College Student Essay Example for Free

College Student Essay College life is changing for nearly every student. From meal plans and roommates to study abroad and college finances. College life can be a difficult thing to get used to and handle. There will be a lot of time where you doubt yourself and your decision. A lot of student became overwhelm by the requirement of college, the change that took place too fast. No matter how prepared you think you are for college, there are still of shock when you come and have to deal with responsible, the stress of school. and adapting to college campus. The most frequent complaint heard from college students is that their professors are out to fail them and ruin their chance at getting a career. But, what they need to understand is that the professors job is not to force you to do your work, they will not follow you home to make sure that you do what you have to in order to pass the class. Responsible,that seem to be the thing a lot of freshman students seem to lack. They think that they can get away with the same thing that they have been getting away with in high school, that their teacher will pressure them to do their homework and class works in order to pass the class. What they need to understand that they are paying for the education that they are getting, it is up to them if they choose to take it seriously or not. However, it is hard for some kids to go from a high school where their teacher would be on their back about the work their missing work to a college student where the professor would tell them what they need to do and it is up to them if they complete the work or not. On our defence, it hard sometime to go from having some one holding your hand to having to do everything on your own. In your first year of high school, the teacher tell you that they are not here to babysit anyone, they are here to prepare you for college. Yet,they would still hold student hand through the whole process and some can’t break through that phase and take responsible for their own success. what they should do if they are having a hard is to seek help, go see a tutor, work out a time management schedule for your self, and work on doing thing by your self. Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility. One of the great destroyers of college students is the belief that thing are very complex, and falling victim to stress. Stress in student happens when student are trying to adjust to college life, emotionally or mentally. Students today face many issues in their life that may clash with their college life like family problem, loss of employment, and school related issues. Student under a lot of stress can end up having depression which could cause student to believe that they are not living up to others expectation or their own expectation. Student end up giving up on their dream and getting some where in life and start doing poorly in school. Most students do not know how to handle the stress they have so they use alcohol, drugs or cheating as a stress reliever. It doesn’t get rid of the feeling you are having it only increase and get more complex until you can handle it no more. if you feel this way go see a student counslor , call a 24-hour help ling, or just find a good friend and tell them hoe you been feeling and together you can get the help you need. In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers. A majority student go out of state for their college experiences, the desire to get a degree at a university can be a rewarding experience but it can be a challenges to living on campus. For many it is the first time outside of the protection of their family’s security. Coming from parent that used to provide all they need and set the boundaries they went by. When they unleash to the life of a college student where the same life they used to live don’t apply any more. Some student take advantage of their new found freedom to try new thing like drinking, smoking, parties out with friend, wasting hundreds of dollar ruin their college years. Other fall under the pressure and fall prey to depression and bad thoughts. Taking advantage of your freedom can be in a good way like joining clubs, and spending your money wisely. If you new friend want you to join with them smoking and drinking then you need to get a new group if friend that would have a positive influences on you. The only time success occurs before work is in the dictionary. Too many student enter college thinking that theres nothing but good time, friendship, and a new change of direction. They soon come face to face with the challenges and struggles of college life. The challenge of having to take care of their education, having to depend on yourself for success. The struggle of feeling like you are a fail to everyone around you. The difficulty of getting used to all you used to know. They need to keep in their mind â€Å" Before you can work smart, you must work hard†. Opportunities don’t just happen, you need to create them.

Factors Affecting Life Insurance Agent Turn Over Commerce Essay

Factors Affecting Life Insurance Agent Turn Over Commerce Essay This case study aims to explore factors commonly believed to affect life insurance agent turn over. Several factors has been affected to life insurance agent turnover. The factors are demographic, organizational and selling skill factors. Factor demographic are age,length of service, family size and responsibility, education,martial status and . Second the organizational factors consist of employee commitment, employee satisfaction, compensation. training and development, supervisor-agent relationship and organizational Culture. Third factors are seling skils consist of running out client list, lack of interpersonal skills,lack of salesmanship skills. Impact of all factors has been positive significat to turn over. Keywords: Life insurance agent, turn over, demographic, organizational, selling skill Introduction Turnover of life insurance agent is a classic problem that occurs in almost all insurance companys, therefore it is becomes important for them because it associated with the development of the companies. Agent development was surved by many research companys and one of them is LIMRA Life Insurance Marketing and Research association (LIMRA). They publication in 2005 has been results, 68% of agents to end his career in the insurance companies in the first 2 years on their career .