The impact of the CISG on international business transactions Essay

The impact of the CISG on international business transactions - Essay Example 1.2. Thesis statement Recent years have been proved to be challenging for financial markets all over the world due to a spread in the international business transactions as well as the risks behind it. Starting from this idea, and also the past customs in international trade, this paper proposes to analyze the impact of contracts for international sale of goods (CISG) on the international business transactions. 1.2. Literature Review According to Ferrari (2009) contracts for international sale of goods was a huge success. In his paper he has argued that it is one of the greatest legislative or governmental achievements in the process of harmonizing the classified commercial law. Within a short span of time a total of 70 countries became the member of CISG. A number of eminent scholars have highlighted the importance of CISG in the international arena. In order to cite an instance according to Fletcher (2009) the Contract for International Sale of Goods is one of the most successful a ttempts to harmonize the international trade. He further quoted that CISG project was a successor of the 2 substantive international sales agreements. The agreements were ‘Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods’ and ‘Uniform Law for the International Sale of Goods’. It has to perform a number of functions. Some of them are highlighted below:- It administers the international sales agreements if both the associated parties are belong from the member countries. To manage the conflicts between the member countries with respect to international trade. It also tries to safeguard the private sovereignty of the member parties. Chapter 2 Building on the CISG 2.1. International... In general United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is a necessary convention for the member countries that provide rules to administer the cross border sale of goods. It mainly seeks to lessen the problems of international trade pertaining to law. It is also a fact that whenever a cross border transaction takes place some form of disputes is bound to happen. Hence in order to reduce it and facilitate smother transaction process harmonization of international trade took place. This has also led to the formation of CSIG. It offered easier ways to carry out foreign trade when compared with the complex laws and bodies found in most of national rules and regulations. After the incorporation of CSIG the system of international trade witnessed drastically changes. There were hassle free transactions, and the process become easier. Apart from that it was also notices that the transaction cost got highly reduced thereby offer benefits to both the parties inv olved. Furthermore after its incorporation there were also large relaxations in the international trade law. Hence on the basis of the recoded data and reviewing the literatures about the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, it can be concluded that CSIG played an extremely important role in facilitating smoother international trade. Hence it has been able to impact positively on the international business transaction.

Gps Location Tracker Essay Example for Free

Gps Location Tracker Essay This POT GPS receiver providing a solution that high position and speed accuracy performances as well as high sensitivity and tracking capabilities in urban conditions amp;provides standard NMEA0183 strings in raw mode for any microcontroller. The module provides current time, date, latitude, longitude, speed, altitude and travel direction / heading among other data, and can be used in a host of applications,including navigation, tracking systems, fleet management, mapping and robotics. This is a stand alone GPS Module and requires no external components except power supply decoupling capacitors. It is built with internal RTC Back up battery. It can be directly connected to Microcontrollers USART. The module is having option for connecting external active antenna if necessary. The GPS chipsets inside the module are designed by MediaTek Inc. ,which is the worlds leading digital media solution provider and largest fab-less IC company in Taiwan. The module can support up to 51 channels. The GPS solution enables small form factor devices. They deliver major advancements in GPS performances, accuracy,integration, computing power and flexibility. They are designed to simplify the embedded system integration process. Features TTL asynchronous  serial interface Data output Baud rate: 9600 bps (Default) Single 3. 3V DC supply @  55 mA (typical) Standard NMEA0183 output format Standard 8-pin header interface (. 100 spacing). Based on MediaTek Single Chip Architecture. Dimension: 26mm x 26mm x 11. 7mm Patch Antenna Size: 25mm x 25mm x 4mm Low Power Consumption: 55mA @ acquisition, 40mA @ tracking

Political Representation in Everyday Life: Feminism

