Differences Between Virtual and Concrete Manipulatives Essay

Differences Between Virtual and Concrete Manipulatives - Essay Example 117). Physical or real-world features do not define a concrete experience in a mathematical context; it is by how significant the connection is to the mathematical ideas and situations. For example, a student might create the meaning of the concept "four" by building a representation of the number and connecting it with either real or pictured blocks. Virtual manipulatives, also called computer manipulatives, appear to offer interactive environments where students can manipulate computer objects to create and solve problems. Furthermore, perhaps because they are receiving instant feedback about their actions, students then form connections between mathematical concepts and operations. However, whether using physical or virtual manipulatives, it is necessary to connect the use of a specific manipulative to the mathematical concepts or procedures that are being studied (p. 119). Some researchers have observed that some of the constraints inherent to physical manipulatives do not bind v irtual manipulatives. Use of models and/or manipulatives gives assessment of mathematical learning a cohesive connection to mathematical instruction (Kelly, 2006). Kelly’s study examines the relationship between mathematical assessment and the use of manipulatives. ... The use of such assessments in combination with the use of manipulatives should build strong student investment in the teaching-learning process while developing deeper mathematical learning. Physical Manipulatives Relative to the teaching and learning of mathematics, physical, or concrete, manipulatives are three-dimensional objects used to help students bridge their understanding of the concrete environment with the symbolic representations of mathematics (Clements, 1999; Hynes, 1986; Moyer, 2001; Terry, 1996). There has been historical documentation of the use of manipulatives such as the abacus, counting sticks, and of course fingers, prior to the Roman Empire (Fuys & Tischler, 1979). Examples of teacher-made manipulatives include those that use materials such as beans, buttons, popsicle-sticks, and straws (Fuys & Tischler). Today’s teachers have access to a wide variety of commercially available manipulatives designed to aid in the teaching of most elementary mathematical concepts. Examples include Algebra tiles, attribute blocks, Base-10 materials, color tiles, Cuisenaire rods, fraction strips, geoboards, geometric solids, pattern blocks and Unifix cubes. The appearance of commercially made manipulatives in the United States increased during the 1960s after the work of Zolten Dienes and Jerome Bruner was published (Thompson & Lambdin, 1994). Many educators continue to view manipulatives as teaching tools that involve physical objects that teachers use to engage their students in practical and hands-on learning of mathematics. These manipulatives continue to be instrumental to introduce, practice, or remediate mathematical concepts and procedures. Concrete manipulatives come in a variety of physical forms, ranging from grains of rice to

Questions asked from the managers Essay Example for Free

Questions asked from the managers Essay The following questions are those asked from the managers of the IT corporations. Each and everyone of them were also asked to give a brief company profile before the questions about blogging were asked. Company Profile 1. Name of Company: 2. Year Company Started: 3. Brief History of Company 4. Nature of Company’s work 5. Number of company employees: 6. Target market of the company: Questions on Corporate Blog 1. What does the company offer? a. Services – (what services and for whom? ) b. Products – (what products and for whom? ) 2. Since when did your company start engaging in corporate blog? 3. How much does your company spend for the operation of your corporate blog? 4. What was the effect of corporate blog to your corporation 5. Is blogging effective in making your customers understand more about your company? 6. Does blogging make understanding your services easier? 7. Communication with Customers a. Did you receive more client feedback when you engaged in corporate blog? b. Are your customers more informed about your products when you engaged in corporate blog? 8. Communication with Employees a. How many of your employees engage in blogging? b. What are your rules regarding employees blogging? 9. Did you integrate your missions, visions, and goals into corporate blogging? 10. Did you consider the risks involved when your corporation or company started adopting corporate blog? If yes, why does your company still continue engaging in corporate blog? 11. Are the solutions which your company pursued, effective in reducing the risks of corporate blog? If not, what other solutions do you think should be done? 12. What have been the advantages of corporate blog for your company? 13. What have been the perceived disadvantages of corporate blog for your company? 14. What were the problems faced in engaging corporate blog? 15. Is corporate blogging better than written media into bringing your services closer to the customers? 4. 3 Analyzing obtained data The data obtained from the interviews have been tabulated and themes and trends from such qualitative data would then be identified, and analyses would then be formulated. The data obtained from the questionnaires will be analyzed using the Likert scale. The primary tool used to examine Likert Scale is by the use of graphical analysis. Since the frequency distribution can visually be seen in the graph, it is easier to explain the results. The trend represents certain patterns that match with the frequency distribution. The Likert scale is a unidimensional scaling method. Unidimensional concepts are generally easier to understand. Its either something has more of it or less (Trochim 2006, http://www. socialresearchmethods. net/kb/scalgen. php ). Since the aim of the research is to identify whether the receptiveness of corporate blog to employees, executives and the corporation as a whole is better or worse, then a unidimensional scaling would be a good measurement for the research. 4. 4 Other Resources Secondary resources are also critically used in this project, which mainly include news, journal articles and books. Internet and Email will be as the communication and research tools for this project. The collected data will be coded and analyzed under the theoretical framework and prior reviewed literature. According to Coffey and Atkinson (1996), coding is the process of condensing the bulk of data sets into analyzable units. Coding and analyzing data based theoretical concepts has the important role of enabling rigours review on our data. Therefore, the collected data will be coded and analysed under the theoretical framework and prior reviewed literature. 5 Discussion 5. 1 Research expectation and risk The author will discuss the outputs from the case study, interviews and questionnaires. Each case study will be discussed here in full detail. Blog contents from the corporate blogs of each company will be evaluated and discussed. The research study is able to seek: why did the company considered blogging? What are the advantages and disadvantages from setting up a corporate blog? The expectation data obtained from the questionnaires will also be presented and discussed. Results obtained through the Likert scale will be interpreted. Results are also related to previous researches and theoretical issues discussed in the introduction and literature review. The author will give a brief introduction to the uses of blogs, corporate blogs, its advantages and limitations, and the issues surrounding corporate blogs, which includes privacy or information leakage of the corporation because of the freedom, entailed in corporate blogging. To which we can now generate our prediction of corporate blogging with the analysis of its strategic management implementation (rules and regulations), the perception of employees and employers, and our own analysis as to how corporate blogging can elevate the communication process among a business organization. The author expects challenging the blogging system as an entity of information and as a communication medium to delimit its disadvantages and provide better means of communication for the business sector. Assuming that results are as predicted, we can now generalize the discussion. Note, however, that different companies have different cultures and strategies in corporate blogging; thus different results would be yield, and themes would have to be established in order for data to be qualitatively analyzed. Having the prediction of the future of corporate blogging may be a challenging step but I think it is feasible in this case since we can generate information regarding how the corporate blogging system can improve and be able to overcome the challenges of advanced technology. 5. 2 The limitations of the study On major limitation of the study is that only IT companies are to be considered in data gathering. It is possible that other companies may have a different culture and perception on corporate blogging. Future research may focus on determining the perceptions of companies other than IT and compare its results with the results obtained from this study. Also, the study only analyzed the perceptions of bloggers on corporate blogging. Studies on the perception of nonbloggers (or those who have blogs but do not post regularly) may be carried out to give a more generalized rate of acceptance of blogging as a new kind of innovation. There is also a restraint in Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory. It may be the most widely used theory in both individual and organizational IT adoption researches but none of the five predictors (relative advantage, compatibility with existing values and practices, simplicity and ease of use, trialability and observable results) made Jeyaraj et al. ’s (2006) list of best predictors for the aggregate IT adoption construct. Another limitation of this research is that blogging can result in legal problems because of the lack of blogging management. The integrity rules for protection and management are expected to established immediately.