(Honans, 2006). Honan pointed out that some agents often voluntarily leave from one company to another for company or make own business for themselves. Beside that agents are asked to leave due to not achived minimum target requirements, than there are agents turn over 31% with a 4-year retention rate of 14% according LIMRA survey. In Indonesia survey for agent development very periochial, we only found about growth as insurance companies. Base on survey Indonesian economy in 2010, as reflected in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 14.4% from Rp5,614.3 trillion in 2009 to Rp6,422.9 trillion in 2010. Within the same period, gross premium income of insurance industry increased by 17,5% from Rp106.4 trillion in 2009 to Rp125.1 trillion in 2010. Thus, the ratio of gross premium to GDP increased in 2010 from 1.90% to 1.95%. As of the end of December 2010, there were 377 companies having business licenses to operate in Indonesia which consist of 142 insurance and reinsurance companies, and 235 insurance business supporting companies. The insurance and reinsurance companies consist of 46 life insurance companies, 87 non life insurance companies, 4 reinsurance companies, 2 companies administering social insurance program and workers social security, and 3 companies administering insurance for civil servants and armed forces / police. The number of life and non life insurance companies per 31 December 2010 is the lowest for last five years (Indonesia Insurance 2010). The other hand survey all staff turn over has been done by the global management consulting firm Hay Group Hay Group .Base on their survey rate of staff turnover in Indonesia was increased The research was shown that the Indonesian insurance industrys turnover in 2007 is at 10.7% and 12.7% in 2008. The research indicated that salary increase is the most cited reason for job hopping. The study suggests that companies must make a continuous effort to create an attractive working environment to retain employees. In general, people have bought insurance product based on 20% of the benefits of the product, 20% was seen the background of the insurance companies and 60% depending on agent offered. Because the Indonesian people in general are prefer interacting and their want to get more detailed information directly from agent. Hence to said insurance agent is the vanguard of the company. The purpose of this study is to explore factors commonly believed to affect life insurance agent turn over in the JV Insurance Indonesia. Furthermore, a case study of turn over is presented to show the impact of turn over in the JV Insurance Indonesia. In order to ensure the confidentiality, the name of company has changed, so that the informations indicated do not affect the reputation of the company The JV Insurance Indonesia. The JV Insurance Indonesia belongs to JV Group of Companies, the largest life insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia with its two distribution channels the tied agency and bancassurance.The JV Insurance Indonesia started its operation in Indonesia in1996, with headquarters in Jakarta and several Sales Offices in big cities in Indonesia. The JV Group is a subsidiary of O Bank, the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets. It is among the worlds highest rated banks, with a long term credit rating of Aa1 from Moodys. It is also ranked by Bloomberg Markets as the worlds strongest bank. Since 1908, The JV Group has a strong legacy of putting you first. We make life great by providing financial security, and promoting good health and meaningful relationships. With our comprehensive suite of plans to meet your every need, you can be assured of true peace of mind. Literature Review Insurance Agents Insurance agents are primarily responsible for searching, collecting, selling insurance products and other financial services. Knowledge agents on selling product have been considered equal to company knowledge. Misconduct of an agents are responsibility of the company; This are bind company to clients. Notice from clients to insurance agents, as same as to the insurance company. (http://www.aaji.or.id/InfoCenter/Dictionary.aspx) Turnover Turnover is defined as the number of people who leave a job or organization (DeNisi Griffin, 2008). Cascio and Boudreau (2008) said that a more appropriate way to define turnover is to consider, not only separation, but also the replacement of employees leaving. Turnover in the organization has become a very investigated area (eg, Marsh Mannari, 1977; Mobley, 1977,1982; Bluedorn, 1982; Horner, Hollingsworth, 1978. Cotton Tuttle, 1986; Mathieu Zajac, 1990; Babkus, Cravens, Johnston, Moncrief 1996;; Gaertner, 1999; Hom Griffeth, 1995; Rhodes, Eisenberger, Armeli, , 2001; Meyer et al, 2002; Alleyna, 2002; Zacharatos, Herschcovis, Turner, Barling, 2007; Hong, Wei, Chen, 2007; Clark, 2007). Turnover can lead to loss of productivity, quality of service interruption, lost of business opportunities, and demoralized employees who live (Hom Griffeth, 1995; Mobley, 1982). Limiting turnover would be beneficial to organization. Insurance Agents and Turnover Empirical research on the insurance agents and turnover is limited. Current statistics indicate the turnover rate of 85% for women and 81% for males four-years model (Huffman, 2007). This statistic is an increase from two years earlier that showed the overall turnover of 89% in 2005 (Brown, 2004) and 86% in 2004 (Higgins, 2003) using a 4-year retention rate. While the turnover rate has increased, losing more than 80% of the industrial workforce for the past four years is quite expensive. Muise (2007) showed that 28% of U.S. insurance agents hired in early 2006 were not employed with the same company at the end of 2006. Moreover, the greatest loss occurs before the second year employment is complete. Huffman (2007) determined that 62% of women and 53% men are no longer employed by the same insurance company at the end of two years. Berris and Jackson (2008) notes that turnover was the biggest frustration for managers, owners and employees of the insurance companies. It is clear that i nsurance agents are a valuable commodity in the field of insurance. Sadly, there are not sufficent agents to adequately serve the community. In addition, retention is at a staggering low level while recruitment cannot compete with the speed of the insurance agents leave the industry. In addition, turnover is a consistent problem that inhibits the insurance industry. Determining the factors that increase retention and minimize the necessary intention to leave for the insurance industry to continue to thrive. There are many factors that cause an employee to intent to leave the organization. The research was not all encompassing. This study only offered additional information to the body of knowledge. Prior studies and research in the future will continue to add to the body of knowledge considering employees intent to leave the organization. Problem Description The company is a complex organization that consists of many resources, one of which is human resources. One of problems in corporate human resources is inten to leave of employee impress of agent turn over, If agent has a sense of satisfaction in work or enviroment of company, then the agent would demonstrate good personally in companies. Base on theory, job satisfaction is negatively related to employee turnover, higher job satisfaction associated with low turnover, whereas the less satisfied employees show higher turnover. But in the current conditions of the country of Indonesia with a high unemployment rate and lack of alternative work, will lead to a lot of people would think twice about leaving their job, they prefer to stay in their job even though it may in fact employees are not satisfied with the work. Based on the pre-survey in the JV Insurance Indonesia was found in 2011 a common problem associated with the employee is the employee dissatisfaction on commision factors and the relationship between superior and subordinate that makes some employees who are not satisfied will resign his job. It marked the turnover rate of employees in the BL Insurance Indonesia in 2011 is higher in the amount of 20.60% depend on 5,76 % in 2010. This is certainly very interesting to study further. Is there job satisfaction associated with employee turnover rate in the companys current condition? Based on the mentioned hence the issues will be investigated in this study are: 1. What factors that can influenced turn over rate of insurance agents of The JV Insurance Indonesia? 