Political Representation in Everyday Life: Feminism Expanding upon Pitkins Concept of Representation in Everyday Life:  Feminist Politics and the Feminist Movement in United States History Background The notion of â€Å"political representation† is one that is misleadingly simple. In viewing this type of representation, it is clear that many people, including scholars, fail to come to an agreement as to a particular definition. Political representation seems to occur when political actors: speak, advocate, symbolize, and act on the behalf of others in the political arena, offering individuals a type of political assistance which they would otherwise lack.[1] However, much research notes that this understanding is not as straightforward as it may seem at first glance. Rather, it leaves the concept of political representation underspecified with â€Å"multiple dimensions competing† with on another.[2] In attempting to close the gap on this overarching definition, Hanna Pitkin offers a comprehensive discussion of the concept of political representation in her work: The Concept of Representation. Pitkin established four distinct theories of representation: formalistic representation, including authorization and accountability; symbolic representation; descriptive representation; and substantive representation. [3] One can begin to view real-life historical examples under the lens of Pitkins theory in order to see if these examples fit into Pitkins overall view. One example that seems to fit Pitkins theoretical model is that of feminism and the ongoing feminist political movement in the United States. But, in viewing Pitkins theories, it becomes clear that Pitkin is vague in certain areas. In viewing certain accounts by researchers on the topic of feminism, it appears that Pitkin doesnt bring her definitions together in the manner that is necessary. Rather, it appears that feminists who cite Pitkin in their assertions, find her to lack the real descriptive representation that feminism requires in the realm of U.S. politics. Political Representation in Everyday Life: Feminism Pitkins four types of representation, formalistic representation, including authorized, deals with a situation in which a representative is legally empowered to act for another. Symbolic representation, occurs when a leader stands for national ideas. Descriptive representation occurs in situations when the representative stands for a group by virtue of sharing similar characteristics such as race, sex ethnicity or residence. And, substantive representation takes place in situations when the representative seeks to advance a groups policy preferences and interests. [4] In understanding this theoretical basis in terms of the feminist movement throughout United States history, one can see that until fairly recently, â€Å"the assumed political actors, both represented and representative† were male.[5] And, at the core of feminism is the issue of representation itself. As seen in the aforementioned notion, feminism from an historical standpoint has always involved the â€Å"prope r representation of women,† and postmodernism itself tends to question this agenda, questioning â€Å"the very identity of womanhood itself† in its wake. [6] As such, the starting place for a discussion regarding feminist engagement within the realm of political representation can be dated back to Pitkins theories, as Celis and Childs claim that for Pitkin, the â€Å"crucial dividing line in forms of representation is the distinction between standing for and acting for representation. Pitkins argument is seen in feminist involvement in politics in the U.S., as only recently in U.S. history, have women been able to both stand for and act for themselves.† [7] Celis and Childs note: â€Å"Many feminist scholars emphasize a relationship, albeit half-fastened, between the descriptive and the substantive component of representation; being female – or standing for – is conceived as an enabling condition for the substantive representation of women – or acting for. Thus, the argument here is simple: women, when present in politics, are more likely to act for women than men. Crucially, though, this is not a guarantee that they will. Moreover, this relationship is underpinned not by sex, but by gender – womens shared experiences.†[8] As such, the idea of being a women equates to standing for women and more generally pushing for the representation of women within a larger group equates with acting for women, and this notion of the quest for extended feminism in the U.S. fits into the model that Pitkin has set forth in terms of representation. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that for Pitkin, disagreements about representation can be â€Å"partially reconciled by clarifying which view of representation is being invoked (formalistic, descriptive, symbolic and substantive), as each view provides a clearly distinctive view for examining representation. [9] In citing Pitkins theories in the realm of feminism, i.e. establishing citizenship for women and giving women the vote, the public has sought to establish a means of political representation that allows the people to decide, by establishing â€Å"fair procedures for reconciling conflicts, which provides democratic citizens one way to settle conflicts and issues about the proper behavior of their representatives.†[10] The U.S., as a nation, fueled by the will of its citizens, advanced the feminist movement by allowing women to achieve a status equal to their male counterparts. In many ways, the feminist movement in the U.S. falls in line with Pitkins overarching theory, making it easy to understand and apply, thus allowing her theories to be utilized by people whom they govern – women in particular. And, in this capacity, the notion of â€Å"acting upon† comes directly into play when viewing the female population in the U.S. and their historical fight for equality. Pitkin notes that a representative democracy, which is used in the United States, is based upon the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, and the two models that are often used to describe representative democracy are the â€Å"trustee model† and the â€Å"delegate model,† which are both present in Pitkins democracy. [11] The trustee model allows representatives â€Å"greater autonomy,† permitting them to make the decisions â€Å"actually going against the interests of their constituents,† other than the delegate model, which â⠂¬Å"requires representatives act as a mouthpiece for the wishes of their constituency.