Negative Priming Experiment

Negative Priming Experiment Negative Priming: The effect of inhibitory mechanisms on the probe of a pair of trials in a Stroop style ink identification task. Abstract The investigation was based on the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), who investigated the phenomenon of negative priming in relation to the Stroop task. In the original experiment by Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), it was discovered that if in a trial, the ink colour was the same as the word on the previous trial; subjects were slower to respond. This effect has been termed negative priming. The aim of this experiment was to partly replicate the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), and to further investigate the phenomena of negative priming. The experimenter hypothesised that in an ink colour identification task, when the target in the probe trial matched the distractor in the prime, then reaction times would be significantly slower in comparison to conditions where the prime and probe were unrelated. To test the hypothesis, the researcher created four conditions; congruent, neutral, ignored repetition and attended repetition. The condition of interest was ignor ed repetition. Participants reaction times were recorded for the primes and probes of each condition. The effect of condition was shown to be significant using a two way repeated measures ANOVA [F(3,57) = 13.09; p = 0.001]. The significance of the results means the hypothesis was accepted, and it was concluded that negative priming is prominent in conditions where the target in the prime becomes the distractor in the probe, supporting the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966). Introduction Attention is a vital and complex function of cognition. One of the earliest definitions of attention came from James (1890), who defined it as â€Å"the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thoughtIt implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with other.† This early definition from James (1890) highlighted the issue of the selective nature of attention. This feature of attention is essential for organisms to be able to be successful in a search for a target; to select and process only the information they need. It is therefore vital that during this search there are certain mechanisms that suppress distracting information and prevent the return of attention to previously attended objects or events. The mechanism responsible for this important feature is inhibition- the suppression of unwanted or distracting information to ensure movement of attention to novel l ocations. The role of inhibition has been theorised through a variety of concepts. One such concept is Inhibition of Return (IOR). IOR was proposed as an inhibitory mechanism, which reduces the prominence of the previously inspected item in a scene. IOR was first observed by Posner and Cohen (1984) in their simple cuing experiment and refers to the relative suppression of stimuli (object and events) that had recently been the focus of attention. This inhibition of return effect is thought to make visual search more efficient as it ensures that previously examined objects are not searched again, thus facilitating the search for the target (Wright Richard, 1996). Further evidence of inhibitory mechanisms in attention comes from the visual marking mechanism; proposed by Watson and Humphreys (1997) as a goal-directed process that enhances visual search through the inhibition of ‘old objects. When new objects are added to a visual scene, they take priority during search, because old objects are ‘marked for non search. Also, the discovery of the ‘attentional blink provides some clear evidence that in tasks using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), a method of displaying information very briefly in sequential order, perception of a target presented 200-500ms after the first target is impaired (Raymond, 1992). This attentional blink occurs because of interference caused by the presentation of stimuli after the target but before the target-identification process is complete, causing the temporary suppression of inhibitory mechanisms. In other words, inhibition of distracting stimuli does not occur, causing a failure in identif ication. Mechanisms such as IOR and visual marking are evidence for inhibitory mechanisms in selective attention, and the attentional blink demonstrates just how important these mechanisms are. This process of inhibition however, is not without consequences. It has been discovered that after a stimulus has been ‘ignored, processing of that ignored stimulus shortly afterwards is impaired. This effect has been termed negative priming (Tipper, 1985). In recent years, numerous studies have looked at negative priming as evidence of an inhibitory component within selective attention. An important study which was vital in the discovery of negative priming is the Stroop task (Stroop, 1935). The standard Stroop colour-word test involved participants being required to name the ink colour of a printed word. When the word was incongruent with the colour ink- such as the word ‘red written in green ink- then interference occurred, resulting in slower response times and more errors in comparison to control conditions. In congruent conditions, where the colour written matched the colour of ink it was written in, reaction times were faster. The interference observed in this study can be attributed to automaticity as reading is an automatic process. According to Shiffrin and Schneiders (1977) model of automaticity, automatic processing makes no demands on attentional resources, has no capacity limitations, and is unavoidable. Automatic processing thus provides a liable explanation of why the Stroop effect occurs, as when seeing a word we unavoidably read it, causing a delay in the process of naming the ink colour of the word. Whilst investigating the effect of stimulus sequencing on Stroop interference, Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), came across what is now known as negative priming. What they found was that there was a greater delay and an increased error rate when an item appeared in the colour ink which was required to be ignored in the previous stimulus. Similar findings come from Tipper (1985), who presented participants with overlapping line drawings, in either red or green. The participants were required to identify only the red items in each set of stimuli. When the ignored drawing (green) became the required response (red) in the next set of trials, response times slowed. This suggests it is harder to identify and selectively attend to what was previously rejected. A key question in regards to selective attention and negative priming is at which point of sensory processing can incoming signals first be selected or rejected by attention- does this happen early in the process or late? Early selection models, such as Broadbents (1958) filter theory, argue that as sensory processes are limited, they require attention to initially select the stimuli that are required for further processing and discarded irrelevant stimuli. Therefore, attentional selection should occur early; implying a ‘bottleneck in the brain protecting processing systems from being overloaded by irrelevant information. The late selection models (Deutsch Deutsch 1936) however, claim that all stimuli, both attended and unattended, can be processed automatically in parallel- thus without a need for early selection. Therefore, selection should occur late, after the semantic analysis of the stimuli. Negative priming has generally been interpreted as evidence for late selection as the phenomenon shows that distracting/ irrelevant stimuli are in fact processed at the same time as the attended stimuli, hence the interference that occurs. Negative Priming is clearly a well studied phenomenon, and there have been numerous variations on the original experiment by Dalrymple Alford and Budayr (1966). The explanations behind the effect have generally focused on the effect being caused by increased interference due to the suppression of the word during naming of the ink colour- resulting in temporary unavailability of that response (MacLeod MacDonald, 2000). The majority of evidence supports the idea that if a probe in a pair of stimuli has the same target as the prime, then reaction times will be slowed for that probe; suggesting that internal representations of the ignored object may become associated with inhibition during selection. Therefore this experiment hypothesises that, in concordance with the previous evidence, in an ink colour identification task, the probe in the ignored repetition condition will take significantly longer to identify than the prime, in comparison to other conditions. Method Design The design was repeated measures with 2 within factors; condition with 4 levels (Congruent, Neutral, Ignored Repetition and Attended Repetition) and pairing with 2 levels (prime and probe). The experiment was a part replication of the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), as an investigation into negative priming. The experiment consisted of 4 conditions. Condition 1 was ‘Congruent, where the target and distractor matched in both prime and probe, for example blue in blue ink followed by red in red ink. Condition 2 was ‘Neutral, where the normal Stroop style format was used and the prime and probe bore no intentional resemblance to each other; for example blue in red ink followed by yellow in green ink. Condition 3 was ‘Ignored repetition. This condition was where negative priming was presumed to take place, as the distractor in the prime became the target in the probe, for example, blue in yellow ink followed by red in blue ink. The final condition, condition 4, was ‘Attended repetition, where the target was repeated in the probe, for example blue in red ink followed by green in red ink. For each condition, there were 30 pairs of trials (120 pairs in total, 240 individual trials). Within each pair was a prime (1) and a probe (2) The trials were split into two identical blocks. To control for order effects, the conditions were randomised such that no condition/ pair was presented in succession. This resulted in 15 pairs of each condition per block. A total