Safety Net free essay sample

Students can have fair chances and hope for their futures, thanks to the government. There are problems that come along with the safety net but that doesn’t imply that everyone using it, uses it wrongfully. There are people out there in need of this and without it would be dead right now. We cannot punish the innocent for the wrong doers actions. According to an article, dozens of benefits programs provided an average of $6,538 for each man, woman, and child in the county in 2009, a 69 percent increase from 2000 after adjusting to the inflation. The government safety net was created to keep Americans from extreme poverty, but the sad part is that the poorest households no longer are receiving the majority of the government benefits. Almost everyone present relies on the government to pay for their medical care. For example Mr. Kopka, 74, has had three heart procedures in recent years. His wife recently had surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. We will write a custom essay sample on Safety Net or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Without Medicare, Mr. Kopka said, they could not have paid for the treatments, meaning his wife would be blind and he would be dead. Although there are many cases such as this one, a few federal programs are more popular than Medicare. Medicare’s financial problems are much worse than Social Security’s. People need these programs and they need the government and do not use it as a joke. One woman even said â€Å"Without it, I’m not sure how I would live, with the check I’m getting from Social Security, it’s a constant struggle on making sure that I pay my rent and have enough left for groceries. † â€Å"Man dies from toothache, couldn’t afford meds† is the name of this article that would make anyone’s jaw drop. It is outrageous that a man died and was not able to pay for his tooth medication. A 24 year-old father died from a tooth infection that spread and made his brain swell. This is reminder of the importance of oral health and the number of people without access to dental or health care. Willis went to the emergency room, where he received prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medication. Sadly, he could not pay for both so had to choose one and pain medication was his choice. This caused the infection to spread and make his brain swell and die. According to this article this story is actually not unique. In 2007, 12 year-old Deamonte Driver also died when a tooth infection spread to his brain. The Maryland boy underwent two operations and six weeks of hospital care, totaling $250,000. Doctors said a routine $80 tooth extraction could’ve saved his life. His family was uninsured and had recently lost its Medicaid benefits, keeping the young boy from his life saving dental surgery. Stories like this make it more obvious that the government MUST continue to have these safety net programs. Getting access to dental care is particularly tough for low-income adults and children and it’s getting tougher as the economy worsens. This is the main concern of the people in disagreement with the social safety net programs. The debt is over whelming and hurting the deficit of the country and pulling us more and more into debt. Through the problems like debt that comes along with the social safety net programs, the help that it brings to the citizens in need is more than the debt it causes. The system needs to be sure of the people using the programs, free clinics are needed for the sick that are also poor, the unemployment benefits are needed, public education, Medicaid, Medicare, the government needs to have their citizens protected. Where would the people of this country be? Not to life off of the system or depend on it for life, but to work their way up in society and be independent. The government’s duty is to help their citizens but not to take advantage.

Free Essays on Sales Encounters

My three sales encounters are as followed; Tony Grasso for Team National, John from Footaction USA, and Jose from Futuretronics. Well out of the three documented sales encounters, I will start with the best, meaning the salesperson that actually made a sale, made a buyer out of me. I was in the market for a computer, it just happened that I had been searching the market for a computer or laptop that filled my needs yet caught my eye at the same time. Something out of the realm of the ordinary computer. The salesperson’s name is Jose and he works for the futuretronics store in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a customer service, sales rep, he sells all different kinds of electronics ranging from computers to cell phones. Yes I did buy a laptop from this salesperson. The salesperson was dressed accordingly and presented himself in a very friendly manner but not over whelming. The sales person asked for my info on what I was in the market for, my needs and wants. As I told him what I needed he brought my attention to four products. What I liked about this salesperson is that he let his product get my attention he described the pros and cons of each product and let the product appeal to me not his bragging or selling methods. I asked him a variety of questions and he was able to answer all of them in full which did impress me and made me feel comfortable about giving this guy my business. No visual aids were used except the project itself. There is really nothing I can say negative about this salesperson or his techniques he uses. I really like the method of being their for the customer but also letting your product sell itself instead of trying to sell it. In trying to sell the product that is where a lot of sales are lost because if the person is interested you will see if the product is not appealing to the customer then the chance of selling that product to the customer is very slim and most of the time ends in a bad situation, which gives ... Free Essays on Sales Encounters Free Essays on Sales Encounters My three sales encounters are as followed; Tony Grasso for Team National, John from Footaction USA, and Jose from Futuretronics. Well out of the three documented sales encounters, I will start with the best, meaning the salesperson that actually made a sale, made a buyer out of me. I was in the market for a computer, it just happened that I had been searching the market for a computer or laptop that filled my needs yet caught my eye at the same time. Something out of the realm of the ordinary computer. The salesperson’s name is Jose and he works for the futuretronics store in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a customer service, sales rep, he sells all different kinds of electronics ranging from computers to cell phones. Yes I did buy a laptop from this salesperson. The salesperson was dressed accordingly and presented himself in a very friendly manner but not over whelming. The sales person asked for my info on what I was in the market for, my needs and wants. As I told him what I needed he brought my attention to four products. What I liked about this salesperson is that he let his product get my attention he described the pros and cons of each product and let the product appeal to me not his bragging or selling methods. I asked him a variety of questions and he was able to answer all of them in full which did impress me and made me feel comfortable about giving this guy my business. No visual aids were used except the project itself. There is really nothing I can say negative about this salesperson or his techniques he uses. I really like the method of being their for the customer but also letting your product sell itself instead of trying to sell it. In trying to sell the product that is where a lot of sales are lost because if the person is interested you will see if the product is not appealing to the customer then the chance of selling that product to the customer is very slim and most of the time ends in a bad situation, which gives ...

