Effective Team & Performance Management Assignment

Effective Team & Performance Management - Assignment Example However, effective team management is not at all a simple and easy task. Whenever a group of individuals with different approaches and mindsets work in collaboration towards common and shared goals, effective team management is the consequence (Cokins, 2010, pp. 81). In relation to the effective team and performance management, this thesis report intends to surface the key issues, experiences, and effective solutions to the problems encountered during the group tasks performed in the seminar activities. This is imperative to comprehend because the models and experiences would enable the development of the wisdom of how the learning experiences from participating in group-activities facilitates in developing personal reflection. Seminar is one of the methods that brings together numerous people under one roof to perform various activities and tasks that can bring forth the hidden skills and abilities of an individual. Several theories and models come under application that reflects th e effective team and performance management during the seminar activities. ... to the Goleman Emotional Intelligence, which is a behavioral model that helps understand the learned abilities including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (Salovey, Brackett & Mayer, 2004, pp. 90). Reflection Reflection upon Seminar Activities Seminar activities involve a number of people who work in amalgamation as a team that can lead to successful completion of the group activities and tasks. In any tasks, the group members come across quite a few issues and discrepancies due to having different approach, mindsets, perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, personalities, mental ability, motivation, and prior experiences. However, the effective team and performance management comes as a result when all the members resolve the issues and internal inconsistencies (Cecil & Rothwell, 2006, pp. 375-376). While taking into account the first seminar tasks, it was about 'lost on the moon', where my team members and me were supposed to rank few items wi th reference to their significance for survival. According to this assignment, our spaceship had a crash-landing on the moon and it destroyed all equipments on board except for the few items due to which the scheduling of the meeting with the mother ship could not happen. The saved items included matchbox, food concentrate, nylon rope, parachute silk, portable heating unit, pistols, dehydrated milk, oxygen tanks, stellar map, life raft, magnetic compass, water, first-aid kit, and FM receiver transmitter. We had to select the most critical items that can help save the crew until the mother ship reaches us. While looking at the model of the Belbin team roles, the way in which an individual behaves and intermingles with other members of the team that lead to the effective movement of the team

Leonardo da Vinci Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leonardo da Vinci - Research Paper Example Largely self-educated, Da Vinci went on to fill thousands of dense and neatly penned secret commentaries and theories, a number of which have been descriptively difficult to interpret. Though his ideas and findings had no direct influence on later science, the very combination of intellect and imagination to create such inventions as a flying machine [aircraft] based on the physiology of a bat would later enter the world of manufacturing with the ultimate assembly of a number of powered engine machines like the automated bobbin winder. A polymath with an "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination," Da Vinci’s intellect, energy, and bravery in confronting problems and/or questions his time cut him uniquely among the rest as perhaps the most diversely talented individual that has ever lived. Indeed as art historian Helen Gardner (1970) notes, Da Vinci’s personality was without precedent, not only with regards to the scope and depth of his interests, bu t also in terms of the mystery as well as how remote his observations were; for the empirical methods he employed were far much beyond the workable designs of his time. His private life was kept much way from the public limelight, drawing much speculation from a section of scholars, more so about his sexuality. With reverence for sight (â€Å"knowing how to see†) as the most important aspect of human life, Da Vinci saw art and science as complementary rather than distinct, in effect, summing up his intellectual acumen that traversed across fields of study (Freud, 2012). Accordingly, he spent a great deal of time testing scientific laws, dissecting bodies, those humans as well as animals, structuring his observations, and finally releasing his thoughts in the thousands of manuscripts that have more than divided scholars on the specificity of his vision. Probably due to

The Transnational History of a Chinese Family Essay Example for Free

The Transnational History of a Chinese Family Essay Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing to the early 20th century, many Chinese families struggled to gain social, economic, and educational stature in both China and the United States. In the book, A Transnational History of a Chinese Family, by Haiming Liu, we learn about the Chang family rooted in Kaiping County, China, who unlike many typical Chinese families’ exemplified hard-work and strong cultural values allowing them to pursue an exceptional Chinese-American lifestyle. Even with immigration laws preventing Chinese laborers and citizens to enter unless maintaining merchant status, Yitang and Sam Chang managed to sponsor approximately 40 relatives to the states with their businesses in herbalist medicine and asparagus farming. Though the Chang’s encountered many of the hardships typical of Chinese families for the time, they relied on their outstanding work ethic so that their families would always be supported, receive the best possible education, and preserve family and kinship relationships to get them through the tough times and long periods of separation. America in the early 19th century was a place full of racial discrimination, and citizens were very unwelcoming to immigrants of other races. During this time period, they did not find the presence of these immigrants useful, and went as far as passing federal restrictions on immigration. For one race in particular, the Chinese, there were very high restrictions in place. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which we discussed in lecture, banned almost all Chinese laborers and their families from entering the U. S for 10 years. Some changes were made, and the Act was passed again as in 1892 as the Geary Act, but it was not completely repealed until 1942. Luckily, being an herbalist, Yitang Chang was classified as a merchant, and this allowed them to immigrate into America since they were not laborers. This classification was a sign of an educated Chinese man, a quality many Chinese laborers and immigrants did not possess. Yitang was eventually able to bring over family members to help with his business once he was settled. He first called upon his son Sam Chang to travel across the Pacific and assist him in the family business, giving him the opportunity to further support his family. MENTION WORK ETHIC AND HOW THIS RELATES TO THE CHANGS IMMIGRATION PROCESS, SOCIETY ALREADY AGAINST THEM Along with the Exclusion Act barring further immigration, immigrants who were already in America had to work around another restriction known as the Alien Land Act, which we also discussed in class. This prohibits both Chinese and Japanese immigrants from owning or leasing land unless they were American-born. This made it arduous for families, as it forced them to rely on those family members who were citizens to register the land under their name, which made their kinship and appreciation for each other stronger. The Chang family had registered their land under Sam’s third and fourth daughters names as they were both American citizens, but not all families were privileged enough to have those members to fall back on. With all the discrimination the Chinese race was suffering in America, Yitang sought it to be best if his wife and kids stayed in China until he could make a better life in America. Yitang and Sam Chang were successful in starting up an herbalist shop and asparagus farm and quickly realized there were many advantages to owning them, both socially and economically. Owning an herbalist shop provided cures and treatments for illness and other various diseases by using holistic medicine. It put the Chang’s in constant contact with both Chinese and Americans looking to him for help in his area of expertise. This was a reverse encounter many immigrants never experienced. Patients realized the risks of this profession, as it dealt with human health, and they began to feel how beneficial these herbs were to their own health. After earning a positive reputation in the community, the Changs began to form relationships and friendships with people in a higher social class, one in which they strived for. These relationships he would later be able utilize in testimony when helping his family migrate to the U. S, a key role in the economic success of the businesses. Like we discussed in lecture, most Chinese immigrants were laborers and did not receive many pleasant encounters with white men. Although Yitang was seen by many Americans as a valuable Chinese immigrant, he and his family members still received discrimination other immigrants had to face. Their thriving asparagus farm did not have as many social benefits as the herbalist business did, but the farm was their main source of income, and with this they were able to provide for their families while living transnationally. Once the Chang family moved into Los Angeles and had their herbalist shop and asparagus farm under way, they realized the need for more laborers. In order to support their wives and kids with groceries, clothing, and education, the Chang’s needed to find the cheapest labor possible while still establishing the farm as a business that could support their income. The cheapest laborers were relatives, and they were for the most part thankful to come and work for Yitang, even if it was not their ideal working situation. One frustration Sam expressed in the book that may correlate to the continuing poor treatment and vision of the Chinese, is that within the Chinese workforce, most hard-working laborers in the railroad, farming, mining, and foresting businesses were almost 50 years or older and sent a majority of their earnings back to their families in China. Meanwhile, the younger Chinese generations were involved in gambling, restaurants, and laundries as they did not have the willpower to spend long days in the sun working in the fields, and knowingly allowed their elders to partake in much harder work than they had. This was viewed by many as un-filial, especially from a culture so embodied with ‘filial piety’, which is a virtue of respect for ones parents and ancestors. This did not seem to be the case with the Japanese-Americans however, who regardless of their age, dedicated so much hard-work to the farming and grocery business. Sam writes in a letter home, â€Å"While the Japanese have made much progress, the Chinese have achieved downward rather than upward mobility,† and refers to the younger Chinese generations as â€Å"parasites† and â€Å"lazy bones. † Sam was intelligent enough and quickly figured out the importance of weeding out the unproductive workers who complained too often, and keeping the ones who complained from time to time but whose work reflected dedication. To Sam’s surprise, even a few of the younger Chang relatives who were sponsored to help on the farm complained often and did not show as much commitment as Sam had expected. It was apparent when workers, especially family members did not share the same interest in the goals of the farming business and were solely concerned with making their wages and returning back to their families as soon as possible. This occurrence was very rare in the Chinese culture, as one of their main values is the strength of their kinship relationships. In the Chinese culture the word â€Å"kinship† refers to the entire family, including extended family. Not all Chinese businesses encountered this struggle with diligence, while some failed under the lack of perseverance, and the ones that did, play a role in the different