†[12] And, as these two models clearly place contradictory demands upon elected officials and political representatives, the journey to change the way representatives act upon and for the substantive representation of women has been a rocky one. Additionally, there is much to learn from the example of feminism as it relates to Pitkins definition of political representation, especially in terms of what Pitkins definitions leave out. Pitkin argues that formalistic (emphasizing institutions that facilitate representation – namely the rules that govern how representatives make decisions on behalf of others) and substantive (which includes all of the ways in which representatives â€Å"act for† or on behalf of the represented) representation are the most significant types, believing that a representatives identity is only relevant when it is related to his or her actions, noting: â€Å"A representative must first of all be capable of effective action, otherwise he or she is no representative at all.†[13] However, Childs and Lovenduski note: â€Å"The relative importance, indeed the practical applications and interactions of two of Pitkin’s concepts of substantive and formalistic have come under close feminist scrutiny. There is relatively little feminist scholarship, theoretical or empirical, on authorized representation. Conceptual, and to a lesser extent, empirical research on symbolic representation is also somewhat limited. For Pitkin, symbols are often arbitrary with no resemblance to the represented. Assessing the adequacy of symbolic representation relies on whether the representative is believed in, a criterion Pitkin found wanting. For feminists the notion that women are symbolically represented when they believe they are, even if all the representatives are men, is intuitively unsatisfactory.†[14] Additionally, as the feminist movement â€Å"vehemently argues for the importance of adding the who to the liberal notion of democracy, often criticizing the how, many have sought to genderize Pitkins categories in an attempt to connect the who to the what to the how and the where or representation.†[15] As such, there is a myriad of research which seeks to stretch Pitkins theories in order to better define them in the realm of womens substantive representation and the enhancement of the feminist movement. As many of the definitions of â€Å"womens substantive representation† seem to revolve around being a â€Å"representative of women† as well as a pillar of â€Å"womens interests† or working â€Å"on behalf of women,† studies that use the term â€Å"womens substantive representation† often take as their point of departure, Pitkins concept of â€Å"representing as acting for . . . in the interest of.†[16] This concept was developed in Pitkins text as â€Å"one of four different concepts of representation,† but many argue today that Pitkin never fully explained how these four different views of representation fit together, and as such, the question has become â€Å"central to the study of gender and politics today.† [17] Conclusion As seen, while Hanna Pitkins concepts of representation are applicable in viewing the history of feminism and the rights of women in the United States, there are certain facets of these concepts which must be adjusted in order to define the representation of women in the most accurate way and make Pitkins assertions less vague. In viewing Pitkins theories in relation to feminism and the feminist movement within the United States, it becomes clear that Pitkin is vague in certain areas. In viewing the aforementioned accounts by researchers on the topic of feminism, it appears that Pitkin doesnt bring her definitions together in the manner that is necessary. Rather, it appears that feminists who cite Pitkin in their assertions, find her to lack the real descriptive representation that feminism requires in the realm of U.S. politics. The question that arises then is how Pitkins notion of representation can be adjusted in order to provide women with the descriptive representation necessary. As with any definition comes certain limitation and questions that surround the finite nature of a term. This is applicable in viewing Pitkins theories in relation to feminism. References Celis, Karen and Childs, Sarah. â€Å"The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women.† Parliamentary Affairs. Vol. 61. March 2008. 419-425. Childs, Sarah and Joni Lovenduski. â€Å"Political Representation.† 2012. In Waylen, Georgina, Celis, Karen, Kantola, Johanna and Weldon, Laurel (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Escobar-Lemmon, Maria and Michelle Taylor-Robinson. Representation: The Case of Women. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2014. Print. Lovenduski, Joni, ed. State feminism and political representation. Vol. 315(1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pitkin, Hanna. The Concept of Representation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1972. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. â€Å"Political Representation.† Stanford University. January 2, 2006. Web. Retrieved from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/political-representation/#PitFouVieRep on 4 March 2015. Tisosky, Chelsea. â€Å"Is a Womans Place in the House? An Analysis of Shared Gender and Political Representation.† Cornell University Department of Policy Analysis and Management. May 7, 2014. 15. Web. Retrieved from: https://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/ 1813/36336/2/tisosky_thesis.pdf on 4 March 2015. [1] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. â€Å"Political Representation.† Stanford University. January 2, 2006. Web. 1. [2] Ibid. at p. 1 [3] Pitkin, Hanna. The Concept of Representation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1972. [4] Pitkin, Hanna. The Concept of Representation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1972. [5] Childs, Sarah and Joni Lovenduski. â€Å"Political Representation.