How Religion Affects Society Essay

More generally, social scientists are discovering the continuing power of religion to protect the family from the forces that would tear it down. 13 Professor Bergin’s summary was echoed two years later by nationally syndicated columnist William Raspberry: â€Å"Almost every commentator on the current scene bemoans the increase of violence, lowered ethical standards and loss of civility that mark American society. Is the decline of religious influence part of what is happening to us? Is it not Just possible that anti-religious bias masquerading as religious neutrality is costing more than we have been willing to acknowledge? † 14 Other reviewsl 5 also list the positive effects of religious belief and practice in reducing uch problems as suicide, substance abuse, divorce, and marital dissatisfaction. Such evidence indicates clearly that religious practice contributes significantly to the quality of American life. Given this evidence, Congress should: Begin a new national debate to help renew the role of religion in American life; Ask the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review the evidence on the beneficial effects of religious practice in the relevant social science literature and report its findings to a national commission formed to promote the consideration of religious Fund federal experiments with school choice that ractice among U. S. citizens; include religiously affiliated schools; Pass a sense-of-the-congress resolution that data on religious practice are useful for policymakers and researchers as part of the public policy debate; and Mandate a census question on religious practice. It religious practice in America. The President should: Appoint Judges who are more sensitive to the role of religion in public life, with the Senate ensuring that such is the case by ascertaining the stand of Judges on matters of religion and its relationship to the Constitution; Direct the Bureau of he Census to record levels of religious practice in the census for the year 2000 (time is running out for preparation of the census questionnaire); and Issue a directive to all federal agencies making clear that cooperation between government entities and the social, medical, and educational services of faith-based organizations does not violate separation of church and state. The U. S. Supreme Court should: Review the decisions in which it has changed the laws of the land by changing commonly held beliefs regarding the Constitution and religion and send to Congress hose that should have been the object of legislative action rather than Judicial reinterpretation. America’s religious leaders should: Be much more assertive in emphasizing the contribution of religion to the health of the nation and in resisting efforts to minimize religion in public discourse; Make clear to their congregations that they are contributing not only to their own welfare, but also to the well-being of the nation by their regular attendance at religious worship; Take special care of the religious formation of children, especially during the transition period from childhood to adolescence, when they are ost likely to lose their religious faith; Recognize that the church in the inner city, especially the black church, has a vital role to play in helping its people escape from the degrading culture of inner-city poverty;

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 18

Marketing - Essay Example On the cultural side, the era of library and paper books is quickly fading away. People today live busier lives and believe that they have too much to catch up on. Therefore, the â€Å"gadget culture† is prevailing where people conduct almost all their operations and duties with their cell phones, laptops, tablet devices and others. From booking an airline ticket to sending a birthday card, from shopping for grocery to ordering a pizza, from reading the newspaper to watching movies, everything is now happening online. This online or e-book mindset will further support such companies. The economic environment, which can be characterized by economic recession and its continued impacts, is dampening the sales of books. The statistics for the first half of the year 2011 reveal that book sales and volume have been decreasing even the export of books from UK is also on decline. In the midst of this recession, the digital book sales are growing at an exponential rate. To be exact, the growth for the first half of the 2011 for digital book sales was over 37 percent compared to first half of 2010. The total size of the digital market now stands at 180 million pounds which now represents over 7 percent of the total book sales (digital and physical combined) in the UK. Another important development for Waterstones in the political-legal front is the fact that the government seems enthusiastic and determined to stop any online piracy.

