Overview of Social Phenomenology

Overview of Social Phenomenology Social phenomenology is an approach within the field of sociology that aims to reveal what role human awareness plays in the production of social action, social situations and social worlds. In essence, phenomenology is the belief that society is a human construction. Phenomenology was originally developed by a German mathematician named Edmund Husserl in the early 1900s in order to locate the sources or essences of reality in the human consciousness. It wasn’t until the 1960s that it entered the field of sociology by Alfred Schutz, who sought to provide a philosophical foundation for Max Weber’s interpretive sociology. He did this by applying the phenomenological philosophy of Husserl to the study of the social world. Schutz postulated that it is subjective meanings that give rise to an apparently objective social world. He argued that people depend upon language and the â€Å"stock of knowledge† they have accumulated to enable social interaction. All social interaction requires that individuals characterize others in their world, and their stock of knowledge helps them with this task. The central task in social phenomenology is to explain the reciprocal interactions that take place during human action, situational structuring, and reality construction. That it, phenomenologists seek to make sense of the relationships between action, situation, and reality that take place in society. Phenomenology does not view any aspect as causal, but rather views all dimensions as fundamental to all others. Application Of Social Phenomenology One classic application of social phenomenology was done by Peter Berger and Hansfried Kellner in 1964 when they examined the social construction of marital reality. According to their analysis, marriage brings together two individuals, each from different lifeworlds, and puts them into such close proximity to each other that the lifeworld of each is brought into communication with the other. Out of these two different realities emerges one marital reality, which then becomes the primary social context from which that individual engages in social interactions and functions in society. Marriage provides a new social reality for people, which is achieved mainly through conversations with their spouse in private. Their new social reality is also strengthened through the couple’s interaction with others outside of the marriage. Over time a new marital reality will emerge that will contribute to the formation of new social worlds within which each spouse would function.

Love Metaphors From Literature and Pop Culture

Love Metaphors From Literature and Pop Culture In literature, music, and popular culture, love is often used as a metaphor, a  trope  or  figure of speech  in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. For example, when Neil Young sings, Love is a rose, the word rose is the vehicle for the term love, the tenor. Or as Milan Kundera wrote in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I have said before that metaphors are dangerous. Love begins with a metaphor. He might have added that love sometimes ends with a metaphor as well. Like the experience of love itself, metaphors make connections. So its no surprise that love has been imagined, examined, and remembered through a wide variety of figurative comparisons, as the quotes below show. Love as a Fruit or Plant As the collection of passages in this and the below sections demonstrate, love has been compared to everything from a plant to a truck. The metaphors in this collection are anything but conventional. Love is a fruit, in season at all times and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set.– Mother Teresa, No Greater Love I look at you and wham, Im head over heels.I guess that love is a banana peel.I feel so bad and yet Im feeling so well.I slipped, I stumbled, I fell– Ben Weisman and Fred Wise, I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell, sung by Elvis Presley in the film Wild in the Country Love is a spice with many tastes- a dizzying array of textures and moments.– Wayne Knight as Newman in the final episode of Seinfeld Now that youre gone I can seeThat love is a garden if you let it go.It fades away before you know,And love is a garden- it needs help to grow.– Jewel and Shaye Smith, Love Is a Garden Love is a plant of the most tender kind,That shrinks and shakes with every ruffling wind– George Granville, The British Enchanters As a Phenomenon of Nature Washington Irving  compared love to the rosy cloud in the morning of life, but many others have likened love to various phenomena of nature from lightning to stars and fire, as the quotes in this section demonstrate. Oh, love is a journey with water and stars,with drowning air and storms of flour;love is a clash of lightnings,two bodies subdued by one honey.– Pablo Neruda, Sonnet 12 [Love] is an ever-fixed markThat looks on tempests and is never shaken;It is the star to every wandering bark,Whose worths unknown, although his height be taken.– William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 Love is a fire.It burns everyone.It disfigures everyone.It is the worlds excusefor being ugly.– Leonard Cohen, The Energy of Slaves Loves fire, if it once goes out, is hard to kindle.– German proverb An Animal Kurt Vonnegut called love a hawk with velvet claws, but many singers, writers, authors, and figures in popular culture have compared love to various animals, including dogs, birds, and even a crocodile. Love is a dog from hell.– Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog From Hell Loves wing  moults  when caged and captured,Only free he soars enraptured.– Thomas Campbell, Loves Philosophy Love is a crocodile in the river of desire.– Bhartá ¹â€ºhari, Ã…Å¡atakatraya Happiness is the china shop; love is the bull.–  H.L. Mencken, A Little Book in C Major And Even a Disease Love has been compared to many things, but surprisingly, some have likened it to a disease, as the eclectic mix of quotes shows in this final section. They say it is better to travel than to arrive. Its not been my experience, at least. The journey of love has been rather a lacerating, if well-worth-it, journey.– D.H. Lawrence, Fantasia of the Unconscious Love is a truck and an open road,Somewhere to start and a place to go.– Mojave 3, Truck Driving Man They say love is a two-way street. But I dont believe it, because the one Ive been on for the last two years was a dirt road.– Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale Love is the master key that unlocks the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and most easily of all, the gate of fear.– Oliver Wendell Holmes, A Moral Antipathy Love is a beggar, most importunate,Uncalled he comes and makes his dear demands– Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Love Is a Beggar I thought love would be my cureBut now its my disease.– Alicia Keyes, Love Is My Disease Is it natural for a man to fall in love? Love is a disease and disease knows no laws.– Ivan Turgenev, Diary of a Superfluous Man