An In Depth Interview Psychology Essay

An In Depth Interview Psychology Essay What is research. When asked, most people would answer questionnaires or surveys. These kinds of research people more familiar with are quantitative research. However, in this article, the main focus is on qualitative research, which is widely used in academic and professional areas (Holliday, 2002). So, what is quantitative research? Mason (2002:1) believes that: â€Å"Through qualitative research we can explore a wide array of dimensions of the social world, including the texture and weave of everyday life, the understanding, experiences and imagining of our research participants, the ways that social processes, institutions, discourses or relationship work, and the significance of the meaning that they generate.† Therefore, from this perspective, it could be derived that for qualitative research, pure statistic and numerical data are not sufficient. It needs more description evidence to discover the subjective qualities that govern human behaviours (Holliday, 2002). The so called ‘thick description’, which could be collected through interview, observation or other methods, is the basis for qualitative researchers to understand and explore the social world(Draper, 2004). Due to the complexity of modern society, there are many problems emerged when conducting qualitative researches, for instance, the ethical dilemmas. In order to get a more critical view of qualitative research, the distinction between qualitative research and quantitative research will be highlighted first. Then two typical qualitative research methods, in-depth interview and participate observation, will be critically examined. Followed by that, three examples will be used to further illustrate the challenges of qualitative research. In the end, a conclusion regarding the merits and demerits of qualitative research will be drawn. Two paradigms Primarily, the philosophical basis for qualitative research and quantitative research are different. Both Holliday (2002) and Dra per (2004) state that quantitative research believes that by using right quantitative measurements people could reveal objective facts, while qualitative research rooted in interpretive tradition, which focus on exploring the underlying meanings of social phenomena. As a result, qualitative and quantitative research differ in their analytical process, research design, methods of collecting data and the approach to analyse and interpret data(Draper, 2004). Rather than by using a deductive process, qualitative research prefers inductive procedure (Gephart, 2004). Therefore, qualitative research provides extra opportunities for researchers to discover insight views and get new understandings of social phenomena (Willig, 2008). Also, Gephart (2004) states that the ‘thick description’ provided by qualitative research enriches the basis for understanding the social world. However, qualitative research also has its own limitations. As Willig (2008) points out that qualitative research do not ensure certainty, the objectivity of researcher is not realistic and the results are not predictive, since qualitative studies always carry out with small sample size but in depth. Moreover, similar qualitative studies due to the different use of methods are impossible to compare or integrate (Willig, 2008). As a consequence, Draper (2004) suggests, although qualitative and quantitative researches are different from their ontological foundation, they could complement each other. In addition, recent studies (Bryman, 2006; Kinn and Curzio, 2005; Sherman and Strang, 2004) show that there is a growth trend of combining these two methods together, in spite of the continuation of debate about integrating qualitative and quantitative methods. After examining the merits and demerits of qualitative research, it is the time to discuss the two dominant methods used in qualitative research, in-depth interview and participant observation.

China and minimum wage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

China and minimum wage - Research Paper Example The 1994 labor act specifies that work done after the normal standard working time shall be paid as overtime. The overtime, however, should not exceed three hours in a single day (Chiewping, 2009). Wages should be paid to workers on a monthly basis and in a legal tender. Wage deduction and late payment of workers is firmly prohibited. The labor law on article 48 specifies that the statutory minimum wage should be sufficient enough to sustain the needs of the employee. In March 2004, the ministry of social security and labor in China executed the minimum wage doctrine. The regulations were developed to establish a framework for adjusting and calculating the minimum wage (Zhao, 2010). The guidelines stated that the government should adjust and determine the cyclic minimum wage for full time employees by considering the following factors: An extensive collection of minimum wage levels exists across the whole country since local conditions determine the calculations. Coastal regions are characterized by high minimum wages due to their economic strength. The western provinces together with the central regions on the other hand are characterized by low minimum wages. In an attempt to attract migrant labor force, governments in remote regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet have established high minimum wages levels. On May 2013, Shanghai recorded the highest monthly wage level with Shenzhen closely following behind. Anhui region located in the central province recorded the least minimum wage (Chiewping, 2009). Regulations endorse that 40 to 60% of the regular monthly wage should be set as the minimum wage. Local governments should also embark on the task of carrying out an adjustment review regularly. In the middle of the international economic crisis in 2008, however, the government froze all the increases made on minimum wages (Yongnian, 2013). In

Operations Management - Toyota Lean Techniques-Problem Solving Case Coursework - 1

Operations Management - Toyota Lean Techniques-Problem Solving Case - Coursework Example Doug Friesen, is confronted by quality issues in the seat covers of the Toyota Camry production line. The following questions were posed with the hope of resolving this particular quality issues. The solutions provided herein in response to the questions follow the Toyota Production System. The following are the process by which the root cause of the problem will be determined. Get as many samples of seats that failed the quality standards. This is to determine the kind and type of quality issues that is occurring. Another task is to get the quality and production statistics to determine the percentage of error that is occurring and its frequency. Install quality check processes at strategic points in the manufacturing process to determine if the quality issues occur as a result of one of the processes along the production line. Check if the seat cover’s storage facility is in accordance with the recommended storage environment. Determine if the specification of seat covers is of the correct specification as provided for by the design. Check the quality assurance process during delivery of the seats covers if the actual seat specification is thoroughly checked against the actual delivery. The focus will be on the seat cover’s quality as they were delivered. Then in the handling, that would include the process by which their quality is checked against the specification when they were delivered. Their storage environment against what has been recommended. Checking the process by which they are being handled as they are transferred for use in the production line. If the error or deficiency is found to have been in the delivery, corrective measures shall be implemented. If the quality issue has been determined to be occurring even before the delivery of the materials intensive investigation shall be conducted at the vendor. Changes in the vendor strategy shall also be