of 240 responses (reaction times, in milliseconds) were collected for each participant. Participants The sample selected was a group of 20 undergraduate students at the University of Lincoln, with a mean age of 21.35 years, and a standard deviation of 6.51. This target population was relevant because it was the most easily accessible group of people of similar age and status. Participants were selected by opportunity sampling. This method was used because it is a quick, practical and efficient way of generating data through using participants available and willing at the time of the experiment. Materials In order to carry out the experiment certain materials were necessary. The researcher used a Dell Optiplex 745 computer with a monitor size 15inches, 150HP. Also used was a button box (Credus Corporations) and voice recorder (TTC Quality Electronics). The 6 colours used were randomly selected from a bag of various coloured cards. The chosen colours were then created from a standard Microsoft windows palette. These were; Blue (red: 0, green: 0, blue: 225), Green (red: 0, green: 225, blue: 0), Red (red: 225, green: 0, blue: 0), Yellow (red: 255, green: 255, blue: 0), Pink (red: 225, green: 0, blue: 225), Black (red: 0, green: 0, blue: 0). All colour words were presented in Aerial font, size 58, bold. In addition to the colour words presented, there was also a welcome message (Arial font, size 48, bold, in Black ink), and a fixation cross (Arial font, size 58, bold, in Black ink). Further necessary materials included a checklist for Type I and Type II errors. Procedure The participants were approached and asked if they would like to take part in the experiment. If they agreed they were taken to a quiet area chosen for the experiment to take part in. Then the researcher explained to the participant what they would need to do, and gave them a set of standardised instructions (appendix 1). The participants were then asked to read and sign the consent form (appendix 2) if they agreed to take part. Following this, the participants were seated in front of the computer screen and shown how to hold the microphone. They were then told there would be an initial practice run of the experiment, and asked to begin when they were ready. Following the practice run, the participant was once again asked if they were happy to continue with the experiment. If they agreed, they were instructed to begin when they were ready. During the experiment, two researchers were present at all times. The researchers each had a list of the order of trials and correct responses, as they were pseudo-randomised. One researcher marked type I errors on one sheet, and the other marked type II errors on another. Block one consisted of a series of 60 trials followed by a 30second break before the remaining 60 trials in that block. The experiment began with a welcome message which instructed the participant to press the left key on the button box when they were ready to start. After they had pressed this, a fixation cross was presented on the screen for 1500ms, followed by a blank which lasted 1000ms. Each trial was presented for 1500ms, trials were presented in pairs according to condition. Between each pair was a blank of 1000ms. After the first block of trials, the experiment closed, and one researcher started block two, which was identical to block one. Once again any and all errors were recorded. After the completion of this second final block, the experiment automatically closed. The participant was then thanked for their cooperation and given a debrief form to read (appendix 3) they were also encouraged to ask any questions, and assured that their results would remain private and anonymous. Ethical Considerations A number of ethical issues were identified in the experiment in line with British Psychology Society (BPS) guidelines. A consent form was given to participants which explained what the experiment was researching into, what they had to do during the testing and it also requested the participants age and gender. The form explained that any participant with aversion to flashing lights or rapidly presented stimuli should not continue on with the experiment, and asked participants to report if they had any back problems. Participants also had the right to withdraw themselves and their results from the experiment at any time, and this was stated in both the consent form (appendix 2) and debrief (appendix 3). After the participants had taken part in the experiment, the experimenter explained what they were investigating and the implications to the research, and answered any questions asked. It was the experimenters responsibility to make sure that participants left in the same psychological state that they started the experiment with. Participants were informed that their identity would be kept anonymous and that their results would be treated in confidence and destroyed after the experiment. To ensure protection of participants, no physical or mental harm came to them while taking part in the experiment as the consent form included a brief health check to eliminate those individuals who may be at slight risk from participating in the experiment. The room was an empty, calm setting, in order to minimise any stress to the participant, and to avoid any eye strain, a break was given, splitting the trials into two blocks. No deception took place in this experiment. An ethical approval form was completed by researchers prior to the experiment (appendix 4). Results The results were recorded and analysed for each condition in the experiment- 1 (Congruent), 2 (Neutral), 3 (Ignored Repetition) and 4 (Attended Repetition). Any errors, either cognitive (type I), or human/computer (type II), were excluded from the data. Both prime and probe trails were removed regardless of where the error occurred. Error analysis will be discussed later. A table to show a comparison of the mean and standard deviation of the difference between reaction times of prime and probe per condition Condition Mean Standard Deviation 1 (Congruent) 21.250 98.63002 2 (Neutral) 12.950 111.55149 3 (Ignored Rep) -69.350 66.52287 4 (Attended Rep) 35.450 94.73424 A table to show a comparison of mean standard deviation for reaction times of prime and probe per condition Condition Mean Standard Deviation 1 (Congruent ) Prime 1 (Congruent ) Probe 744.3 723.0 156.4 122.3 2 (Neutral) Prime 2 (Neutral) Probe 822.9 809.9 170.7 129.0 3 (Ignored Rep) Prime 3 (Ignored Rep) Probe 782.7 852.0 138.6 132.7 4 (Attended Rep) Prime 4 (Attended Rep) Probe 775.9 740.5 142.1 140.4 See appendix 5 for full SPSS data. The mean difference between prime and probe for condition 3 (Ignored Repetition) was -69.35, which was significantly greater than for any of the other conditions (21.25 for Congruent; 12.95 for Neutral, and 35.45 for Attended Repetition). It also shows that the condition with the smallest difference in reaction time between prime and probe was condition 2 (Neutral). 2 shows that for condition 3 (Ignored repetition) the mean reaction time for the prime (782.7) was smaller than the mean reaction time for the probe (852.0). This stands out when compared to all of the other conditions, where the mean reaction time for the prime was greater than for the probe. This suggests that for conditions 1 (Congruent), 2 (Neutral) and 4 (Attended Rep), the probe generated a quicker response than the prime, yet for condition 3 this effect was reversed and the probe generated a slower response. To further analyse the data, a Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA was carried out to analyse the reaction times and look at any effect between conditions. The results of the ANOVA shows that the main effect of Condition was significant [F(3,57) = 13.09; p = 0.001]. The following bar chart ( 3) presents a visual representation of this significance and shows the variation between conditions: The second ANOVA was concerned with the difference in reaction times between prime and probe. The ANOVA showed that the main effect of Pair is not significant [F(1,19) = 0.001; p = 0.996], suggesting that the pairing did not significantly affect reaction times. Although the effect was not found to be significant, the plot below ( 4) clearly shows that condition 3 (Ignored Repetition) was the only condition where response time was slower in the probe than in the prime: Thirdly, the interaction effect between Condition and Pair was analysed. This was found to be significant [F(3,57) = 6.6; p = 0.001]. As the interaction effect between ‘Pair and ‘Condition was significant, a post-hoc Bonferroni was carried out to find where the significances lay. The Bonferroni showed significant differences between the following conditions; (1) Congruent and (2) Neutral (p= 0.001) (1) Congruent and (3) Ignored Repetition (p= 0.002) (2) Neutral and (4) Attended Repetition (p= 0.001) (3) Ignored Repetition and (4) Attended Repetition (p= 0.014) Error analysis Errors were recorded per type I and II for each condition. The table below ( 5) shows the number of errors of each type that occurred in each condition. A table of sums of errors per condition and error type Condition Error Type I Error Type II 1 (Congruent) 11 26 2 (Neutral) 21 33 3 (Ignored Rep) 35 35 4 (Attended Rep) 26 24 A table to show the mean rank of errors per condition Condition Mean Rank 1 (Congruent) 2.15 2 (Neutral) 2.70 3 (Ignored Rep) 2.93 4 (Attended Rep) 2.23 The condition with the lowest number of errors was condition 1 (Congruent), with a mean of 2.15. The condition with the highest number of errors condition 3 (Ignored Repetition), with a mean of 2.93. A Friedmans test was used to analyse the errors and look for any significances in their distribution. Application of Friedmans test showed that there were no significances in the distribution of errors over the four conditions; X2=5.71; df = 3; p = 0.127. Discussion The results obtained show that the mean difference between prime and probe for condition 3 (Ignored repetition) was -69.35, which was notably greater than for any of the other conditions (21.25, 12.95 and 35.45). This suggests that something different is happening in this condition, as the difference is not only a lot greater but also in the opposite direction. The plot ( 4) shows a visual representation of this effect. From