Fences By August Wilson Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fences By August Wilson - Research Paper Example The experiences Troy Maxson had to go through in his early life and his failure to realize his American Dream have a negative impact on his life and family. This frustration makes him unable to forgive and then gain maturity. Wilson portrays the painful experience of Troy Maxson whose American Dream turns out to be a failure. Despite his talent as a baseball player, he faces racism and segregation that prevent him from making a successful career in the Negro League and, therefore, achieve his American Dream. The failure of his dream transforms him into a bitter person who realizes the limitations of his opportunities. His shift from a Negro League player to a garbage collector reveals terribly the downfall he has to go through and the forms of careers America reserves to people of his color. This critic sums up his experience: â€Å"For Troy, however, the American dream has turned into a prolonged nightmare. Instead of limitless opportunity, he has come to know racial discrimination and poverty. At age 53, this former Negro League hero is a garbage collector who ekes out a meager existence, working arduously to support his family and living from hand to mouth† (Koprince). This failure of his American Dream explains his strong and definite refusal to allow his son to embrace the career of baseball player. The memory of his own painful experience and his awareness of the racial barriers ahead justify his opposition. He wants to avoid his son the same humiliation and failure he has to undergo. Troy’s life has always been filled with much drama and painful experiences from his birth to his death. Born in an African American family that faces the hardships related to the social realities of the period, he does not enjoy much joy. The family supposed to nurture and protect him was the first one to let him down and deceive him. The actions of his own biological parents were the first deceptions he had experienced in life, which explains his departure fro m home. Denied security and protection from his own home, his refuge in the streets will not offer him a better opportunity but lead him straight to jail. This article indicates: â€Å"What should a realist expect of Troy Maxson, who was abandoned by his mother at age eight, fled a brutal, lustful father at age fourteen, began to steal for a living, and served fifteen years on a murder charge? One can only hope for some measure of good, and Troy exceeds a realist's expectations† (Wessling). These painful experiences do not prepare Troy to become a responsible man, which explains the various struggles he faces to raise a family himself. His whole life has not been easy because he had to face one obstacle after another and learn to defend himself against any aggression and injustice. His concern to defend himself and his attempts to attain justice for himself and blacks in general make him a rebel. This author argues: â€Å"Even in Wilson's fictive world of 1957, he is regarde d as a ‘troublemaker’ for complaining that black garbage workers should be able to drive the trucks, just like white men. Not only was Troy ‘born too early,’ therefore, but Wilson portrays him as lacking the conciliatory temperament to be one of the first players to break baseball's color barrier† (Koprince). These claims grant him the status of a pre-civil rights actor who denounces injustice and fights for more consideration. The painful

Research essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Research - Essay Example This article discusses whether the drinking age of alcohol in the US should be lowered from 21 to 18 years. Alcohol is made when fruits, grains or vegetables are fermented. This process uses yeast or certain types of bacteria to convert the sugars used in the foods into alcohol. This process means that alcohol is a natural product that should not raise concern on the need for its use to the people. Alcohol that is taken is absorbed in the bloodstream of the individual and thus affects the central nervous system that includes the brain, and the spinal cord. The central nervous system is important since it controls practically all body functions. At 18 years, the human brain of the teenager is still in the developing stage, which means that drinking at this stage can have severe effects in the future of the individual. Alcohol is a known depressant and at the age of 18 years, it slows the functioning of the central nervous system. At 18 years, alcohol consumed actually blocks some of t he messages trying to get to the brain. This in turn changes an individual's perceptions, sentiments, movement, hallucination and hearing (Cima 2). United States recognizes 18 as the official adult age. At this age, people should be allowed to make their own decision about alcohol consumption. When an individual turns 18 years, they are allowed to receive the rights and responsibilities of an adult such as voting, smoking cigarettes, serve on adjudicators, marry or get married, sign legal contracts, can be prosecuted as grown person, and are allowed to join the military that takes into account risking an individual’s life. Lowering the recommended drinking age from 21 to 18 years would allow more people especially those between the ages of 18 to 20 years to take alcohol in a safer manner in regulated environments without supervision. When the government prohibits this age group from drinking in public places such as restaurants, bars, and other licensed locations, they will d rink in unrestricted places such as fraternity houses or house parties, places where they may be exposed to binge drinking and other unsafe behaviors. Taking alcohol in fraternity houses is dangerous since people in these social places tend to engage in games such as excessive alcohol drinking games, speedy drinking of alcohol that puts persons at risk of acquiring alcohol poisoning which can be fatal (Cochran 2). Most road accidents occur during the first few years of legal drinking regardless of the drinking age. According to the traffic act of the United States and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the age bracket between the ages of 21-24 years had the most number of involvements in road accidents while drunk. Majority of the victims had blood alcohol concentrations of more than 0.08, comprising of more than 35%. In order to offset these traffic accident fraternities by 21%, the legal age for drinking alcohol should be lowered from the ages of 21 to 18years. Comparative research shows that countries with the recommended drinking age of 18 years have lower number of traffic accidents caused by drunken driving (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University 1). If the recommended alcohol drinking age were lowered from 21 to 18 years, it would make consumption of alcohol less of a taboo for grownups’ that are newly joining college and the workforce. Moreover,