Economic Problem of Pakistan Essay Example for Free

Economic Problem of Pakistan Essay In this way thinking is the base of our voluntary behavior. Characteristics Of Thinking:- * Problem:- There is a certain problem, which has no readymade solution underlying each and every thinking process. * Associations:- Thinking has a chain of associative thoughts and ideas which help to solve the problem. * Analysis And Synthesis:- Analysis and synthesis are both used in thinking. Every aspect of problem is formerly analyzed separately and latterly all of these aspects are synthesized to examine the relationship between stimuli and responses. * Presence Of Stimuli:- Thinking does not need the presence of stimuli or objects to be sensed. * Physical Condition:- The physical condition is at rest during thinking . However, slight movement in the muscles, fingers, hands, arms, shoulders, eyebrows, lips and larynx are noticed in thinking. * Words And Language:- Verbal symbols are used in thinking in a sub vocal activity. An individual talks to himself in a low tone * Source Of Knowledge:- Thinking is a source of knowledge and is a higher mental process in human beings. Animal also have thinking but lesser then human beings. Animal thinking is purposive in nature and is expressed in the primary stage. Human thinking is more progressive and higher then animals as his life is more complex. Types Of Thinking There are two types of thinking * Autistic or crooked thinking * Realistic or straight thinking * Autistic Thinking:- This type of thinking is of free associative ideas in which an individual remains busy in wishful thinking and satisfies his unconscious desires, unsolved problems and conflicts. It occur when an individual fails to satisfy his desires, fails io achieve his goals and aims of life. Types Of Autistic Thinking It can be further divided into two types * Fantasy or day dreaming * Dreams Realistic or Straight Thinking:- Realistic thinking is a process which helps in problem solving in the real environment with the use of practical neurophysiologic process of overt behavior in productive and reproductive thinking. Types Of Realistic Thinking It can be further divided into three types * Problem solving * Reasoning * Creative thinking 1-Problem Solving Definition Of Problem:- A situation when a person finds any obstacles on the way to goal achievements in a new and strange situation and he does not have any readymade information or knowledge to cope with the situation Solution of problem:- According to Jackson and Hyson â€Å"Problem solving is the scientific practical statement of neurophysiologic process instead of theoretical statement of the internal thinking process and learning. † Problem solving cycle:- In short problem solving is a process which occurs in the presence of problem arising situation. Types Of Problem:- Problem are categorized in three ways * Arrangement problems Arrangement problem require the problem solver to rearrange or recombine the elements in a way that will satisfy a certain criterion Example Scrabbles in which we arrange different letters to make words * Inducing structure Inducing structure requires a solver to identify the existing relationship among the elements presented and then construct a new relationship among them. * Transformation problems Problem gives you only the start and end state and the procedure or method to be followed Example The problem of tower of Hanoi, in which 52 rings are to placed using the 3 pegs only with the condition that you cannot place a bigger ring on the smaller one Such problem are solved by the * Knowledge * Trial and error method presented by Thorndike * Insight method presented by Koehler Thorndike’s experiment In 1898, Thorndike constructed problem boxes made of iron bars for many experiment. He used to imprison the hungry cats in these boxes and kept their food a piece of meat outside. The cats could see their food through these problems boxes or the cages. Food worked as an incentive or positive reinforcement for the cat to come out and get foods. The problem was how to open the door? These doors could be opened by pulling the cord or pressing the lever or by moving clutch Conclusion Of Thorndike Experiment He observed that the cats sometimes hit their teeth or paw or the nose on the bars and used different method. Accidently they succeeded to open the door He conclude that the animal not only learn by trial and error but also can retain their learning by the method of association of thoughts between past and present experiences. This is bases on productive thinking INSIGHT METHOD Experiment In 1925 a gestalt psychologist Kohler said that Trial and error is not sufficient in problem solving. Insight is also necessary for the problem solving Kohler conducted experiment on monkeys to see how the monkeys solved their problems of getting bananas hanged so high in the center of ceiling. In one experiment he kept boxes in a corner and in the other experiment he kept small sticks. Conclusion He observed the monkeys in first experiment tried to get bananas by jumping high. In other experiment Kohler observed that the monkeys made use of the stick. It inserted punted end of one stick into other sticks. Afterward in 1926 he modified the process of insight is not a sudden act it recurs in the light of past experiences along with the perceptual organization. This was based on reproductive thinking Conclusion Of Both Experiments Researches show that some problems are solved by trials and error, and some other are solved by insight. Herbert birch in 1945 gave stick to the four year old monkeys in a cage, and placed their food outside. Only one monkey used this stick as a tool to get its food, this monkey has already used this stick. The other monkeys were given three days to play with sticks. These monkeys attained the experience of looking into the sticks, peeping through the holes, pressing and touching things beyond approach. Then on the fourth day they were able to solve their problems with the sticks. The solution of a problem attained by insight is not purely new but it is the consequence of the learning of past experiences. Factors influencing the problem solving Following are the factors which influence the problem solving * Intensity of the motivation It is the general view that the stronger motive provokers more struggle to solve the problem. Weaker motive creates distraction, stronger motive creates functional fixedness and medium motive is the best for problem solving as it encourage new responses. * Functional fixedness Functional fixedness is an inability to see the new use for a familiar tool. So a response set hinders the problem solving. * Response Set Response set is a constant tendency to respond to a situation in a certain manner, according to gestalt principle of perceptual organization wholeness, collectiveness and relativeness become the habit family hierarchy which cause hindrance in changing the response set and a rigidity causes difficulty in problem solving * Past Experience Past experience is facilitating in problem solving of the similar situational problem but is a hindrance in the new situation * Personal Context Every individual is influenced by his personal values, faith and creed and does not want to change his response set beyond it. Mental Set Mental se is to prepare mentally to do certain things in certain order. Mental set may be facilitating in problems solving for the desired situation. * Frustration and stress Too much stress and frustration cased by failure in the most difficult problem decrease the problem solving efficiency. * Social background An individual seldom has his individual problem as he does no t live alone. He is an integral part of the society and he has to interact within the society, so his problems are social problems as a consequence of social interactions. 2-Reasoning Definition According to Philip G. Zimbardo Reasoning is a purposive thinking which collects information or data about the problem and to work on it in a traditional or a new way. Types Of Reasoning There are three types of reasoning * Deductive reasoning * Inductive reasoning * Evaluative reasoning Deductive Reasoning Deductive reasoning proceeds on the basis of past knowledge. It draws conclusion from general bits of knowledge to specific presents. It follows the rules of Aristotelian logic. Inductive Reasoning Inductive reasoning is the essence of creative thinking both in science and arts. It leads from specific present to the more general conclusion. In this type of reasoning the thinkers build from known to unknown, and he may give more than one conclusion. Thus the conclusion is not totally predictable. Evaluative Reasoning Evaluative reasoning is critical in nature. It judges the correctness or suitability of an idea. The validity of the conclusion depends both upon the reasoning process and the standard used. Step Of Evaluative Reasoning According to Holliman there are five steps in evaluative reasoning i. Establishing of the purpose and standard for the appropriate process ii. Evaluating the solution to proceed further iii. Finding out the correct responses to achieve the goals iv. Arranging the sequence of the responses and solutions to achieve the goal in time v. Compare the drawn conclusion with the given standard to check validation and success Steps Of Reasoning * Identifying The Problems Reasoning can’t take place in the absence of problem The problem must be sated explicitly so that its important may be evident and one should try to reason out for its solution * Preparation For The Collection Of Information The second step is to prepare him to collect data and the necessary information about the problem by reading relative books by arranging the responses achieve from the past knowledge. * Analysis The third step is to analysis to collect data according to its merits and demerits * Synthesis After analysis one has to synthesis data by classifying correct and incorrect separately in systematic order to draw result. * Evaluation The last step is to evaluate the result to check the validity and reliability Principles Of Reasoning * Problem must be real. The information collected about the problem must be tangible. Reasoning must be clear, solid and evident. * Reasoning must be according to the proved logic. 3- Creative Thinking Definition According to Zimbardo and Ruche â€Å"Creative thinking is the occurrence of uncommon or unusual but appropriate responses. † Creativity is the process of choosing and shaping appropriate representation for a problem which lead an important discovery. Basically the creative response is not predictable until it is made a standard for the judgment of future creativity. Steps Of Creative Thinking Following are the steps of creative thinking. * Preparation Preparation is the first step in creative work. It start when a person observe natural phenomenon deeply, reads books, magazines and interact with creative people of his interest. * Incubation Incubation is a period of postponing the thinking process about a certain problems for creativity. Sometimes the preparation period is so longs or the ideas and information stored in mind are so overloaded that it becomes difficult for creator to choose and shape appropriately. Inspiration or illumination After or sometimes during the incubation period of rest, suddenly creator’s mind has a flash of light or illumination. He is inspired to write down in an automatic way. Verification And Elaboration The last step of creative thinking is of the verification and elaboration. At this step the creator reviews his creation, check his mistakes, verifies it according to the social norms present it to the public, asks for their critical views and opinions about his work and tries to update it accordingly. Characteristic Of The Creative People According to psychologist creative belongs to human traits. It is shown that there I particular patterns of psychological traits that characterized creative people regardless of their age, cultural background and areas of work.