this it is possible to infer that in the Ignored repetition condition, negative priming did occur as the probe took longer to respond to than the prime in comparison with all other conditions. After carrying out a two way repeated measures ANOVA, it becomes clear that this is in fact the case. The results of the ANOVA showed that the main effect of Condition was significant [F(3,57) = 13.09; p = 0.001], and that the interaction effect between Condition and Pair was also significant [F(3,57) = 6.6; p = 0.001]. The ANOVA concerning the difference in reaction times between prime and probe showed that the main effect of Pair was not significant [F(1,19) = 0.001; p = 0.996]. Analysis of errors found them not to be significant; however the mean ranks showed that there were more errors in the ignored repetition condition (Mean rank 2.93). This is consistent with previous research; that in the ignored repetition condition, more interference occurs causing slower response times and more mistakes to be made. These findings mean that the hypothesis can be accepted: in an ink colour identification task, when the target in the probe trial matches the distractor in the prime, then reaction times will be significantly slower in comparison to conditions where the prime and probe are unrelated. Thus the experiment supports and confirms the previous research such as that of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966). The negative priming effect observed in this experiment can be explained as an inhibitory mechanism of attention. The differences in reaction times between conditions infer that for condition 3 (Ignored Repetition), at the point of the probe something different happened in than in the other conditions. In line with previous research, we can assume that due to the suppression of the word in the prime trial, when that colour word then becomes the ink colour in the probe trial, then there is a problem with retrieving that response as it had just been suppressed. One limitation of this experiment was the methodology. The design involved a set of two blocks in a Super Lab program, each containing 15 pairs of each condition, in a randomised order. Between each pair of trials was a blank screen presented for 1000msc. This quick succession of pairs means it may not have been obvious for the participants that the stimuli were in fact presented in pairs. This therefore may be able to explain why the probe condition 1 (Congruent) was fastest; when it was expected that condition 4 (Attended Repetition) would be. To overcome this limitation, future experiments could use separate blocks for each condition- thus making it more obvious that the trials were in certain pairs. In addition to the above adjustment, it would also be interesting to consider individual differences in a future extension of this experiment. There has been numerous past studies that suggest for certain individuals, the effect of negative priming is actually less robust. An example of this is Schizophrenics, who seem less able at inhibition- hence are less susceptible to negative priming (Beech et al 1989). A future investigation could build on the evidence of individual differences playing an important role in the effect of negative priming, and possibly look into more general differences such as cultural background or occupation. For example, it would be interesting to look for any differences in the effect of negative priming between people in creative careers- such as artists, compared with those in writing careers such as journalists. Would someone who is used to looking at words be more prone to negative priming than someone who would be more interested in the colour and form of the word? To summarise, this experiment has shown clear negative priming, consistent with the majority of existing studies, thus supporting the notion of inhibitory processes in attention. References Beech, A., Powell, T., McWilliam, J., Claridge, G. (1989). Evidence of reduced cognitive inhibition in schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 109-116. Broadbent, D. E. (1958). Perception and communication. New York: Pergamon. Deutsch, J. A., Deutsch, D. (1963). Attention: some theoretical considerations. Psychological Review, 70, 80-90. Dalrymple-Alford, E.C., Budayr, B. (1966). Examination of some aspects of the Stroop color-word test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 23, 1211-1214. James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt. MacLeod, C. M., Masson, M. E. J. (2000). Repetition priming in speeded word reading: Contributions of perceptual and conceptual processing episodes. Journal of Memory and Language, 42, 208-228. Pashler, H. (1998). The psychology of attention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Posner,M.I., Cohen, Y. (1984) . Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma D.G. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance X: Control of language processes. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. Raymond J.E., Shapiro K.L., Arnell K.M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: an attentional blink?. Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 18, 849-60. Shiffrin, R.M., Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84, 127-190. Stroop, J.R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643-662. Tipper, S.P. (1985). The negative priming effect: Inhibitory priming with to be ignored objects. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37A, 571-590. Tipper, SP (2001) Does negative priming reflect inhibitory mechanisms? A review and integration of conflicting views. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 54A: 321-343. Watson, D. G., Humphreys, G. W. (1997). Visual marking: Prioritizing selection for new objects by top-down attention inhibition of old objects. Psychological Review, 104, 90-122. Wright, R.D Richard, C.M. (1996) Inhibition-of-return at multiple locations in visual space. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 50, 324-327.

MacBeth :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The greatest grieves are those we cause ourselves.† This quote by Sophocles is saying that the things you most regret are the things you, yourself choose to do. If you do something to someone else, not only do you hurt another person, or other people, but also you hurt yourself. If someone else hurts you, you feel pain but not as much as having the guilt and pain of hurting other people walking around with you on your shoulders. This quote is true in everyday like still today. In the play â€Å"MacBeth,† by William Shakespeare, there are many examples of greif shown by the people in the play. The play â€Å"MacBeth,† by William Shakespeare, shows an example of what regret and wrongdoing feels like. When Lady MacBeth found out that her beloved husband, MacBeth, was to eventually be king of Scotland, she knew he had to take the throne right away and to do so; she must kill the present king, Duncan. Lady MacBeth and MacBeth came up with a plan to secretly kill Duncan so that Macbeth can claim the throne. After going through with the act of murdering the king and not being caught, the grief soon got to Lady MacBeth. She started sleepwalking, and talking in her sleep. She tried to wash blood off of her hands that she thought was there only because of the grief she had felt about killing an innocent, great king for a selfish act. â€Å"The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with this starting.† This quote by Lady Macbeth in the play refers to her guilt she hides. She says this while sleepwalking and she is saying that the thane of Fife, MacDuff’s, which was one of King Duncan’s nobleman and a thought to be threat to MacBeth, wife is dead. MacBeth had sent someone to kill MacDuff’s family so there would be less of a threat towards him.

Human Values and Ethics in the Workplace

Human Values and Ethics in the Workplace Improving Leadership and Performance in the Water Education, Supply and Sanitation Sectors RESOURCE PAPER Teaching Managers Human Values â€Å"Human Values and Ethics in the Workplace† is a capacity-building initiative developed in a collaborative effort between the Global Dharma Center (GDC) and UN-HABITAT, within the framework of the Human Values Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education (HVWSHE) Initiative of the Water for African/Asian Cities Programmes. The purpose of the capacity-building is to improve leadership and performance in every aspect of the water education and water supply and sanitation sectors, and to help bring about a new ethic in water use and management.  © 2005 UN-HABITAT and Global Dharma Center For more information: www. globaldharma. org/hvew. htm 2 Teaching Managers Human Values by B. Gustavsson, School of Business, Stockholm University, Sweden; A. N. Tripathi, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, India; G. P. Rao, Department of Management Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, India. Abstract The authors are convinced of the necessity in a human dimension in managerial decisionmaking. The problem is to define values in a human context. We have suggested a framework for understanding the origins and scope of human values. We trace values to theistic, humanistic and empirical origins, and connect these to individual, sociological and ecological levels of application. We have illustrated our framework with a case study of a systematic approach to teach human values to managers in India. While this approach is mainly using a theistic approach, we recommend that other approaches to values can be included in courses teaching human values to managers. Human values are necessary in today's management. Business is no longer confined to a national state but is really borderless. Hence business from the international viewpoint, cannot be regulated by governments unless international agreements can be reached. In this â€Å"lawless land† the responsibility of the executive is greater than ever. Which values does s/he promote in her/his actions and decisions? Which responsibility does s/he take? Only towards the bottom line or also towards the growth of mankind? On a national level we find similar concerns with ethics and values in management. Being a generator and facilitator of human material