Value Analysis

Value Analysis or Value Engineering 1. Explain, how does value chain approach helps an organisation to assess its competitive advantage Answer: Most of the firms define value chain as mission of creating product or services. For these firms, the products or services generated are more important than any single step within their value chain. These firms use the value chain approach to better understand and identify which segment, distribution channel, price point, product differentiation, selling proposition and value chain configuration will yield them the greatest competitive advantage.The way the value chain approach helps these firms to assess competitive advantage includes the use of following steps of analysis : (i)Internal cost analysis — to determine the sources of profitability and the relative cost position if internal value creating processes. (ii)Internal differentiation analysis – to understand the sources of differentiation (including the cost) within inter nal value creating processes, and iii)Vertical linkage analysis – to understand the relationships and associated costs among external suppliers and customer in order to maximize the value delivered to customers and to minimise cost. These type of analysis are not mutually exclusive. In fact, firm begin by focussing on their internal operations and gradually widening their focus to consider their competitive position within their industry. The value chain approach used for assessing competitive advantage is an integral part of the strategic planning process. 2. Write a short notes on value analysisAnswer Value analysis (also known as value engineering) is a systematic interdisciplinary examination of factors affecting the cost of a product or service in order to devise means of achieving the specified purpose at the required standard of quality and reliability at the target cost. The aim of value engineering is to achieve the assigned target cost by (i) identifying improved pr oduct designs that reduce the product’s cost without sacrificing functionality and/or (ii) eliminating unnecessary functions that increase the product’s costs and for which customers are not prepared to pay extra for.Value analysis or value engineering is one of the most widely used cost reduction techniques. It can be defined as a technique that yields value improvement. It investigates into the economic attributes of value. It attempts to reduce cost through a. design change, b. modification of material specification, c. change in the source of supply and so on. It emphasises on finding new ways of getting equal or better performance from a product at a lesser cost without affecting its quality, function, utility and reliability.For example, the function of a fastener is to join two or more parts. Value analysis examines the value of this function in terms of alternative methods such as welding, taping stapling, etc. in view of the stress and vibrations involved in a specific application. In value analysis each and every product or component of a product is subjected to a critical examination so as to ascertain its utility in the product, its cost, cost benefit ratio, and better substitute etc. When the benefits are lower than the cost, advantage may be gained by giving up the activity concerned or replacing if for betterment.The best product is one that will perform satisfactorily at the lowest cost. The various steps involved in value analysis are : 1. identification of the problem; 2. collecting information about function, design, material, labour overhead costs, etc. , of the product and finding out the availability of the competitive products in the market; and 3. exploring and evaluating alternatives and developing them. In other words value analysis brings out clearly the areas where the cost of a product can be reduced by pointing out : 1. Unnecessary items, components in a product to be removed. . Possibility of substitution with reduc ed cost without affecting its quality. 3. Possibility of overall simplification in design manufacture etc. of a product. 3Value Engineering is more effective than any other cost reduction technique like Work Study, Automation etc. — Discuss this statement in the Indian context. Answer. Value engineering or value analysis is one of the most widely used cost reduction technique in the purchasing and production areas. It aims at reducing cost through change, modification of material specification, change in the source of supply of material and so on.It emphasis’s on finding new ways of getting equal or superior performance from a product at a minimum cost without affecting its quality, function and reliability. It is the process of subjecting each and every component of a product to a critical examination so as to ascertain : (i) Its utility in the product; (ii) Its cost; (iii) Whether is cost commensurate with its utility ; (iv) Whether it can be replaced by a cheaper co mponents ; (v) Whether it can be does away with ; (vi) What the competitors are using in place of it ; and (vii) Whether anybody is buying it at cheaper price.Utility means usefulness; this can be easily and definitely measured when the concerned component or the service can be obtained form outside — the price measures it usefulness. In some cases where an outside market does not exist, utility would be measured only subjectively. Still one would have a fair idea of whether the benefit obtained, say in terms of better appearance, is worth the costs incurred. Usually it would be profitable tom tap outside sources if the price is lower than the cost.But this decision needs to be made with great care as the question of fixed and sunk costs is very important. Value engineering bring clearly the areas where the cost of product can be decreased by pointing out: (i) Unnecessary items/components in a which might have had once some utility but now are redundant and, therefore, dispen sable ; (ii) the possibilities of component — substitution with reduced cost without affecting the quality of the product; and (iii) the possibilities of overall simplification in design / manufacture etc. f a product. The relationship between value engineering and cost reduction a. Value engineering is done with a view to reduce the cost and cost reduction looks upon value engineering as one of its prime tools. b. Cost-reduction has always followed a critical examination of the benefit incurred. Value engineering is a careful and as far possible, quantities appraisal of the benefit derived at each stage of work.Where the benefits are lower than the cost, advantage may be gained by giving up the activity concerned or replacing it by something else. c. Work study automation etc, do reduce cost but in most cases, they save only labour cost by improving efficiency, etc. On the other hand, value engineering relates the worth of the product, its value to the function it is intende d to perform and makes a sizeable in the cost of the materials by design changes, substitution etc.

La Grande Odalisque and Olympia: Comparison/Contrast

Two exquisite paintings with a female reclining nude as the focal point are La Grande Odalisque by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Olympia by Édouard Manet. The female nude has been a crucial subject for art throughout history.   The angular curves and the sensuality that can be created with just a form has intrigued artist in the past, present, and future.   While the similarities of these two painting are more evident, there are still contrast between the pieces. Ingres was from France and he painted during the Neoclassical Period, while Manet, who was also from France, painted during the Realism and Impressionistic Periods.   Their live overlapped each other for only thirty years, but their styles belonged to different periods.   Ingres lived through the French Revolution and was very much affected by it although Manet was born after it was over. Seeing such a drastic change in the world in which he lived caused Ingres to pay very close attention to the details of the past.   He wanted to preserve it perfectly and he also looked to the techniques of the masters before him.   Manet was not so much concerned for the past, but his eyes were on the present.   His subjects represent the French societal and cultural setting of the time period in which he lived. La Grande Odalisque by Ingres is an oil painting of a lone nude female reclining on her bed.   Her body faces away from the viewer, while the woman looks back over her shoulder.   There is only a glimpse of her breast under one of her arms and the rounded sides of her buttocks are visible. Olympia by Manet has two females in the oil painting.   One is a black servant woman and the reclining female nude.   Manet depicted his nude facing the viewer.   Her breasts are completely exposed and her genitals are covered by her hand. There is a tropical feel in Manet’s painting  Ã‚   Even though she has covered part of herself, this female seems more open with her nudity and the female in Ingres’ painting is more subtle and alluring with her body. Ingres uses muted shades of green jewel tones to create an elegant effect.   Manet also incorporates the color green, but he emphasizes the stark white which allows the female to stand out.   The white also gives a harshness to the painting.   It is as if someone turned on a bright overhead light in the middle of a sensual moment.   The model in Ingres’ painting tends to blend with her surroundings. Both females hold something with her hand, but Ingres’ female’s fan is one of peacock feathers which blends in with the rich tones of the background.   At the barefoot of Ingres’ nude, there is a pipe and green stool, while there is a black cat at the high healed feet of Manet’s.   Manet’s figure wears an orchid in her hair as well as the shoes.   She finds no modesty with the observation of her servant’s stare and is completely open with her sexuality. The female nude is the predominate subject of both paintings but the differences reflect their artist and there artistic periods.   While they are both alluring, they are also starkly contrasted.   Manet and Ingres were definitely masters of their times, and the La Grande Odalisque and Olympia are examples of both of their best work.   Both of these works are alluring and sensual paintings that will mystify viewers as long as the two works exist.

Mass Marketing and Direct Marketing

Mass marketing is the traditional method of selling while direct marketing is a new innovation in marketing and advertising. The former, which is usually employed by large companies, is the more costly method since it targets a broad market while the latter, which is favored by small and medium scale organizations, is relatively cheaper as it is aimed at a specific target market. Mass marketers sell their products with the use of the mass media such as national television, newspapers, radio, and widely circulated journals and magazines. Its use of the mass media makes it a relatively expensive way of marketing because of the cost entailed in attempting to reach a wide audience through a single television spot or issue of a newspaper or magazine. However, advertisers and sellers consider the method somewhat indispensable because the products that they are selling are either attractive to or are believed to be essential to people from all walks of life who are watching television, reading newspapers or magazines, and listening to radio programs. Some of the products which are mass marketed are different brands of bath soap, detergent bars, toothpaste, and face powder. In the 1960s, before the advent of direct marketing, only big advertisers could usually afford to market products using the mass media due to the prohibitive costs involved. For instance, during the 1980s, a national television network charged an â€Å"average cost per thousand viewers† of $16.79 for every spot which lasted for thirty seconds. In other words, if the network reached ten million households, a 30-second spot would cost the advertiser $167,900 (Bianco, Lowry, Berner, Arndt & Grover. 2004). Compared to mass marketing, direct marketing is relatively new. This concept, which involves reaching individual customers through telephone calls, electronic mails, or the postal service, caught fire during the twenty-first century. A survey conducted only in 2006 which covered some 500 direct marketers and service providers worldwide and released January 11, 2007, found out that â€Å"85% of respondents expect their online direct marketing expenditures to increase in 2007† (Direct Marketing News). This system of marketing heavily relies on a customer list created, maintained, and regularly updated for the purpose. Organizations who employ this method claim that their marketing efforts are measurable in terms of responses or feedbacks which they receive from their target customers (Business Link). Evidently, mass marketing, although more expensive compared to direct marketing, could not be dispensed with by marketers who want to sell their products in large quantities to a multitude of consumers. This is because a company who targets millions of people just could not afford to contact them directly and individually. Works Cited Bianco, Anthony, Tom Lowry, Robert Berner, Michael Arndt & Ronald Grover. â€Å"The Vanishing Mass Market.† BusinessWeekOnline. 12 July 2004. 9 July 2007. Business Link. Direct Marketing: the basics. 9 July 2007. Direct Marketing News. â€Å"Alterian finds 85% of marketing and service providers plan to Increase Online spending in 2007.† 9 July 2007. http://www.dmn.ca/Click/articles/vol109/vol109_b.htm   