views Americans had of Chinese people compared to the Japanese. While some of the kinship relationships in the Chang family were slightly severed, most family members who were given the opportunity to work on the asparagus farm saw it as an honor and were thankful to be sponsored by Yitang. Unfortunately, and fortunately, Yitang acquired many of the relative workers due to family unrest in China. While returning home for a visit four years after his initial trip to America, there were family conflicts where they were fighting over land and ended up spliing into two different kinship organizations. The arguments resulted in outrage and sometimes violence. Yitang finally urged his kinship to move out of the province to a safer area until he could get them to the U. S. This shows how rural families, the Chang family in particular, would move from time to time depending on their social and economic situations in order to strengthen their family success and kinship relationships in the migration process. Many Chinese businesses were not as successful as the Chang’s. Struggles arose because families could not make enough of a profit with just one farm of agriculture and did not have the resources or money to purchase more land or hire workers. The Chang family, having their herbalist medicine shop was crucial to their success. Although the farming generated more revenue, the family members who were sponsored to America came in as merchants claiming work at Yitang’s herbalist shop. They eventually maintained another asparagus farm and generated enough of a profit to further educate their children and grandchildren so they could have lives just as fulfilling, which in the Chinese culture was the greatest honor a parent could feel. Education for the Chinese was the most important achievement and was the gateway to all the success the Chang family incurred on their transnational voyage. It all started with Yitang as a young herbalist mentor and only after years of schooling and experience gained enough confidence to travel to America to open his own shop in Los Angeles. With having the experiences he did and knowing how important education is in reaching your goals, he strived to instill the desire to receive the best education possible in all his children and grandchildren. Self-sacrifice of the parents obliged the children to work vigorously in school in hopes of pursuing a good career that allowed them social mobility. The Chang family benefitted greatly from having received educational opportunities in both China and America. Education for most started in China where they received basic Chinese literacy schooling, but they would eventually leave home to attend more advanced schools in other towns or cities. Sam’s son Tennyson and daughter Constance were paid more attention to in this book in regards to education. Both were born in China and while Tennyson stayed there throughout his entire schooling and career, Constance went to America for part of her schooling, but then returned to China for a college education. While attaining an education in the early 20th century America was cheaper for the Chang family, it was not necessarily the best choice for their ideals and overall morale. Sam believed that it was important to have a well-versed knowledge and understanding of the Chinese culture and education as well as having an English educational background. Because of this, Tennyson who remained in China and never had the exposure to the English language that Constance did, searched for someone to come and teach him English. The Chang family stressed being culturally diverse, but when it came down to it also stressed looking into a future in China as the economic and social opportunities were far more vast and accommodating. Many Chinese-American children attended school in America their whole life, and it was known that secondary school campuses were not a very suitable environment for young children, women in particular. At this age kids are very impressionable and the values that American born Chinese possessed were different than the naturalized Chinese citizens. While Sam never personally saw his own daughter struggle with low self-esteem, or harassment by men, the general consensus was that the children were very impressionable and for this reason he made the tough decision to send Constance back to China for her senior high, and college. While low self-esteem wasn’t a huge worry for Sam with Constantine, children that did suffer from it tended to come from and surround themselves with people of lower social classes. Yitang and Sam made the choice to surround themselves with wealthy, educated, upper-class Chinese and even Americans during their stay in the states, and they only hoped to encourage their children to want the same as it helps maintains important relationships, and a healthy, determined mind. In Sam’s decision to send Constantine back to China it is apparent that the cultural values and aspects gave way to the economic aspects. The position of higher social status of the Chang family in both China and America is an example of how the Chang family was not your typical Chinese immigrant family. During the years of Yitang’s stay in America his kinship relations and commitment to home never changed. His transnational achievements were not internally gratifying for only Yitang, but also for the whole Chang lineage. Due to his major successes obtained while abroad, family members in China built an ancestral hall in his honor. Ancestral halls were usually constructed after someone has passed, so the proposal for it to be constructed during his life further illuminates just how highly regarded he was in the Chang family. [ 1 ]. Haiming Liu, The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration (New Brunswick, N. J. : Rutgers University Press, 2005), 117. [ 2 ]. Liu, The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration, 117. [ 3 ]. Liu, The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration, 2. [ 4 ]. Liu, The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration, 36. [ 5 ]. Liu, The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration, 126. [ 6 ]. Liu, The Transnational History of a Chinese Family: Immigrant Letters, Family Business, and Reverse Migration, 43.