The Navy Offers Better Job Benefits Than Civilian Jobs Essay Example for Free

The Navy Offers Better Job Benefits Than Civilian Jobs Essay Basic Thesis The Navy job gives more benefits than any civilian job. The Navy cares of its sailors. On enrolling, sailors will get an impressive array of benefits design to keep them healthy, comfortable and safe. The most distinguished part is that all of these previliges are above and beyond   Navy pay and grant. Health Benefits11 Two words — complete exposure. One other fringe benefit for on job Naval presonnels a is the complete healthcare exposure they get at all armed forces hospitals and dental benefits. If any one type of precise assistance were not obtainable, you would get a recommendation to where you require to go. This would also be included by Navy’s healthcareplan. Anytime there is any emergency or medical problem, visit neighboring medical benefit. Once a command has been reported to, the serviceman will be alloted a basic care physician, who can be a Navy doctor or a civilian physician. (Conway and Susan, 1990) Salary Benefits If the serviceman are searching for a occupation that offers him with much more than a only a salary, then the Navy is the place. Additionally to base pay, the Navy provides: Living lodgings or housing grant Free of cost dining assistances or food grant A uniform grant Complete healthcare benefits Additionally, Sailors at few duty stations are eligible for additional Cost of Living Grant (COLAs). When the serviceman add it all up,   pay in the Navy will be accumulate to much more than the similar pay in a civilian job where   basic requires aren’t already included. Job Guarantee The Navy offers excellent job guarantee. When the serviceman sign   bond with the Navy, it also signs one with the serviceman. The Navy assures to give the serviceman the training the serviceman require and put the serviceman in positions where the serviceman will be dared and can excel. The Navy assures to let the serviceman develop   management skills. And the more the serviceman give to the Navy, the more is returned by the Navy to the serviceman. (Conway and Susan, 1990) Employers will have strong incentives to hire the serviceman since the serviceman will have both excellent training and hands-on experience under   belt. Whilst in the Navy, the serviceman will learn both how to direct and how to implement the orders from seniors, allowing the serviceman to move into a range of positions. The character, sincerity and individual qualities developed whilst in the Navy are appealing to most employers. Family Benefits By enrolling the Navy family, the serviceman provide benefits for   family too. If the serviceman are married, with or without children, the serviceman can count on the Navy to care for the serviceman care for   family. First is the guarantee of a Navy job. Then there is the closeness of the Navy society — even if the serviceman are away from home, the Navy provides a strong support system for   family. And the quality of life in armed forces housing is exceptional. The Navy also provides the serviceman and   family housing and medical care. The serviceman can live on base or get a housing grant to live in an off-base house or flat of choice. Living on base offers perks same as residing in a gated society: guarantee, safety, cleanliness and a friendly, open environment. They are also constructed with the ease of the residents in mind. Wherever in the world the serviceman are stationed, the serviceman will find all the comforts of home: theaters, libraries, schools, day care and places of worship to say some. In short, living on a Navy base is no different from living in any civil society in America. Travel The Navy is a great way to explore the world, though there is frequently additional to see than the serviceman can get to. In the Navy, the serviceman get a chance to travel even when the serviceman’re not aboard ship. The Navy’s fantastic travel benefits begin with time off. Sailors get 30 days of paid leave annually. That’s a complete month throughout which the serviceman can relax, visit family — or travel to new places. It is easier to go places than the serviceman might imagine. Sailors can travel on armed forces flights around the world for free of cost on a standby, space–obtainable basis. If there is space on a flight going   way, the serviceman can get aboard. Additionally, as an active-duty member of the armed forces, the serviceman will often be qualified to reside in base lodging anywhere in the world. This includes lodging at any armed forces benefit, not only at the Navy’s, usually at a cost much lower than the serviceman would find at a hotel off base. Retirement When the serviceman decide to leave the Navy, the serviceman will continue getting assistance as a Navy expert. This can include the assistances of the Experts Administration in terms of finding job or schooling, no-money-down and low interest loans for new homebuyers, special hiring for government jobs, and receiving of Montgomery G. I. Bill money for school if the serviceman decide to contribute throughout enlistment. If the serviceman make the Navy   profession,   retirement benefits will be far greater. The serviceman will get generous retirement pay, and the serviceman will continue to get medical perviliges and on-base shopping benefits similar to those the serviceman enjoyed whilst on duty. Education The Navy emphasis a lot of importance on education. The Navy supports all Sailors to carry their education. To care for the serviceman, the Navy offers fund for college, means to pay off student credit debts, and also offers college classes on ships and bases. References Conway, Terry L. and Woodruff, Susan I. (1990) Perceived Quality of Life and Health-Related Correlates among Men Aboard Navy Ships; Armed forces Psychology. Volume: 2. Issue: 2. Pg 79.

Schools Equating Disability with Inability to Learn :: Education Disabilities Teaching Essays

Schools Equating Disability with Inability to Learn One need not consult a scholar of education to learn that each and every individual experiences the educational system in a different way. Most people would even be able to point to the factors that most influence our differences in the way we are taught--race, class, and gender. In focusing in on those three, however, some factors which are pretty influential are sometimes ignored. One of these is physical and other disabilities. In an interview with a disabled individual, â€Å"Phillip", I learned a number of things. To begin with, I was ignorant about the extent of discrimination that disabled individuals face in the formal educational setting. Secondly, the discrimination that disabled individuals face is similar to that which economically disadvantaged individuals experience. In Phillip's case, the similarities were seen in the his being tracked in the lower level and the presumption that deaf is synonymous with ineducable. So although Phillip and I are of the same race, and our families are relatively close in socioeconomic status, we experienced school in a drastically different way--simply because Phillip has a hearing disability. Phillip has a profound sensorineural loss, which essentially means that he can hear very little of conversational speech, even though he wears a hearing aid in one ear. Although Phillip communicates without sign language and other augmentative communication, he has experienced many trials throughout his life, especially in the educational setting. He understands language only by reading lips and using contextual cues according to his environment. Phillip doesn't remember much of his elementary school experience, but for the most part, his language was very poor, from a developmental perspective, and he was kept in classes where there were only deaf students present. He refers to his elementary school experience as "positive," but isn't really sure whether it was just the fun and excitement of his youth which overwhelmed the barriers that he would later experience in his life. Phillip's true experience with discrimination in the school setting began when he entered junior high, where he was mainstreamed, and took subjects among all of his peers, whether they were hearing or not. In high school Phillip was partially mainstreamed. He took English and other required courses with his deaf peers, but for his electives and physical education, he was put in classes where the majority of the population was hearing. In junior high, Phillip has vivid memories of not being able to understand teachers.