Demand and Supply Curve for Tuna Fish Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Demand and Supply Curve for Tuna Fish - Essay Example This is primarily because a movement along the supply curve occurs when the price of the good changes and quantity supplied changes in line with the original supply relationship. If any of the factors affecting supply of vessels or labor market changed then the supply curve would shift either side (Arnold, 2013). If people discover that tuna has heavy concentrations of mercury the fish labor market would suffer. Though price has been increasing due to healthy consciousness about tuna fish as a rich source of protein, this discovery would drastically lower the quantity demanded causing leftward shift in demand curve from D1 to D2. Thereby, the quantity demanded for the fish would lower because of deadly effects of mercury in food which also see price lower from p1 to p2. The supply curve would remain the same and quantity of labor and vessels supplied would move along the curve. If there is no remedy, the entire tuna market would collapse unless fishermen go fishing is safe waters where there are no contaminated fish. Q 4.1: Price Ceiling in Argentina’s Electricity Market With increase in demand for electricity in urban and rural areas with a price ceiling, it would put an upward pressure on price of electricity to increase and utility companies would require funds to expand their capac ity to meet increasing demand (Q1) at lower and cheap prices (Po). Since there is an incentive to buy air conditioners to cool the houses, power blackouts would continue to increase more in urban areas than in rural areas. The difference arises because more urban centres are connected to power and residents have more disposable incomes to purchase air conditioners. In its worse form as inflation bites, utility companies would have to produce lower units of power at prevailing prices further increasing power blackouts. The supply curve would shift to the left resulting into lower units of power output (Q2) but because of the price ceiling the price remains the same instead of increasing as would have been the case under free market. Q 4.5: Price of entrees/ dinner during recession and during economic boom If the restaurant management is seeking less-price conscious clientele, it would therefore mean that during an economic boom, the target clients would have more disposable income an d therefore willing to spend extra cash on the same quantity to enjoy a leisurely dinner at the restaurant. Likelihood of the management to increase prices under economic boom would depend on price elasticity of demand among the target customers. If the elasticity of demand is more that unity, then it would mean that a unit change in price would result into more than one unit change in quantity demanded. On the other hand, if elasticity is less that unitary, then a unit change in price would result into less than a unit change in quantity demanded (Landsburg, 2011). Therefore, in this case because the assumption is that target clientele is less price sensitive, then it means that price elasticity of demand is less than unitary. As a result, if the management decides to increase prices during an economic boom, then a unit change (increase) in price would result in less than a unit change (reduction) in quantity demanded (or number of clients). The resultant effect is that total reven ue would increase more than before the original status because change from P0 – P1> Q0 – Q1. This therefore would let the management to allow customers to eat a leisurely dinner because they will have covered their costs and accrue more revenue. In addition, the ambience that comes with the restaurant having fewer customers would attract more customers who are less price

The Issue of Police Misconduct Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Issue of Police Misconduct - Term Paper Example Incidents such as these clearly show that misconduct is a far-reaching problem, affecting police departments at every level of operation (Ivkovic, 2003). In fact, it is a problem that has existed since at least the beginning of the 20th century, when the first attempts were made to combat it on a professional level (O'Shea and Nichols, 2003). What, exactly, can be considered police misconduct It is basically any behavior on the part of a police officer that is illegal, an obvious misuse of authority, or an effort to gain some type of material reward. Acts of misconduct generally fall within two categories: physical/emotional abuse (as described in the cases above), and the more widely studied issue of corruption. Why is police misconduct seen as being so terrible It is because they are the ones who solve our problems for us and put the bad guys away. They are not supposed to be the bad guys themselves. However, it is almost understandable that police would fall prey to these types of actions since their jobs constantly place them in situations where they are with "bad guys" every day, and there are obviously some opportunities for great temptation to occur (Johnson and Cox, 2004-5). Some of the most common ways to assess corruption are through interviews, surveys, and observation (Ivkovic, 2003). Each of these methods has severe limitations and cannot be used by itself. However, when two or more of these methods are used together, there is a much better chance of getting a reliable assessment of corruption (Ivkovic, 2003). It is important to learn how to best measure police corruption, and the severity of it, in order to know how to best treat the problem.Louise Westmarland (2005) used a survey to ask British police officers questions about how they viewed police corruption, unethical behavior, and breaking the rules on occasion. Certain actions, like gaining materially from the position, were seen to be much more serious than others, like excessive physical violence or lying to protect colleagues (Westmarland, 2005).  

Specialized Investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Specialized Investment - Essay Example vidual with the opportunity to focus his money in the desired industry or sector, and spread his investments in the various companies in that industry or sector. The diversification of investments allows investors to reduce the risk of their respective investments. Another important advantage of mutual funds is liquidity. One can redeem mutual fund shares on any day at the funds net asset value per share. Another benefit is that an investor would not pay any commissions or other fees upon redemption of the mutual fund. It is only when an investor owns certain classes of shares that he may be required to pay a deferred sales charge if the shares were not held for a specified period of time. As a way to reduce the negative effects of short-term trading in mutual fund shares, mutual funds have implemented redemption fees if shares are held for less than a specified period of time. The deferred sales charges and redemption fees increase the cost associated with redemptions. (Braham, 2007) Mutual funds enable investors to avail of the services of a professional asset management. A mutual fund is managed by a professional manager, who initiates and leads investment decisions on behalf of the fund. The portfolio manager is assisted by competent analysts who conduct research on market conditions, industries and individual companies. Small investors would not be able to avail of the services of a professional fund manager outside of a mutual fund. A mutual fund is easy to manage as investors are continually purchasing and redeeming shares of the fund. Mutual funds offer intra-day pricing which helps investors get a good price for their shares at the end of the day. Before investing in a mutual fund, there are several caveats one must observe. First, determine how the fund impacts one’s tax bill.The law requires a mutual fund to make a capital gains distribution to shareholders if it sells a security for a profit that cant be offset by a loss. If one gets a capital

Asterios Polyp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Asterios Polyp - Essay Example He says that he is incomplete because he lacks the companionship of his twin brother. The lack in his life prompt him to act in strange behaviors. His realization that he had a twin brother worsen his life as he is bothered more than bring the chapter to a close. He says ‘would he have been just like me? Better than me, worse than me’ (Mazzucchelli). These things made him fell never satisfied with all the thing that he did. Moreover, in his analysis of duality, Asterios argues that in the beginning there were three gender; female, male and a combination of male and female. The split of the third gender borne a mirror of each and created a void that love certainly seek to fill. Asterios tries to understand why people separate and the motive behind love and search for completion (Mazzucchelli). The use of narrative and visual images are so well connected in search for missing element in people’s life so as to find the pieces that will complete their lives. Through visual, the author uses the theme of unity, symmetry and geometry and explains why circumstances if life are of different shape and not a dichotomy of two symmetrical or parallel experience (Mazzucchelli). The difference of the way he represent the character is synonymous with diversity. Each character has his or her own font, color and the text bubble shapes. Furthermore, characters are demonstrated as representative of their character. Hana is such a beautiful women drawn in purples to represent adoration. On the other hand, Asterios has his head and body shaped like a machine and also in two dimension to show his views of the world. He is always questions the existence and judgment of other people. Asterios does not believe in other people’s opinions and have a counter argument for every statemen t made to him. One of the most important thing that the author did when writing the Asterios Polyp is the use

Education in China and America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Education in China and America - Essay Example Literacy can be achieved through many ways which some include cultural, visual, internet, and information. Although many people in the society lack literacy skills, literacy remains an elusive target to all people. This paper discusses in depth about the difference between China education and American education. Although China has a high population, it has managed to excel in its basic education. It is depicted that China attaches a great significance to education. Education remains the first priority in China. Chinese high schools differ immensely with American high schools primarily in structure. An American school day tends to be shorter compared to a Chinese school day. Scholarly research denotes that American students spend only seven hours in school during the weekdays whereas as a Chinese student, I used to spend stay in school spending most of my time studying at times even until 10.00 at night. The class structure too varies between the two countries. In contrast to the Chin ese system where students remain in the same room all day, the teachers rotating in and out, the American students have each class in a different classroom with different classmates unlike Chinese students who have a set of the same classmates all day. This becomes advantageous to the students since the students are able to form a strong social bond between each other. I could have the same classmates even for the whole grade division. This made us live as a family like brothers and sisters. The two countries portray a different system of grade division. In essence, America’s most common system starts with kindergarten then proceeds to fifth grade as elementary school, sixth through eighth grade as junior high school, and ultimately ninth through twelfth grade as high school. In contrast to the American system, Chinese system begins with kindergarten through the sixth grade called the elementary school and finally the seventh grade through the twelfth grade, which is called t he middle school. The two countries differ in the way information passes from the teachers to the students. America always prefers a high personal expression. Most of the classes entirely revolve around discussion materials where the teacher expects the students to engage in dialogues. American education encourages classroom participation that contributes greatly to the performance of the students. In China, teachers do not put much emphasis on class discussions. As a Chinese student, observed the quietness in the room as the teacher came and lectured as we all listened. This reduces the teacher-student relationship since it was very rare to find a student engaging in a talk with the teacher. Some students even went to an extent of fearing the teacher. The students maintain respect amongst themselves and their teachers. The classroom is quiet as compared to the American classroom that is noisy and boisterous. Chinese classrooms emphasize on a more formal atmosphere compared to the A merican classrooms. American education always lays its basis on technology. It is depicted that in America, the progress in the field of technology and knowledge occupy’s about three-quarter of their productivity output. Unlike American education

