The Importance of Marriage

Running head: MARRIAGE AS AN INSTITUTION The Importance of Marriage Ana Vertz PS301 Mrs. Kathy Erickson August 30, 2009 The Importance of Marriage From Colonial times to present marriage has been an integral part of American culture. The importance is has been evident in that it is one of the few institutions that started with the country and is still very popular. What makes marriage an important institution? This paper will discuss the perceptions of the importance of marriage for men and women, children’s influence in the marriage relationship, the links between psychological distress and martial conflict, attitude towards same sex marriages and the effects of cohabitation and marriage commitment. The first section of this paper examines the importance of marriage from male and female perspectives. Research from the National Survey of Families and Households suggested the following trends: Men and women both feel that marriage is more important to men; women view marriage as optional for both men and women for having a satisfying life; women are more likely to think that men cannot have a satisfying life without marriage; youthful and more educated individuals are less likely to put emphasis on marriage; religious individuals and those married who have children predominantly more inclined to think that men nor women can have fulfilling lives without the institution of marriage. Research from the National Survey listed above also suggests that men get a greater benefit from marriage than do women as stated below from a study conducted on whether or not men need a spouse and the importance of marriage. In the article entitled â€Å"Do Men â€Å"Need† a Spouse more than Women? : Perceptions of The Importance of Marriage for Men and Women† the authors state: â€Å"As Nock (1998:3) states, â€Å"Men reap greater gains than women for virtually every outcome affected by marriage. Research results showing the greater benefit of marriage for men than for women on many dimensions, particularly physical and mental health (Bernard 1972; Grove 1973; Waite and Gallagher 2000), together with research has shown that women provide â€Å"kin-keeping† benefits to men by strengthening their relationships with their children and other relatives (Cooney and Uhlenberg 1990; Rossi and Rossi 1990), have led many to argue that it is men who â€Å"need† marriage more than women. This view is particularly prevalent among theorists of family who focus on its economic dimensions. By implication, they posit marriage to be a â€Å"normal good† for men but an â€Å"inferior good† for women when they argue that increased earnings lead men to â€Å"buy onto† family roles (Becker 1991; Cherlin 1992) while women use theirs to â€Å"buy out† of marriage (Espenshade 1985; Westoff 1986). † In many ways this research supports the fact that marriage meets the need of a man better than that of a woman. Next we will look at research conducted from the female perspective. An excerpt from the same article states: â€Å"The growth of female labor force participation that accelerated in the 1960’s (Goldin 1990), however, appeared to many observers to undermine what were by then conventional reasons for women to marry (Westoff 1986). As a result, women were thought to be questioning the desirability of a domestic life (Friedan 1962) and coming to believe that â€Å"women’s marriage† was less desirable than â€Å"men’s marriage† (Bernard 1972). Feminist theory has reinforced the notion that women and men face very different experiences in the family life and hence have different experiences in family life and hence have different interest’s vis-a-vis family roles, which are said to favor men (Ferree 1990). The benefits of simply â€Å"trading† housework for men’s wages (the basis for the economic argument) have declined, given the longer-term costs in terms of career development and the higher risks imposed by the increase in divorce (Thomson and Walker 1995), and the fact that wives’ expected role has added employment to their traditional household tasks (Hochschild 1989; DeVault 1990). Hence, modern women may have had more reason than men to reevaluate what they might gain from marriage. These speculations are at least partially reinforced by some research that does suggest men expect to benefit more from marriage than do women. The analyses of shifting attitudes make it plausible that men place more importance on marriage than women. While most people believe that the married are happier than those who are not married, this belief is more likely to be held by men than women (Axinn nd Thornton 2000). Indeed, women are more likely to disagree than men that it is better to be married than single (Thornton and Young-DeMArco 2001). These gender differences suggest that women, at least, are less sure that marriage is important, and they are likely to be thinking more about their own situation as women than about men’s. Therefore, we expect that in the 1990’s, men and women will see marriage as more necessary for men than women. These considerations, together with the paucity of research that addresses the question of who needs to be married more, men or women, motivate our research (Kaufman and Goldscheider, 2007). The above referenced article shows evidence that the more learned put off marriage, have less children and view family roles as less important. (This is based in relation to expectations to themselves and their children living in early adulthood). Spiritual or religious associations have also been connected across a vast array of family domains with grater support for the family. These religious cultures encourage marriage, martial stability, especially non-approval of