† 2012. Waylen, Georgina, Celis, Karen, Kantola, Johanna and Weldon, Laurel (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. [6] Lovenduski, Joni, ed. State feminism and political representation. Vol. 315. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. [7] Celis, Karen and Childs, Sarah. â€Å"The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women.† Parliamentary Affairs. Vol. 61. March 2008. 419-425. [8] Celis, Karen and Childs, Sarah. â€Å"The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women.† Parliamentary Affairs. Vol. 61. March 2008. 419-425. [9] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. â€Å"Political Representation.† Stanford University. January 2, 2006. Web. 1. [10]Ibd. at p. 1 [11] Pitkin, Hanna. The Concept of Representation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1972. 67. [12]Tisosky, Chelsea. â€Å"Is a Womans Place in the House? An Analysis of Shared Gender and Political Representation.† Cornell University Department of Policy Analysis and Management. May 7, 2014. 15. [13]Pitkin, Hanna. The Concept of Representation. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1972. 67. [14]Childs, Sarah and Joni Lovenduski. â€Å"Political Representation.† 2012. Waylen, Georgina, Celis, Karen, Kantola, Johanna and Weldon, Laurel (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. [15]Escobar-Lemmon, Maria and Michelle Taylor-Robinson. Representation: The Case of Women. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2014. Print. 62. [16]Ibid. at p. 62 [17]Ibid. at p. 62

Graduation Speech: Footsteps on a Beach :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever. Like footsteps on a beach. People come in and out of our lives, leaving us changed in some shape or form. Like footsteps along our trail of destiny. Love: the people who care about us, the people we care about in our lives. Our family, friends and loved ones have all contributed to who we are as graduates, today. Our parents have raised us to believe in ourselves. To make the best of who we are. Our parents were raised by our grandparents with similar beliefs and expectations, as were we. My grandfather has influenced my life in numerous ways. I have many memories of him, he has made me laugh through all the fun times that we had together, but he also made me cry. When I was a freshman my grandfather became deathly sick. As the months flew by and I stood by his side, he became increasingly ill. In the early spring of that year my grandfather passed away right before my eyes. That was an unforgettable moment in my life. My grandfather taught me to accept, to accept both life and death. He showed me that life moves on, people you love will leave you and that through it all it only makes us stronger in the end. It's loved ones in our lives, like my grandfather, who are the breath within us that give us courage to follow our hearts. Friendship: the most important part of our high school years that we cherish the most. Every good friend that has come into our lives, like footsteps that we encounter along a walk on a beach, leaves us with a different perspective of who we really are. The activities that we are involved in throughout high school introduce us to life changing friends. My freshman year, during track, I met one of those special friends. We ran the same distance races; together we shared that special bond as teammates. She's always been an extraordinary athlete, who runs with her heart, who I have always looked up to. At the district championships we were warming down together. I told her how she inspired me and that I felt that she was my hero. The next thing I knew I found myself singing. She made me stop before I could finish, otherwise she would have started to cry.

Literature review †Anxiety and Depression in the Workplace Essay

Emotional concerns in the workplace are a considerable loss to employee’s health and welfare. They slow down the performance of employee and so they are harmful to the organisational well-being as well. This literature review would put forward a concise introduction on the two frequently occurring emotional concerns in the workplace: anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression are a usual and adaptive reaction to the individual who is undergoing such emotional problems in our surroundings. They are a normal part of life, and would take place at any time when there are considerable positive or negative changes in one’s life. In general, it is believed that some of the anxiety and depression are challenging and positive one but some are negative where the individuals feel difficult to handle it. Anxiety and depression would take place in personal life as well as work life. This literature review is mainly focused on how an employee who is suffering from anxiety and depression should behave and at the same time how managers should handle the situations when his/her employee is suffering from anxiety and depression. Analyzations and insinuations of such emotional problems are discussed in this review. Moreover, this literature review is endowed with sensible understanding in support of recognizing and dealing with the anxiety and depression in the workplace. This review also focuses on the role of manager as supporter to the employees by taking necessary initiative steps to decrease the possibilities of anxiety and depression in the workplace. Defining Depression and Anxiety: Defining the term ‘depression’ is very complex because of the involvement of intrinsic uncertainty. According to , ‘ depression can be witnessed as a condition of mood, as a special symptom manifesting itself in many different mental disorders, as a syndrome measured by depression rating scales, and as a clinical diagnosis operationalised in diagnostic classifications’. (Weiten, 2001) and (Barlow, 2005), who are