Stereotypes and Stereotyping in Susan Glaspells Trifles :: Trifles Essays

Stereotypes in Trifles I like this play quite a lot. It's got murder, mystery and deceit. It's interesting that the play bases a lot on stereotypes. The men are the sheriff, deputy and the attorney sent out to discover the details of the murder of a man found hanged in his bed. They look carefully in the bedroom and outside in the barn for clues and the women are sent in, I think initially, to gather some things for Mrs. Wright. The women are mocked at by the men. Worrying about things like jelly freezing and sewing. Mrs. Hale "Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break"; Hale "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles." They are not taken seriously. They are women and are not intelligent enough to understand the concept of solving a murder. The men forgot, it's the little things that bother people the most and for Mrs. Wright, it must have been death of her canary. I think the canary symbolized Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale describes her; "She -- come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself - real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and - fluttery. How - she - did - change"; and like a bird, Mrs. Wright even sang in a choir. But after she got married, every thing stopped. She didn't sing anymore or attend social functions. Like a bird, her house became her cage. The only happiness that she appears to have is with this bird. The bird probably sang when she could not. He was probably a companion to her, she had no children. And like her, he was also caged. Because we do not know, we can only guess that her husband killed her bird. If he killed the bird then he would have killed the only thing that was important to her. He killed her once when he married her and caged her in that house, and he killed her again when he destroyed her bird. "No,. Wright wouldn't like the bird - a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too." When Mrs. Wright was used to its singing and her world became quiet again, it was too much for her take.

Saving the Mentally Ill: Ethical Judicial Reform

The plights of the mentally ill have been seen across various cultures throughout the historical tale of humanity. The imposed consequences of society on individuals demonstrating deviant behavior, often considered to be mentally ill, range from punishments as light as a ticket or fine and ranging to incarceration or even execution. The question remains for society today, are extreme punishments such as incarceration or execution rational solutions in regard to the treatment of mentally ill people who break the social norms of safety? Figuring out how best to deal with the fringes of society often called criminals but better termed mentally ill people is question which has no doubt been with humanity for a very long time. However, it is a justified opinion to state that mentally ill people are indeed worthy of better treatment than incarceration or execution. Despite the sometimes harmful behaviors of mentally ill individuals, there are better actions to take in the bettering of human society than to punish the most tormented and fragile members of society. A very important positive aspect of allowing mentally ill offenders to engage in the care of psychological treatment rather than being locked into the government judicial system and jails is simply being able to look at an offender with compassion and the hope of recuperation rather than with scorn and the desire to maltreat the offender. Jailing and execution, even minor fines, is simply an evil act in response to an evil act. The basic lesson that two wrongs don’t make a right is an ethical foundation that most people learn in their toddler years—to treat a neighbor as one would like to be treated. In punishing the mental ill, sometimes to the extreme of murdering them through execution, humanity only demonstrates a desire for revenge and a lack of patience. Although some states, for example Virginia, bar the execution of the mentally retarded, there is still widespread resistance to barring the execution of the mentally ill, and currently only Connecticut prohibits this act of injustice (Slobogin). Clearly, there is still widespread resistance to both understanding the sick actions of individuals as well as working cooperatively to try to aid these poor people. One has to wonder where the line is drawn between the mentally retarded, the mentally ill, and the insane, and what these terms mean in regard to aiming to define civil justice. Although some states have prohibited the execution of mentally retarded people, the Supreme Court has barred the execution of insane persons, but not of mentally retarded persons (Miller). In psychological diagnoses of mental illnesses, there is no concrete wall drawn between the mentally retarded and the mentally ill, and the term insanity is not even used professionally. Although psychosis may be what the courts refer to in regard to insanity, there is still no hard and fast line drawn between people exhibiting psychosis and those exhibiting neurosis. These people are all considered to be mentally ill. However, in considering the idea of just punishments for any individual, healthy or ill, it is important to not the hypocrisy and paradox involved even in the term just punishment. Is there ever a good maltreatment or a necessary evil? A rational person would have to say no. Forgiveness, understanding, and comprehensive rehabilitative treatment are necessary for all offenders. Society should offer this to the offenders precisely as an example of what it means to not offend, an extension of humane wisdom and goodwill. In viewing the experiences of the mentally ill individuals who are incarcerated, it is disquieting to note the extreme punishment received in modern jail settings. As if being forced to live in a tightly enclosed and barred setting for multiple year or even lifelong sentences were not enough of a crime against humanity, many mentally ill individuals who are incarcerated or on death row experience further injustice in jails by the high rate of occurrence of injury and death, the inappropriate use of force by personnel, and the release of mentally ill people from jail who have received little to no psychological treatment (Erickson & Erickson). On a smaller and perhaps more easily identifiable scale, it’s like experiencing a puppy who chews furniture and deciding to kick the dog or put the dog in a cage rather than allowing the puppy the natural environment of a caring owner with a yard or countryside for free roaming. The offender may need to be enclosed in a safe area, but the treatment administered to the offender for humane recuperation would not be physical torture or a tiny cell, it would be person centered health care in an environment tailored to meet the sensitive needs of the sick individual, helping them wholeheartedly on the short or long path to better living. In regard to changing the way courts view mentally ill people when they commit offenses against humanity, it is important to note not only the voices of judges, psychologists, and lawyers in their aim to provide the best situation for the offender, but to value the wishes of the offenders themselves. Luckily there is an increasing interest in mentally ill people as well as their clinicians to choose their own health care plans and service providers. By viewing mentally ill offenders as needing social help rather than punishment, society can also offer these individuals choices in the steps toward their recuperation. In allowing for a mediation process by which the offender and societal representative, such as a government counselor, social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist, can come to an agreement about the terms by which the mentally ill individual will engage in a process of ongoing health care, the court system may be able to reduce the need for more formal and expensive court process and reduce the costs associated with involuntary care (Fleischner). It is also valid to consider the desires of the offender who wishes to be released without care. In truly believing that two wrongs don’t make a right, it may be prudent to invest consideration in the option of allowing for the immediate release of offenders who wish to be freed without treatment. Although this action may endanger society, it very well may not. The power of forgiveness is highly underestimated in many cases. In aiming to administer justice, society has to consider what is just in every case, not only in some. If murder is wrong, then murder is wrong, not only in the case of the victim being murdered, but also in the case of the offender being murdered. If enclosing a person in a tight dark box is wrong for a parent to do to a child day after day, then it is also wrong for the government to do this to social offenders. Anyone any person commits a crime against humanity, then the person committing the crime is sick, mentally ill and not thinking or behaving logically. When viewing the ill actions of offenders in a judicial process, one must also honestly view the ill actions of the judiciary. So many crimes are committed by the mentally ill, and many of the mentally ill people are not the ones receiving the sentence, but people who are ordering the sentences or standing on the sidelines in support in injustice. Only when humanity opens its heart to all people in forgiveness and a sincere attempt to right wrongs will humanity be clean and delivered from her sins. No person deserved to be tightly jailed, left without health treatment, or cast out of society by even harsher means such as death. Ostracizing the weakest and most needy members of society only results in a crumbling of true ethics and suffering in hypocrisy. Democracy is empty without ethics, and arbitrating law means nothing when the law is empty of morality and goodwill.

