory organ and those that have an effect on multiple sensory organs especially the eyes and the hands. This proves that Lockes theory was not an original one but was in fact a derived one. Locke does not in any way point out this concept in his studies and has not mentioned it significantly. Still this concept serves as a perfect supporting act for the actual theory that primary qualities have an effect on all the senses while the secondary qualities only effect and are identified by a particular sensory organ rather than all the senses. An objection to this theory which is made by Mackie is that it is not necessary that the secondary qualities would have an effect on only one sensory organ. He presents the example of sensory organs like nose and tongue responsible for the sense of smell and taste. He says that even though these senses are different from each other yet they perform as one and usually work together. Nevertheless, this objection is easy to rule out if we look at the sensory organs of smell and taste as a single unit as opposed to two different units. The reason for this singular approach is because the two senses are very closely related to each other and its functionality is dependent on the other. Fortunately, the modern advancement has helped in realising the differences in between the primary and secondary qualities and the studies of Bennet are very helpful in this regard. He takes the route of exposure with the objects and the qualities rather than the visualization of them. He opines that the more a quality comes in contact with us the more it is a primary one and the less a quality comes in contact with us the more secondary it is. He gives the examples of colour-blindness and size-blindness to advocate his case. He says that a colour-blind person can live his life easily rather than a size-blind person because the interaction of colour in our life is limited while the interaction of size is extensive. Thus, colour is a secondary quality and the size is a primary quality. This explanation is very much understandable and appeals to the lay mans mind. In the end, it is evident that although the case put forward by Locke about the differences in between the primary and secondary qualities is very strong and has reasonable proofing accompanying it still it fails to connect with the audiences because of the complex nature of his explanation. However, if the case is viewed through methodical analysis, as is the case in this essay, the argument does become easy to understand. Furthermore, the Aristotles theory mentioned in this essay is also supportive of the idea presented by Locke. The outcome of all the debate is that even if there is a difference between the primary and secondary qualities it is mighty difficult to determine the point of difference between the two.