Culture and Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Culture and Organization - Essay Example Additionally, organizational culture extents its manifestation in ways which an entity allows for autonomy and freedom of making decisions, personal expression, and development of new ideas. Organizational culture gives a clear outline on how information and power flows through its set channels and influences strengths of employees by encouraging commitment towards the organization’s collective goals (Stallman, 2010:4). The culture of an organization is crucial since it affects its productivity and performance mechanism and provides guidelines suitable for establishing an appropriate customer service channel, product quality, and safety. Introduction Southwest Airlines Company is a low cost, American airline that has its base in Dallas, Texas. According to articles published the company’s public relations office, the company came into being in 1967. It adopted its company name in 1971 and by the fifth day of June 2011, documented evidence revealed that the airline is th e largest in the United States basing the data on number of domestic passengers that it carried (Kelly, 2009:22). Despite the fact that the airline operated Boeing 727 aircraft for a very time in the years between 1970s and 1980s, between this stated period and 2012 the scooped identity of the sole airline that operates Boeing 737. In addition to that, by the last day of September 2011, this airline became the world’s largest operator of 737 recording over 550 of these aircrafts already in operation whereby, each operated an average of six flights in a single day. Following its performance and uniqueness, this paper warranted it an intense research based on its organizational culture (Khastar, 2011:2). As such, this paper will seek to analyze the culture of the Southwest Airlines using and applying theoretical frameworks used in the study of organizational culture such as those developed by Schein and Harrison. The concept of organizational culture With reference to Schein th eoretical framework, the processes whereby the Southwest Airlines became the largest Boeing 737 operator in America and globally as well, led it reproduce its systems and practices of management in order to gain competitive advantages over other airlines eyeing the same uniqueness. Nevertheless, despite the fact that it sough to reproduce its management practices as closely as possible, the results were rarely compatible. Generally, the managers encountered issues they did not have to face in the operating environment (Achtmeyer, 2002:2). This is the reason as to why the first notions of culture used by the managing team were so similar to those deployed by the company with the view of defining the national culture. At this point, the development of the concept of organizational culture was ultimately polemic as opposed to what took place with other theoretical constructs such as organizational climate. Scholarly research reveals that, the concept of an organizational culture is a t hing borrowed from basic social sciences, mainly sociology and anthropology (Flamholtz and Randle, 2011:83). As opposed to organizational climate, which is a product of a conducted research, the concept of an organization is a construct embedded in the theoretical framework that employs the use of organizational environment and academics to listen to management theory (Bundgaard, Bejjani, and Helmer, 2006:16). Given the power of the Southwest

Comparison between KFC (uk) and Nando's chickenland Ltd huddersfield Essay

Comparison between KFC (uk) and Nando's chickenland Ltd huddersfield - Essay Example is the highest in the hierarchy and it is very important for a company to be consistent with its strategies so that it can have competitive advantage in the market. Competitive advantage in a company grows when the company is able to provide its clients with quality products and services at the appropriate time and place. Nandos chicken land has used information technology for them to grow at the intended time and send new products and services. The supply system in Nandos chicken land has used information technology in maintaining competitive advantage. A product has competitive value when it provides more value to the users than a competitive product or services. This value can be in symbolic terms of attributor or both. In the past century, Nandos chicken land has been using information technology for operational and management of the company. It is until recently that the company is using information technology to get significant competitive advantage (Khosrowpour, 2002, p. 15). For instance, it was the first to establish online order entry in restaurants and now they dominate the hotel delivering business. Nandos chicken land has set up ways to make reservations through a computer application, which has made it impossible for other companies to overcome them. The importance of products and services offered through the computer by Nando’s chicken land system does not lie on how the information technology is sophisticated or the reports it delivers. But, they are established by examining how they play in the company’s need for competitive advantage (Khosrowpour, 2002, p. 35). These are known as strategic information systems that help in shaping and supporting the competitive advantage of the restaurant. They are plans that help in gaining and maintaining the competitive advantage. KFC (UK) uses commercial advertisement in advertising their products. The commercial advertisement features a live band where the singer swallows fire. The company has a logo

Health Care Informatics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Health Care Informatics - Essay Example Roberta L. C (2001). Despite the dynamic nature of the required knowledge base, Healthcare informaticians must absorb a significant body of domain (healthcare, Computer Science, Systems instance, etc.) knowledge. These domain knowledge elements are the conceptual objects (the components of the professional's elaborated knowledge elements wherein each element is linked to related elements) required to support reasoning about problems and solutions. This domain knowledge must be the deepest and most comprehensive to support the Innovator and Theoretician roles. Despite the needs of healthcare organizations for personnel with the both the skills and the knowledge, most Healthcare Informatics curricula should be centered with a focus on the domain knowledge component. This is especially true of those programs oriented to producing Theoretical Healthcare Informaticians. Roberta L. C (2001). The healthcare fraternity is faced with challenges in the 21st century, a millennium that has been characterized with globalization. Most countries are looking for quality, cost-effectiveness, and personal satisfaction from their healthcare providers. The healthcare industry, responding to this highly competitive market, is reorganizing, consolidating, and integrating to form a new healthcare delivery structure that will enable the delivery of high quality, cost-effective care to everyone. However, healthcare entities find it difficult to accurately determine costs associated with treatments. They have little or no basis for understanding costs associated with their services or tradeoffs associated with in-house versus contracted professional services due to lack of consistency across practices. As a result, many healthcare entities take on significant risk when either bidding or letting a capitated contract. Ongoing consolidation and affiliation of healthcare organizations increase s uncertainty in cost projections and hence the complexity associated with efficient management. Roberta L. C (2001). Scope Macro health challenges of the 21st century must be addressed early on to provide opportunities for bettering individual and community health. The use of population data for disease surveillance can lead to better prevention and control of diseases and improved coordination of prevention efforts and medical care. An accurate definition of community health and disease status will facilitate health policy and resource allocation for health service delivery worldwide. Fright G. (1998). Coordination to the extent necessary to undertake the issues presented above requires the availability of "the right data to the right people at the right time in the right format for the right cost", made possible through open, interoperable and secure systems. Clinical repositories must support the efficient sharing of data, information and knowledge across the continuum of care, including clinical, administrative, and knowledge services. Such access to sensitive data raise privacy and security issues, prevalent among all information technology domains, but especially sensitive in healthcare. The risk of unauthorized access or disclosure of patient data and the lack of integrity of the information must be mitigated. Roberta L. C (2001). The Vision Industry has formulated a vision of the