Digital image processing

Digital image processing Vision is the most dynamic of all our senses since it provides us with a huge amount of information about what surrounds us. It is not surprising that an ancient Chinese proverb that quotes: â€Å"A picture is worth a thousand words† is still widely used. All this information is valuable for simple procedures (for example planning our everyday activities), but also for more complex processes as the development of our intelligence. At the level of social organization, images are also important as a means of transmitting information, and almost all of todays media are based on our vision. The huge amount of visual information and the need for its processing, lead scientists and technicians towards research in order to discover a means for digital image storage and processing using computers. This effort resulted in a new Information Engineering Industry called â€Å"Digital Image Processing and Analysis†. This industry began to grow fifteen years ago. However, it has show n a dynamic development, especially during the most recent years and it is considered a science and technology with a promising future and many potential. As the title indicates, Digital Image Processing is concentrated on digital images and their processing by a computer. Therefore, both the input and output of this process are digital images. Digital image processing can be used for various reasons: improvement of the quality of images, filtering of noise caused by transmission, compression of image information, image storage and digital transmission. On the other hand, digital image analysis deals with the description and recognition of the content of an image. This description is usually symbolic. Therefore, the input when it comes to digital image analysis, is a digital image and the output is a symbolic description. Image analysis principally tries to mimic human vision. Therefore, an identical term which is often used is â€Å"Computer Vision†. It has to be underlined that computer vision is a complex neuro-physiological mechanism driven by upper level knowledge (high level vision). The characteristics of this mechanism are not known and existing mathematical models are yet inadequately accurate. As a result, it is difficult to simulate high level vision by a computer. For this reason, the methods used for image analysis when it comes to machine vision and human vision vary significantly. Image analysis is easier in the case of applications where the environment, objects and lighting conditions are fixed. This is usually the case of a production process in industry. The branch of computer vision which is used in industry is called â€Å"Robotic Vision†. The analysis is much more difficult in applications where the environment is unknown and there is a large number of objects or the different objects are unclear or difficult to separate (for example in biomedical applications or in outdoor / natural scenes). In such applications, even exper ts find it difficult to recognize objects. For these reasons, it is still difficult to obtain a general image analysis system. Most existing systems are designed for specialized applications. OTHER RELATED RESEARCH AREAS Digital image processing and analysis are related to various other scientific areas because of their subject of research. Recently, there is a tendency, at least in terms of applications, for digital image processing to become an interdisciplinary industry. Some related research areas are: Digital Signal Processing Graphics Pattern Recognition Artificial Intelligence Telecommunications and Media Multimedia Systems We will examine the relation of each of these areas with digital image processing and image analysis independently, since the way they are related is not very clear. Digital Image Processing Vs Digital Signal Processing Every image can be described as a two-dimensional signal. Therefore, for the analysis and processing of digital images all the techniques of digital signal processing can be used. This area provides the theoretical and programming base for image processing. Digital Image Processing Vs Graphic Fundamentally, the subject of graphic is digital synthesis. Therefore, the input is a symbolic description and the output is a digital image. For this purpose a geometric modelling of the display object takes place, as well as a digital description of the lighting conditions and digital production of the objects illuminants in the assumed position of the camera. Digital Image Processing Vs Pattern Recognition Pattern recognition deals with the classification of an object to a class of models (class pattern). For example, trying to recognize whether a new object is a resistor, a capacitor, or an integrated circuit. For this purpose, an object has to be described using certain characteristics (features), mostly numbers (for example: diameter and area), and then it can be classified based on these characteristics. Digital Image Processing Vs Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence and image understanding are areas where a symbolic representation of an image is converted to another more complex representation or a representation more easily comprehensible to humans. Usually, techniques for representation of human knowledge (knowledge representation) and reasoning (inference) are used for this purpose. The analysis of a â€Å"scene† requires higher cognitive processes and that is why it is also known as high-level vision. On the other hand, image processing is more related to the lower levels of vision, that take place in the human eye and optic nerve and as a result it is also known as low level vision. Digital Image Processing Vs Telecommunications The field of telecommunications is related to digital image transmission in telecommunication networks that transmit voice and data. The resulting networks are called Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN). A key problem concerning image transmissions is the compression of the images content, since a colour image requires about 750 Kbytes for its description. The construction of special algorithms for coding and decoding is also required. Digital image processing is also directly connected to the HDTV (High Definition TV). Its basic aim is the