Cognitive Dissonance Classic in Psychology

Cognitive Dissonance Classic in Psychology Areej Alemer [Instructor’s Name] [Class Title] Cognitive Dissonance Classic in Psychology Introduction There were famous experiments conducted in psychology and many of these experiments gave scientists a new perspective on understanding people. In the 1950s, scientists began conducting test about the effect of social pressures and influence to the behavior of people. Among these scientists is Leon Festinger. He became a well known scientist about the topic social influence through his famous theory of cognitive dissonance[1].Cognitive Dissonance Festinger came about this theory in the 1950s at a time when a doomsday cult attracted media attention. The cult worshipped a certain god named Sananda. Cult members believed that Sananda gave them these warnings The uprising of the Atlantic bottom will submerge the land of the Atlantic seaboard; France will sink†¦. Russia will become one great sea†¦ a great wave rushes to the Rock y Mountains†¦ for the purpose of purifying it of the earthling and creating a new order. [2] Believers claimed that these warnings would happen in midnight of December 21.Festinger got interested with the cult and in his mind he had these questions: â€Å"What would happen when on the midnight of December 21, nothing happens? Would the group lose faith? How do human beings react when prophecy fails? †[3] Festinger found out that when the prophecy failed the believers did not lose their faith. They found ways to justify the failed prophecy. One of famous explanation was earth was spared because the cult members went into action and believed in the prophecy. Christians and Jews will find this justification not hard to believe.In the book of Jonah in the bible, Jonah prophesied that Nineveh would be destroyed by fire (Jo. 3:1-10). The people of Nineveh believed and decided to fast and put on sackcloth to show that they had repented. Even their king fasted, sat on ashes and put on sackcloth. Eventually Nineveh was spared and destruction did not happen. So when cult leaders told their members that the earth was spared because of believing Sananda's message, the members bought it, but not Festinger. To him the explanations are a bunch of lies, which he politely called â€Å"cognitive dissonance. Festinger saw the effort of cult leaders in lyng to the media in making excuses to their failed prophecy. They contacted TV stations ABC and CBS, they welcome New York Times, the phoned the writers of Life, Time and Newsweek and gave dozens of interviews to reporters. [4] These actions according to Slater were â€Å"attempts to convince the public that their actions and beliefs were not in vain. † The attempts of cult leaders to justify their actions and beliefs became the basis of Festinger’s theory and experiments on cognitive dissonance[5].Through his readings about history, people tend to proselytize (a sort of desperate defense mechanism) when their belief is disconfirmed. He also found out that the â€Å"disjunction between what one believes and the factual evidence is highly uncomfortable. †[6] When prophecy of a cult fails members would attempt to convince everyone to join the cult through false justification. The more people join the group, the more the members feel that they were not mistaken. Is it possible for people to engage in extreme lying just to reconcile their seemingly irreconcilable ideas?Festinger found out that people indeed lie in order to avoid dissonance. In fact, he discovered several forms of dissonance. According to Cooper , what Festinger observed in the cult, he called it the belief disconfirmation paradigm[7]. When he conducted experiment regarding dissonance and money, he called it the insufficient reward paradigm. In his last research he also identified another dissonance- induce compliance paradigm[8]. To understand cognitive dissonance theory it is important to review Festingerâ€⠄¢s experiment. The ExperimentBut to be able to explain Festinger’s experiment and his theory of cognitive dissonance, discussion of the actual experiment is necessary. Festinger’s experiment is considered a classic in psychology and can easily be retrieved in the net. It was first published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and was entitled â€Å"Cognitive Consequence of Forced Compliance. † The experiment objective is to investigate how cognitive dissonance takes place when people are force to comply. Slater simply called cognitive dissonance as â€Å"irreconcilable ideas†[9].Social Psychology authors such as Brown simply defined cognitive dissonance as a state of opposition between cognition such as beliefs, views and opinion[10]. It is a perceived inconsistency within a person’s mental processes, in which he believes in something then acts in a different way from what he believes. Festinger exp[11]eriment aimed to measure the cognitive diss onance effect during force compliance and to test the validity of the following two statements: â€Å"If a person is induced to do or say something, which is contrary to his private opinion, he tends to change his opinion to bring congruence to what he has done or said. and â€Å"The larger the pressure used to elicit the overt behavior (beyond the minimum needed to elicit it) the weaker will be the above-mentioned tendency†) Festinger and his colleagues hypothesized that the larger the reward the lesser would be the subsequent opinion change. Therefore, if one puts their words in research method statements, the main hypothesis would be â€Å"there is a significant relationship between the amount of rewards and the magnitude of cognitive dissonance†[12]     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To test the validity of the hypothesis, Festinger divided his subjects into three groups, one controlled group and two experimental groups.The two experimental groups are named- one-dollar g roup and twenty-dollar group respectively, the name correspond to the amount of money that the two groups will received in order to comply. The subjects for the experiment were college students and the primary technique utilized by the researcher was deception. The subjects were told that the experiment is about their behavior on a monotonous activity. However, the real experiment would only begin when the researcher tries to deceive them, by telling another group will be exposed to a variable in which a confederate will tell them that the activity is enjoyable.However, the original confederate will not come and that the experimenter needs the respondents to act as proxy and be the one to tell lies to the other subject (who herself is also a confederate) on the other room. The persuasion involves a monetary reward a one-dollar for the first group and a twenty-dollar for the other. The rewards are  intended to affect the subject’s behavior or the dissonance effect. Deception was not included in the control group to be able to control its effect. The first experimental group receives a one-dollar amount in order to tell lies. The other experimental group receives 20 dollars.The authors theorized that the one-dollar group would have a greater magnitude of dissonance compared to the 20 dollars group[13]. By applying