Case study reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case study reflection - Essay Example Reflections: Coaching, learning, and the learner In order to respond to changing customer demands, workplace learning, as a subset of the greater literature on knowledge management, has becoming increasingly paramount. One of the most common approaches to workplace learning and leadership development is coaching. Coaching is a â€Å"process through which supervisors may communicate clear expectations to employees, provide feedback and suggestions for improving performance, and facilitate employees’ efforts to solve problems or take on new challenges† (Heslin et al., 2006 cited in Liu and Batt, 2010, pp.269-270). It trains people through regular interactions that help employees take up effective work skills and behaviours. The study by Liu and Batt (2010) propose a model, where they stress that there is a positive relationship between coaching and job performance (Agarwal, Angst, and Magni, 2009; Kets de Vries, 2005), but the former note there is weak empirical evidence, because these studies employed perceptual measures and approximated performance differences between individuals, as product differential treatments of coaching (Liu and Batt, 2010, p.271). ... I agree that coaching impacts individual performance over time, depending on numerous factors, such as teaching and leadership style of the coach and the learning style of the subordinates or trainees (Agarwal, Angst, and Magni, 2009). I experienced coaching several subordinates and it helped a great deal that I focused on knowing them first, before I developed my coaching approach. For instance, some people are very independent workers. They do not appreciate constant monitoring from their coaches. Others, however, need more direct coaching. The fundamental concept behind interpersonal relationships and coaching effectiveness can be explained by the process consultation approach. Hackman and Wageman (2005) talk about different coaching theories, such as the process consultation approach developed by Schein (1969, 1988 cited in Hackman and Wageman, 2005, p.270). Schein argues that proficient interpersonal relations are indispensable for effective task performance and that group membe rs themselves must participate in analysing and improving those relationships. The consultant, or in this case, the coach, engages member involvement in examining group processes on two levels concurrently: 1) â€Å"the substantive level†- to study how human processes are influencing work on a particular organisational problem, and 2) â€Å"the internal level†- to better comprehend the team’s own interface processes and the ways that team processes cultivate or encumber effective group functioning (Schein, 1988, pp. 11–12 cited in Hackman and Wageman, 2005, p.270). Lee (2009) argues that a skilled, shrewd facilitator, who moulds interpersonal skills and dispositions essential for effective team work, can make the

White Privilege (Compare and Contrast) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

White Privilege (Compare and Contrast) - Essay Example The concept of white privilege has remained a contentious subject of academic discourse within critical race theory and the focus of this paper is to compare and contrast the different perspectives pertaining to the concept of white privilege with specific reference to Tim Wise’s â€Å"This is Your Nation on White Privilege†, Blanche Curry’s â€Å"Whiteness and Feminism†; Joy James’ â€Å"maintaining and Kicking White Supremacy†; Peggy McIntosh’s â€Å"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack†, and Tiffany Joseph’s â€Å"Why don’t you get somebody new to do it† Race and cultural taxation in the academy. It is submitted at the outset that the underlying common thread between these academic commentaries is the acknowledgement of the theoretical concept of white privilege as a symbol of inequality between the opportunities and advantages accorded to white people in contrast to non-whites within the Ame rican social construct. For example, whilst using different narrative perspectives, both Wise and McIntosh highlight what they appear to believe is the undisputed reality of white privilege in America. McIntosh uses subjective experience to refer to the distinct advantages she has in the workplace in comparison to her African American counterparts: â€Å"39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race... 43. I can have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem† (McIntosh 4). Similarly, Wise refers to the distinction in racial perceptions being directly attributable to the concept of â€Å"white privilege† by using a listing technique for emphasis similar to McIntosh. For example, Wise comments that â€Å"white privilege is when you can call yourself a â€Å"fuckin’ redneck... talk about how you like to â€Å"shoot shit† for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible all American boy....rather than a thug† (Wise). However, whilst these commentaries seek to highlight the concept of white privilege and its impact on the perception and stereotypes within the American social paradigm; some of the commentaries seek to go beyond pre-existing assumptions regarding white privilege within critical race theory by evaluating the white privilege paradigm through a contextual approach. This is particularly evident with Curry and Joseph’s contextual analysis of the overriding influence of white perspectives in seminal aspects of academic discourse. For example, on the one hand Wise’s somewhat sarcastic take on the concept of white privilege highlights the fact that racial inequality permeates social assumptions and preconceptions in American society in particular (Wise). On the other hand, Curry’s discussion of white privilege undertakes a contextual approach with specific reference to developments in feminism and feminist theory to highlight how the dominanc e of the white perspective in feminist theory ignores important female perspectives which are imperative to a comprehensive and representative model of feminist theory (Curry 243). Moreover, Curry argues that the concept of feminism is intrinsically linked to the subjective experience and as such, the cultural experience is important in the continuous development of feminist theory. Curry suggests that the dominance of white privilege within America’s social history means that the pre-existing discourse on feminism and feminist theory has developed with a white bias that ignores other cultures (Curry 244). For example, Curry highlights the point that whilst there is a â€Å"known and populist version of feminism†, she suggests that the dominance of accepted feminism theory being white has led to â€Å"deja-vu† marginalisation, which in turn undermines the weight accorded to

In a study in this unit, you found an organizational improvement Term Paper

In a study in this unit, you found an organizational improvement model, process, or tool for addressing health care laws or poli - Term Paper Example The nurse supervisor studies surveys and other quantitative and qualitative data as a basis for implementing significant changes to improve the health care facilities’ current service quality. Currently, the changes in the present organization’s health care policies are to slow. This is understandable because some persons deter the unfavorable effects of change. On the other hand, some health care subordinates feel disgruntled with the disparity between current health care policies and the real situation in a typical patient – nurse relationship. The current policies are too outmoded or too general. The policies are made without regular consultation from the most affected persons – the nurse subordinates. The current health care policies are implemented without conducting an in-depth survey of the real situation within the wards and other departments of the health care facilities. Paul Bate (2007) reiterated the nurse supervisor should not focus on gatheri ng of data as an end. On the other hand, the nurse supervisor must implement a timely gathering of relevant data to update and enhance the health care facilities’ present patient-based policies.