Cain and Abel Analysis

Cain and Abel The Graves/Jung model is an interpretative method that attempts to explain a variety of things on a variety of levels. It explains how individuals progress, how societies progress, how theories progress, how we view others, and how others view us; just to name a few. I will be applying the theory to analyze the story of Cain and Abel found in the fourth chapter of Genesis, in the Bible. I will be interpreting the three main characters to assess what level of the model they are functioning in. We meet the main characters of the story in the first two verses.Cain is Abel’s older brother and we learn of their occupations, â€Å"Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. Their nature of their occupations could already be setting up the idea that Abel is physically small and Cain is physically larger. In the Hebrew world, shepherds are historically the youngest children and often girls. Later in the Bible, there is a mirror of this in 1st Samuel. it is King David (portrayed as the smallest amongst his brothers) who is also a shepherd. Typically anyone who â€Å"works the land† is going to have to be physically fit, which leads to more capabilities of physical violence.The author may have put these important details in to start to paint the picture of â€Å"helpless innocent Abel† and â€Å"big bully Cain†. This is just the beginning of why this is a Level 3 story of competitive, survival-of-the-fittest type interactions. Even though the characters might be functioning at the level 3, I think the society they are living in is at least level four. We see this in verses three and five when the third main character is introduced, â€Å"the Lord†. The fact that Cain and Abel’s god needs a offering implies that at some point someone said or wrote that he needed one.They wouldn’t just do that if it were not made clear by society that offerings were expected. This is all fitting with Level fou r. This also implies that the god is at least a level four god. In verses six and seven the Lord states, The LORD said to Cain, â€Å"Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. † This shows that the god of this story can function on level six.He is empathizing with Cain and even offering advice, or at least his challenge to Cain without explicitly telling him to not go through with his anger. However, to get to a level six, one must come out of a level five which came out of a level four. The level four god comes out in his punishment of Cain, â€Å"And the LORD said, â€Å"What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength.You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. † He is saying by this punishment that there are rules and you broke them, a very level four statement. The god in the story of Cain and Abel when the context is not extended to the whole Bible is a level four god. Cain is a textbook level three character he gets â€Å"angry† and jealous that someone else did better and he decided to go through with level three actions in verse 8. â€Å"Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Cain essentially decided that he was bigger and stronger so he could deal with things accordingly. The problem with that is that he is on a level four society with a level four god. Level four was created to stop individuals functioning at level three and this story follows suit with the Lord’s punishment of Cain and the society carrying it out. This is seen in verse 15, Then the LORD said to him, â€Å"Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. † And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Now we also see a little bit of level two come out in Cain’s words.When the lord asks him where his brother is, Cain responds with, â€Å"I do not know; am I my brother's keeper? † This is a very mischievous thing to say because Cain knows exactly where Cain is. It is very similar to a child being asked by his parents â€Å"Where did all those cookies for the shower go? † and the child who, while knowing it was wrong, ate them responds with â€Å"well I don’t see them anywhere. † Cain is mirroring this. I find it interesting that when it comes to a conflict both the Lord and Cain begin to function in lower levels than their original state.Lastly there is Abel, since the author doesn’t give us and lines of dialogue to reference, we will use the context of the story to evalua te what level character he is. I would say because he abides by the level four standards set by society and the level four god then he is at least functioning at the level. We see this in the fact that not only was he attempting to do the societal norm in making an offering that potentially allowed him to have â€Å"regard† with the Lord but also he succeeded in that. This shows he possibly could be a higher level than four but it is hard to say since we do not know exactly how he responded to Cain’s attack.