the psychology book writers, highlighted the debilitating effect that depression has on an individual which was agreed by different researchers and scholars. Through his findings, Blair stated that depression is severely debilitating and the most common mental health disorder affecting society. This was further detailed in 2000 by Akiskal that irregular depressive mood experienced as low spirits, dejection, and sadness can be a normal reaction to disappointments, adversities, and losses and should be differentiated from depressive disorders, which represent actual psychological illness and are often accompanied by distinct impairment of psychological, somatic, and social functioning . Bender and Furman agreed with Blair and came to the conclusion in 2003 that depression was found to probably be incurable and had raised to become the world’s number one public health problem. An American judge held that depression is a misleading term for an extremely debilitating illness. (Seligman, et al.,) defined anxiety as â€Å" psychological and physiological state characterized by by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components†. Davison stated that â€Å"it is the displeasing feeling of fear and concern† . Depression and Anxiety in the work place: In the present status of the economy, anxiety and depression in the workplace are the rising concerns where the employees are facing more and more situations of work overload, no job safety, no job satisfaction, and lack of self-sufficiency. Depression has significant economic impacts relative to lost productivity within the workplace . Workplace anxiety and depression have been exposed to have unfavorable impacts on employees’ health, well-being, workplace productivity, absenteeism, and workplace performance. Lost productivity involves presenteeism, in which the employee is present in the work setting but productivity is reduced due to health concerns or depressive symptoms, or in terms of absenteeism from work . Anxiety normally occurs when an individual senses that he/she is just going to face some circumstances on which he/she will not have control and ability to manage the situations. Particularly, workplace is the main ground where such situations happen to occur. Changes in the company such as restructurings, amalgamations and change in company policies are quite common incidents which take place in an organisation are some of the source anxiety. Now a day’s most of the organisations are trying to cut off their personnel to the least by putting more pressure on employees and overloading them with more work than their capacity to handle are also one of the main cause of anxiety. In workplace, employees are likely to suffer from anxiety in the following situations; when dealing with austere managers, when there are possibilities of downgrading, being tensed whether they can get their job task completed on time, Panic of getting terminated from their job In any organisations, there are certain existing rules, regulations and company policies which all the employees are enforced to stick on to. At times, these systems of the company can also cause anxiety and depression to an employee when there is some clash of pursuits between acting based on what he/she thinks is right and what the current system of the company states. Moreover, this situation can be pointed up further when the employees have to pact with customers or with the bond with their colleagues. Generally all the employees try to relieve their own anxiety and depression either by adjusting with their work environment or by resigning their job. To overcome such situations, individuals as well as organisations can take some initiative steps to ease the harmful impacts of anxiety and depression, or to prevent it from coming up in the initial stage. Effect of Depression and Anxiety: The course of adjustment to work environment results in employees’ anxiety and depression. Workplace stress is usually caused by employees’ acuity about their position in the organisation and includes the role of variance and role of vagueness. An employee’s perception of his/ her position in the workplace comes up from the job designation, interpersonal bond models, as well as from the emotion of discreteness and relation to others. Workplace depression states several behavior performance and behavioral shortfalls of an individual in the workplace (Lerner, et al., 2004; National Institute of Mental Health, 2011; Wallace, 2011; Wang et al., 2008). An employee who is suffering from anxiety and depression is affected psychologically, physiologically, cognitively. Some of the psychological effects are aggressiveness, evading societal situations, tapered forbearance to hand stress, loosing temper, becoming impatient deprived motor control. Physiologically, employee can suffer from fast heart beating, clammy hands, often headaches, muscle inflexibleness and aches, difficulties in breathing, indigestion, high blood pressure, frequent mood swings, change in eating habits, falling sick regularly and changes in weight. Anxiety would cognitively affect an individual’s capability of focusing, memory power and motor skills. Sometimes, an individual may not recall the names of the person whom he/she know or fails to remember what task he/she wanted to do. Depression and anxiety in the workplace would even effect the organisation in terms of financial loss. It was anticipated that 12 billion dollars was lost by the business and industry from lost output, 12 billion dollars was lost from non-attendance, for direct treatment costs business lost 26.1 billion dollars, and 5.4 billion dollars was lost due to death (Greenberg, et al., 2003; Lerner, et al., 2004). How employees should control their anxiety and depression? There are more possibilities of retaining the talents and experiences