Demand and supply theory Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Demand and supply theory - Term Paper Example Thus, for the exchange of interests (expressed in terms of goods and services) to occur, demand and supply has to exist, but at some costs. From the field of academia to industrial circles, the basic premises of supply and demand are integrated into the daily actions of the society. To be sure, the theoretical mastery of economics depends much on the understanding of the theory at hand (Gandolfi, Gandolfi, and Barash 5-6). The theory of demand and supply is, therefore, an organization principle that coordinates the production of goods and services (in quantities, often referred to as output) to satisfy societal needs through the market (price) mechanism. Intuitively, the price mechanism functions in a perfectly competitive environment to maintain equilibrium of compensation to goods and services delivered by suppliers (supply side) and paid for by the consumers (demand side). The theory of demand and supply applies best to a theoretically free market structure in which no group of bu yers or sellers holds the power to set market prices. Accordingly, the theory has two sides: the demand side and the supply side, which both function in the interest of the social needs. For a given commodity delivered in the market for exchange, demand measures the quantity that buyers would be willing and able to acquire at a unit price (Gandolfi, Gandolfi and Barash 17). According to the theory, all consumers are rational decision makers who seek to maximize their utility by choosing the "best" bundle (in terms of quantity) of goods that their money (income) can buy (Silberberg and Suen 252–254). Noteworthy, the two units of measurements in the theory of demand are inversely related; a relationship that sums up the law of demand. That is, ceteris paribus, any increase in the price of a commodity in a purely competitive market environment lowers the number of people (buyers) willing to buy the product. Higher product prices in this case may cause a massive shift by consumer s towards more relatively cheaper substitute commodities; a scenario summarized in economics as price substitution effect. Conversely, consumers’ purchasing power acquired through a reduction in the price of a commodity offered for sale in the market increases their ability to buy the product with a possible consequential effect of a massive shift from other commodities considered expensive (income effect). It is important to note that the changes in product prices as well as the quantities along the demand curve occur with all other determinants predominantly held constant (constrained utility maximization) (Samuelson 79). That is, there are many other factors such as income, tastes and preferences, prices of substitute goods among others that occasionally come into play to affect demand of a given product or service. A change in the amount of income, for instance, shifts the demand curve either to the left or right depending on whether the change in income is negative or po sitive respectively. A sample shift in demand curve due to a decrease in income is shown in the diagram below. Supply on the other hand measures the quantity of commodities made available for exchange at a unit price in the market by sellers (Gandolfi,

Chase Management and Leadership Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chase Management and Leadership - Term Paper Example me time, JPMorgan must determine the best method to satisfy foreign customers with vastly different needs and lifestyle values in an ever-changing and adaptable work environment. This requires dedication to setting up a healthier organizational culture built on teamwork and trust as primary principles for the business. This paper describes the role of manager versus leader at JPMorgan Chase, the process of maintaining a healthy organizational culture, and offers strategies on how to support a vigorous and dedicated team of professionals. The roles of traditional manager and that of an internal leader are significantly different in today’s fast-paced, international business environments. The role of manager is that of planning new operational activities and delegation of employee responsibilities, including assessment of financial data through management accounting. In the role of manager at JPMorgan Chase, this would include reviewing strategic plans, developing risk management policies, and considering the scope of major capital investments (Epstein & Roy, 2010). This role is primarily operational and strategic in nature, assessing long-term strategies and then aligning internal staff to meet these mandated goals. The role of manager in this financial institution is also setting a series of control practices, such as new employee policies, to ensure that all members of the organizational staff are performing their job roles effectively and considering proper allocation of organizational resources both budget ary and human resources-related. Management is a process-minded and procedural role with considerable employee oversight. In an organization like JPMorgan Chase, it involves a transactional focus, which is offering contingent reward to high performers based on their individual or group performance for meeting corporate goals (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). In this role, at a company like JPMorgan, these activities include monitoring changes in financial