Hard to Be Fair

BEST PRACTICE Everyone knows that being fair costs little and pays off handsomely. Then why do so few executives manage to behave fairly, even though most want to? Why It’s So Hard to Be Fair by Joel Brockner W hen Company A had to downsize,it spent considerable amounts of money providing a safety net for its laid-off workers. The severance package consisted of many weeks of pay, extensive outplacement counseling, and the continuation of health insurance for up to one year. But senior managers never explained to their staff why these layoffs were necessary or how they chose which jobs to eliminate.What’s more, the midlevel line managers who delivered the news to terminated employees did so awkwardly, mumbling a few perfunctory words about â€Å"not wanting to do this† and then handing them off to the human resources department. Even the people who kept their jobs were less than thrilled about the way things were handled. Many of them heard the news while driving home on Friday and had to wait until Monday to learn that their jobs were secure. Nine months later, the company continued to sputter.Not only did it have to absorb enormous legal costs defending against wrongful termination suits, but it also had to make another round of layoffs, in large part because employee productivity and morale plummeted after the ? rst round was mishandled. When Company B downsized, by contrast, it didn’t offer nearly as generous a severance package. But senior managers there explained the strategic purpose of the layoffs multiple times before they were implemented, and executives and middle managers alike made themselves available to answer questions and express regret both to those who lost their jobs and to those who remained.Line managers worked with HR to tell people that their jobs were being eliminated, and they exharvard business review 122 pressed genuine concern while doing so. As a result, virtually none of the laid-off employees ? led a wr ongful termination lawsuit. Workers took some time to adjust to the loss of their former colleagues, but they understood why the layoffs had happened. And within nine months, Company B’s performance was better than it had been before the layoffs occurred.Although Company A spent much more money during its restructuring, Company B exhibited much greater process fairness. In other words, employees at Company B believed that they had been treated justly. From minimizing costs to strengthening performance, process fairness pays enormous dividends in a wide variety of organizational and people-related challenges. Studies show that when managers practice process fairness, their employees march 2006 respond in ways that bolster the organization’s bottom line both directly and indirectly.Process fairness is more likely to generate support for a new strategy, for instance, and to foster a culture that promotes innovation. What’s more, it costs little ? nancially to imple ment. In short, fair process makes great business sense. So why don’t more companies practice it consistently? This article examines that paradox and offers advice on how to promote greater process fairness in your organization. The Business Case for Fair Process Ultimately, each employee decides for him or herself whether a decision has been made fairly.But broadly speaking, there are three drivers of process fairness. One is how much input employees believe they have in the decision- making process: Are their opinions requested and given serious consideration? Another is how employees believe decisions are made and implemented: Are they consistent? Are they based on accurate information? Can mistakes be corrected? Are the personal biases of the decision maker minimized? Is ample advance notice given? Is the decision process transparent? The third factor is how managers behave: Do they explain why a decision was made?Do they treat employees respectfully, actively listening t o their concerns and empathizing with their points of view? It’s worth noting that process fairness is distinct from outcome fairness, which refers to employees’ judgments of the bottom-line results of their exchanges with their employers. Process fairness doesn’t ensure that employees will always get what they want; but it does 123 OLEG DERGACHOV B E S T P R A C T I C E †¢ W h y I t’s S o H a rd t o B e Fa i r mean that they will have a chance to be heard.Take the case of an individual who was passed over for a promotion. If he believes that the chosen candidate was quali? ed, and if his manager has had a candid discussion with him about how he can be better prepared for the next opportunity, chances are he’ll be a lot more productive and engaged than if he believes the person who got the job was the boss’s pet, or if he received no guidance on how to move forward. When people feel hurt by their companies, they tend to retaliate. And w hen they do, it can have grave consequences.A study of nearly 1,000 people in the mid-1990s, led by Duke’s Allan Lind and Ohio State’s Jerald Greenberg, found that a major determinant of whether employees sue for wrongful termination is their perception of how fairly the termination process was carried out. Only 1% of ex-employees who felt that they were treated with a high degree of process fairness ? led a wrongful termination lawsuit versus 17% of those who believed they were treated with a low degree of process fairness. To put that in monetary terms, the expected cost savings of practicing process fairness is $1. 8 million for every 100 employees dismissed. That ? gure–which was calculated using the 1988 rate of $80,000 as the cost of legal defense – is a conservative estimate, since in? ation alone has caused legal fees to swell to more than $120,000 today. So, although we can’t calculate the precise ? nancial cost of practicing fair process, it’s safe to say that expressing genuine concern and treating dismissed employees with dignity is a good deal more affordable than not doing so. Customers, too, are less likely to ? le suit against a service provider if they believe they’ve been treated with process fairness.In 1997, medical researcher Wendy Levinson and her colleagues found that patients typically do not sue their doctors for malpractice simply Joel Brockner ([email  protected] edu) is the Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business at Columbia Business School in New York. 124 because they believe that they received poor medical care. A more telling factor is whether the doctor took the time to explain the treatment plan and to answer the patient’s questions with consideration – in short, to treat patients with process fairness.Doctors who fail to do so are far more likely to be slapped with malpractice suits when problems arise. In addition to reducing legal costs, fair process cuts down on employee theft and turnover. A study by management and human resources professor Greenberg examined how pay cuts were Using process fairness, companies could spend a lot less money and still have more satis? ed employees. handled at two manufacturing plants. At one, a vice president called a meeting at the end of the workweek and announced that the company would implement a 15% pay cut, across the board, for ten weeks.He very brie? y explained why, thanked employees, and answered a few questions – the whole thing was over in 15 minutes. The other plant implemented an identical pay cut, but the company president made the announcement to the employees. He told them that other cost-saving options, like layoffs, had been considered but that the pay cuts seemed to be the least unpalatable choice. The president took an hour and a half to address employees’ questions and concerns, and he repeatedly expressed regret about having to take this step.Greenberg found that durin g the ten-week period, employee theft was nearly 80% lower at the second plant than at the ? rst, and employees were 15 times less likely to resign. Many executives turn to money ? rst to solve problems. But my research shows that companies can reduce ex- penses by routinely practicing process fairness. Think about it: Asking employees for their opinions on a new initiative or explaining to someone why you’re giving a choice assignment to her colleague doesn’t cost much money. Of course, companies should continue to offer tangible assistance to employees as well.Using process fairness, however, companies could spend a lot less money and still have more satis? ed employees. Consider the ? nancial fallout that occurs when expatriates leave their overseas assignments prematurely. Conventional wisdom says that expats are more likely to leave early when they or their family members don’t adjust well to their new living conditions. So companies often go to great expen se to facilitate their adjustment – picking up the tab for housing costs, children’s schooling, and the like.In a 2000 study of 128 expatriates, human resources consultant Ron Garonzik, Rutgers Business School professor Phyllis Siegel, and I found that the expats’ adjustment to various aspects of their lives outside work had no effect on their intentions to depart prematurely if they believed that their bosses generally treated them fairly. In other words, high process fairness induced expats to stick with an overseas assignment even when they were not particularly enthralled with living abroad. In a similar vein, some companies have devised expensive solutions to help employees cope with the stress of modern work.They’ve set up on-site day care centers and sponsored stress management workshops to help reduce absenteeism and burnout. Those efforts are laudable, but process fairness is also an effective strategy. When Phyllis Siegel and I surveyed nearly 3 00 employees from dozens of organizations, we found that work/life con? ict had no measurable effect on employees’ commitment– as long as they felt that senior executives provided good reasons for their decisions and treated them with dignity and respect. Of course, executives should not simply emphasize process fairness over tanharvard business reviewW h y I t’s S o H a rd t o B e Fa i r †¢ B E S T P R A C T I C E gible support. Determining exactly how much tangible support to provide is perhaps best captured by the law of diminishing returns. Beyond a moderate level of ? nancial assistance, practicing process fairness proves much more cost effective because, although money does talk, it doesn’t say it all. Fair Process as a Performance Booster Process fairness can not only minimize costs but can also help to increase value, inspiring operational managers to carry out a well-founded strategic plan eagerly or embrace, rather than sabotage, an organiz ational change.This form of value is less tangible than direct reduction of expenses, but it affects the bottom line nonetheless. The fact is, most strategic and organizational change initiatives fail in their implementation, not in their conception. Several years ago, I worked with the CEO of a ? nancial services institution that needed a major restructuring. The bank’s operational managers, however, were showing signs of resistance that threatened to stop the process dead in its tracks. I advised the CEO and his senior management team to conduct several town hall–type meetings and to hold informal focus groups with the operational managers.During those senior managers to respond to the root problem. Moreover, since the operational managers felt respected, they showed a