statistical treatment and comparing the responses of the experimental group with the control group the researcher found out that the one dollar group came to believe that the experiment as enjoyable where in fact, the control group finds it extremely boring, the twenty dollar group find the experiment slightly boring not far from the control groups answer. These results support the theory that the smaller the award the greater is the magnitude of the dissonance.Hence the authors accepted the hypothesis. Festinger’s experiment also has limitations. It is only limited to the response of the subjects who were mostly college students. The r esults might be different if conducted on professionals and middle age adults. Impact of the Experiment to Psychology Festinger’s findings were considered a milestone in psychology. It gave convincing explanations to mysterious human behaviors. Gawronski[14] provided an example. During the Korean War she wrote, the Chinese were able to convince American prisoners to become communists.They did this not by torture but by offering a bit of rice or candies. In exchange of these goodies, Americans were asked to write an anti-American essay. After the essay writing many American soldiers espoused communism. Ordinary people might find such behavior baffling and stupid. Why throw democratic principles in exchange of a bit of rice? It would be easy to accept that these Americans were tortured and went through a near death experience that is why they converted to communism. It is a rational explanation and very acceptable. The fact that Americans embraced communism for a candy is somet hing people could not accept.Cognitive dissonance theory provided an answer- the simpler the reward for engaging in behavior that is contrary with one’s beliefs, the higher the tendency of the person to change his or her beliefs[15]. Even though this answer seems to make no sense, it really happens. The one and twenty dollar experiment supported it. According to Petty, there is a rational explanation for changing one’s belief. It was such a horrible thing to sell one’s self for a piece of candy[16]. The emotional pain would be so great. The person may lose his feeling of self-worth and may look at himself an undignified individual.Slater coined this feeling a â€Å"schmuck. To avoid such a feeling, the person should come up with a better explanation for selling his principles for a very cheap price. Festinger’s theory provided an alternative explanation for behaviorism. Formerly Skinner had said rewards reinforce and punishments extinguish. Skinner expla ined human behavior through his reward theory. Humans operate in their environment and through this operation they learn certain behaviors. Humans acquire behavior through operant conditioning. Skinner took away the mental element of humans. He made humans simple machines that behave through the means of conditioning.After cognitive dissonance theory, humans were seen as punishment driven beings that act not because of conditioning but because of mental processes. Festinger added the element of thoughts in explaining human behavior. His theory challenges the behaviorism. Behaviorism claimed that mind and thoughts are not worthy of psychological investigations because they belong to the realms of philosophy and not empirical science. Festinger discovered that behavior is influenced by the way people think. Psychologists cannot set aside the mind and thought processes in explaining human behavior.Without considering the mind and thought processes, psychologists would never understand why American soldiers embraced communism in exchange for a piece of candy or a bit of rice. Human beings are not only motivated by rewards and punishment. For, if this were so, the Chinese will have a hard time convincing Americans to espouse communism because their offer of rewards were not actually rewarding. Festinger has drawn a concrete conclusion from his cognitive dissonance theory. Human are hypocrite beings. They are beings motivated by minds that must be made comfortable.Reward theory alone can never explain human behavior. Human beings think. They engage in the most amazing mental gymnastics, all just to justify their hypocrisy[17]. Explaining Mysterious Human Behavior Cognitive dissonance theory is not only an elegant explanation for mysterious human behavior. It is also became a tool to discredit religion especially Christianity. Using the belief – disconfirmation paradigm, one can conclude that the spread of Christianity was due to cognitive dissonance and lack of deep knowledge of human behavior during the early years of Christianity.Everybody knows for a fact that Christianity spread through the effort of Jesus’ disciples. Ancient critics of Christianity suspected that early Christians had engaged in mass hysteria[18]. They collectively had seen unreal things. Before, cognitive dissonance theory, such accusation of mass hysteria was dismissed because of the martyrdoms of virtually every apostle of Christ. The apostle would not sacrifice their lives for something that is founded by fallacy. They were burned at the stake, cut into two, crucified upside down and immersed in boiling oil all because they refused to decant their faith.To avoid such horrible tortures, all they had to do was to tell the emperor that they there were no truths in their claims about Jesus and presto they will be released. But they chose death, indicating that they were not under mass hysteria but had really seen Christ resurrects from the death. This is a si mple Christian defense; it stood unchallenged for thousands of years until Festinger discovered cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance explained that when prophecy fails, people will not leave their beliefs instead, they would create lies in order to justify the failed prophecy perhaps even to the point of death [19]. The apostles of Christ were expecting him to free Israel from bondage. This is the duty of the messiah. They expect Jesus to liberate Israel and establish a new Jewish kingdom. The apostles believed that Jesus was the messiah. They gave up everything in order to become Jesus’ disciples. They were promised to receive an important position in Jesus kingdom. They expect that the earth will be destroyed by fire and a new heaven and earth will be created. The kingdom of Jesus will be established in this new heaven and earth. The apostles will co rule with Jesus. But Jesus was killed and everything that they have believed turned to ashes.Some left Jerusalem and st arted a new life. Others were left and continue to meet secretly. This gathering can be likened to the case of the doomsday cult, in which members did not go home and confessed their mistakes; instead, they change their behaviors, speeches and way of thinking to explain carefully their failed prophecy. They began attracting more followers despite of the fact that their prophecy failed. They engaged in pathological lying just to convince people that they were not wrong. If ordinary people in the doomsday cult had engaged in lying when prophecy failed, then it was also possible that the apostles had also lied.Cognitive dissonance theory states that it was possible for the apostles