2. How is improvement efforts need to be implemented by the JV Insurance Indonesia to enhance employee satisfaction and reduce the levels of turnover occurring? STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Considering all these issues study determines its Factors Affecting Life Insurance Agent Turnover (case study in The JV Insurance Indonesia ) FINDING Demograpic analysis Demographic factors may influence the occurrence of turnover. Those factors are age, length of service, education, family size and responsibility and marital status. Age The result of these study show that the majority of respondent are young agent. Young agent indicate a higher turnover rate than workers with older. Previous research shows there is a strong negative relationship between age and turnover, The negative relationships that exists in these studies mean as age increase the rate of turrnover decreases, Older agents are reluctant to move because of work and family responsibilities and they do not want to work from the beginning in a new place. They do not get comfortable even though their will get a new salary and more facilities more bigger. The length of service The length of service as define by Bluedorn (1982;140) is the amount of time an individual has been a member of organisation. The result of these study has been indicated a negative relationship between length of service and turnover, Its mean the agent with shorter length of service with an organisation are more likely to leave Family size and responsibility Stone and athelstan (1969) who studied turnove among famales shows that there is positive relationship between increses in family size and increased tendencies to turnover. This contrast in the findings on the impact of family size among male and female turnover can be simply explained by the typical rule of traditional sex-role differentiation in the family Education Recent studies dealing with education, suggest that there is evidence to link better-educated agents with higher rates of turnover than less-educated agents. The result of these study has been indicated a positive relationship between education and turnover Marital Status Several previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between marital status and labor turnover. Unmarried agent are more likely to leave a job compared to married agent. The result of these study has been indicated a positve relationship between marital status and turnover. That means single agent have higher turnover than that of married agent. Organizational Factors analysis Several researchers have examined the turnover problem as a consequence of high turnover or excessively costly to the organization (North et al., 2005). Previous research has shown that many considerations affected to the decision to leave a company. Quantitative and qualitative research studies have shown correlative patterns that can both explain and predict agent turnover. The literature on agent turnover is very broad. The shortage of workers significantly impact overall organizational effectiveness and employee spirit (Bame, 1993; Fitzpatrick, 2002; Harrington, Zimmerman, Karon, Robinson, Beutel, 2000). When agent turnover becomes excessive , productivity suffers, decreased services, increased cost, and leaves the knowledge of the firm (Drucker, 1998; Fitzpatrick, 2002; Shaw, Gupta, Delery, 2002). Employee Commitment The relationship between agent commitment and tendency to either stay with or leave an organization has been the source of much academic inquiry (Blau, 1985; Meyer, Allen, Smith, 1993; Morrow, 1983). Commitment to job or the employer has been the subject of confusion because of different definitions for the concept of commitment (Morrow, 1983). Meyer and Allen (1991) define organizational commitment as a psychological state that (a) the character of the relationship between employees and the organization, and (b) has implications for the decision to continue or discontinue membership in the organization (p. 61). This could take shape in the way employees become emotionally attached to or identify with an organization, the fear of losing their commitment and identity with an organization, or a sense of obligation to an employer (Meyer Allen, 1991). Based on emotional commitment, two main directions of research that appears (a) studies examining agents emotional commitment agents and (b) studies examining attitudinal commitments. Agents commitment has affected the turnover rate. in these study showed little their commitment to an company. Employee Satisfaction Employee satisfaction has the effect of work-related outcomes such as job performance, commitment to an organization, discretionary activities, absenteeism, turnover, and delays (Hulin Judge, 2003; Johns, 2001, Judge, Parker, Colbert, Heller, Ilies, 2001; Warr, 1999) Employee satisfaction is one that affects the turnover can be divided into three sub-categories: (a) dispositional, (b) situational, and (c) integrational (Arvey, Carter, Buerkley, 1991; 2001 Judge et al.) In these study suggests there is a tendency not fulfilled employee satisfaction Compensation Compensation affected the agent retention strategies (Corporate Leadership Council, 1999, Williams Sunderland, 1999). Many studies show that compensation was a key determinant retention (Dreher, 1982; Gerhart Milkovich, 1992; Griffeth, Hom, Gaertner, 2000; Harrison, Virick, Williams, 1996; Porter Lawler, 1968; Schwab, 1991; Steers Mowday, 1981). there are variations of several studies have shown that compensation for increased performance (Milkovich Newman, 1996). Other researchers have questioned the premise that retention is connected to compensation (Kim, 1999; Kohn, 1993; Pfeffer, 1998). Pay-for-performance structures have been studied for their impact on individual performance improvement (Jenkins, Mitra, Gupta, Shaw, 1998) and organizational performance (Gerhart, 2000). Because a lot of insurance companies pay their agents based on commission, not salary, they do not making enough money from commission may realize that they will not be able to fulfill their basic necess ities and may need to look elsewhere for work. In these study compensation has affected the performance of the agent to remain in a company. Training and Development According to some previous studies the effects of training and development programs have reduced turnover. That program on employee development has shown that improving agent skills as a result. Martin (2003) asserts that there is a complex relationship between turnover and employee development. Martin found that increased the skills of workers on the job resulted in a lower rate of turnover for the