similar level of process fairness with their direct reports during the actual restructuring, making the change go more smoothly. Michael Beer, of Harvard Business School, and Russell Eisenstat, preside nt of the Center for Organizational Fitness, recently provided evidence of how systematically practiced process fairness (embedded in an action-learning egy implementation as well as the shortcomings that could hinder it.Task force members distill the information they gain from these interviews into major themes and feed them back to senior management. Then they discuss how the strategy could be rolled out most effectively. SFP is a model for process fairness: More than 25 companies – including Becton, Dickinson; Honeywell; JPMorgan Chase; Hewlett-Packard; and Merck – have used it with great success to hone the substance of their strategic initiatives and, probably more important, to gain employees’ commitment to making those initiatives happen.Most companies say that they want to promote creativity and innovation, but few use process fairness to achieve those ends. They’re missing out on a great opportunity to create value. Harvard Business School profes sor Teresa Amabile has conducted extensive research on employees working in creative endeavors in order to understand how work environments foster or impede creativity and innovation. She has consistently found that work environments in which employees have a high degree of operational autonomy lead to the highest degree of creativity and innovation.Operational autonomy, of course, can be seen as the extreme version of process fairness. When employees feel that they are heard in the decision-making process, they are more likely to support–rather than merely comply with– those decisions, their bosses, and the organization as a whole. talks, it became clear that the managers felt that the CEO and senior executives failed to appreciate the magnitude of the change they were asking for. Interestingly, the managers didn’t request additional resources; they simply wanted those at the top to recognize their dif? ult plight. By expressing authentic interest, senior execu tives created a trusting environment in which managers felt they could safely voice their true objections to the change effort. That enabled march 2006 methodology known as the strategic ? tness process, or SFP) has helped numerous organizations capture value by getting employees to buy in to strategies. A critical element of SFP is the appointment of a task force consisting of eight well-respected managers from one or two levels below senior management.Their job is to interview roughly 100 employees from different parts of the company to learn about the organizational strengths that are apt to facilitate strat- The nature of organizations, though, means that few (if any) employees can have complete operational autonomy – just about everyone has a boss. Creativity and innovation tend to suffer in work environments characterized by low levels of process fairness, such as when employees believe that the organization is strictly controlled by upper management or when they believ e that their ideas will be summarily dismissed. When employees believe that 125B E S T P R A C T I C E †¢ W h y I t’s S o H a rd t o B e Fa i r their supervisor is open to new ideas and that he or she values their contributions to projects, however, creativity and innovation are more likely to ? ourish. Two examples illustrate how process fairness creates value by attracting innovative employees or additional customers. The CEO of a renowned electricalengineering ? rm, for instance, wanted to change the corporate culture to be more receptive to new ideas, so he separated a large group of workers into teams of ten, asking each team to come up with ten ideas for improving the business.Then the team leaders were brought into a room where the company’s executives were gathered and were asked to â€Å"sell† as many of their team’s ideas as possible. The executives, for their part, had been instructed to â€Å"buy†as many ideas as possible. The team leaders swarmed like bees to honey to the few executives who had reputations for being good listeners and open to new ideas. The other executives stood by idly because team leaders assumed from past experience that they wouldn’t listen. One company that used process fairness to create value is Progressive Casualty Insurance.In 1994, the ? rm began to give potential customers comparison rates from two competitors along with its own quotes for auto insurance. Even though Progressive’s rates weren’t always the lowest, the very act of delivering this information created goodwill. Potential customers felt that they were being treated honestly, and the practice drew many new sales. servant, Winston S. Churchill. † After being castigated by his countrymen for the letter’s deferential tone, Churchill is said to have retorted, â€Å"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite. In a change management seminar I’ve taught to more than 40 0 managers, I ask participants to rate themselves on how well they plan and implement organizational change. I also ask the managers’ bosses, peers, direct reports, and customers to rate them. The measure ers were â€Å"lucky enough to still have their jobs. † But economically supporting those who lost their jobs doesn’t cancel out the need to show process fairness to those affected by the change–which, incidentally, includes everyone.Ironically, the fact that process fairness is relatively inexpensive ? nancially may be why this numbers-oriented executive undervalued it. Another reason process fairness may be overlooked is because some of its bene? ts aren’t obvious to executives. Instead of wrestling with uncomfortable emotions, many managers ? nd it easier to sidestep the issue– and the people affected by it–altogether. contains more than 30 items, and managers consistently give themselves the highest marks on the item that measure s process fairness: â€Å"When managing change, I ake extra efforts to treat people with dignity and respect. † Those rating them, however, are not nearly as positive. In fact, this is the only item in which managers’ self-assessments are signi? cantly higher than the ratings they receive from each of their groups. It’s not entirely clear why this perceptual gap exists. Perhaps managers are tuned in to their intentions to treat others respectfully, but they aren’t as good at reading how those intentions come across to others. Or maybe it’s just wishful – and self-serving – thinking.Some managers wrongly believe that tangible resources are always more meaningful to employees than being treated decently. At a cocktail party, the CEO of a major international bank proudly told me about the hefty severance pay his company gave to its laid-off employees. I expressed admiration for his organization’s show of concern toward the people who lost their jobs and then asked what had been done for those who remained. Somewhat defensively, he said that it was only necessary to do something for the employees who were â€Å"affected† by the layoffs.The othSocial psychologist Marko Elovainio of the University of Helsinki and his colleagues recently conducted a study of more than 31,000 Finnish employees, examining the relationship between employees’ negative life events (such as the onset of a severe illness or death of a spouse) and the frequency of sicknessrelated absences from work for the subsequent 30 months. The study showed that the tendency for negative life events to translate into sickness-related absences depended on how much process fairness employees experienced before the events occurred.That is, not being pretreated with process fairness led to absences waiting to happen. Sometimes corporate policies hinder fair process. The legal department may discourage managers from explaining their decisio ns, for instance, on the grounds that disclosure of information could make the company vulnerable to lawsuits. Better not to say anything at all, the thinking goes, than to risk having the information come back to haunt the organization in the courtroom. Clearly, legal considerations about what to communicate are important, but they should not be taken to unnecessary extremes.All too often organizations withhold information (such as the alternatives to downsizing that have harvard business review Why Isn’t Everybody Doing It? With all that process fairness has going for it, one might expect that executives would practice it regularly. Unfortunately, many (if not most) don’t. They’d do well to follow the example of Winston Churchill, who keenly understood the cost-effectiveness of process fairness. On the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Churchill wrote a declaration of war to the Japanese, ending it as follows: â€Å"I have the honour to be, with high con sideration, Sir, Your obedient 126W h y I t’s S o H a rd t o B e Fa i r †¢ B E S T P R A C T I C E been considered) when revealing it would have done far more good. Legal and medical advocates in Hawaii, for instance, are currently drafting a statute that would allow health care professionals to apologize for medical errors without increasing the risk of lawsuits. Doctors often refrain from apologizing for mistakes because they fear that admitting them will anger their patients, who will then be more likely to ? le malpractice suits. In fact, the opposite is true: Patients who feel they’ve been treated disrespectfully ? e more malpractice suits than those who feel they have been treated with dignity. By making apologies for medical mistakes inadmissible during a trial, the law would let doctors express regrets without worrying that doing so would hurt them in court. Managers who unwaveringly believe that knowledge is power may fear that engaging in process fairnes s will weaken their power. After all, if employees have a voice in deciding how things should be run, who needs a manager? Managers sometimes do run the risk of losing power when they involve others in decision making.But usually the practice of process fairness increases power and in? uence. When employees feel that they are heard in the decision-making process, they are more likely to support– rather than merely comply with – those decisions, their bosses, and the organization as a whole. The desire to avoid uncomfortable situations is another reason managers fail to practice process fairness. As Robert Folger of the University of Central Florida has suggested, managers who plan and implement tough decisions often experience con? icting emotions. They might want to approach the affected parties out of sympathy and to explain the hinking behind a decision, but the desire to avoid them is also strong. Andy Molinsky at Brandeis University and Harvard Business Schoolâ₠¬â„¢s Joshua Margolis analyzed why managers ? nd it so hard to perform necessary evils (such as laying off employees and delivering other bad news) with interpersonal sensitivity, which is an important element of process fairness. Leaders in this situation have to manage their own internal dramas, including feelings of guilt (for, say, making poor strategic decisions that led to the downsizing) and anxiety (about having suf? ient interpersonal sensitivity to accomplish the task gracefully). Instead of wrestling with those uncomfortable emotions, many managers ? nd it easier to sidestep the issue–and the people affected by it– altogether. â€Å"Emotional contagion† also