Jung’s Unconscious Mind Essay Example for Free

Jung’s Unconscious Mind Essay In his description and explanation of the fourth dimension of the unconscious mind, Carl Jung uses an example involving one of his patients to justify his addition of the collective unconscious as the fourth part of Freud’s unconscious mind. His patient had successfully completed the psychoanalytic process of transference but was still not cured. This was the end of the process of psychoanalytic transference developed and practiced by Sigmund Freud. This led Jung to believe that the unconscious consisted of more than the components of repression, as was believed by Freud. If what she had been repressing had been discovered and was now being embraced in her conscious mind, her condition should have improved according to Freud’s theory. Her condition had not improved thus, Jung felt that there must be more. Jung began to look to her dreams, which he believed to be essentially photos of the unconscious mind at work. He found patterns that appeared ideal to and should have allowed psychoanalytic transference to function sufficiently. Despite her achievement of transference, the woman was still not well. He continued to observe her dreams. She had likened him, the doctor, to an amalgamation of her father and a lover who embodied the admirable traits of her father just as the process would call for. This should have led to her cure but it did not. Due to the fact she had not yet improved, he continued to observe her dreams until one day, he realized that she had likened him not just to the amalgamation of father and lover but, to a more divine figure. Though she was not a religious person, he figured that she had a â€Å"longing for a god†¦ welling up from our deepest darkest instinctual nature (Jung, 492). Her problem was not one of repressed feelings but a longing for something higher to guide and protect her. Possibly in the time that her father was alive, he was able to serve that purpose. With him gone, the urge regained influence. The urge was not one of conscious mind. It was an attempt to replace the Christian faith she had abandoned with something real. She likened the doctor to a god and because she knew her relationship with the doctor to be intimate, it helped her to feel closer to god. Freud’s definition of the unconscious mind included only things that had once been present in the conscious mind. The patient had never encountered the symbolic, ancient deities that were represented by the father figure of her dreams. There was a demand for more content in the definition of the unconscious mind. This psychological phenomenon has affected my attitude toward religion as well. I, like the patient in this case, abandoned my Christian upbringing for a more agnostic and eclectic practice. It is no doubt that there is such an instinctual nature to attempt to define and relate to the divine. It may be observed in the fact that people of all cultures, in all parts of the world have some type of religious belief and practice. There are many different types. The proof lies in their existence alone. Though they may vary in many ways, they are all a result of this passion which wells up from the deepest, darkest part of our beings. Of course, religion today has become part of our experience. During our childhood, we are introduced to religion by our parents. The proof of the unconscious mind’s longing is in the founders of these religions. These people had a passion that drove them to do more than they were required. The feelings of hunger, thirst and cold required them to hunt and seek shelter. These actions were result based purely of an experiential nature. Some of these people were good at what they had to do and were able to live more or less comfortably. Their minds had the leisure to allow the unconscious mind to play during their dreams. Given the chance, the unconscious mind played with the images of the divine. It drew from the collective unconscious of archetypal imagery. It gave them hints that there was more to what could be seen. It offered images of things good and offered means of achieving them. These men, these dreamers, acted out their dreams. They paid homage to what their intuitions, their unconscious minds, had shown them. They performed rituals imitating creatures not of this world. They went into trances and allowed themselves to be controlled completely by the unconscious mind. They performed the first rituals. They allowed their unconscious desires to dictate their actions. For these men, religion was intuitive. Now, we get the religious experience with its images and concepts, fed to us in a spoon with our mashed carrots. For us, we are conditioned into religion. I have always been more of a nonconformist. When I became old enough to question why, to critically examine more abstract concepts, to use my experiences of reality as a gage against what I was being told, I stepped out of conformity. At that point, I was antichristian. Free of the dogmas and the shelters they provided, my unconscious mind sought some sort of nourishment to quench the thirst for the fulfillment of spiritual energies. Off of the path, I soon found myself lost. So what did I do? I did what came natural. I delved into other religions. I began to study Buddhist teachings. I studied the Shinto practiced in Japan. I learned about the caste system of Indian culture. Why all this? I suppose that I needed to. I had taken out a part of my life and needed to fill it back in. I had taken away the food for my spiritual appetite. I broke my relationship to the divine. I was discontent with no place to release my spiritual energies. However, this was not a conscious decision. Outside of the Christian tradition within which I was brought up, I felt the genuine need for fulfillment of divine nature. For something bigger than myself and bigger than mankind as a whole. No one told me I had to find a proper outlet for spiritual energies. I was driven by an unknown force, a curiosity that masked a deeper desire to relate to the divine. I wandered. I stumbled. I tripped, fell, got back up and tripped again. Masked as curiosity, the passion of my unconscious mind has driven me to explore different methods. I have thumbed through religious books from all over the world. I attend religious ceremonies and festivals of different origin. My unconscious mind has created this curiosity in order to fulfill its own desire to be a part of and to be connected to something greater. I have abandoned my antichristian post now. I now exist outside of Christianity and am able to gaze upon it as an objective observer. I agree with many Christian principles. I agree with them though, on my own terms, in my own understanding. I stepped away from the religion to which I had been conditioned. I explored others as was deemed necessary by my curiosities and I have found some things that I believe to be true, some things that make me feel closer to the divine. The unconscious includes the ego, the superego, and the id. Unwanted memories are pushed into the unconscious mind to be put aside. They can cause many ailments when not properly discarded. These ailments may be alleviated by methods such as psychoanalytical transference. However, even after complete transference has been completed, there is still activity taking place in the unconscious mind. It is not limited to repression. Also dwelling in the subconscious mind is a collective consciousness composed of archetypal images and instincts. This is responsible for the imagery of our dreams, the universal perceptions of beauty and the desire to be somehow linked to the divine. I have seen it in my life and I have evidence of it in the fact that religion is present and dominates nearly every society around the globe.