compression of the vast amount of information and the improvement of the quality of images that are received. Digital Image Processing Vs New Generation Databases The new generation of databases includes image, signal (voice) and data storage. In this field, digital image processing deals with image coding and analysis by finding smart ways of recovery (retrieval) of images. DIFFERENT AREAS OF DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING Digital image processing includes several areas that are closely related. Some of those areas are mentioned below: Capture of the image Digital Filtering of the image Edge Detection Region Segmentation Shape Description Texture Analysis Motion Analysis Stereoscopy It is logical that the description of all these areas is not possible in a short presentation. However, the literature is so wide that several books would be needed in order to describe adequately the digital image processing. Moreover, image processing is a cognitive area that makes extensive use of specialized mathematical, which makes it difficult to be presented to an audience. For this reason the description of the area it is purely qualitative. Capture of the Image The first thing that has to be described is the capturing mechanism of the images. The most classic means of capturing an image is by a photographic camera and a film. However, this technique is not very useful in the field of digital image processing, since the captured image cannot be easily processed by computer. On the other hand, electronic capture is particularly interesting because the image can be digitized and then processed by a computer. For this reason, conventional electronic video cameras are widely used. Electronic video cameras scan the image and produce an electrical signal as an output. There are various camera technologies (for example Orthicon, Vidicon, CCD). The electric signal produced by the camera is then led to a frame grabber. During the process of digitalization, the analogue signal is converted to a digital signal using an A / D converter. Thus, the image is converted into a matrix of 256256 or 512512 points (spots). Each point is typically represented by 8 bits, i.e. 256 levels of brightness. However, a common technique in some fields (e.g. robotics) is a binary representation of images that uses only 1 bit / position. This representation is used in order to save memory and speed in the case of simple applications. In some other cases where the colour of an image is critical, colour cameras and three A / D converters are used. In this case the three primary RGB colours (red-green-blue) are saved with 38 bits / position. As a result, digital image processing has large memory requirements, even for black and white images. The digitized image is stored as a file on the computers local disk. To be able to see the image, we need to transfer it to a special RAM memory (image memory) connected to a monitor. Such monitors may be black and white or colour (RGB). Colour monitors are mostly used even in black and white applications because they have the ability to show â€Å"pseudocolours†. Finally, the image in any program of image pro cessing appears as a two-dimensional table (array) 256256 or 512512 which is â€Å"filled† by the computers local disk or by the image memory in which the image is stored. The process of capturing an image can cause the following distortions: Blurring Noise Geometric Distortions Therefore, before any application the correction of these distortions is essential. Geometric corrections are mostly needed where geometric information is important, e.g. stereoscopes, topography. The reduction of blurring is done through the process of recovery (restoration). The recovery process is particularly important in applications where there is movement, (e.g. a ‘scene of a road) because the motion introduces blurring. In most cases the filtering of the image is also very important in order to remove noise. This can be done by various linear or nonlinear filters. Usually, nonlinear filters are mostly used because they maintain the contrast of the edges, which is a very important factor for human vision. The overall image contrast can also be improved by special non-linear techniques (contrast enhancement). Edge Detection Another important process of image analysis is the recognition (tracing) of contours. There are many techniques that can be used for edge detection. The development of various edge detection techniques was imperative due to the important information about the objects used for identification, which can be found in the contours. The dual problem of edge recognition is the recognition of regions in an image. This problem is called image segmentation. Usually the different regions of an image are coloured with â€Å"pseudocolours†. Texture Analysis In several industrial applications the recognition (or analysis) of the texture is very important. An example of the importance of texture recognition in industrial applications is its use in recognition of different fabrics, or recognition of flaws in a cloth. Recognition of traffic is also a very important field of computer vision for many applications, e.g. traffic monitoring, automatic driving, recognition of moving objects, digital television, videoconferencing, telephone with image compression and broadcast animation. Is should be noticed, that recognition of traffic has large memory requirements for storage and real time processing. This can only be achieved through parallel image processing and use of special VLSI chips. Shape Description Another area of computer vision which is particularly useful in pattern recognition is the description of shape (shape representation). A shape is described either by its border, or by the area it covers. The edge of a shape can be described in different ways, e.g. Fourier descriptors, splines. The area of a shape can be described by methods of mathematical morphology, decomposition with simple shapes, etc. These methods are used either for the storage of a shape, or for its identification. Stereoscopes Many applications require measurement of depth. In this case stereoscopy with two cameras can be used. Stereoscopy is particularly useful in photogrammetry and robot movement in a three dimensional space.