organization.. Supervisor-agent Relationship This study is the relationship between agent and supervisor. The quality of that relationship affects the commitment of the agent (Galagan, 2000; Kaye and Jordan-Evans, 2000; Kinni von Hoffman, 2000; Tulgan, 2001). These study has shown that voluntary turnover is due to the low quality of the supervisor-agent relationship (Dobbs, 2001; Kaye and Jordan-Evans, 2000). Supervisor-agent relationship quality assessed by the effectiveness and communication styles between the two sides. In the supervisor-agent studies and their impact on motivation and job satisfaction, the differences in communication styles have been neglected to date (Mayfield, Mayfield, Kopf, 1995, 1998; Sharbrough, Simmons, Cantrill, 2006 Organizational Culture The study of effects cultural organization have been at the retention of employees show there is a strong correlation between organizational culture and turnover (Galagan, 2000; Kaye Jordan-Evans, 2000; Kinni von Hoffman, 2000; Salopek, 2000). Work environment or organizational culture where relationships are based on trust and integrity, the staff is treated as a unique individual, and personal relationships taken care positively impact employee turnover. Good relationships between supervisors and agent or between agents and agents affect the decision to stay or leave a company (Friedrich, 2001; Morrison Chan, 2000). Instead, the results showed that the stress levels of employees, lack of support from supervisors or management,, and non-empowering work environment had negative effect on turnover (Friedrich, 2001; Hemingway Smith, 1999). Sales Skills Sales skills factors caused insurance agent turn over. There factors are consist of Running out client list Running out client list due to agents have been limited relationship held and the lack of ability to build relationships with new people. They were afraid ask for references from their clients Lack of interpersonal skill Agents are not motivated due to lack of support from managers to provide encouragement and the assistance required. They were not given enough motivation to remain in the company. Lack of salesmanship. Agents had been unable to selling product because they were not received training on how to selling a good product, lot of agents do not have a background in marketing and insurance so that they had difficulty in adapting the marketing environment Discussion Turnover agent has been affected by job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be broken down into short-term assessment and long-term assessment. Short-term assessment is the intention to leave the company before 1 year. Long-term assessment in relation to intention to leave in the next 24 months. Respondents indicated that the commission, rewards and benefits are part of the top level in the short term. Gifts of money, non-monetary rewards and appreciation even considered as an important reason to consider when deciding to leave in the short term. Factors such as operating procedures, the nature of work, organizational communication, co-workers, and supervisors are most strongly associated with intention to leave in the short term. Factors of working enviroment, good career opportunities, and communication around the organization in the long term will occurred for agent, they will be becomes important when considering leaving within the next two years. Operating procedure is still the most important and minimal supervision can still be considered in turnover. Overall, in the short term, the five strongest factors to consider reducing the intention to leave in the next year including affective commitment, commitment to sustainability, contingen awards, commissions, and benefits. The five least important factor for respondents in the short term include normative commitment, operating procedures, justice, information, monitoring, and nature of work. Suggestions for minimizing turnover Companies should improve the recruitment agent system. companies create training programs that aim to meet the needs of agents such as how to increase ability to sell products and good approach to clients. The company should require agents to have an agency license Companies must improve operating system procedures, so that agents can smoothly in administrative affairs. Designing forms used for agent activity in selling products The company should improve the system of compensation, bonuses and awards. The company established a corporate culture for all employees, especially convenient for the agent. Improving relationship between supervisor and agent, thus forming a mutually beneficial relationship between two parties Conslusion These study revealed interesting results regarding intent to quit before 1 year. Most agents were satisfied and had no intent to quit in 6 and 12 months. Several economic and demographic factors like comission and age did not affect agent intent to quit before 1 year. In marital status factors almost half of unattached employees, such as single, widowed, and divorced agent had intent to quit before 1 year. The result shown that a higher percentage of unattached agents intent to quit before 1 year and had lower organizational commitment. In organization commitment factor was lack of organization commitment that contributed to the external factors, such as downsizing and outsourcing. Also, unattached agent have minimal risks with intent to quit due to less years invested and limited retirement investments. The results revealed that married agent no intent to quit due to high organization commitment, in order to maintain family responsibilities and future retirement. The relationship between commision and turnover is significant. Agents anticipate their sacrifice of time, energy and completion of job responsibilities to be demonstrated through rewards, such as reward and bonuses. When rewards and bonuses are not sufficient, then employees feel unappreciated and dissatisfied. As a result, negative attitudes and behaviors are demonstrated through minimal job performance and productivity like low achived premium target . In addition, negative attitudes and productivity increase agents intent to quit from company for additional experience and skills for potential career advancements. Similar to commision, promotions contribute to agents intent to quit in 1 year. However, insufficient commition and limited promotions increase agents intent to quit from organizations, in order to obtain additional experience and skills for higher commition and future career advancements. Future research and Limitations The limitation of these research identified the collection of data from a small site in Jakarta Indonesia to generalize to a large population of employees in the insurance industry. Future research is needed to obtain feedback from a larger sample rather than a smaller sample of the population. Future research will enable levels of management and human resource programs to enhance existing and incorporate additional programs to accommodate a diversified population of employees. Another area of future research includes modifications with the demographic survey. The survey used in the study did not include variables, such as status of education.