Study on stress management for teachers in Malaysia

Study on stress management for teachers in Malaysia Teaching is one of the most stressful jobs in Malaysia. The talk on Stress Management for Teachers (Kolej Disted-Stamford news, 23 February 2008) declared that teaching is a challenging profession and hence, teachers could do with learning how to de-stress to maintain good health and high spirits.  There are two main sources of stress which affect teachers; heavy workload and students problem. Nowadays, a teachers duty is multifaceted as they undertake not only teaching but also matters associated with curriculum, students, parents, the school community as well as departmental initiatives. Another key point to note, the success of the newly launched National Education Blueprint has given a big impact on the development of the schools and teachers themselves. This plan is expected to produce intellectual students who are able to collect information and acquire knowledge and skills, instead of purely memorizing knowledge. Education system should cater to the needs of all students; smart, mediocre, weak or disabled. The success of the National Education Blueprint depends on the teachers ability, quality, skills and effectiveness in educating students. Teachers are required to have proficient skills in teaching and educating students to fulfill the governments aspiration in providing world class education. As a result of this new system, married female teachers may face an increase in workload which will in turn affect their work performance as well as their psychological well-being. According to Smylie (1999), These are tough times being a teacher (p. 59). Ewing and Smith (2003) reported that between 25% and 40% of beginning teachers in the Western World countries are leaving teaching or facing burnout syndrome. Over the past ten years, many researchers focused on the effect of work overload on work-family conflict. Generally, they found that high levels of work overload led to higher levels of work-family conflict (WFC). From a personal perspective, {suggested that the demands that employees have to fulfil considering their resources namely time and emotions to devote to work with less devote to their families.} work demands require employees to devote more resources namely time and emotions to work, leaving them with fewer resources to devote to their families. Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) define work-family conflict as a type of inter-role conflict in which role pressures from work and family are mutually incompatible. That is, work demands are not compatible with family demands (Allen, Herst, Bruck, and Sutton, 2000). Allen et al. (2000) reviewed the relationship between work-family conflict and (a) work-related outcomes, (b) non-work-related outcomes, (c) stress-related outcomes and generally found significant relationships across these areas. They concluded that work-family conflict has important personal and organizational consequences. It is important to note that the early research on multiple roles focused almost on women, particularly on women who occupied the roles of wife, mother, and employee. The multiple roles of women may affect the well-being of the family such as the husband, children and including the wife herself. Conflict occurs when a family is unable to cope with this multiples roles effectively and the result has been found to affect work satisfaction and psychological well-being (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Loscocco and Roschelle, 1991; Phelan et al., 1991). In order to maintain the health and success of teachers and schools, greater understanding of WFC is fundamental. Consequently, the influence of WFC in the prediction of psychological well-being is receiving increasing attention (e.g., ODriscoll, Brough, and Kalliath, 2004). This has led to an increment in the number of occupational stress researchers as well as WFC variables in their estimates of both individual health and work performance (Brough O Driscoll, 2005). Research suggests that an individuals self-efficacy in a specific domain provides information regarding how the individual perceive and cope with challenges. In the case of managing conflict that inevitably arise between personal and professional responsibilities, assessing work-family conflict efficacy may provide a unique perspective on what might ultimately help to reduce the negative outcomes namely decrease in life and job satisfaction that are associated with work-family conflict. Understanding how self-efficacy function in the relationship between work-family conflict and these outcomes could bring about meaningful therapeutic measures for women experiencing work-family conflict. Self-efficacy is defined as, peoples judgments in their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performance (p. 391). Bandura (1977) described self-efficacy as a key determinant of psychological change, choice of settings and activities, quality of performance in a specific domain, and level of persistence when one meets adverse or negative experiences. Having mentioned about efficacy, other predictors may also have significance in contributing to WFC and well-being. Religious coping and religiosity that have been found to affect health status positively, including overall morbidity and mortality, acute conditions, fatal ailments, pain and chronic illness (Levin, 1994). Religious belief has been perceived as one way of coping with conflict. The positive influence of religious certainty on well-being was found to be direct and substantial, whereby individuals with a strong religious faith reported higher levels of life satisfaction and greater personal happiness (Ellison, 1991), as well as lower levels of distress (Ross, 1990). Religious activities especially prayers are usually regarded as positive coping devices directed toward both the problem and personal growth (Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Shetter, De Longis Gruis, 1986). Due to the insufficient of information on the psychological outcomes of combining work and family roles among Malaysian women, the present study is aimed at investigating the direct and indirect relationships between WFC efficacy, religious coping, WFC and well-being. The study hypothesized that the relationship between WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being is mediated by WFC. Therefore, the proposed model hypothesized WFC to act as an intervening variable between WFC efficacy and religious coping and well-being among female teachers in Malaysia. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Changes in family structures are transforming the workplace while adjustments in parental work patterns are altering family life. Thus, there has been a dramatic increase in rates of paid employment globally among mothers with children. Research on WFC since the past 30 years has been fuelled by the growing proportion of employees who are dual-earner partners or single parents. As the number of working women with young children at home and dual-career households rise, so does the need for research and organizational attention towards potentially reducing stress due to WFC. Research to date suggests that high levels of work-family conflict are related to dysfunctional outcomes such as life dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and poor health in individual, increased interpersonal conflict and divorce in relationships, and as for the organizations, namely absenteeism, tardiness and loss of talented employees. Besides that, The National Union of The Teaching Profession (NUTP) Secretary, General Lok Yim Pheng, in New Sunday Times, May 18, 2008, informed that teachers are overloaded with paper work and they are pressured to train students on how to answer examination questions. Teachers must always maintain the quality of their work, try to improve their productivity and acquire knowledge and skills to develop human capital in the globalized world. Moreover, teachers play an essential role in shaping a community as their products of educating efforts contribute to its functionality. These are the demands of teaching profession nowadays. Researchers have identified various stressors that may affect the psychological well-being of teachers and one of the stressor is workload that may lead to burnout. Although some researchers may argue that social status is one of the most important factors for psychological well-being (Bredemeier, 1979), it seems that excessive workload could impose an undue level of stress that is more serious than any other stressors. A large number of studies show that teachers are exposed to workload which results particularly in stress and strain. At least one third of teachers can be seen as suffering from extreme stress and/or burnout (e.g., Boyle, Borg, Falzon Baglioni, 1991; Friesen Sarros, 1989). Researchers have considered various unique antecedents to WFC (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Frone, 1992). However, the role of personality factors on womens well-being, on the other hand, is less well documented. Only a few researchers have assessed the relationship between WFC efficacy and religious coping. For instance, Carlson (1999) found negative affectivity to be directly related to greater WIF conflict. There is a need to identify how WFC efficacy and religious coping can be linked with WFC and well-being in a causal relationship in the school setting. The present study uses the Structural Equation Model (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to examine relationships among two independent (exogenous) and dependent (endogenous) variables simultaneously in a causal framework. With regard to personal resources, why do some teachers succeed in being good teachers continuously enhancing students achievements, setting high goals for themselves and pursuing them persistently, while others fail to meet expectations imposed on them and tend to collapse under the burden of everyday stress? Based on this statement, the study examines the problem by investigating the influence of teachers WFC efficacy and religious coping on work-family conflict and well-being of female teachers in Malaysia. If teachers WFC efficacy and religious coping can be proven to reduce WFC among female teachers, it seems possible to increase teachers WFC efficacy and improve teachers coping style using religious approach which in turn may boost teachers well-being. Again, if WFC efficacy and religious coping are causally related to WFC as hypothesized, this relationship will reduce teachers WFC and increase teachers well-being respectively. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY In generally, this study serves the purpose to examine the impact of WFC efficacy and religious coping on WFC and well-being of secondary school teachers in Malaysia. To validate the instruments utilized in this study, the researcher adopted the two-step Structural Equation Modeling. Then, the researcher estimated the hypothesized relationships. The primary purpose of this research is to construct-validate the instrument to assess WFC of female teachers in Malaysia which are Work-family conflict (WFC), Work-family conflict efficacy (WFC efficacy) Religious coping (RC), Well-being (WB) consisted of Health (GHQ) and Job-Family Dissatisfaction (JFD). The study also estimates the relationships of WFC, WFC efficacy, RC and well-being of female teachers in Malaysia. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The following research questions are formulated to address the hypothesized relationships: 1. Are the constructs of work-family conflict, work-family conflict efficacy, religious coping and well-being valid and reliable? 2. Does work-family conflict efficacy directly influenced the well-being of female teachers in Malaysia? 3. Does work-family conflict efficacy indirectly influenced well-being via work-family conflict of female teachers in Malaysia? 4. Does religious coping directly influenced well-being of female teachers in Malaysia? 5. Does religious coping indirectly influenced well-being via work-family conflict of female teachers in Malaysia? Does teachers work-family conflict directly influenced by their well-being? Does WFC-efficacy and religious coping significantly correlated? THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT The model of this study, which is derived from Frone et al., (1992), examines the interrelationships among the two predictors WFC efficacy and RC that may affect well-being directly and indirectly via work-family conflict. This research focuses on the variables that are considered vital to increase well-being and to reduce WFC. The hypothesized interrelationships and interdependency among these variables are presented in Figure 1. The model depicts four measurement models, labeled as efficacy accounted for the variability in WFC efficacy and FWC-efficacy. First, work-family conflict-efficacy (WFC efficacy) which acts as a predictor or an independent variable comprises work-family conflict efficacy (WFC efficacy) and family-work conflict efficacy (FWC efficacy) of work-family conflict and well-being. This type of personality may improve or increase ones well-being because it strongly affects a persons ability to do a task. Teachers WFC efficacy should aim at reducing teachers experiences with WFC aside from functioning as a personality booster. Thus, an individuals personality plays a role in the amount of work-family conflict that he or she experiences. The second latent variable, religious coping illustrates the underlying factors for positive religious/spiritual coping (POS RC) and negative religious/spiritual coping (NEG RC). In order for teachers to cope with work-family conflict, they need to choose an effective coping style. In this study, religious coping as a second predictor of WFC and well-being may have significant relationships with both dependents. It is certainly reasonable to argue that teachers who manage their religious coping well would most likely have less WFC and a better well-being. In addition, the relationship between the two constructs namely WFC efficacy and religious coping would covary. In other words, the researcher believes that the constructs are correlated, but does not assume that one construct is dependent upon another. This relationship is depicted by a two-headed arrow connection as shown in Figure 1. In the current study, WFC efficacy and religious coping will be tested as predictors of WFC and w ell-being. The third latent variable, WFC, represents the underlying factor for Work-interfering-with-family and Family-interfering-with-work. WFC occurs when participation in the work role and the family role is incompatible in some respect. Work-family conflict can arise from; 1) the time demands of one role that interfere with participation in the other role and; 2) the stress that originates in one role that spills over into the other role which, only detracts from the latters quality of life. As a result, participation in one role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the other role. Individuals who invest more time or more psychological involvement in their work rather than their family experience the highest levels of work-to-family conflict and life stress, which ultimately reduce their quality of life. The fourth latent variable, well-being, accounts for the variability in General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Job-Family Dissatisfaction (JFD) which is hypothesized to represent participants reported well-being. Thus, it is not what the situation offers but rather how we react to a situation that determines our well being. If work and family roles were imbalanced, conflict might occur which would eventually affect the well-being of a person. Effects will range from job-family dissatisfaction to health problems, which are viewed as psychological