of the depressed employee for the organisations, if he/ she takes break for sometime from the work and then return back in a suitable and meaningful role. This would also decrease the possibilities of such occurrence of such situations. Every employee should know how to identify the situations of anxiety and depression and need to make use of personal coping strategies and develop. Employee can use the following methods in coping with their stress ; Meditating – learning Yoga Laughing therapy Spending some time in their hobbies on regular basis Sharing of feelings with their close ones Relaxation techniques – profound breathing, progressive relaxation, listening to relaxation music, massage therapy and hot baths Maintaining balanced diet Depressed employees need enough sleep Avoid consuming caffeine Exercising or joining in dance, swimming classes etc. These techniques will help in muscles relaxing; slowing down the heart beats and reduce emotional problems. This will also help them to concentrate and focus on things and manage anxiety and depression without any difficulty. Role of Organisation as supporters: First of all, the organisation should concentrate on the following question to determine where they are going wrong. i. Is there any circumstance that triggers employees’ anxiety in the workplace? ii. Is there any changes taking place in the organisation frequently? iii. Do the new rules and policies are threatening the employees? iv. Is there any terminations frequently done in the company that trigger the anxiety level of the employees? Successful organisations would assist their employees to defy the bigger demands, reduce their panics and negative levels in the market and the country as a whole. To overcome the emotional problems of the employees, the organisation should start implementing some strategies that can be useful in reducing the effect of depression and anxiety. The approaches are as follows; Company should allow the employer and employees to informal and frank communications so that both can have an opportunity of expressing any apprehensions. Company should have the best policies and procedures in the workplace ensuring the employees’ well-being. Company should send a message stating its support for each employee’s emotional concerns to all the employees. Organisation should aware of the work pressures handled by the employees, percentage of absenteeism and employees’ illness. They should also review their present policies and systems and indentify the positives and negatives of the same so as to change the policies suitable to the organisation. They should implement mental health policy which shows the commitment of the employer of taking care of all the employees who work for the organisation. This will prove that organisation identifies and agrees to the importance of psychological issues of the employees. Companies should make sure that all the employees feel their importance in the organisation and accept them as a part of the organisation. This will also help to reduce the stress level of the employee. They should implement management training and development with regards to anxiety and depression in the workplace. Training should be provided to employees about anxiety and depression. They should learn to identify the symptoms of depression on their own.. This will indeed help the employee’s to know recognise their problem at ease and prevent the circumstances before getting poorer. Manager should also be trained about depression and anxiety so as to be aware about the behavioural changes in the depressed and anxious employees and provide them assistance when need. To decease the situations of depression and anxiety among the employees, quite a lot of researchers have shown that organisations that implement training approaches to the managers tend to avoid practicing the following; Setting unrealistic short task deadlines Giving multifaceted job tasks to the employees without decision making authority Giving repetitive and tedious jobs only to the employee who is capable to doing thing much more than it Deprived management practices where managers are not supportive to the employees and takes unfair decisions. Not giving recognition and not congratulating for good tasks achieved by the employees Organisation should focus on employee engagement; implement programmes like Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Stress Management Programme. Role of Employers as supporters: Different people are affected by depression and anxiety in different ways. Some people who experience anxiety or depression would manage to handle the situation and would continue with their work. But some people would definitely need a break. In such situations, there should be someone in the organisation to support the employee to return back to the workplace and this is possible only by the employers. Employers are required to realise the basis of such type of psychological problems, prevention of such emotional problems, and the array and efficiency of different treatments related to such problems. Employees can improve their performance of the work with the correct extent of anxiety. But if employee’s level of anxiety goes beyond the right extent, then there are possibilities of interference of anxiety with the employees’ performance of the work and their efficiency level. Employers are required to be familiar with various levels of anxiety or depression to facilitate the employees’ with an atmosphere that brings out their most excellent performances. How to identify anxiety or depression in the workplace? Employers should be conscious of the symptoms of depression and anxiety in the workplace. They should also try to identify the changes in the behavioral aspects of their employees. Some of the symptoms are as follows ; Irreconcilable or