Social Work With Children And Families

Social Work With Children And Families Evaluate critically the role of child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development, and consider the implication for social work with children and families.   The purpose of this assignment is to show a critical understanding of the role of child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development. This assignment will explore the purpose of child death inquiries. It will show a critical understanding of the complex relationship between family and the state, the tensions between the duty to safeguard children, the parents and childs rights and when the state should intervene. The types of child death inquiries will be investigated examining their purpose, limitations and values. The assignment will examine the impact of changing child welfare policy on organisational structures with reference to multi disciplinary teams. This assignment will show reference to critical evaluation and the bias that may precede it. Finally concluding given the weight of evidence how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development. Recently the benefits of child death inquiries and serious case reviews have come under particular scrutiny, this assignment will use evidenced based information and practice to find other approaches or how to improve the form of the inquiry so its benefits outweigh its limitations. The United Nations estimate that every week two children in the United Kingdom die from abuse or neglect (UNICEF, 2003). The United Nations Convention, article 3 on the rights of the child places a duty on countries to protect children from abuse or neglect, the best interests of the child must be the primary concern when making decisions which may affect them, article 6 focuses on the importance of safeguarding their right to life (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1992). There are two types of child death inquiries; serious case reviews and public inquiries. A serious case review takes place when a child dies and abuse or neglect is suspected. They also take place in other circumstances where serious situations have occurred for example where a child has suffered from serious sexual abuse. The purpose of child death inquiries according to Working Together, 2010 is for agencies and individuals to learn where problems have arisen and to learn from these to improve their practice. The lessons learnt should be given to all individuals who work in this area to ensure they safeguard children in the correct way. When agencies already know where certain problems lie they should improve upon them before the serious case review is finished. A public inquiry for example The Colwell Report (1974), The Climbà © inquiry (2003) is a inquiry ordered by the government to review events, in this case child deaths. To conclude where practice could be improved upon, rec ommendations can be given and lessons can be learnt. Under regulation 5 of the local safeguarding childrens board requires that the local safeguarding children board undertakes reviews of serious cases. Serious case reviews must establish lessons to be learnt, identify which lessons are within agencies and which between and how long they have to act upon the changes to be undertaken. The reviews must also improve upon inter and intra agency working to promote and safeguard the wellbeing of children (chapter 8, Working Together, 2010). Laming (2009) states that serious case reviews are an important tool for learning lessons. Currently there is debate regarding the approach used in serious case reviews some believe that there are different approaches to take to learn lessons from social work practice. Effective safeguarding practice is an approach considered, to learn from what is already proven to work. The obvious aim of child death inquiries is to try and avoid future tragedies. There is a repetitive circle within child protection. Families collide with professionals and most of the outcomes involve protection. The tensions involved between families and professionals involve competition of rights. The Human Rights Act, 1998 article 8 stipulates the familys right to a private family life and to be able to conduct their lives according to their culture and understanding. The opposite to this argument is to ensure all children are protected. When should professionals become involved? Parton (1991) describes the dilemma of how can the state establish the rights of the child and still promote the family to be an independent body in which to raise their children how they see fit and not intervene in all families and consequently reduce its autonomy. Depending on the theoretical viewpoint the professionals and current Government takes would impose when the state should intervene. A laissez-faires government would have little intervention, the professionals would only intervene when abuse or neglect had taken place. However State paternalism is a perspective which favours more involvement of state intervention to protect children from abuse. This theory regards the childs welfare as more important than family autonomy. This perspective was reflected in the Children Act, 1989 as it introduced the expression likely for the child to be in significant harm. If there is a likelihood of significant harm there are possibilities of child protection orders being produced, and in other extensions of state power. Tensions between the duties that social workers have to safeguard children, the familys right to a private family life, the rights of the child, working in partnership with the parents and understanding when the state should intervene cause problems within social work practice. Knowing when to intervene has always been a problem for social workers within this area. Malcolm Hill (1990) found that published child abuse inquiry reports identified working with parents as a common problem. He found that papers noted access difficulties, in a number of cases parents didnt cooperate when the social worker needed to see the child at risk. Hill (1990) concluded that papers found social workers were too ready to believe parents. Hill (1990) concluded that the Colwell report (1974) found that social workers should focus on parents demonstrating their parenting skills and not to assume all was well because the parents said so. Social workers also need to look at the care the child is receiving holistically not focus on single areas of the family where they are showing positive steps, for example social workers may be satisfied as the family are participating in counselling but they