wealth, does her/his responsibility towards human values end there? We do believe that the manager of today has a wider responsibility than that. We believe that it is in the interest of the managers themselves to have a heightened awareness of the values of humankind and also to promote them. I. Human values: what are they? Like most basic areas of human knowledge and experience, the concept of human values defies definitions. Yet it can be instinctively felt, cognitively grasped, discussed as a shareable experience, and thus made a valid area of enquiry. This enquiry is a major under-current of the wisdom literature of all the ancient civilisations and of the later day philosophers, scholars and great leaders of social and political movements. The profusion of ideas, divergent approaches and intermixing of several strands of thought make the effort of conceptualising human values a daunting task for modern scholarship. However, for a clearer understanding of the scope, significance and interrelationship of these ideas it is necessary to have a conceptual framework for classifying them. In the following paragraphs we make a humble attempt at this difficult academic endeavour. Classical literature does not make a distinction between values and human values. Perhaps there was no need for it then. Philosophical ideas on value enquiry were directed towards finding the nature, meaning and purpose of human existence. In the present century search for a theory of values has become a separate branch of modern philosophy and has been called axiology. Although the different realms of this value enquiry cover all areas of human concern like ethics, religion, art, science, social science, law etc. , no separate or special significance is attached to the term human values. One main approach to this classical value enquiry we would like to call the ideal-normative approach. In the Western tradition it is represented by Plato's formulation of the absolute values of Truth, Goodness and Beauty. They are conceived as having independent existence of their own and are 3 used as ideal norms for value judgement at the relative level of human existence. In the Indian tradition absolute values are related to the absolute reality whose nature is described as Sat,Chit and Anand. Attainment of a state of eternal bliss by the realisation of identity of the individual self with the universal Self of this absolute reality is the highest and ultimate object of human striving. Closely related to this absolutist perception is the theistic view which may be called a sub-group of the idealistic-normative approach. It is based on a metaphysical belief system which accepts the reality of a divine cosmic order and faith in the authority of a creator God who is also the upholder of all values. The basis of all ethical, social and other human values is sought in the enduring truths, either revealed or obtained through super conscious insights of sages, contained in the sacred religious literature. Although differing in their belief systems, rituals and customs, the great world religions have a large area of agreement on the basic moral values, conceptions of personal virtues and social group behaviour based on humanistic values of love, brotherhood, caring and sharing. Many leaders of the Indian renaissance, e. g. Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, were inspired by the absolutist-theistic value system and used it as the basis for their efforts towards the spiritual, social and political rejuvenation of the Indian society. In recent times the term ‘human values' has been used for this theistic approach to value system (Chakraborty, 1995a,b; Swami Ranganathanand, 1991). This is perhaps because of the need to highlight the universal humanistic aspects of this value approach, as against the merely speculative, mystical, or life-denying ascetic aspects. In the modern interpretation of theistic value approach the authors have shown its relevance and significance to the managers and other professionals. Another reason for the use of adjective ‘human' before these values may be to distinguish this value approach from the modern, so-called scientific, approach to human phenomena and associated values. Interpreted in its narrow sense this scientific approach robs man of the dignity of his divine association, his spiritual nature and reduces him to a biological organism of a random collection of atoms. It denies any meaning and purpose to life and rejects all considerations of faith, belief, feeling and intuitive religious perceptions. This mechanistic, deterministic interpretation makes man merely a malleable automaton, to be ‘programmed' to meet the demands of the existing socio-technological order, through manipulation of his lower order needs and desires. In the second sub-group of the idealistic-normative approach to human values we would like to place all the different strands of humanistic thoughts, ranging from love and compassion of Buddha to the radical humanism of Marx. Included in this sub-group are the ideas of humanists having varying degrees of theistic, non-theistic and atheistic leanings but attaching prime importance to man and to human values. As Fromm (1981, p. 148) points out â€Å"There is a remarkable kinship in the ideas of the Buddha, Eckhart, Marx, and Schweitzer: their radical demand for giving up the having orientation; their insistence on complete independence; their metaphysical skepticism; their godless religiosity, and their demand for social activity in the spirit of care and human solidarity† (emphasis added). These humanist ideas and movements developed as protests against oppressive constraints on human spirit of freedom, creativity and dignity, imposed by religious dogmas or by dehumanising social or technological orders at their day. They developed a new ethics of man based on interconnectedness of humankind, love and respect for life, the joy of sharing and caring, and the faith in man to shape his own destiny. They find deep reflections in the literary traditions of both the East and the West over the last few centuries (Bharati, 1990), and gave rise to different kinds of social and political theories, like liberalism and socialism, for the betterment of humankind, particularly of the oppressed and the exploited. In recent times it has led to the declaration of Universal Human Rights by the United Nations. The term human values has generally been understood in this context of humanistic thoughts. The second main approach to human values we would like to call the empirical-purposive approach adopted by modern psychologists and other social scientists like Rokeach (1973), Schwartz (1994) 4 and Mukherjee (1965). It views the of values as a distinct component of the total human personality, which guide or affect attitude and behaviour of the individual and social groups. In Schwartz's view values are â€Å"responses to three universal requirements with which all individuals and societies must cope: needs of individual biological organisms, requisites of coordinated social interaction and requirements for smooth functioning and survival of groups† (Schwartz, 1994, p. 21). This approach is non-normative and is not based on any religious, philosophical system of ideas or world view, nor on any social-political ideology. Identification of values, their classification, and search for interrelationships between them is based on empirical methods of observation, attitude surveys, statistical validation techniques etc. Conceptualisation of human values based on the findings of empirical research is fast becoming a distinct area of social science research. These empirical studies and researches on human values are not merely idealistic or intellectual exercises. They are purposive in the sense that the knowledge gained by them is sought to be utilised for practical purposes in diverse areas like, management science (leadership and team building, human resource development etc. , socio-political policy decisions (welfare programmes, race relations, positive action programmes for minorities, population control programmes, environmental policy etc. ). Hence the use of the term purposive in the descriptive title 'empirical-purposive' for this approach to human values. Another way of classifying the different approaches to human values could be in terms of the level of aggregation they focus their attention on. These levels may be called the individual, the sociological and the ecological. The first level focuses on the individual human being, taken as an independent entity. Some illustrative value terms referring to this level are survival values, character, personal virtues, aesthetic appreciation, human rights, salvation, self-realization, etc. At the second level individual values are subordinated to the sociological values. It is concerned with operation of values at the collective level of human society and includes values associated with family and other social institutions and professions; caring nd sharing, sense of social responsibility, social and economic justice, sarvodaya, values of humanity and human interconnectedness, etc. Similarly the ecological level subordinates the first two and consists of values from the standpoint of human beings as a part of the total ecological system. In the reports commissioned by the Club of Rome there is a concern for developing a â€Å"new world consciousness†¦ , a new ethic in the use of material resources, a new attitude towards nature, based on harmony rather than on conquest †¦ sense of identification with future generations† (Mesaroric, M. D. and Pestel, E. , 1974, p. 148) to avoid global catastrophe caused by unrestrained economic growth. â€Å"For the first time a demand is being made for an ethical change, not as a consequence of ethical belief but as the rational consequence of economic analysis† (Fromm, 1988, p. 149). Human values perceptions from this perspective focus on the inter-dependency of human beings and nature and include expressive terms like respect for and harmony with nature, concept of Mother Earth, sustainability, conservation etc. We thus arrive at a two-dimensional matrix for the classification of human values concepts. One dimension of this matrix consists of the different approaches and the other of the three levels