Cohabitation Essay -- Relationships Marriage Essays

Cohabitation Is cohabitation the right alternative to marriage? The increasing amounts or studies done in relation to cohabiting couples shows that this controversial topic is more common than most American’s think. Marriage used to be considered a defining event in a couple’s relationship, often marking the beginning of intimate relations, sharing a common household, and even childbearing. By definition, unmarried cohabitation is the status of couples who are sexual partners, not married to each other, and sharing a household (Popenoe). These two definitions seem to be similar in what each union reflects, but outwardly marriage includes a legal union that is meant to be a lifelong commitment. The meaning and permanence of marriage may be changing as cohabitation increases, (Casper 40) and this is in turn creating a society who is largely focused on self-fulfilling events, no commitment, and a lower understanding of what is best for our children. The research done regarding the effe cts cohabitation has on children, morality based on religious opinion, and the consequences of cohabitation explain why this growing change in society is wrong. Thirty years ago, living together for unmarried, heterosexual couples was against the law (Popenoe). It is facts like that which make the moral changes in society seem unpredictable. Who would have thought that something as sacred and universally understood as marriage would become so subtle. The proportion of unmarried women who were cohabiting tripled, from 3 to 9 percent, between 1978 and 1998, and unmarried men who were cohabiting increased from 5 to almost 12 percent (Casper 41). Statistics follow along with the changing society. Just as the age for marriage has increased, this has ... ...nstead of marriage. Especially when children are involved, there are many more aspects of living together outside of marriage that need to be taken into consideration. Not only obvious speculations like how the finances will be divided should be taken into consideration, but also morality and situational elements need to be discussed. Socially it may be acceptable, but that is wrong. That is society’s way of weakening marriage as a pure institution (Popenoe). Americans need to start reviewing what is right and what is wrong and reiterate the information into society. Sex should not be shown as glamorous and necessary, but rather as something significant that binds two people together. These themes would help turn around the quickly changing ideal of how family really should be, and turn it back to the right direction where unity is what the world is working towards.

Have You Ever Acted as a Change Agent? :: MBA College Admissions Essays

Have You Ever Acted as a Change Agent? Â   My company is a family owned organization run by conventional management techniques, which include visiting the plant everyday and solving problems as they occur. As the technical director, my responsibility, among others, is to maintain product quality. However, I noticed the company had no communication with its customers and could not identify the desired quality of yarns and fabrics in the local market. With management ignoring dealers' complaints, I and my colleagues in the technical department decided to establish a system to gather customer feedback. Our plan ultimately changed our attitude towards quality. Â   To communicate with our customers, we placed address information forms in every 50kg carton of finished goods and asked the customers to fill out and return them for company calendars and diaries. We collected 267 forms within the first three months and to my surprise found that those 267 processing mills serve 95% of our customers. A number of complaints required as little effort as shifting a lever in the winding machine from one position to another to give a desired winding pattern. We also followed up on the widespread suggestion to replace the paper board carton for packing with jute bags which could be used for other purposes; since jute bags were less expensive, we were happy to follow this advice. Most importantly, we established a mechanism whereby we could immediately and costlessly discover problems with our products. Â   Management initially regarded my idea as 'western' and ineffective in China where customers are perceived as being too concerned with money to answer the questionnaires. While lobbying constantly, I had to wait a month to get the printing and stationary bills cleared. Now, our success is obvious as the attitude towards quality has changed.

Human Rights and Social Justice

Human Rights and Social Justice Integrated Paper Vicki MacWhinnie-Ilundain Fordham University Viewpoint and Concepts that Best Clarify the Dilemmas in Hugo’s Case Hugo’s story highlights the value conflicts that social workers face in every-day practice. The policies that dictate the funding, the scope of services, and the eligibility for the services that Hugo may need in order to actualize his basic human rights were developed within a system that continues to practice within the Rawlsian theory of social justice frame work. Therefore, these government policies tend to support the concept that people are only entitled to their â€Å"fair and due share† of services and/or access to resources if they are working to enhance the good of the over all society (Banerjee, 2005, p. 13). In Hugo’s case, there are psychological, cultural and physical factors that may impact his ability to maintain gainful employment. These individual aspects of Hugo’s life situation are not taken into consideration in determining how long he can receive supports, or what types of supports he receives. The state-funded financial benefits that Hugo requires in order to have his very, basic needs met; such as food, clothing and shelter, have a five-year limit. Because there is no consideration to human rights behind the 5-year limit, Hugo has unmet human rights. This creates a value conflict for Hugo’s social worker, who is working within a system that has Rawlsian infused policies; yet, is mandated by the National Social Work Code of Ethics to promote social justice in a manner that respects the unique strengths and dignity of the individual (NASW, 2008). You can read also  Justice System Position Paper The social worker working from a human