need to still look at their parenting at home whilst this continues. Thus depending on the theoretical viewpoint the social worker takes decides when they should intervene. This assignment will adopt a state paternalism perspective, this perspective although draws conclusions that the child is likely to suffer significant harm which may affect the family relationships and autonomy its better to intervene now then wait until abuse or neglect has taken place and then safeguarding the child. This perspective takes a view that children have a high priority in society, they have rights to high standards of care and using this approach ensure that they are protected at all costs by the force of the law (Fox Harding, 1997). Child death inquiries are seen as an important tool used to improve local practice, also implementing wider community health approaches to improve upon infant mortality rates. Bunting and Reid (2005) found that there numerous benefits to serious case reviews taking place these included more effective multi agency working, improved communication between agencies, they found that death certificates had become more informative they also found that from participating in serious case reviews practitioners had more knowledge surrounding child death and the causes of them ensuring a further focus on preventative measures of child death rather than focusing on child abuse. Corby, Doig and Roberts (1998) have found that there is a great concern on the impact of child inquiries on professionals especially social workers, they found that over the inquiries taking place there has been a continual criticism of social workers. The Maria Colwell case made social work practice public and put it under great scrutiny. Professionals within this case became points of focus of criticism, their work was scrutinised in incorrect contexts focusing on training of social workers affecting their morale significantly (Corby et al, 1998). The impact of child death inquiries on social workers and other professionals in this area can be psychological and emotional. Corby et al (1998) argues both sides of the case although child death inquiries highlights poor practice and the need for the public to know why children already known to social services and other departments can still go on to be abused and killed. However the emotional and psychological effects on social workers can be so detrimental because of the scrutiny they are under, their work will be affected, and affecting further work they do. Corby et al (1998) investigated child abuse cases and inquiries and how useful they are and what changes have been made by using child death and abuse inquiries as an approach. Of the seventy inquiries they used between 1945 and 1997 they all produced main recommendations in areas of improving inter agency co-ordination, training of professionals, improving child protection systems and using more experienced staff. Using this information to highlight that changes made between 1945 and 1997 because of the recommendations given havent been obvious because they are still proposing the same issues. Child death inquires do have their place in the public eye specifically when practice goes wrong, nevertheless they have a number of limitations. Child death inquiries affect personal confidence of the social workers and other professionals when they become embroiled within the investigation. Due to the nature of the child death inquiries the public only see the negatives of social workers, social workers fear the association of such inquiries. Practice will not change when inquiries focus solely on the structure of children and families department. If social workers feel like the target when involved in inquiries their work will be affected therefore affecting the work they do further on for example other children may be more at risk because social workers have no confidence in the work they are practicing. To use child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development may not be the most effective approach to take. Child death inquiries are very expensive. If a more effective approach was to be taken and social workers and other professionals were able to learn more from this different process it would be more beneficial to take this approach than to carry on wasting money and concluding the same issues from all inquiries. Parton (2004) has found that the same issues have been identified on numerous times without any obvious changes in social work practice (Devaney, Lazenbatt and Bunting, 2010). Devaney et al (2010) found that child death inquiries can still be effective but more emphasis needs to be more on recommendations and implementing the recommendations and acting upon them. Devaney et al (2010) also argue that policy makers need more understanding of the difficult situations in which children are at more risk from abuse or neglect. Devaney et al (2010) argue that this can hel p the policy makers express what social workers can do and make a distinction between that and what should be done. Child death inquiries make assumptions that something has gone wrong and that the inquiry can find out what and give recommendations to learn from the mistakes. It assumes that practice will change because of the recommendations given and many inquiries dont focus on acting upon the recommendations, if they did then future inquiries wouldnt produce the same recommendations. Inquiries assume that the method they use is sophisticated. However, research into inquiries and literature has shown that other approaches could be more effective and less intrusive in practice and less strain can be put on professionals. Inquiries assume that multi agency working will be more effective, though if tensions between professionals are tense already these will be difficult to resolve. Inquiries cannot assume that these tensions can be worked at by the professionals they need a superior management style to overlook the different professionals to be able to work effectively together. As well as the implications for social workers individually and for policy makers regarding the process of child death inquiries, organisational structures will be also be impacted upon when changing child welfare policy. Due to changes within organisations, for example changes in roles of professionals involved in child death inquiries the foundations of interprofessional multi agency work are not secure, concluded because inquiries focus excessively on the role of social workers rather than the antecedents of child death or abuse. With regards to the case of Maria Colwell (1974) the Secretary of