decreased productivity, Absenteeism, unpunctuality, or often nonappearance in the job site, Increased mistakes, decreased work excellence, Postponement, failure to reach targets, Extraction from collaboration, teamwork, or unnecessary arguments with colleagues, Over perceptive, over-responsive feelings, Becoming too besieged to work, Showing less interest in the work, Decreased work performance or deliberation procedures, Problems in focusing or recalling work responsibilities, Exhaustion and diminished energy level, Lessened attention, and Impaired educational and professional achievement How employers should deal with depressed or anxious employees? Employers should follow the below steps to deal with depressed or anxious employees. They should try to get some knowledge in regards to anxiety and depression, so as to obtain some ideas on what type of emotional problems the employees are undergoing and in what way they can support them. If the employees hesitate to respond to the questions, the employers should lend a hand to them to bring out their fears by showing care and supporting them. This would help to decrease their level of anxiety. Once the feasible ideas are identified, they should have informal meetings with their employees; listen to their problems and determine how to help them and offer support and encourage to them completely. Employees’ feels that their experiences are sensible. If they feel that they are depressed due to particular work related problems, then the employers should try to listen to their views in a laissez-faire manner and take action aptly. If any employee is acts in a different way, then the employer as well as co-workers should keep in mind that this is an outcome of his/her ill health and understand that it is not their fault. While taking these steps, it is the responsibility of the employers to maintain confidentiality about the health issues of depressed employee from other employees. Employers should inform other staffs in case of any changes in the work allocations without letting down the privacy of depressed employee. This would reduce the possibility of tittle-tattle among the other employees. Employers should be in contact with the employees when they are absent to the work and they can also provide a chance to them to present their views on tasks that are likely to happen in the office, in spite of their absence. They should provide them assistance personally and practically. For example, take them out with other staffs after office hours, encouraging them in their work, advising them eat well, inviting them to have lunch together. Employers should try to make their employees to feel more comfortable in the workplace by inviting them as well in the meetings, work related societal events to support them for speedy recovery from depression and anxiety. All the above steps would help the employee to get rid of their depression and anxiety and concentrate on their work. This will also help the employee to increase their motivation level and self esteem. Moreover, these steps will also help the managers and the organisation to be successful by increase in productivity and company profits. Conclusion: Various finding proves that depression and anxiety has negative impacts on individual, as well as organizations. This impact continues to be raising concern in the economy. Most of the people who are suffering from depression are working without taking any breaks with the anxiety of being terminated. Some try to control their depression by the awareness. Either directly or indirectly, depression has been the reason for many death by high blood pressure, heart attacks etc. Most of the workers are suffering physically and emotionally in the workplace due to harmful workplace atmosphere. From this literature review it is proved that these situations can be managed by individuals or by the management or by the organisation to reduce the psychological illness of the employees. Changes should be done from the hierarchy level and hence it is essential for the managers to identify that they have moral responsibility and authority to protect the physical and mental health of their employees . If the organisations follow the strategies and approaches mentioned in this literature review that and prevent employee from the emotional problems, facilitate required treatment, then the company can increase the net gains in productivity. References 1. Canadian Mental Health Association. (2009). Coping with too much stress. Retrieved 2012, from http://cmhanl.ca/education/publications/cwtms/index.php. 2. Angela, S. (2010). Anxiety and Stress: How Poor Performance and Absenteeism Affect the Workplace. Florida, USA: Dissertation.com. 3. Akiskal, H. S. (2000). Mood disorders: clinical features. In B. J. Sadock, & V. A. Sadock, Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (7 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 1338–1377). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 4. Barlow, D. H., & Durand, M. V. (2005). Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach. 5. Bender, A. (2009). Depression in the workplace: Recognition and response. Benefits Canada 33 , 41. 6. Bender, K., & Furman, R. (2003). The Social Problem of Depression: A Multi-theoretical Analysis. 30 Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare , 123 . 7. Blair, D. A. (1999). Employees Suffering from Bipolar Disorder or Clinical Depression: Fighting an Uphill Battle for Protection Under Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 12 Seton Hall Law Review , 1347. 8. Clark, J. (2002). Stress: A management guide. London: Spiro Press. 