rights-based perspective; where according to Ife (2008) â€Å"there is a obligation on every member of society to respect and support people’s rights†, will address Hugo’s unmet needs that stem from this 5-year limit policy as unfulfilled rights rather than assessing them as needs for which Hugo may or may not qualify to receive services (p. 113). Adding to the complexity and value conflict of the social worker’s role is the need for the social worker to partner with Hugo to identify not only his assets; but to also identify the barriers he faces. The social worker can develop a more in-depth understanding of Hugo’s barriers by exploring the levels of oppression Hugo experiences and his positionalty vis-a-vis all the systems and individuals he interacts with in society. Hugo is experiencing oppression at a structural level as a result of his position as an immigrant from Haiti who has experience trauma. Hugo has psychological and physical impairments as the result of past trauma, he is of an ethic background that is not part of the privileged class in the United States, and he was born outside the United States. These characteristics, which Hugo inherited through birth and via traumatic life experiences, tend to lead to discrimination in the United States. As a result of systematic discrimination, Hugo belongs to a subordinate group in the society and is oppressed by the dominant group. Mullaly (2010) explains that this â€Å"web of oppression †¦occurs for the most part because of the sanctioned ways that social institutions, laws, social policies, and social practices all work together to benefit the dominant group at the expense of subordinate groups† (p. 197). Challenges in Social Work Practice as a Result of a Paradigm Shift In this process of identifying assets and barriers, the social worker may face further value conflicts that impact their ability to empower Hugo to claim his human rights: The social worker has a moral and professional obligation to help Hugo advocate for his human rights. This will include supporting Hugo’s desire to participate in a lawsuit against the US government, who created the 5-year limit on public financial support. In Hugo’s circumstance, the legal mandate that limits the total amount of years he can access funding is impeding Hugo’s right to food, shelter, substance abuse treatment, psychological care, and safety. As an employee of a state funded program, the social worker is not allowed to ignore this mandate or seek to undermine it in any way. The social worker is faced with the challenge of partnering with Hugo to support his quest to actualize his human rights while working within a legal mandate that restricts Hugo’s access to the resources he requires in order to claim his human rights. The social worker is also challenged to reframe the way they conceptualize their interventions with Hugo. By choosing a rights-based approach, the ocial worker’s dialogue regarding Hugo’s rights will not only have a more global tone, but it will require the social worker to use additional skills to engage Hugo in a discussion that empowers Hugo to define his rights. Ife (2008) asserts that this type of social work practice has the potential to do more than just address an individual’s minimum needs but allows for social work to be transformative by building a society â€Å"hel d together by mutual respect for human rights of all citizens and based on notions of interdependence, mutual support and collective well-being† (p. 13). The challenge for the social worker is to elevate discussions and practice beyond working just with the individual case by engaging in dialogues and actions that â€Å"link their profession to economic, political and social aims of society as a whole† (Riechert, 2007, p. 31). The social worker faces many challenges when making a paradigm shift from a needs-based approach of social work to an elevated practice that focuses on human rights. The needs-based approach, where the provider identifies or diagnoses the â€Å"client’s† needs into narrow categories, and then provides a focused â€Å"intervention†, is deeply ingrained in the traditional models of practice. For example, the medical model is still widely accepted as best practice and is often used in social service programs and agencies. When taking the human rights approach, the social worker will reframe Hugo’s experience so that his rights are identified first, then used to re-conceptualize the needs that have to be met in order to actualize his rights. The social worker also faces the challenge of advocating for Hugo to receive services that support his right-based needs in systems with competing values. The rights-based approach conflicts with agency practices at a mezzo level, such as the use a medical treatment model that may not be culturally sensitive or focused on Hugo’s rights. The social worker may also experience conflicts of values on a macro level when advocating for funding for Hugo’s services. The state and/or federal government, who provide funding for the social services, may place a value on providing the least amount of services for minimum cost to tax payers rather than on Hugo’s unmet rights. On a micro level, the social worker may experience difficulties building rapport with Hugo because of their differences in gender, ethic background, power, education, and socio-economic status. Level’s and Dimensions of Hugo’s Well Being The Universal Declaration of Human Rights established global principles of human rights that set the precedence that all people have the right to an â€Å"a standard of living adequate for their health and well being; including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability†¦ or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control† (United Nations, 1994). Hugo’s social worker can discuss Hugo’s well being in a human rights framework by exploring the domains of wellbeing that impact Hugo’s daily life. The social worker and Hugo may need to establish a language to use as they talk about Hugo’s life experiences, if they are going to successfully switch from a needs-based paradigm to a rights-based paradigm. The social worker can use the seven domains of wellbeing to help deconstruct the needs-based thinking and language that has been the context for the â€Å"interventions† Hugo has received from social services in the