State Barbara Castle concluded that social workers alone cannot solve the underlying problems. All professionals in this field of child welfare need to understand their role but if child welfare policy continues to change constantly the role cannot be undertaken as professionals have poor ideas of what their role is and how they should practice. All professionals need to work effectively to gether and have an understanding of delivering comprehensive services to diverse communities so no children are lost in the system or ignored. The importance of effective interprofessional multi agency work is such that until there is a balance of role and practice then the safeguarding of future children may be affected. Contemporary social work values may be affected, social workers have their own values personally and from learning from experience. Social workers must focus on human rights and social justice as their motivation for social work. Some critiques may argue that depending on the theoretical framework for example state paternalism some social workers may not be able to justify their motivation to impose this framework in their practice by not letting the family have a right to private family life (Human Rights, article 8) and be too quick to intervene. To ensure anti discriminatory practice social workers must understand different cultures have different behaviours when it comes to parenting. The social worker may thing its not appropriate, the family however believes differently. This can lead to the social worker not act at all. The social worker must ensure anti discriminatory practice, they need to see things from the perspective of the culture the family employs. Though still mainta ining the values and knowledge they have regarding child abuse and when they should intervene. They must keep each case individual and make judgements based on evidence, not on their assumptions. To evaluate how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development evidence needs to be considered whilst investigating journal papers to gain an understanding of where bias may occur. Using a wide range of sources gives a broader idea of what has been proven to work in social work practice (Roberts and Yeager, 2006). Research evidence is more valued than other sources, those papers that are repeatable use a large amount of participants are more likely to have less prejudice in concluding how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development. Higgs and Jones (2000) propose that evidence is knowledge derived from various sources, which has been tested and found credible. Having read all the information the weight of evidence suggests that changes need to be made to the approach of child death inquiries. The limitations and implications to practice are too substantial to ignore. Professionals and public havent seen any major changes because of the recommendations give by the inquiries. Corby et al (1998) found that of seventy public inquiries between 1945 and 1997 the main focus of recommendations was on improvements on inter agency co-ordination and improving the training of staff. The gap between the time of the death of the child and receiving the results of the inquiry is detrimental to social workers. Corby et al (1998) also argue that the cost inquiries have and the negative impact on social workers affects their future practice and may create more risk to other children they are safeguarding because they dont have the confidence to practice anymore. The most effective approach to take would be one that focuses with less scrutiny on the social w orkers so their confidence is not affected and acts upon the recommendations it has made. Policy can develop by using a different vehicle instead of child death inquiries. At the minute the impact of changing child welfare policy on social workers and organisational structure is considerable. An improved approach to child death inquiries can be more effective in changing policy than the constant changes that are currently happening because of the results from child death inquiries.

Hip-hop, Reggae, and Politics Essay -- Essays on Politics

Hip-hop, Reggae, and Politics Introduction Music is an art form and source of power. Many forms of music reflect culture and society, as well as, containing political content and social message. Music as social change has been highlighted throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the United States saw political and socially oriented folk music discussing the Vietnam War and other social issues. In Jamaica during the 1970s and 1980s reggae developed out of the Ghetto’s of Trench town and expressed the social unrest of the poor and the need to over-through the oppressors. The 1980’s brought the newest development in social and political music, the emergence of hip-hop and rap. This urban musical art form that was developed in New York City has now taken over the mainstream, but originated as an empowering art form for urban youth and emerging working class. Musically hip-hop spawned the age of DJ’s. With strong influences from Reggae, hip-hop has developed into an empowering form for the expression of ideas, power, revolution and change. Power and empowerment have emerged from these musical styles that now have many commonalities. Hip-hop and Reggae are both forms of protest music. â€Å"Protest music is characterized by objections to injustices and oppressions inflicted on certain individual groups†¦. typically, the intent of protest musicians is to oppose the exploitation and oppression exercised by dominant elites and member of dominant groups†(Stapleton, 221). Hip-hop has developed as a new form of protest music void of the common acoustic guitar. The goal of protest music is to promote freedom through music. Bob Marley expresses his belief that music is a message and route to freedom in the song â€Å"Trench town.† ... ...ap† Miami New Times, February 10, 2000, Thursday. Salmon, Barrington â€Å" Bob Marley’s legacy lives forever† Miami Times, V. 73; N. 22 p. 5A, 2/18/1996 Shivers, Kaia â€Å"This is Reggae Music† Los Angeles Sentinel† V. 66; N. 32 p. B5 11/8/2000 Wilson, Basil â€Å"The politics & culture of Reggae music† The Caribbean-American Magazine v. 24 N. 1 p. 25, 2/28/2000 Discography: Honorary Citizen: Peter Tosh, Sony Music Entertainment:1997 Steffens, Roger. â€Å"In the Tracks of the Stepping Razor: The Peter Tosh Biography† pgs. 42-51 Reflection Eternal: Talib Kweli, Rawkus Records 2000 â€Å"This means you† Run DMC: Run DMC, Arista Records 1983 â€Å"Its Like That† Bob Marley: Confrontation, Polygram Records 1983 â€Å"Chant down Babylon,† and â€Å"Trenchtown† Bob Marley: Suvival, Ploygram Records 1979 â€Å"Babylon System†