9. Cox, A. A., Ness, K. M., & Carlson, R. F. (2010). International perspectives on depression in the workplace. Retrieved 2012, from http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas10/Article_04.pdf. 10. Cox, A. N. (2008). Depression in the workplace. Retrieved from VISTAS 2008 Online: http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas08/Cox.htm 11. Davison, G. C. (2008). Abnormal Psychology. Toronto: Veronica Visentin. 12. Eyers, K., & Parker, G. (2011). Tackling Depression At Work: A Practical Guide for Employees and Managers. New York: Routledge. 13. Frew, J. (2004). Motivating and leading dysfunctional employees. In J. C. Thomas, & M. Hersen (Eds.), Psychopathology in the workplace: Recognition and adaptation (pp. 293-311). New York: Brunner-Routledge. 14. Greenberg, P. E., Kessler, R. C., Birnbaum, H. G., Leong, S. A., Lowe, S. W., Berglund, P. A., et al. (2003). The economic burden of depression in the United States: How did it change between 1990 and 2000? Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 64 , 1465-1475. 15. Healey, J. (2006). Anxiety and depression. Thirroul, N.S.W.: Spinney Press. 16. Hayes, J. (2011). Dealing with Anxiety and Depression in the Workplace. Retrieved 2012, from http://www.ibectraining.ie/IBEC/Training/IBECTAD.nsf /vPages/Information_Centr

Things Fall Apart Analysis Essays

Things Fall Apart Analysis Essays Things Fall Apart Analysis Paper Things Fall Apart Analysis Paper Essay Topic: Things Fall apart Claire Stevenson HUM 211 Prof. C. Agatucci Things Fall Apart Novel Analysis 8 February 2010 Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Francis Abiola Irele. New York: Norton, 2000. A. ) How did things fall apart for Onkonwo and for the Igbo people? (*) Onkonkwo is a respected leader in the Igbo culture. At first he becomes very popular with his wrestling when he defeats Amalinze the Cat. This brings great honor to his village. Unlike his father, his goal is to gain titles for himself, and become a good man. He resents his father and wants to prove himself different. He controlls his wives and children greatly. Because he is looked up upon in their community, he is asked to take care of a young boy named â€Å"Ikemefuna. † (From Mbaino to avoid war). He becomes close to him. (especially Onkonwo’s son Nwoye). As the book goes on, Onkonkwo gets to the point where a lot of things disturb him. He goes against the Week of Peace when he beats one of his wives. Then he shoots a gun at his second wife named Ekwefi. When its time for Ikemefuna to be killed, Onkonkwo was not supposed to participate in the murder- and he did. When Nwoye realizes this, he is very sad and not happy with his father. Not feeling good for what he did, he goes to his best friend Obierika. Obierika basically tells Onkonkwo the earth goddess will seek renenge on him. During the funeral of Ezeudo, Onkonkwo’s gun goes off and kills Ezeudo’s son. This was a crime so Onkonkwo and his family had to move away. His old home is destroyed and burned down by come men in his village. While living in his new village, some missionaries come to talk about Christianity. Onkonkwo didn’t believe in it- and Nwoye did. The family ends up moving back to Umuofia and many things have changed and Onkonkwo doesn’t necessarily approve. Destruction arises due to the Igbo people not liking the extreme Christian convertion, and the problems the missionaries have brought upon the village. The leaders of the village, including Onkonkwo are thrown in jail and soon bailed out by the people of Umuofia. A meeting was held the next day and court messengers come to breat it up. Onkonkwo decapitates the leader of the group. No one tries to catch the messengers as they try to get away. Onkonkwo then is depressed again, and knows they will have to surrender for his actions. He commits suicide by hanging himself. B. ) Analyze at least one other aspect of the novel- character, setting, plot event, use of oral tradition, narrator, etc that you believe is significant to better understanding the novel. Be sure to develop and illustrate your points with specific examples from the novel and be sure to explain why you think this aspect of the novel is significant to notice and examine in helping us better understand and interpret the meaning of the novel. *) The character I am choosing to analyze is Onkonkwo- the protagonist in Things Fall Apart. He is a very powerful character in his novel, being respected by society, controlling his family, a leader of Umuofia, a great yam farmer.. etc. His major problem is he doesn’t want to fail in something and he doesn’t want to show he can’t do something. He does not display affection toward anyone- including his family and friends, even if he is thinking and feeling it. He is not very smart when it comes to certain things- and goes against his people’s traditions and his gods. Ex: He was not supposed to participate in the murder of Ikefemuna and he did because he didn’t want to be a weak man. He also lets his gun go off during the eldest man in the villages funeral and kills the dead mans son. He had to move away due to this action. Furthermore, he beats his wife during the Peace Week, which betrayed his people and gods. He was so strong minded that he was making the wrong decisions at times. Onkonkwo helped me better understand the meaning and significance of the novel because he made me realize how that African society worked. He linked together the people, the gods, and the beliefs of everyone in the book. It was also brought to my knowledge how important gods, and traditions were to African people. I also realized the consequences of certain actions, and how they didn’t beast around the bush at all. Everything was straightforward in their culture. Onkonkwo was a very legitimate example to me in terms of how this African society went about certain actions, traditions and beliefs. He was a character that had many good and bad aspects throughout the novel. I now better understand the ways of African culture and traditions.