of aggregation, shown as the horizontal and the vertical columns of the table below. Approach Level Individual Sociological Ecological Table 1: Two-dimensional classification framework of human values IDEAL-NORMATIVE Theistic Humanistic x x x EMPIRICALPURPOSIVE x x x 5 It needs to be emphasised that the categories in this proposed classification scheme are far from being exclusive. In fact they very much overlap. For example many of the humanistic approaches have theistic foundations and many items of the empirical approach are reformulations of the idealistic approach. What is being implied in the classification is the identification of the main emphasis or main focus of the approach. The entries in the matrix indicate what we consider to be the main level(s) of aggregation which a particular approach focuses on. In our view the theistic approach focuses mainly on the individual level in its quest for making a â€Å"good† man, whereas the humanistic approach is concerned with both the â€Å"good† man and the â€Å"good† society. This is not to deny the sociological and ecological concerns of the theistic approach; however we feel that these concerns are secondary to that for the individual. On the other hand the different empirical approaches together cover all the three, individual, social and ecological levels. The progression in the above matrix, both in the vertical and the horizontal directions, has a chronological order. The earliest human value perceptions were related to the individual level. The growing complexities and tensions of the human societies enlarged the scope to include the sociological considerations as its second focus. And the disastrous impact of the rapid technological developments, coupled with the population explosion, of the present century has made ecological concern as the third focus. Once again this chronological flow has no exclusivity. The philosophical speculations and beliefs of the earliest civilisations, including the aboriginal civilisations in existence today, have remarkable sensitivity and insights about the nature and man's relation to it. However it is only in the recent times that the theme has acquired an urgency to prompt development of a concerted approach to human values in relation to ecology. Similarly many of the later day humanistic values have been traced to the earliest Upanishadic idealistic-theistic views on life and its value (Devaraj, 1988). Yet there is a general chronological flow from the absolutist, theistic view of human values to the humanist view and finally to the present day empirical view. II. Can human values be taught? The question of interest to us is if human values can be taught to modern managers in any systematic way and, if so, to what effectiveness. S. K. Chakraborty, Management Centre for Human Values, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, has since 1983 been giving workshops on the theme â€Å"Human Values† on an in-house basis in many companies and as open workshops for managers from different companies and academics, mainly from India, but also from abroad. The impetus for this development is said to have come from managers at various management development programmes given at Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, asking for Indian insights that could be valuable for organizations and management. The objective of the workshops is to enhance in course participants the sensitivity to and sustenance of the value-system, which Chakraborty has distilled from what he calls â€Å"the Indian ethos†, based on studies of Buddhist, Vedantic and Yogic literature together with Indian epics and Pauranic literature. It is claimed that Indian values are found in the deep-structure of the Indian psyche, as reflected in these sources. The basic idea is purification of the mind, partly through a mind-stilling technique, and partly through practice of nourishing noble thoughts (e. g. compassion, friendliness, humbleness), and rejecting wicked ones (e. . greed, jealousy, arrogance). Such practice will reveal the â€Å"divine†, or â€Å"higher self†, within the individual and s/he will be able to perceive the same in others. The goal is that in a management setting these practices will have repercussions on business life, more specifically in respect of the individual, improve d cooperation, non-attachment to the selfish rewards of the work, increased creativity, service to the customer, improved quality, creating an ethico-moral soundness, cultivating self-discipline and self-restraint, and enhancing generosity (Chakraborty, 1991, pp. 9-20). 6 The content of the workshops varies according to the duration. There are three modules, the first one lasting three days and the next two lasting two days each. Each module elaborates on different principles. Module I, also called the â€Å"foundational module†, develops the basic concepts and practices. It is argued that managerial effectiveness is dependent on a sound values system, undergirding the superstructure of skills, which in turn emanates from a pure mind. The factors influencing a pure mind are discussed in terms of higher and lower self, disidentification and reidentification with the latter and the former respectively, the guna, karma, samskaras, nishkam karma and other theories. The first steps of the mind-stilling technique relating to these principles are given at this stage. Module II focuses on leadership and teamwork and elaborates on a number of principles from the Vedantic and Buddhist literature connected to the theme. Additional steps in the mind-stilling techinque are also introduced. Module III covers the topics stress, counselling and communication. The main issue here is to identify with one's innermost self, which is ananda, as the basic remedy for stress-generating influences. A few more steps are included in the mind-stilling process in this module. These modules can be taken separately or jointly. In the annual workshop at the Management Centre for Human Values all three modules are offered integrally. The workshops are promoted directly and indirectly: directly through mailing of pamphlets to selected companies, and indirectly through the network of previous course participants on the workshops. Initiatives to the in-house workshops can come from top management, HRD (personell) department, open workshop participants who want to bring in the workshop to the company, persons who have come in contact with Chakraborty's ideas, etc. The participation in the workshops are mostly on a voluntary basis, whereas there could be occasions when managers have been asked by the CEO or someone high up to attend the workshops. Following our categorization of human values above, these workshops would fall into the â€Å"idealnormative† approach, with theistic leanings. The source of the values taught at the workshops are derived from the sacred texts of Indian wisdom literature, and the values are claimed to have an eternal and universal character to a great extent. It is normative in the sense that the values are something people ought to have from the ideal perspective, not accepting certain values, or disvalues, just because people are having them. The basic foundation of values is taken to be divine, implying a theistic approach, whereas the humanistic elements are found in caring values, concern for others, love and compassion. The level of focus is mainly on the individual in terms of personal virtues. It is stated that in order to change the environment we must start with ourselves. Thus, more aggregated human levels (organizational, political, societal, ecological, global) are not neglected, but the starting point is the individual. III. Participant responses The participants are asked to submit on the last day of the workshop plans of action which they would like to implement in the six months to follow. We have such plans of actions from a total of 208 participants who attended seven in-house workshops and one Annual International Workshop, held between August 1995 and February 1996, as per the following particulars: 7 Serial No. 1 2 Workshop Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) Tata Engineering and Locomotive Limited (TELCO I) Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) Ordnance Factory Ambajhari (OFAJ) Tata Engineering and Locomotive Limited (TELCO II) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Indian Farmers and Fertilisers Company Limited ( IFFCO ) TOTAL No of participants 22 32 4 5 23 17 23 6 7 17 32 166 42 208 8 Annual International Workshop ( IIMC ) GRAND TOTAL Table 2: Workshops examined TISCO and TELCO belong to the well established and highly reputed Tata Group of Companies in India, while the others are leading public sector undertakings / government organisations. Managers belonging to senior and middle management cadre normally participate in these in-house workshops. The rank during the workshop s can vary; some are pure peer-groups and at some there can be a superior-subordinate relationship during the same workshop. The annual international workshop, on the other hand, attracts top and senior practitioners, owner-managers, academia, consultants, and government officials from India and abroad. The respondents whose plans of action would be analysed thus represent a cross section of highly educated,motivated and successful persons in their chosen spheres of activity. The responses/ data which constitute their plans of action, however, have certain built in limitations : 1. We can only make inferences from the immediate time at the end of the workshop; 2. We can only study the managers' responses to, and expectations of human values, not how they are reflected in their behaviour; 3. We do not know whether there has occured any changes in the managers' attitudes towards human values, as we don't have data from them prior to the workshop; 4. We do not know how honest their attitudes are due to perceived group pressure from peers, super/subordinates, from the course leader, desire to give a good (or bad) impression or other possible factors. 5. The answers are given spontaneously without forewarning and therefore may not be well thought out ideas. 