distress. Work-Family Conflict Efficacy H3 Well-being (distress job dissatisfaction Work-family Conflict (wif,fiw) H2 H7 H6 H3 Religious Coping H5 Figure 1 The Hypothesized Model of Work-family Conflict and Well-Being Note: Exogenous Construct: WFC efficacy; religious coping; WFC Endogenous Construct: WFC; well-being RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS In the hypothesized model, six hypotheses are tested to depict the relationships between work-family conflict and the three variables identified above. In the following discussion, each of these six hypotheses are identified and explained. The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict Efficacy, Work-Family Conflict and Well-Being Studies have shown that the personal resources that women bring with them into their roles explained more of the variance in reported strain symptoms than the role stressors alone (e.g. Amatea Fong, 1991). Self-efficacy in a particular domain has been indirectly and directly linked to outcomes in that domain. For instance, Lent, Brown and Hackett (1994) suggested that self-efficacy promotes academic and vocational outcomes, such as interest, choice and performance. The conservation of resources model proposes that individuals act to acquire and maintain a variety of resources, such as objects, energies, condition and personal characteristic. On the basis of these findings, the following hypotheses are proposed: H2 Those with high work-family conflict efficacy will portray increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction) H3 The effects of work-family conflict efficacy on well-being are mediated by work-family conflict, such that those with high work-family conflict efficacy demonstrate less conflict which will leads to increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction). The Reciprocal Relationship between Religious Coping, Work-family Conflict and Well-Being In recent years, a growing body of literature has explored the implications of religion and spirituality for various mental and physical health outcomes (Koenig 1994). Other findings have also indicated that various dimensions of religiousness and spirituality may enhance the subjective states of well-being (Ellison, 1991). A report by the Fetzer Institute (2003), stated that a few studies in the US show that the subjective beneficial effects of participating in religious services, prayer and Bible reading are primarily due to their role in strengthening religious belief and individuals who describe themselves as having a strong religious faith report being happier and more satisfied with their lives. Most recently, Lapierre and Allen (2006) had used conservation of resources model to study the different coping methods employed by individuals to avoid WFC. They found that some coping methods are more useful than others to help individuals gain or conserve resources. Thus, the followi ng hypotheses are proposed: H4 Those with high religious coping show increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction). H5 The effects of religious coping on well-being are mediated by work-family conflict such that those with high religious coping portray less conflict which leads to increased well-being (low distress and low dissatisfaction) The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict and Well-Being Work-family conflict has been found to have a significant negative relationship with measured of psychological health rather than physical health (Mikkelsen Burke, 2004). Noor (2006) presented some selected research findings on work, family and womens well-being. The result showed that women were more strongly affected by the changes in their lives compared to men because even when employed they are still primarily responsible for the home and family. Role theory and spillover theory are the underpinning theories to explain the connection between WFC and well-being. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed: H6 WFC negatively influences well-being. The Reciprocal Relationship between Work-Family Conflict Efficacy and Religious Coping Covary Judge, Erez and Bono (1998) suggested that self-efficacy has a strong influence on individuals, whether they adopt an optimistic or pessimistic coping style (Seligman Schulman, 1996). They suggested that those with high generalized self-efficacy believe in their ability to change bad situations. The type of coping strategy selected has been shown to be related to the experience of work-family strain and overall well-being. Researchers have also found that self-efficacy is linked to the effectiveness of coping (Anderson, 1977; Bandura, 1977). On the basis of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposed: H7 WFC efficacy and religious coping significantly correlated. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This is a fundamental area of study for both researchers and practitioners, as more and more female teachers struggle having to take up with multiple roles in life being a wife, a parent and even a caretaker of elderly parents aside from her teaching profession. Teachers are the main doers in the process of forming a community and students are the products of teachers educating efforts. Due to the above basis, there are three important research areas that need focus namely; theory, methodology and practicality. Firstly, from the theoretical viewpoint, less attention is devoted to examine how WFC and well-being are indirectly related to efficacy and RC. The studies by Frone (2003) called for the examination of personality dispositions as antecedents of WFC. The role of personality factors on womens well-being, on the other hand, is less well documented. Carlson (1999) found negative affectivity to be directly related to greater WIF conflict. Although many studies on WFC involved nurses, managers, clericals, doctors, lawyers and engineers there were not many studies related to work and family conflict in the teaching profession. According to Kinicki et al.s (1996) review, the basic proposition which states that environmental and personality variables influence the choice of coping strategies, has been generally supported by empirical research, but the relationships between coping strategies and outcomes are inconsistent. Research on coping should address both the effects of coping on appraisal and strain as well as vice versa (Harris, 1991). It is vital to note that this study focus on the relationships between religious coping and work-family conflict and well-being. Furthermore, knowing how women deal with the realities of their conflicts rather than how they feel about them seems particularly important. Therefore it is of great interest to get a deeper knowledge of the antecedents/predictors of the teachers work-family conflict. Secondly, is/from the methodological component/perspective. There are inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between WFC and well-being. Due to this reason, this study also investigates the direct and indirect relationships concurrently. Apart from that, this study also examines WFC efficacy as a predictor of WFC due to the inconclusive findings related to efficacy and stress. In the current study, the researcher examines work-family conflict efficacy that may play an important role as a predictor of WFC in increasing teachers well-being. Unfortunately, not much is known about the relationships between WFC efficacy, religious coping, WFC and well-being in Malaysian studies. Thus, this study examines direct and indirect relationships between WFC, WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being. By using Structural Equation Modeling, the direct and indirect relationships can be simultaneously tested. To achieve this purpose, the data are analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analy sis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Additionally, there is only few research on WFC among teachers in the Malaysian population utilizing SEM. The result of the study would substantiate understanding about the phenomenon of work-family conflict in teacher population with the use of SEM. Thirdly, in practicality, it is important to study WFC and the psychological well-being of female school teachers. Studies has indicated that many teachers are incapable of juggling their professional and family roles effectively (Elbaz-Lubisch, 2002; Spencer, 1986). Teachers in Ackers study (1992) clearly thought that the combination roles of being a teacher and a mother were not at all convenient. Job satisfaction and teaching competence are important variables in regard to teachers continuity in the profession. For instance, studies by Certo and Fox (2002) indicated that job satisfaction in teaching was associated with aspects such as workplace conditions, administrative control, and organizational culture. It also touched on how teachers felt about their own competencies like teaching accomplishments and their general feelings coming to work. When teacher satisfaction was examined by Scott and Dinham (2003), they found that it was influenced by students achievement and personal e fficacy. Hence, it may be plausible to argue that a teachers well-being is influenced by job satisfaction and competence plus, reduced well-being associated with work may lead to stress that will in turn affect job performance. This study hopes to contribute to the importance of the relationships between WFC, WFC efficacy, religious coping and well-being of female teachers. Work-family problems, if they are not effectively managed, will not only affect individuals and their families, but also adversely affect their employers and ultimately the society at large. Hence, the responsibility for developing and implementing effective ways to reduce work-family interference and increase development should be shared by organizations, individuals and their families, as well as policy-makers. This study may also assist the policy-makers and administrators to implement intervention strategies aimed at managing teachers WFC, if possible reducing their workload. Additionally, practitioners are interested in the extent to which various interventions like family-friendly policies and programs, and the supportiveness of the work-family culture would actually reduce employees work-family role conflict. They are also interested in how this can have significant impact on a number of work, family and personal outcomes, as mentioned above. Therefore, future research should be aimed at examining the effectiveness of such interventions. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY First, limiting the generalizability of current findings, even though the sample represents the organizations population, they were female. Secondly, the disadvantage of using a survey method is that it influence the willingness of individuals to respond accurately. Finally, the present study is clearly limited by the cross-sectional nature of the research. DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY This study focused only on married female secondary school teachers in the District of Hulu Langat in Selangor. This sample size was limited to only those who were in one district in one state. The researcher controlled the influence of participants marital status, number of children, working experience on WFC and level of institutions (secondary schools) that were expected to have high significant levels of conflict between work and family roles. The presence of children within the home has been identified as a factor that affects conflict. Regarding the influence children have on work and family conflict, research has suggested that FWC and WFC are exacerbated by the number of children living within the home (Kinnunen Mauno, 1998; Voydanoff, 1988). This research also included in-depth open-ended interviews to further explore the mechanisms that explain teachers WFC. DEFINITION OF THE OPERATIONAL KEY TERMS For the purpose of this study, the key terms or constructs under the study are operationally defined as follow, with some elaborations on the definitions. Work-Family Conflict Work-family conflict has been defined as a form of inter-role conflict in which pressures from work and family roles are incompatible (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985). For instance, when one devotes extra time and energy into one role, the other role is compromised. This study defines work-family conflict according to Netemeyer et al., (1996, p. 401) as a form of inter-role conflict in which the general demands of, time devoted to and strain created by the job interfere with performing family-related responsibilities. Work-Family Conflict Efficacy Work-family conflict efficacy is defined as an individuals beliefs in her or his ability to manage work-family and family-work conflict (Cinamon, 2003). In this study, work-family conflict efficacy refers to the perceptions of self-efficacy to manage work-family conflict and family-work conflict. Self-efficacy was theoretically defined in this study as self-regulatory efficacy, which is a specific type of perceived self-efficacy. The given attainment in this study was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Bandura (1997) defined a specific type of self-efficacy, self-regulatory efficacy, as the ability to guide and motivate oneself to get things done that one knows how to do. The issue is not whether one can do them occasionally but whether one has the efficacy to get oneself to do them regularly in the face of varied dissuading (p.43). Religious Coping Various definitions of coping have been proposed, including coping as a psychoanalytic process; as a personal trait, style or disposition; as a description of situationally specific strategies; and as a process. In this study, coping in the context of religious approach is used. Thus, religious coping is defined as dealing with life effectively within the search for significance towards the sacred (Pargament, 1997). Religious coping includes a positive and negative religious/spiritual coping factor that reflects benevolent religious involvement in the search for significance and a negative factor that reflects religious struggle in coping. Well-being Kathryn Dianne (2009) argued that employee well-being consists of subjective well-being (life satisfaction and dispositional affect), workplace well-being (job satisfaction and work-related affect) and psychological well-being (self acceptance, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, autonomy, purpose in life and personal growth). In this study well-being refers to symptoms of psychological distress and job-family dissatisfaction. Symptoms of psychological distress Goldberg (1978) has identified symptoms of psychological distress through somatic and affective of distress. Job-Family Dissatisfaction Job-family dissatisfaction refers to a respondents perception of negative spillover from his or her work to family (Small Riley, 1990), for example the negative impact of a respondents work demands or stressors on her marital and parental roles. Mediator Mediators are intervening variables, which could explain why relationships exist. Mediation exists when an exogenous construct indirectly influences an endogenous construct via a third variable or construct. That is, the effect of a third variable or construct (mediator) intervenes between two other related constructs. In this study, work-family conflict functions as a mediator. SUMMARY Chapter one is organized into nine sections. The first section presents the background of the study, followed by the statement of problem and purpose of the study. To achieve the purpose of the study, several research questions have been formulated and explained more on the conceptual framework part, a set of relationships (work-family conflict efficacy, religious coping, work-family conflict and well-being) in a path diagram is depicted. Sixth, on the basis of