past. Discussions using the domains of wellbeing may include: education, mental health, physical health, political and legal, cultural, and spiritual. After reaching the 5-year limit for public financial benefits, Hugo does not have access the resources required to provide food, shelter and clothing. Hugo’s metal and physical functioning has been impacted after experiencing a series of traumas, limiting Hugo’s access to education and employment. Hugo experiences multiple levels of oppression and discrimination which he may have internalized making it difficult for him â€Å"to recognize his abilities, cope with normal stresses of life, work productively and make a contribution to his community† (World Health Organization, 1999). Hugo has experienced physical traumas that have impacted his physical capabilities. As an immigrant in the United States Hugo does not have fair or equal access to legal support or protection by laws. The discrimination that Hugo experiences also impacts Hugo’s ability to be seen as a valued member of the society his is living in. The social worker can support Hugo by exploring all aspects of Hugo’s well being so he can discover how to start to advocate for his rights that are encompassed by each of these life domains Plan of Engagement, Empowerment and Participation After further exploring various aspects of Hugo’s well being, that would also include Hugo’s assets or strengths, the social worker and Hugo may want to develop a plan of action to guide their work together. Hugo identified immediately that he wanted to access to the group who is collecting data for a lawsuit against the US government. Although it may be considered a conflict of interest for the agency that employs the social worker to be involved with the lawsuit against the state, the social worker can connect Hugo to the group so that he can work directly with them. The social worker could also met with her supervisor and/or agency director to discuss what networks or committees the agency attends in the community. Often these groups hold more power than a single social worker or agency and work directly with governmental agencies to make recommendations or to advocate for policy changes that best serve the interest in their communities. By using these approaches, the social worker is assessing her own positionality in her agency and community so that she can best support the requests of Hugo, without disrupting the relationship she has with her employer. The social worker can also start researching what resources are available in the community that can address the barriers that Hugo is experiencing while trying to claim all of his human rights. Once a comprehensive list of services and or resources is developed, the social worker and discuss each of these resources with Hugo to get his feedback about what he thinks might be useful to him. The social worker would provide information about the advantages and risks and/or disadvantages to using any of the resources so that Hugo could make an informed decision. If there is a resource that Hugo is interested in utilizing but does not quite meet the criteria or does not have the funds to access, the social worker can work with the agency and funding sources to see if there are alternative ways for him to access the resource. Even if Hugo does not get immediate access to the resource, the social worker has left a path of documentation and advocacy that can be used to work towards access to these types of resources in the future. Over time, the social worker can build a strong relationship built from trust and mutual respect with Hugo. In order to do that the social worker will need to understand how her positionality relates to Hugo’s and how that impacts Hugo interactions with the social worker and visa versa. It appears as though Hugo has used multiple community services in the past, yet he still has not actualized his rights. The social-worker can explore with Hugo what services were helpful to him in the past and what aspects of the services became barriers to him changing his over-all well being. If the social worker finds with the services in their community are; for example, not compatible with Hugo’s cultural beliefs, then the social worker can work in the community to advocate for changes how services are provided. Other agencies may be open to expanding how they provide services to include all members in their community. The social worker can accomplish these strategies by adopting the capability approach. Nussbaum (2007) describes the capability approach as â€Å"a species of a human rights approach. It makes clear, how- ever, that the pertinent goal is to make people able to function in a variety of areas of central importance. †(p. 21) By empowering Hugo to further develop his cognitive, physical and social skills, the social worker can provide opportunities for Hugo to attain his identified rights-based needs. The social worker encourages capability building by advocating that Hugo receive services that will build specific skills, not just treat a diagnosis. Over time, Hugo can learn to identify and articulate his rights, reframe them into needs and demand services that allow him to claim his rights. In doing so, Hugo will request services that have the components that he recognizes as necessary for his well-being. References Banerjee, M. M. (2005). Social Work, Rawlsian Social Justice, and Social Development. Social Development issues, 27(1), 7-24 Ife, J. (2008). Human Rights and Social Work Towards Rights-Based Practice (2nd ed. ). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Mullaly, B. (2010). Challenging Oppression and Confronting Privilege (2nd ed. ) New York, NY: Oxford University Press. NASW. (2008). Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Work. Retrieved from http://www. socialworkers. org/pubs/code/code. asp Nussbaum, M. (2007). Human Rights and Human Capabilities. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 20(1) 21-24 Reichert, E. (2007). Challenges in Human Rights A Social Work Perspective. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. United Nations. (1994). Human rights and social work: A manual for schools of social work and social work profession. Geneva: United Nations Center for Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www. ohchr. org/Documents/Publications/training1en. pdf.