Propaganda, Stereotypes, and the War on Drugs Essay -- Media Stereotyp

Propaganda, Stereotypes, and the War on Drugs The West has constantly been fighting the use of illegal drugs for decades by Propaganda. Propaganda ‘is a form of manipulative communication designed to elicit some predetermined response’ (Inge, 1981, 322). Governments have been using many propagandistic methods to reduce the consumption of illegal drugs such as marginalization or creating stereotypes. By creating a certain stereotype for the drug users and dealers, governments believe that people would try to avoid drugs so they won’t fit the stereotype. Extensive researche has been performed on this issue and there was no support that this propaganda tactic made a significant difference in the use of illegal drugs. To understand the reason behind the anti-drug movement and the development of stereotypes, one should know the history of the prohibition of certain drugs. One of the first drugs that were prohibited was Opium. This was due to the large amount of Chinese immigrants which consumed opium. â€Å"Powerful labor unions such as the American Federation of labor feared competition from Chinese laborers who were quite hard working and generally willing to work for lower wages. Labor Leaders vilified the Chinese as opium-crazed fiends who preyed sexually upon young white girls† (Preston, 2001). Since then individuals who consume opiates carried the stereotype of being rapists and evil-doers. In the early twentieth century, minority groups such as African-Americans and Mexican-Americans consumed marijuana. One of the main reasons marijuana was prohibited was to ‘drive Mexican-Americans out of the United States and â€Å"back† to Mexico’ (Blum, 1997).To create prejudice against Mexican-Americans, a stereotype was formed which... ...ertysoft.com/liberty/reviews/60bradford.html>, consulted on March 30th, 2004. FITZPATRICK, Michael (2001). â€Å"The Lessons of the Drugs War†, Spiked,. Online at: , consulted on March 30th, 2004. INCIARDI, James A. (1992). The War on Drugs II: The Continuing Epic of Heroin, Cocaine, Crack, Crime, Aids, and Public Policy. Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company. INGE, M. Thomas (1981). A Handbook of American Popular Culture, Vol.3. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. MacCOUN, Robert J. and Reuter, Peter (2001). Drug War Heresies. Cambridge University Press. PRESTON, Keith (2001). â€Å"The Political Economy of the War on Drugs†, Free Republic,. Online at: , March 30th, 2004. SOLOMON, David (1968). The Marihuana Papers, 4th Ed. The New American Library, Inc.

My Personal Learning Style Essay -- essays research papers

My Personal Learning Style Wow! I have a personal learning style! If I had given any thought to my learning style prior to this course, I would have said simply, â€Å"Some things are easy for me to learn, and some things are not.† Now I can say, â€Å"I am a grouper, a top-down learner, an owl, in the C-D quadrants, and my strong intelligences are linguistic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal†. What all this means, still, is some things are easy for me to learn, and some things are not. But there I go again, simplifying the matter. My learning experience throughout grade school was cast in the Traditional method, employing rote, reward-and-punishment, and repetition, repetition, repetition. It was a one-size-fits-all approach, intended to instill good behavior as much as to instruct in the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. We were not encouraged to participate in the process, unless, of course, we raised our hands, and were called upon to do so, and we were not to talk out of turn. We were to be passive and receptive. This was the â€Å"right† way to learn. It is a testimony to the great, unstoppable capacity of the brain to grow that many of us learned anything at all under those circumstances. Four decades of psychological research have taught us there is no one right way to learn. Our minds are as unique as our fingerprints. Our ability to learn is not necessarily related to high or low intelligence quotients, but rather a convergence of four important aspects of our perso...

Women in Advertisements

WOMEN IN ADVERTISEMENTS In modern societies, women and men have equal rights to law in most areas such as education and employment. Howewer, there is an unuequality as gender between male and female. Because social gender is related with power and patriarchy, a dominance of man over woman, has to do power relations. Therefore, holder of power is men and women are regarded as opressed and sex object. A social unequality between men and women is being used women and female figures in advertisements mostly.There are severeal reasons why woman or female figures are used in advertisements The fist reason to this is visuality. Visuality is important because it is the most effective way to appeal to the senses in advertisements and for this, women are used mostly. These advertisements involve beaty of women, sexuality, their body and they show that women are sex object. In addition, having a beautiful and well groomed body is important for women in advertisements. Advertisements give messag es that women improve themselves and they look beautiful and thin. Therefore, all woman want to live same life, to wear and eat same things.For example, in Doritos advertisement, Megan Fox is used and it shows that if woman is beautiful and sexy, she deserve to draw applause. Therefore, these advertisements reinforce the idea that womens are sex object. The second reason that women give informations about gender roles in advertisements. In these advertisements, women are regarded as housewife and role of women is to serve children and husband, to cook and clean. Therefore, these advertisements reinforce social gender role. In addition they have functionalist perspective because women concentrate on domestic and family responsibilities while men work outside the home.For example, ACE is a bleach advertisement and it shows that womens are a symbol of cleaning and housework. Also, in Istikbal advertisement, although woman coming from work is tired , she serves to her husband. Another p oint is that sound of authority belongs to men in advertisements because men manipulate women mostly. For example, in Kolsa, carpet detergent, advertisement, man talk with woman and help her the cleaning and it shows that men dominate over women. In conclusion, women are shown by their body or housework in advertisements.