Self Management Bringing Out The Best In Me Philosophy Essay

Self Management Bringing Out The Best In Me Philosophy Essay I shall be willing to give my complete self for the choices I consciously make in order to optimize the value of my continuously evolving self-awareness and self-discovery. Management has become an illusion to many people for many years. We thought that given a position, we will be able to drive people to achieve results. We were made to believe that as you pay people, we may be able to squeeze their juices to contribute to our results. But come to think of it: even a child who came from a parent and who was nurtured by the parent through the formative years wont do everything the parent wants him to do. They will still go out of their way and do things the way they want their own way. How much less can we expect an employee to subscribe to our management only because he is paid to do so? Knowing self is the prerequisite to self management. It is about self knowledge which leads to self mastery. The Book of Tao Te Ching is sure in saying that He who knows others is CLEVER; He who knows himself HAS DISCERNMENT; He who overcomes others HAS FORCE; He who overcomes himself is STRONG. Knowing self requires discernment leading to being strong. Knowledge and mastery of the self sounds more challenging than knowledge and mastery of others. You dont have to be different. You just have to be yourself. But by being yourself, you express your uniqueness. You can only be the best of what you are. You can never be the best of what you are not. The power lies within. If you wish to conquer the world, you have to first conquer yourself. But what do we need to know about ourselves? We have a false belief that we know ourselves enough because it is the person we have known since our conception. But wait! Psychologically, there are many things we do not know about the person we see in the mirror. Here is how. Our ego is that part of our personality that is in contact with reality. Ego is the neutralizer of the moralistic superego and the pleasure-driven id. The superego and the id are both blind and not based on reality. There are times however that our ego is threatened. That is when defense mechanisms are accessed to protect the ego and to attempt a state of balance. Defense mechanisms operate in the unconscious. For example, an alcoholic will use denial and say I am just an occasional drinker, and he is convinced about it. He will use rationalization and say drinking is my only stress buster because I dont have friends, and he is convinced about it. He will use dissociation and say, my quarrel and separation with my wife has nothing to do with my drinking but with her nagging personality, and he is convinced about it. The alcoholics use of the three defense mechanisms is something that he is not aware of. He gets used to it to protect his ego from the very real possibility that he is actually suffering from alcoholism. The unconscious use of the defense mechanism is anchored on the fact that it is the ego (a connection to reality) that it is trying to protect. (ego-id-superego model) This is one psychological basis for our tendency to suppress from our consciousness many aspects of lives and characteristics about ourselves which in a way is a form of self-delusion. Even the JOHARI Window, formulated by John Luft and Harry Ingham (?), proposed that there is the blind quadrant, which is known to others but is not known to self. There is also the unknown (unconscious) quadrant, which is neither known to others nor to self. That is how much unknown remains for us to explore. These quadrants offer the potentials in the human person. (illustration of johari) The Gift of Self On the more practical level, it is most worthwhile to discover what we do best that we enjoy most. XXX calls it flow. I simply call it gift. Do we do it best because we enjoy it most? Or do we enjoy it most because we do it best? A chicken and egg situation. It doesnt matter which one leads to another. But certainly, we wont do best what we dont enjoy doing, neither would we enjoy doing something we dont do best. There must be a special reason why the Supreme Being gives a special gift to each of us. It is for us to discover it, nurture it to perfection, and find its value to how you can serve others. But how many people end life journey without such discovery? What a waste! Even what is initially perceived as weakness can actually be discovered as a gift. XXX is a person born with a condition called xxx. He has no arms and feet. But he found the gift. He would inspire people by how he was able to do what people with complete extremities can do like surfing, playing golf, and play musical instrument. He would have not done it any better if he was born with limbs. And there are many other stories available in the worldwide web for us to prove that what could be initially perceived as weakness can lead to the realization of strength. What you love and your talents provide for clues to your gift. As Wolfgang puts it: the person born with a talent they are meant to use will find the greatest happiness in using it. You want to know your gift? Look at the mirror and ask yourself. What makes you different? What makes you special? What makes you loved and loveable? What makes you a child of God? I am sure, you will find an attribute, a power, a great being within you. It awaits to be unleashed, NOW. What is the best business for me? Whenever I get consulted by people who are in search of a business venture, I ask them the question, what is it that you do best that you enjoy most? The rationale is simple: what you do best is worthwhile investing in, especially when it fills a particular need in the market. What you do best will bring a product or a service that is probably best or good enough as a starting point to generate profit. What you do best is much easier to nurture and craft to perfection. It is important that I ask the question about what they enjoy most. The rationale is also simple: work stops being work when you are enjoying it. It makes you focus on what matters most because what you do brings about some degree of self fulfillment just by simply doing it. When what you do is something you enjoy most, you become more resilient, especially in the field of entrepreneurship where only the toughest survive. My life is an example. I was given the gift of tongue. God must have a reason. And everything followed after. Now, what is your gift? What have you done to nurture that gift? Step 2: CHOOSE Self After you know or discover the gift, you have to choose to use it well. You may choose to nurture it. Choice is derived from the freewill which is innate to our human nature. Some people will respond to situation based on the force of circumstances and will claim that there is no other choice. In my trainings, I usually set a bet for the audience to give me an example of a life situation where the person has no choice. On doctor challenged me and cited that he never chose to be born. Good thing he is a doctor that I was able to ask him how many spermatozoa does a man release in a sexual act. He said tens of millions. It was my chance to remind him: Doc, when your father made love with your mother, there were tens of millions of sperm released by your father! Why did you rush to win the race? It made the hall full of doctors quiet. And I closed the debate by saying: Doc, while you were a sperm, you made a choice to be the fastest and the mightiest sperm of them all. Thats because you chose to fertilize the egg. I have yet to hear a situation in life where one has no choice! The challenge of throwing bread on those who throw stones is Jesus Christs lesson of CHOICE. Reactive people respond as if there is nothing between stimulus and response. Proactive people respond aware that there is something between the stimulus and response- that is CHOICE. Stephen Covey calls being proactive as being response-able. They have the response-ability, which is the ability to choose the response. A person who believes in choices and who empowers the self using that freedom to choose will not blame others for anything. They only have themselves to blame. In so doing, that person learns, grow, become a better person. Now that I have impressed upon you that choice is inherent to our human nature, the biggest choice you have to make is to CHOOSE your SELF. You may choose to be the best person you can be based on your personal knowledge of yourself. Having been blessed with the gift of teaching, you may choose to be a great teacher. A nurse may just provide relief of pain, but may choose to care by provide a holistic nurturing to her clients. Anyone can be great. It is just a matter of choice. Famous and notorious people alike are products of the choices they make. Step 3: GIVE Self What did you have when you were born? And what dies with you? Only your SELF. What you gained in your life journey like wealth, properties, power and prestige are temporal rewards for the actions you took and the choice you made. But what could be the greatest gift to humanity but self? I used to wonder why most heroes had to die before they get acknowledged, like saints who had to die before they get beatified. Because death is the ultimate offering of the self. Even Jesus had to die to achieve our salvation. But this book is not about being hero or saint. It is about being you and giving yourself. What you are is Gods gift to you. What others have become because of you is your gift to God. It is in giving yourself that you find greater meaning in the life you are blessed to live. What do we get in knowing-choosing-giving ourselves? The more we become knowledgeable about ourselves, the more we will be able to define our vision and purpose. And from such vision and life purpose, we will be able to better choose the person we want to be. In so doing, we are able to fulfil a mission and project our authentic presence in the environment we live in. Our existence is felt, our significance is appreciated and our worth enriched. We are then able to give ourselves more genuinely. It is in sharing ourselves that we become more. It is in giving ourselves that we are given more. It creates a self-actualizing existence that puts more value to our lives and our being. Self actualization is the highest level of need. It is what not everyone will be able to reach in a lifetime. It is anchored on a hierarchy that builds upon basic to more complex needs. It is the level that makes one conclude that life is indeed worth leaving. Interview 1: Cory Quirino It took years for Cory Quirino to spread the gospel of wellness among her fellow Filipinos. Now, thanks to her relentless advocacy, wellness is one of the most happening words in town as more and more manufacturers have been jumping onto the bandwagon, developing consumer products that promote a healthy and happy lifestyle. Alternative and preventive medicine and naturopathy have likewise been booming. One of Quirinos secrets to her accomplishments is the great sense of discipline that drives her dreams. Without it, passion has no direction, she says. Wellness itself has a lot to do with balancing ones life. A lot of self-discipline goes to the day-to-day management of physical, emotional and spiritual activities that maintain ones health and beauty. The same principles can be applied in managing ones enterprises, as she has successfully demonstrated. It takes both intelligence and keeping ones cool to win the game. EQ is on equal footing with IQ, she says, if not a step higher. She adds, I believe in it as something innately God-given, something that enables an individual to tap the inner intelligence, centered on his or her ability to sense, to reflect, and to act. Quirino can attest to the fulfilment of being an entrepreneur. Only now, I am beginning to know what this feels like, she says. Sure, its risky, but the rewards are great. Your sense of freedom is underscored and heightened, and this motivates you to go further, beyond your own self-imposed limitations. Many people consider Quirino a guru or icon. This is music to my ears, she smiles, because it simply means, you have arrived, Cory!' Interview 2: Richie Cuna Richie Cuna always makes sure that his business is a step ahead of everyone elses. Being a business developer, he has been strict at beating his deadlines. I always tell my staff that we need to hit deadlines yesterday. No exemptions! , he exclaims. It has taken discipline and planning to turn Cunas visions to reality. People who are always stuck on the planning phase turn him off. I would plan things in my head days, weeks, months, or maybe even years ahead, and then I share what I want to happen, he says. In his office, he is well known for making his word happen. When he established the brand Fiorgelato, one of his several successful franchises, he planned to establish 50 branches within ten years. And so he has. Cuna has been a leader and pioneer in entrepreneurship and franchising in the Philippines. He founded and led the Association of Filipino Franchisers, Inc (AFFI). He keenly supports new businesses, brands and concepts in schools, exhibits and other activities and has helped make Filipino brands internationally competitive. He wants others to share in the satisfaction of being entrepreneurs. He relates, Ive been an employee for about 25 years, and sometimes they say when an employee leaves the office, thats the end of the storyAs an entrepreneur, the task is a 24/7 thing; your mind keeps on running because you need to finish a task or make a deadlineBut the fulfilment is different. I quit my job in banking and pursued entrepreneurship because it is more enjoyable! Nuggets of Wisdom Here are some simplified techniques on how you can make the full use of your self: Search for what you do best and enjoy most. Examine the realization of dreams and aspirations. Live in harmony with the universe. Fulfil the promise of the future through the lessons of the past and blessings of the present. Search for what you do best and enjoy most. This is the essence of your freewill. You may choose what to do and might as well do what you are best at and what gives you the greatest rewards of enjoyment. In the process, everything becomes easy in your full utilization of your greatest asset yourself. Examine the realization of dreams and aspirations. Success comes in small frequent feedings. There are small achievements that are indicators that you are getting there in time. Do an inventory of the small successes that is heading to the realization of your dreams. These are the building blocks of your immortal legacy. Live in harmony with the universe. You are part of a bigger whole. Live with it in harmony. Be nurtured by it as you contribute to its entirety. Harmonize with nature and be one of its treasures. Fulfil the promise of the future through the lessons of the past and blessings of the present. You are never a perfect being but you are learning. The past provides you lessons. The past cannot teach you, but you can learn from it. The present is a presentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a gift. It is the most important day in your history. Count your blessings on a daily basis. Conquer the future. It promises you great things.