not to recant their faith even until death. Hence, Christianity martyrdom defense is weak. After his death, his apostles claim that Jesus is coming very soon and judgment day is at hand. Like in the case of the doomsday cult, believers also had sold their belongings and give the money to the apostles. The ap ostles have all died but judgment day did not come. Despite of these, believers became more aggressive in recruiting new members and Christianity grew in numbers. Two thousand years have passed but Christ did not return and judgment day was nowhere to be found[20].Yet, Pastors and priest were able to find plausible explanation for the delayed second coming and people really buy it. No offense to Christian readers, but after reading chapter five and Festinger’s original study, it was very hard for this writer not think that cognitive dissonance was really involved in Christianity. Cognitive dissonance is not just a simple social psychology experiment. It is a mind opener, a myth buster and a truth engine. If religious fanatics explore its basic concepts, they might leave their faith. Cognitive dissonance theory explained that humans would lie in order to avoid dissonance.It is the best explanation why religious cults and organizations do not cease to exist even though their pr ophecy and beliefs fails or contradicts reasoning. Festinger’s theory is all about the tendency of humans to lie to avoid discomfort. It is about the selfishness of human nature. This is the only conclusion one can derive from his experiments. Humans are hypocrites and engage in all sort of mental gymnastic in order to justify their hypocrisy. Conclusion Slater believed in cognitive dissonance theory but disagree with Festinger’s revelation on the selfishness of human nature.Do humans lie because of selfish motive, i. e. to avoid the pain of being a â€Å"schmuck† or was there something else. Festinger forgot to mention the good side of human nature. All he saw was its tendency to deceive and lie[21]. To show that dissonance is caused by other elements aside from selfishness, Slater told a story about Linda Santo. Linda Santo has a bed-ridden daughter named Audrey whom she takes care of for the past couple of decades. Her daughter got an accident when she was th ree and became bed ridden from that time on. Linda patiently took care of his daughter since then.Her husband left her a few months of the accident. Linda took care of Audrey. Audrey though invalid is a miracle worker, Statues of Mary and Jesus were put near her and these statues produce miracle oil. The oil was used to heal sickness of any kind. Linda finds an explanation and was not mystified with the miracles. She knew that her daughter was a â€Å"saint, that God had chosen Audrey to be a victim soul, to take on the pains of other people so that they could be healed (121)† It’s a classic example of cognitive dissonance, the mother finding an explanation for her daughter’s dreadful fate.It was not clear whether Linda manipulate the miracles and told people that her daughter takes away people pains. But according to Slater , if ever she lied, there was no selfishness in her heart, but love, which makes Festinger view of human nature somewhat wrong. People do n ot lie only because they avoid of being a schmuck but also because they are loving creatures. Linda was found to have breast cancer. She regularly underwent therapy. She now takes care of herself alone aside from taking care of her daughter. Slater wondered why Linda would not ask her daughter to heal her.Perhaps she knew that the miracles were a fake. She simply told Slater that mothers do ask something from their child; it is they who give something to their child. Slater concluded that dissonance is not always about selfishness; it’s also about love. Slater was a mother and understands very well why Linda was doing all this[22]. Perhaps, there is another form of cognitive dissonance paradigm that Festinger failed to identity. To conclude, Festinger experiments were indeed convincing but he failed to consider the other aspect of human nature such as love and caress.Some people engage in dissonance not because of cognitive pain but because out of love just in the case of Lin da Santo. Bibliographies Brown, Richard, Social Psychology 5th Edition New York McGraw Hill. 2006. Cooper, John. Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. London: Sage publications. 2007. Gawronski, Brand. Cognitive consistency: A fundamental principle in social cognition. New York: Guilford Press. 2011. Myers, Steven. Social psychology  . Toronto: Graw-Hill Ryerson. 2006. Petty, Ronald . The Meta-Cognitive Model (MCM) of attitudes: Implications for attitude measurement, change, and strength.Social Cognition. 2007. 25(5), 657686. Chen Mark Revisiting the Three Choice Paradigm Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2010. 99(4), 573. Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box New York, Penguin Books. 2005. ———————– [1] Myers, Steven. Social psychology  . (Toronto: Graw-Hill Ryerson, 2006) 90-120 [2] Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box (New York, Penguin Books, 2006) 110 [3] Ibid 111 [4] Cooper, John. Co gnitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. (London: Sage publications, 2007). 90 [5] Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box (New York, Penguin Books, 2006) 111 [6] Cooper, John.Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. (London: Sage publications, 2007). 91 [7] Cooper, John. Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. (London: Sage publications, 2007). 90 [8] Petty, Ronald . The Meta-Cognitive Model (MCM) of attitudes: Implications for attitude measurement, change, and strength. Social Cognition, 2007. 25(5), 657–686. [9] Cooper, John. Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. (London: Sage publications, 2007). 92 [10] Brown, Richard Social Psychology 5th Edition (New York McGraw Hill, 2006) 91 [11] Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box (New York, Penguin Books, 2006) 115 [12] Cooper, John.Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. (London: Sage publications, 2007). 99 [13] Myers, Steven. Social psychology  . ( Toronto:Gra w-Hill Ryerson, 2006) 95 [14] Gawronski,Brand. .  Cognitive consistency: A fundamental principle in social cognition. (New York: Guilford Press, 2011) 106 [15] Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box (New York, Penguin Books, 2006) 114 [16] Petty, Ronald . The Meta-Cognitive Model (MCM) of attitudes: Implications for attitude measurement, change, and strength. Social Cognition, 2007, 25(5), 658. [17] Petty, Ronald .The Meta-Cognitive Model (MCM) of attitudes: Implications for attitude measurement, change, and strength. Social Cognition, 2007. 25(5). [18] Myers, Steven. Social psychology  . (Toronto: Graw-Hill Ryerson, 2006) 99 [19] Brown, Richard Social Psychology 5th Edition (New York McGraw Hill, 2006) 91 [20] Chen Mark Revisiting the Three Choice Paradigm Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2010. 99(4), 573. [21] Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box (New York, Penguin Books, 2006) 125 [22] Slater, Laura Opening Skinner’s Box (New York, Penguin Books, 2006) 150