comes into play in these situations. Just as we tend to laugh when we see others laugh, even when we don’t know why, we also involuntarily feel anxious or sad when those around us feel that way – and that’s uncomfortable. No wonder so many managers avoid people in emotional pa in. Unfortunately, such avoidance makes it very unlikely that they will practice process fairness.Breadth. Depth. Performance. Leadership. Tuck Executive Program July 22–August 11 Leading high-potential and senior executives to new levels of business performance Gateway to Business Management April 30–May 5 & November 12-17 Delivering skills and perspective functional managers need for advancement Finance Essentials for Senior Managers September 10–15 Offering greater accountability and transparency in your organization New Branding Imperatives May 7–9 Presenting strategies for maximizing brand equity and competitive positioning www. tuck. dartmouth. edu/exec 603-646-2839 tuck. xec. [email  protected] edu B E S T P R A C T I C E †¢ W h y I t’s S o H a rd t o B e Fa i r I can understand how managers feel. Several years ago, I was working with a telecommunications organization after the ? rst layoffs in the company’s history. The CEO an d his senior management team wanted me to talk to the midlevel managers about how the layoffs would affect the people who remained and what they could do to help their direct reports â€Å"get over it. † Feeling betrayed and fearful, however, the midlevel managers were in no mood to help others return to business as usual. They identi? d me with the problem and implied that I was partly responsible for the decision to downsize. That was a moment of real insight for me: Trying to counsel this unhappy and suspicious group, I completely understood the discomfort that managers experience when they’re called on to act compassionately toward people who feel aggrieved. It was much harder than I expected. The senior managers of the company admitted to me that they were tempted to avoid the rank and ? le – partly out of guilt and partly because they doubted whether they would be able to keep a cool enough head to practice process fairness.That’s a natural response , but ignoring negative emotions only keeps them swirling around longer. When senior managers made themselves more accessible to their workforce, employees reacted positively, and the organization developed a renewed sense of purpose. ter able to cope with (and hence not act on) their negative emotions. Furthermore, managers are more likely to endure a dif? cult process when they know that the effort will have a tangible payoff. But it’s not enough for managers to be vaguely aware that process fairness is cost effective. Corporate executives should educate them about all the ? nancial bene? ts, using charts and ? ures, just as they would when making a business case for other important organizational initiatives. Invest in training. Study after study has shown that fair-process training can make a big difference. Subordinates of the trained managers, for instance, are When I was working with an executive at a utility company several years ago, for example, I noticed that she m ade a common mistake: She didn’t tell others that she had seriously considered their opinions before making her decisions, even though she had. I advised her to preface her explanations by saying explicitly that she had â€Å"given their input some serious thought. Six months later, she told me my advice had been priceless. She learned that it’s not enough for executives just to be fair, they also have to be seen as fair. Training is most effective when it’s delivered in several installments rather than all at once. For example, one suc- It’s not enough for executives just to be fair; they also have to be seen as fair. Toward Process Fairness Companies can take several steps to make fair process the norm. Address the knowledge gaps. Managers need to be warned about the negative emotions they might experience when practicing fair process.Merely acknowledging that it is legitimate to feel like ? eeing the scene can help managers withstand the impulse to do so. Studies have shown that people can tolerate negative experiences more easily when they expect them. Just as forewarned surgical patients have been found to experience less postoperative pain, forewarned managers may be bet128 not only signi? cantly less likely to steal or to resign from the organization, but they are also more likely to go the extra mile – aiding coworkers who have been absent, helping orient new employees, assisting supervisors with their duties, and working overtime.Several studies by Jerald Greenberg have even found that employees whose managers underwent process fairness training suffered signi? cantly less insomnia when coping with stressful work conditions. Daniel Skarlicki, of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, and Gary Latham, of the University of Toronto’s Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, have identi? ed some factors of an effective process fairness training program. Participants respond better to active guidance than to a lecture on the bene? ts of improved process fairness.That’s why it’s particularly effective to give trainees speci? c instructions on what they need to do and how they need to do it, such as how to detect resistance to a new strategic initiative. After the participants have practiced these behaviors, give them feedback and let them try again. cessful program consisted of a two-hour session each week for eight weeks, along with assigned role-playing homework. That way, participants could receive feedback from instructors during the formal training sessions and from their peers in between meetings.As with most constructive feedback, referring to behaviors (â€Å"You never explained why you made this decision†) rather than to traits (â€Å"You came across as condescending†) proved to be most compelling. Both the process and the outcome of the training need to be communicated to participants – but not at the same time. Before the sessions begin, focus on the outcome. Participants are likely to be far more engaged if they are told that the program will help them gain their employees’ commitment to strategy implementation than if they are told it will help them communicate that they’ve seriously considered other people’s points of view.During the course, however, focus on process. Thinking about expected outcomes (improved strategy implementation, for instance) can distract people from learning the speci? c practical skills they need (such harvard business review as how to involve people in decision making) to achieve the desired results. Finally, it is important for trainees to maintain expectations that are both optimistic and realistic. Once again, the distinction between outcome and process is useful to keep in mind.You can generate optimism by focusing on the outcomes: Touting the improvements that previous trainees have made should help people feel positive about their own chanc es for growth. And you can inject realism by focusing on the process: Behavioral change is dif? cult and rarely takes a linear course. Trainees shouldn’t expect to get better at process fairness day by day; but, if they keep working at it, they will improve. I suggest trainees ask themselves three months after the program if they are practicing process fairness more on average than they were three months prior to it.Conducting after-action reviews also helps managers continue to hone their skills long after the training sessions are over. Make process fairness a top priority. Like most managerial behaviors, the practice of process fairness must begin at the top. When senior managers explain why they have made certain strategic decisions, make themselves available for honest two-way communication with the rank and ? le, involve employees in decision making, provide ample advance notice of change, and treat people’s concerns with respect, the practice of process fairness is likely to spread like wild? e throughout the rest of the organization. By modeling process fairness, senior management does more than communicate organizational values; it also sends a message about â€Å"the art of the possible. † People are more likely to try to tackle dif? cult challenges when they see others whom they respect doing so. In one company that was trying to implement a much-needed restructuring, senior executives effectively served as role models not only by describing the mixed feelings they had about practicing process fairness but also by articulating the process they went through that ultimately convinced them to do march 2006 o. The message they sent was that it was legitimate for operational managers to have mixed emotions, but, at the end of the day, the reasons in favor of practicing process fairness prevailed. In addition to acting as role models, senior managers may communicate the value they place on process fairness by making its practice a leg itimate topic of conversation throughout the organization. I worked with one company, for example, that selected its employee of the month based on process fairness skills as well as bottom-line results.Other organizations have made managers’ annual pay raises partly dependent on 360-degree feedback about how they plan and implement decisions, in which perceptions of process fairness ? gure prominently. Recent corporate scandals show that giving workforces outcome-only directives (â€Å"I don’t care how you get there, just get there†) can be disastrous. Forwardthinking organizations care not only about the outcomes their managers produce but also about the fairness of the process they use to achieve them. This is not a call for micromanagement.Just as there is usually more than one way to produce ? nancial results, there is more than one way to involve people in decision making, to communicate why certain actions are being undertaken, and to express thoughtfulne ss and concern. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ There is a moral imperative for companies to practice process fairness. It is, simply put, the right thing to do. As such, process fairness is the responsibility of all executives, at all levels, and in all functions; it cannot be delegated to HR. But with that moral responsibility comes business opportunity.An executive must minimize the costs of decisions that might threaten employees and maximize the bene? ts of decisions that may be sources of opportunity for them. In both instances, practicing process fairness will help get you there. The sooner you realize it, the better off you and your company will be. Reprint R0603H To order, see page 151. â€Å"A new, surprising, and authoritative take on an important aspect of modern society that most people just don’t know about. † Toby Lester, Deputy Managing Editor, The Atlantic Monthly Fred Reichheld is the godfather of customer loyalty. His new book, The Ultimate Question, continues to push the envelope with innovative, practical ideas. † John Donahoe, President, eBay Marketplace â€Å"Perceptive analysis brought to life by references to real people and real situations. † Kieran C. Poynter, Chairman, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLp AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD, INCLUDING: 5th Ave. & 46th St. , NYC Rockefeller Center 5th Ave. & 48th St. , NYC HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PRESS www. HBSPress. org