Neurology and Neurosurgery Essay -- Medical Brain Health Essays

Neurology and Neurosurgery Neurology Overview Although our primary interest is with the Medial Temporal Lobe, also called the V5 area, a discussion of the entire motion perception pathway is instructive. Motion perception actually begins with the specialized visual receptors in the retina known as M-cells (from the Latin word magnus, for large). As the name implies, the M-cells are relatively large, located in the peripheral retina, and respond quickly to transient visual stimulation making them ideally suited for motion detection. By contrast, P-cells are smaller, located in the fovea, react more slowly to stimuli, and are suited to fine-detail vision. Impulses from the retina then travel via the optic nerve to the optic chiasm where fibers of the optic nerve from the inner (nasal) half of each retina cross while those from the outside (temporal) half of each retina stay on the same side. This partial crossing is a feature of mammals, whereas for most vertebrates below mammals, all the fibers cross. It must be pointed out that no motion processing is actually done in the optic chiasm. About 20% of the axons leaving the optic chiasm go to the Superior Colliculus, which is responsible for certain eye movements and spatial localization. The remaining 80% of the axons go to the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus, LGN (Schiffman, 2000, p. 71-73). The LGN represents the next motion processing step after the M-cells in the retina. The Magnocellular Division of the LGN specifically processes the impulses from the M- cells in the retina and is uniquely suited to distinguishing small contrasts between light and dark areas thereby enhancing three-dimensionality and motion ef... ..., J. W. (2004). Biological Psychology (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson-Wadsworth. Naikar, N. (1996). Perception of apparent motion of colored stimuli after commissurotomy. Neuropsychologia, 34(11),1041- 1049. Nawrot, M., Rizzo, M., Rockland, K.S., Howard, M. (2000). A transient deficit of motion perception. Vision Research, (40),3435-3446. Schiffman, H.R. (2000). Sensation and Perception (5th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Ulbert, I., Karmos, G., Heit, G., & Halgren, E. (2001). Early discrimination of coherent versus incoherent motion by multiunit and synaptic activity in human putative MT+. Human Brain Mapping, 13(4),226-238. Vaina, L.M., Cowey, A., LeMay, M., Bienfang, D.C., & Kikinis, R. (2002). Visual deficits in a patient with kaleidoscopic disintegration of the visual world. European Journal of Neurology, (9),463-477.

Gene Therapy and Cancer :: Genetics Science Technology Medical Essays

Gene Therapy and Cancer In 1997, an estimated 1.38 million Americans will be newly diagnosed with cancer (Blaese, 1997). The treatments available only cure half of them. Many new strategies, including gene therapy are in developmental stages for treating cancer. Nearly half of all gene therapy trials currently under way deal with cancer and experts believe a number of these applications will be in use within the next three to five years (Lyon, 1997). Cancer is considered a genetic disorder. Studies have identified a small number of genes that must be mutated to bring about development of cancer or maintain the growth of malignant cells (Klug, 1996). Two main properties of cancer are uncontrollable cell division and the ability to spread or metastasize. Both are results of genetic alterations. Mutations in the cells that lead to certain forms of cancer, can be identified as inherited in some families. In most cases, however, it is difficult to identify a simple pattern of inheritance. There are two ways to regulate cell division. One way is with tumor suppressor genes, which usually function to inactivate or repress cell division. These genes or their products or both, must be inactivated sporadically for cell division of take place. If they are permanently inactivated or lost through mutation, uncontrolled cell division occurs. Another way cell division is regulated is by proto-oncogenes, which usually promotes cell division also. These genes can be in an "on" or "off" mode and when in the "on" mode, cell division is promoted. When the genes or their products or both are inactivated, cell division is stopped. If they are permanently switched "on", cell regulation is stopped and tumor formation begins. Oncogenes are the mutant form of proto-oncogenes. An example of a transformation of a proto-oncogene to an oncogene is the p53 gene, which encodes a nuclear protein that acts as a transcription factor. The p53 gene is usually a tumor suppressor gene that controls passage of the cell from one phase of mitosis to another. The mutations in p53 gene are estimated to be associated with over half of all cancers. The most prevalent cause of death in cancer patients is metastasis, where cancer cells detach from the original tumor site and settle elsewhere in the body, to grow and divide producing another tumor. There are two kinds of tumors, benign and malignant. Benign tumors can be removed and usually do not return.

The Death Of A Salesman: The Reality Evasion Drug :: essays research papers

Never does one go through their life without having to deal with some sort of personal conflict. The manner in which people deal with these conflicts vary as much as the prints on a person's finger. Some try and solve the problem and get rid of it, while others will try and put it aside for as long as possible. Willy Loman's method in Arthur Miller's play, The Death of a Salesman, is very dangerous and builds to harsh results. Willy never tries to help the circumstances, he only flees to his great memories of the better days, when his life's predicaments were very limited. He uses this evasion tool as though it were an addictive narcotic, and as the story unfolds, the audience soon discovers the lethality of the drug. Willy's first flash to the past was when his son, Biff, returns home from the west. Willy discusses his disappointment in Biff with his dear wife Linda. When Willy fails to cope with this misfortune successfully, he returns in his head to a time when everything was going well and life was more fortunate to him. It is perfectly normal for one to remember more fortunate days at the more dispirited times of life, as long as they can return to the present and deal with the reality of the situation. However, Willy never does return to the original problem, he just continues on with life, fleeing from the troubles that cross his path. His refusal to acknowledge reality becomes so significant, that he honestly believes the past, and he lives his entire life through a false identity never looking at the truth of his life. Willy becomes more and more dependent on his drug as the story progresses. His next allusion to the past was during a conversation with his wife. Willy is downhearted about his failure to provide for his family, his looks, and basically his whole life in general. He begins to see some of the truth in his life: "I know it when they walk in. They seem to laugh at me."(Miller; The Death of a Salesman; pg. 23) By trying to see the reality in life, for once, he depresses himself so awfully, that he has a rendezvous in his head with his women that he sees on the side. He only uses this women to lift his spirits and to evade the truths that nearly scare him into his own grave.

The Book: Boofheads

Essay on Boofheads by Mo Johnson. The book Boofheads is a story based on prejudice. Prejudice is here in every day society. This book was written by Mo Johnson for teenagers that have the same problem. The problem is sexism. The prejudice in the book is sexism and how it can affect people in such ways that they have to give up one of the most important things in life. With the three seventeen year old boys Ed, Steve and Tom sexism is a big problem. In the book Boofheads by Mo Johnson sexism is a problem between young boys and girls. The ‘girl’ saying about girls being smart and boys being dumb. This was a clear demonstration of prejudice in Boofheads. In chapter three the three best-friends Ed, Steve and Tom were all in English class. Their teacher had asked Tom a question about the book ‘Pride and Prejudice’ which the class had been given to read for homework. One of the girls in the class named Amy Jones had spoke up before Tom could start to answer his question. Amy then answered the question correctly and turned to Tom and Steven to comment on how ‘dumb’ they were. Her arguments aim was to prove that girls were clearly smarter than boys and that they were not able to produce a â€Å"single word of half decent English,† Amy had commented. This example explains why this passage from the book has the prejudice of sexism. Boofheads by Mo Johnson has a main story line on three teenage boys pretending to be a 36 year old lady in order to have a column in a teenage girl’s magazine. The three boys Ed, Steve and Tom have had the opportunity to prove themselves right to all the sexist girls in their school. They are going to become a fake lady so that they can answer teenage girls’ problems in Tom’s mother’s magazine. Each month they get an email from Toms mum with problems from girls around the state. They come up with solutions to the problem and send an email back to Toms mum with the answers. They only do this to prove that boys can produce a ‘single word of half decent English’. The girls in the boys’ school are adamant that the boys are dumb and these three boys want to prove that they are not. In Boofheads the seventeen year old boy named Tom has a mother that is a fussy magazine editor. One of the best in the country. She has a messy office and never relies on Tom’s advice. Tom is always giving his mother advice on the look of the magazine, contrasting colours and some fashion ideas. He is usually right as his mother gets the same criticism from her boss. She never even realises that Tom gave the same advice to her rior to her changes. She does not believe that a male has any brain for a magazine and they need to stick to the things that men are supposed to do. Tom could be right on the spelling of a word and she would still not believe him. This shows that women of an older age are still sexist to males when it comes to how smart they really are. In conclusion the book Boofheads by Mo Johnson was a book about sexism. It was mainly based on sexism on males by females. This is why Boofheads is a book about prejudice.