Chile, mi pais de acogida! Essays - Latin American Culture

Chile, mi pais de acogida! Essays - Latin American Culture Chile, mi pais de acogida! Soy una estudiante francesa que vive en Caen, una pequena ciudad del norte de Francia. Este semestre, estudio en Vina del mar, en Chile. Entonces voy a hablar de las diferencias entre Francia y Chile. En Vina del mar, los precios son aproximadamente los mismos que los de las pequenas ciudades de Francia. Entonces, en Paris es mas caro pero en las otras ciudades como Caen, los precios son los mismos. Creo que hay algunos restaurantes aqui que son mas caros que en Francia. Pero, pienso que es porque somos en una ciudad turistica. En otras partes de Chile, creo que los precios son mas bajitos. Las estaciones son inversas a diferencia de aquellos en el hemisferio norte. Entonces, en Francia, es el fin del invierno cuando aqui es el fin del verano. Es por eso que, por el momento, es muy agradable saber que los franceses tienen frio mientras que estoy tomando el sol. Ademas, hay mas ayuda mutua en Chile. En la calle, si no encuentro mi camino, se que puedo preguntar a otras personas y que van a ayudarme. Una vez, he visto a un hombre que tenia dificultades para cruzar el paso subterraneo peatonal. Una persona le ayudaba sin problema. Pienso que en Francia las personas son un poco mas egoistas. En Chile, las personas son mas abiertas y generosas. Aqui, hay pequenas profesiones que no hay en Francia. Por ejemplo, hay personas que pueden limpiar tu coche, personas que hacen pequenos espectaculos delante de los semaforos o en los supermercados, personas que ponen tus productos en bolsas de plastico. En Francia no existe este tipo de trabajo. Pienso que esta bien para las personas que son necesitadas. La comida de aqui es diferente del de Francia. Las frutas y hortalizas son muy buenas en Chile. Tambien me gustan las chorrillanas y las empanadas. Pero, en general, la comida me parece mucho mas grasosa que en Francia. En Francia la cocina es mas fina. Para concluir, me gusta mucho estudiar en el extranjero. Es interesante ver las diferentes culturas de los paises y aprender los idiomas. El proximo ano, viajare en un pais anglofono para practicar mi ingles tambien. En mi futuro, me encantaria descubrir muchos paises y culturas. Me gustaria mucho!

Donald Marshall Jr. (Wrongful Conviction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Donald Marshall Jr. (Wrongful Conviction - Essay Example This involves a situation whereby the judge or a group of judges have a mandate to investigate a case, and come up with a conclusion regarding the case under consideration. Botting (2010) explains that the adversarial justice system is characterized by a two sided structure. Under this structure, the criminal trial courts are able to pit the defense against the prosecutors. Justice occurs, when the most effective and efficient adversary manages to convince the judges or the jury that his or her perspective regarding the case, is the right one. The evolution of the modern adversarial justice system can be associated to a variety of historical figures, these includes Donald Marshall in Canada, and Lord Henry Brougham of United Kingdom. The contributions of these two important historical figures are somehow related. This is because Donald Marshall was convicted of a crime that he did not commit, by a jury that was partisan. On the other hand, Lord Henry Brougham played an influential role in advocating for a non-partisan judge, who does not take the side of either the defense or the prosecutor during the process of administration of justice. However, this paper concentrates on the role played by Donald Marshall in promoting equality and fairness in the administration of justice. This paper takes a stand that the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall led to a reformation of the Canadian Justice System and that of the state of Nova Scotia. R vs. Marshall jr is a 1971 court case that provides an example of a wrongful conviction. Donald Marshall was imprisoned to a life sentence, because he was accused of murdering his friend, Sandy Seale. During this period in time, Sandy Seale and Donald Marshall were both 17 years old. The two were walking around the Wentworth Park, during a late evening, with the intention of going to take a drink. These two young people met Roy

The UK Hotel Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

The UK Hotel Industry - Essay Example In spite of such diversity, a large proportion of work in the manufacturing industries to relates services. (Hoque 1999b). While human resources management as a concept attracted a lot of attention as a â€Å"more effective and productive approach to managing organizations key assets, its people†, there have been differences of opinion as to whether it is industrial relations management-personnel management (IR & PR) freshly packaged or a totally different discipline â€Å"aimed at integrating the management of people into overall business strategy and organizational goals† (Poole, 1990; Salamon, 1987; Storey, 1995b cited in Mc Gunnigle 2000). Three models of HRM have been suggested: normative" (prescriptive of an ideal approach); "descriptive" (identifying developments and practice in the field); and "conceptual" (a model for classification). (Storey 1992 cited in Mc Gunnigle 2000). In the normative model, HRM has a â€Å"team development† orientation, a â€Å" significant role for line managers† and seeks to develop an â€Å"organizational culture†. The conceptual model differs widely from IR-PR with as many as 27 differences listed. All researchers, however, agree that employee commitment is not only the dominant aspect of HRM but that it is the main differentiator between HRM and IR-PR. (Storey 1992 and Guest 1995 cited in Mc Gunnigle 2000).   The objective of human resource management is fostering employee commitment to enhancing employee performance. The rationale behind this premise is that employee commitment makes them more satisfied, productive, adaptable, willing to accept organizational goals and values and not mind to ‘stretch’ to meet these goals. ‘Stretch’, in this context refers to additional productivity, effective contributions and taking part in continuous improvement processes.