30 Best Marketing Books to Get Remarkable Results in 2019

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The Fashion Industry and the Role of the Media in Shapin - Dissertation Example The study "The Fashion Industry and the Role of the Media in Shapin" concerns the fashion and media and analyzes the Changing Perception of a Woman’s Physical Image. After World War I, with the popularity of fashion magazines, print media, television and the internet, the popular media has presented the perceived ‘ideal’ image of a woman. This mostly unrealistic perception, being pushed on to the people, has had a negative effect on the women’s own perception of their physical image often putting health on a lower priority or even contradicting healthy routines in favor of attaining such physical attire. The complicated perceptions of one’s own physical image make one concerned about this aspect. Research on this self perception has found discontent among women showing their body dissatisfaction and at a higher rate than males. Such false projections, which have nothing to do with a real drive to get a better appearance, put individuals at a risk of disturbance and discontent. The idealized thinness and prejudiced height, hair and weight projected by the media as being ‘attractive’ influences the masses and makes women match those descriptions which is not only destruction of originality but also dangerous for health the way it gets commercialized, rather littered, and then picked by the adolescents. The wrong message of ‘standards for acceptability’ that the models from fashion industry and the media send do not actually define the beauty; in fact, the repeated pushing of such image on the women.... ? that the models from fashion industry and the media send do not actually define the beauty (Dittmar & Howard, 2004; Thompson & Stice, 2001); in fact, the repeated pushing of such image on the women population puts a conflict between the actual standards and the depicted standard making a woman choose to be unhealthy in order to achieve that standard (Dittmar & Howard, 2004, p. 478). This has been found in previous research to have direct proportion to the time of exposure to such commercial propaganda (Schooler et al. 2004). Many times, the sole purpose of such depictions and portrayal is to create an artificial need of the products, which are not actually needed, and then to sell them to that audience. 2.0 Purpose of research The purpose of this research is to evaluate the change in perception of a woman’s physical image in the eyes of the population in general and in the eyes of woman herself. Researching on why and how these perceptions have changed over this period of ti me, which can safely be regarded as an era of contemporary change in this respect, can provide us with useful results that actually provide some insight on how the fashion and show business industry has driven this. Addressing everlasting concern over weight and appearance in a non issue approach can help minimize the prejudice on being slimmer from as young as 6 years old (Striegel-Moore & Franko, 2002). The dissatisfaction, which is one of the major issues in a woman’s teenage due to perception of one’s own physical image (Schwitzer, Bergholz, Dore, & Salimi, 1998; Stice & Whitenton, 2002), is a topic that needs special attention to guard young girls from further worsening their health situation in fear of weight gain (Striegel-Moore & Franko, 2002; Field et al., 1999). What you think of