8 The analysis of the plans of action meant to understand the intentions of the participants, and make inferences from their statements the extent to which these workshops have influenced human values in managers. The intended actions are analysed with reference to (a) the contents of the workshop, and (b) the purpose of, and the direction in, which they want to make use of the contents, inputs, knowledge and skills they have learnt from the workshops. A) Content Analysis A content analysis of the responses shows that the most frequent item figuring in almost all of the course participants' plan of action is the resolve to practice the mind-stilling and breathing exercises taught in the course as an essential experiential practice for Chitta-Shuddhi and for communion with the higher Self. Its enthusiastic reception may have also been prompted by the urgent need for maintaining a calm mind in the tension ridden life of practicing managers. The next most common resolve relates to the practice of a cluster of values and value-principles emphasised in the course. It includes, (i) cultivation of values related to higher self and suppression of disvalues associated with lower self, (ii) practice of nishkam karma (self-less action) in work-life as well as personal life, (iii) practice of giving model of life based on the concept of five fold debts (deva rin, rishi rin, pitririn, nri rin, and bhuta rin) (iv) cultivation of satwaguna over rajoguna, and (v) introspection to examine, and to rearrange one's career goals, life styles, attitudes and value systems in the light of the above noted paradigm of higher values. Some responses indicate a desire to propagate and share the ideas learnt in the course with members of the family as well as members of the work-group. A smaller number of responses show the desire to learn more about these ideas by reading the sacred wisdom literature of India, like Gita, Upanishhads, writings of Vivekanand, etc. One can conclude from this content analysis that the value concepts of Indian psycho-spiritual tradition have been well received. They have had a positive impact on the participants as indicated by their resolve to internalise them and to use them as a basis for self-development. B) Purpose/Direction Analysis A perusal of the plans of action indicated that the purpose of the participants was to apply the knowledge gained by them for development of the self, members of his/her workgroup, viz, superiors, colleagues, and subordinates, and of his/her family members and friends. They also wanted to transmit or communicate the knowledge they gained to the members of their workgroup, family and friends. The purpose thus was three-fold (development of self, workgroup members, and of family and friends): and, the direction two-fold (toward workgroup members, and toward his/her family and friends). Juxtaposing the purpose and direction, a table is prepared containing relevent particulars and percentage analysis. 9 WORKSHOP NO. OF PRTICIPANTS WITH MAJOR FOCUS ON SELF DEVEL. OTHERS TOTAL NO. OF PLANS OF ACTION FOCUSING ON SELF OTHER PERSONS DEVEL. IN OUTSIDE ORG. 5 85 (75%) 89 (96%) 92 (80%) 29 (66%) 61 (90%) 37 (54%) 147 (96%) 540 (82%) 215 (87%) 755 (84%) 6 14 (12%) 3 (3%) 18 (16%) 11 (25%) 4 (6%) 25 (37%) 4 (2. 5%) 79 (12%) 21 (9%) 100 (11%) 7 15 (13%) 1 (1%) 5 (4%) 4 (9%) 3 (4%) 6 (9%) 2 (1. 5%) 36 (6%) 11 (4%) 47 (5%) TOTAL PLAN TO COMMUNICATE KNOWLEDGE TO OTHERS WITHIN ORGAN. 15 (52%) 2 (67%) 11 (48%) 7 (29%) 1 (100%) 15 (88%) 5 (63%) 56 (53%) 5 (38%) 61 (52%) OUTSIDE ORG. 10 14 (48%) 1 (33%) 12 (52%) 17 (71%) nil 2 (12%) 3 (37%) 49 (47%) 8 (62%) 57 (48%) TOTAL 1 1. TISCO (N=22) 2. TELCO (N=32) 3. BS P (N=23) 4. OFAJ (N=17) 5. TELCO (N=23) 6. HAL (N=17) 7. IFFCO (N=32) TOTAL 8. MCHV (N=42) GRAND TOTAL 2 11 (50%) 28 (87%) 11 (48%) 4 (24%) 18 (78%) 4 (24%) 31 (97%) 107 (65%) 37 (88%) 144 (69%) 3 11 (50%) 4 (13%) 12 (52%) 13 (76%) 5 (22%) 13 (76%) 1 (3%) 59 (35%) 5 (12%) 64 (31%) 4 22 32 23 17 23 17 32 166 42 208 8 114 93 115 44 68 68 153 655 247 902 11 29 3 23 24 1 17 8 105 13 118 Table 3: Analysis of plans of action from course participants on workshops for human values As stated, two values (percentages) have been calculated, viz. number of participants with 50% or more plans aimed at self-development; and, number of plans aiming at self-development as a percentage of total number. of plans. For example, in the first workshop included in the table (TISCO, N=22), 50% of participants had their plans aimed at self-development (column 2), while 75% of the total number of plans discernible from the statement of the participants of the workshop were meant for self-development (column 5). The most forceful and consistent finding from above relates to the self in terms of both the number of participants focussing on themselves, and also the number of plans made for their own development. In all, 69% of participants had 50% or more of their plans aimed at self-development (column 2) and 84% of the plans of actions envisaged related to self -development (column. 5) such as those discussed under the content analysis. The first three workshops in the first category, viz. the percentage of participants with focus on self, are IFFCO (97%), IIMC (88%) and TELCO-I (87%). TELCO-II, IFFCO, and TELCO-I workshops occupy the top three positions with 96, 96 and 90 percentages respectively in the second category, viz. the percentage of plans aimed at self-development. The remaining three workshops have corresponding percentages as follows: BSP (48% of participants, and 80% of plans being selforiented), OFAJ (24 and 66), and HAL (24 and 54). Even in the case of OFAJ and HAL workshops which have lowest percentage of participants with 24 each, also have more than 50 percent plans each (66 and 54%) aimed at self-development. It thus appears that self-orientation in terms of the percentages of participants and of plans of action cuts across, and permeates, all the eight workshops covered. The other finding deserving attention relates to the desire of the participants to use their knowledge gained through the workshops for the development of their workgroup members, i. e. superiors, 10 colleagues and subordinates of the participants. On the whole, 31% of participants had their plans primarily aimed at the deveopment of their workgroup members (column 3). Eleven percent of the plans of action were aimed at such development (column 6). However, the public sector organizations, OFAJ, HAL and BSP, show significantly higher interest in their workgroup members. This can bee seen in both the number of participants with major focus in their plans on others (76, 76 and 52 % respectively, column 3), and in the number of plans of action focusing on others persons in the organization (37, 25 and 16 %, column 6). The inferences are that the public sector managers perceive -as compared to their counterparts in private sector – higher need for training of others and lower need for themselves. This difference may be indicative of a different organizational behaviour and social thinking in these organizations with respect to individual and group focus. It may indicate that the managers in the governmental organizations consider themselves less needy in development than their subordinates (â€Å"I'm OK but you're not†). Or it may indicate a sincere concern of the managers in the governmental sector for their fellowmen. Such difference in organizational behaviour could stem from factors connected to the difference in ownership influencing the organizational culture. However, the responses in our data are too inconclusive for us to make any definite conclusion on this point. IV. Our conclusions Chakraborty's innovative approach to value education for practising managers is impressive. He has culled out selected psycho-spiritual values from the traditional wisdom literature of India, suitably reinterpreted them and woven them together to form a coherent theory of human values. This theory is then utilised to explain the problems and tensions of both personal and work life of modern professionals and to indicate the way for a better quality of life. That this approach finds deep resonance in the hearts and minds of Indian managers is evident from our observations of the course participants' enthusiastic, and at times deeply moving, articulations at the conclusion of the workshops. At the beginning of section II we raised the question whether human values can be taught and with what degree of effectiveness. Judging from the course participants responses, Chakraborty's approach seems to have met with mostly deep appreciation. Such response undoubtably provides a fertile soil for reexamining and developing one's human values. To that extent it is evident that the workshops have been effective in influencing the human values of the course participants. However, it is difficult to reach any conclusion as to what extent the course objectives have been interiorised by the course participants and the general learning effects of the workshops in the daily lives of the participants. What are the effects in the managers' work and family lives, and do their decisions reflect an increased awareness of human values? Neither can we draw any conclusions about the duration of the effects, i. e. whether it will last for a day or week and then vanish, or if the effects are stable and enduring. It is also evident from the responses and the stated objectives of the course that the main focus is on the self; self-awareness, self-analysis and self-development. It is consistent with the view that the individual is the cornerstone of all changes and transformations at the organizational as well as the societal levels. While the necessity of this self-development as a precondition for the value transformation in society may not be in doubt, the emphasis on it may convey the message that it is also sufficient for all the value problems of today's living. At the organizational level the difficulty may be posed in terms of two distinct, though related, categories of intra-personal and inter-personal values. The latter are of vital significance to managers' organizational role of a team leader, a change agent or a member of a work group. A heightened sensitivity to personal virtues, which is very effective t the intra-personal level, in itself may not be sufficient for values needed for effectiveness at the inter-personal level. Additional emphasis on humanistic values like human warmth, friendliness, acceptance of the other person as s/he is, trust, 11 empathy etc. , may help bring about a better value balance. As indicated in our study, the emphasis on the inter- and intra-personal levels, as also th e extent to which other approaches to human values should be emphasized, may have to be adjusted depending on the type of organization that is approached. The manager significantly affects, and is affected by, the value culture of the society, through the mediating agency of organizations and other social institutions. Proper appreciation of this value dynamics requires understanding, and interiorisation, of the operation of human values at the societal and ecological levels of our categorization. It is not clear as to what extent values at these levels can be developed and nourished through the present structure and approach of the human value workshops. An evaluation of the impact of the workshops, including long-term effects and effects on different levels of human values, may help clarify the position and lead to suggestions for expansions and alterations in the course contents as well as the methodology of the workshops. References Bharati, D. (1990). Mnav Mulya Aur Shitya (in Hindi; transl. : â€Å"Human Values and Literature†) Delhi, Bhartiya Jnanpith. Chakraborty, S. K. (1991). Management by Values. Delhi: Oxford University Books. Chakraborty, S. K. (1995a). Human Values for Managers. Delhi: Wheeler Publishing Co. Chakraborty, S. K. (1995b). Ethics in Management. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Devaraj, N. K. (1988). Humanism in Indian Thought. Delhi: Indus Publishing Co. Fromm, E. (1981). To Have or To Be. New York: Bantam Books. Mesaroric, M. D. and Pestel, E. (1974). Mankind at the Turning Point. New York: E. P. Dutton, quoted from Fromm, 1988, p. 148. Mukherjee, R. (1965). The Social Structure of Values. Delhi: S. Chand. Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press. Schwartz, S. H. (1994). â€Å"Are there universal aspects in the structure and conduct of human values? † Journal of Social Issues, 50, no. 4, 19-45. Swami Ranganathanand (1991). Human Values in Management. Delhi: Bharati Vidya Bhavan. Notes 1. The authors are grateful to professor S. K. Chakraborty, convenor of the Management Center for Human Values, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India, for his collaboration, support and comments on this paper.  © Gustavsson, Tripathi & Rao 1996. No part of this work may be reprinted in any form, physical, electronic, or otherwise, without written consent from the author. About the authors B. Gustavsson graduated (civ. ek. ) 1975 from School of Business, Stockholm University, Sweden, and received his Ph. D. (Ekon. r. ) there in 1992. He is presently working as assistant professor at School of Business, Stockholm University. His latest project is a study on values transition in Indian management. A. N. Tripathi is a professor of electrical engineering at the Intstitute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, India. He obtained his B. Sc engg (electrical) from Banaras Hindu University in 1 960, M. Tech (control systems) from Indian Institute of Technology, Karaghpur in 1965, and Ph. D. from University of Wales in 1971. He is presently working on a project called â€Å"Human Values in the Engineering Profession†. G. P. Rao is senior professor and head of the Department of Management Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India. He has an M. A. in economics and postgraduate Diploma in Management 12 (PGDM) from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC). He has recently finalized a project called â€Å"Human Values in Industrial Organizations: A Feminine Perspective†. . 13 United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) P. O. Box 30030, Nairobi, KENYA www. unhabitat. org www. unwac. org Tel: +254-20-623060 Fax: +254-20-623588 Global Dharma Center (GDC) Dallas, Texas 75240 USA www. globaldharma. org Tel/Fax: +1-646-514-8260 14

Christopher Columbus Fourth and Last New World Voyage

Christopher Columbus' Fourth and Last New World Voyage On May 11, 1502, Christopher Columbus set out on his fourth and final voyage to the New World. He had four ships, and his mission was to explore uncharted areas to the west of the Caribbean, hopefully finding a passage west to the Orient. Columbus did explore parts of southern Central America, but his ships, damaged by a hurricane and termites, fell apart while he was exploring. Columbus and his men were stranded on Jamaica for about a year before being rescued. They returned to Spain in late 1504. Before the Journey Much had happened since Columbus’  daring 1492 voyage of discovery. After that historic trip, Columbus was sent back to the New World to establish a colony. Although Columbus was a gifted sailor, he was a terrible administrator, and the colony he founded on Hispaniola turned against him. After his third trip, ​he was arrested and sent back to Spain in chains. Although he was quickly freed by the king and queen, his reputation was shot. Still, the crown agreed to finance one last voyage of discovery. Preparations With royal backing, Columbus soon found four seaworthy vessels: Capitana, Gallega, Vizcaà ­na, and Santiago de Palos. His brothers Diego and Bartholomew and his son Fernando signed on, as did some veterans of his earlier trips. Columbus himself was 51 and was beginning to become known around court for being eccentric. He believed that when the Spanish united the world under Christianity (which they would do quickly with gold and wealth from the New World) that the world would end. He also tended to dress like a simple barefoot friar, not like the wealthy man he had become. Hispaniola Columbus was not welcome on the island of Hispaniola, where too many of the settlers remembered his cruel and ineffective administration. Nevertheless, he went there after first visiting Martinique and Puerto Rico. He was hoping to exchange one of his ships (the Santiago de Palos) for a quicker one. While awaiting an answer, he sent word that a storm was approaching and that the new governor (Nicols de Ovando) should delay the fleet heading for Spain. The Hurricane Ovando forced Columbus to anchor his ships in a nearby estuary and ignored his advice, sending the fleet of 28 ships on to Spain. A tremendous hurricane sank 24 of them: three returned and only one- ironically, the one containing Columbus’  personal effects that he wished to send to Spain- arrived safely. A few miles away, Columbus’  ships were badly battered, but all of them remained afloat. Across the Caribbean Once the hurricane had passed, Columbus’ small fleet set out to look for a passage west. The storms continued, and the journey was a living hell. The ships, already damaged from the hurricane, took more abuse. Eventually, they reached Central America, anchoring off the coast of Honduras on an island that many believe to be Guanaja. There they repaired the ships and took on supplies. Native Encounters While exploring Central America, Columbus had an encounter many believe to be the first with one of the major inland civilizations. Columbus’ fleet found a trading vessel, a very long, wide canoe full of goods and traders believed to be Mayan from the Yucatan. The traders carried copper tools and weapons, swords made of wood and flint, textiles, and a certain beerlike beverage made from fermented corn. Columbus, oddly enough, decided not to investigate this interesting trading civilization: instead of turning north when he hit Central America, he headed south. Central America to Jamaica Columbus continued exploring to the south  along the coasts of present-day Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. He met several native cultures, observing maize being cultivated on terraces. They also saw stone structures. They traded for food and gold whenever possible. In early 1503, the ships began to fail. In addition to the battering they had taken from one hurricane and several major storms, it was discovered that they were infested with termites. Columbus reluctantly set sail for Santo Domingo and aid, but his ships only made it as far as Santa Gloria (St. Ann’s Bay), Jamaica. A Year on Jamaica The ships could go no further. Columbus and his men did what they could, breaking the ships apart to make shelters and fortifications. They made a peace with the local natives, who brought them food. Columbus was able to get word to Ovando of his predicament, but Ovando had neither the resources nor the inclination to help him. Columbus and his men languished on Jamaica for a year, surviving storms, mutinies, and an uneasy peace with the natives. Columbus, with the help of one of his books, impressed the natives by correctly predicting an eclipse. Finally, in June 1504, two ships finally arrived to pick them up. Importance of the Fourth Voyage Columbus returned to Spain to learn that his beloved Queen Isabel was dying. Without her support, Columbus would never return to the New World. He was getting on in years at any rate, and it is a wonder that he survived the disastrous fourth voyage. He died in 1506. Columbus’ Fourth Voyage is remarkable primarily for some new exploration, mostly along the coast of Central America. It is also of interest to historians, who value the descriptions of the native cultures encountered by Columbus’ small fleet, particularly those sections concerning the Mayan traders. Some of those who were along on the fourth voyage would later go on to greater things, such as Antonio de Alaminos, a cabin boy who would later rise to pilot and explore much of the western Caribbean. Columbus’ son Fernando would later write a biography of his famous father. The Fourth Voyage was a failure by almost any standard. Many of Columbus’ men died, the ships were lost, and no passage to the west was ever found. Columbus himself would never sail again. He died convinced that he had found Asia, even if most of Europe already accepted the fact that the Americas were an unknown â€Å"New World.† Still, the fourth voyage showed better than any other Columbus’ sailing skills, fortitude, and resilience attributes that allowed him to discover the Americas in the first place. Source: Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. New York: Random House, 2005.