non-martial child bearing, and encouragement for traditional descriptions of marriage. In looking at the importance of marriage from the viewpoint of male and female research conducted for this paper suggest that men and women view marriage as more important to men than women. (Kaufman and Goldscheider, 2007) Children’s Influence in the Marriage Relationship In the article â€Å"Children’s Influence in the Marriage Relationship† the research shows that there are reciprocal effects between children and marriage. The emotional security theory suggests that exposure to martial conflicts improves children’s negative emotions, resulting in emotional insecurity. This emotional insecurity promotes children’s impulses to go between, run away from or in other forms lessens the occurrence of martial discord. (Schermerhorn, Cummings, Mark, DeCarlo, Davies, Patrick, 2007) The article goes on to state: â€Å"Attempts to reduce exposure to discord indicate that the goal of preserving emotional security us activated, serving as a mechanism by which children maintain or achieve emotional security. The first two aims of the present article are to investigate reciprocity between the child and the martial system, including examination of both the influence of martial conflict on the child and child behavioral responses that influence martial functioning. † (Schermerhorn, Cummings, Mark, DeCarlo, Davies, Patrick, 2007) From the research we can see that children are more likely to be negatively impacted by martial discord. Many times the child resorts to mediation to help fix the problems. Overall the findings of my research showed that children engage in behaviors to by some means reduce discord between parents. This in return reduces the child’s exposure family threats. Another behavioral response is Behavioral dysregulation (i. e. , acts of verbal or physical aggression, misbehavior, or hurting oneself). Clinic literature indicates that discord in marriages corresponds to children’s behavior problems including aggressive behavior. Some have suggested that this behavior may show a taking on of the marriages problem to them self in demonstrating agentic behavior. This, from the child’s perspective, would distract parents from marital difficulties giving the child’s negative behavior a purpose to reduce martial discord over time. Schermerhorn, Cummings, Mark, DeCarlo, Davies, Patrick, 2007) The study also showed the effects on psychological adjustment. An excerpt from the article states: â€Å"The third aim of this study is to examine relations between children’s behavioral responses to martial discord and their adjustment. In one of the few studies examini ng this link, Patenaude (2000) found that for girls who believed they could control interparental conflict by engaging in parent-protecting behaviors, higher martial conflict was associated with better adjustment. In contrast, for boys believing in a parentified role in the martial relationship, higher martial conflict was associated with more internalized sysmptoms, albeit non-significantly. † (Schermerhorn, Cummings, Mark, DeCarlo, Davies, Patrick, 2007) The research I conducted on children next suggests that when children react in a proactive nature to interparental discord by attempting to mediate, conflict in fact decrease over time. Even though negative behavior is a form of insecurity concerning the marriage relationship, the present study suggests that children’s usage of negative attitudes and behavior as a constructive coping strategy can actually provide help towards reducing marital discord. In contrast to proactive behavior, children’s negative behavior was linked with more destructive interparental relations over a period of time. It is likely that these behaviors by children don’t take their parents attention away from the marital discord but actually contribute to it by increasing conflict. However the method of the child’s associates is unsure. The outcome of a child’s behavior may be best understood by looking at each situation. For example, parents who are able to see that the child is trying to help may be more inclined to decrease conflict. It’s not that the child solves the parent’s dilemma, but that the child’s actions allow the parent to see the child’s suffering and discomfort. This may guide parent’s ability to solve problems than the child’s ability to constructively cope with the situation. It is not suggested that children should become actively engaged in marital discord because there are findings that show children’s helping behavior can contribute to children’s depression. (Schermerhorn, Cummings, Mark, DeCarlo, Davies, Patrick, 2007) We will next discuss psychological distress and martial conflict in the home. References Avery, A. , Chase, J. , & Johansson, L. (2007). America's changing attitudes towards homosexuality, civil unions, and same-gender marriage: 1977-2004. Social Work, 52(1), 71-79. Fowers, B. , Lyons, E. , Montel, K. , & Shaked, N. (2001, March). Positive illusions about marriage among married and single individuals. Journal of Family Psychology, 15(1), 95-109. Retrieved September 01, 2009, doi:10. 1037/0893-3200. 15. 1. 95 Kaufman, G. , & Goldscheider, F. (2007). Do men ‘need' a spouse more than women? : Perceptions of the importance of marriage for men and women. Sociological Quarterly, 48(1), 29-46. Papp, L. M. , Goeke-Morey, M. C. , & Cummings, M. E. (2007). Linkages between spouses' psychological distress and marital conflict in the home. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(3), 533-537. Rhoades, G. K. , Stanley, S. M. , & Markman, H. J. (2006). Pre-engagement Cohabitation and Gender Asymmetry in Marital Commitment. Journal of Family Psychology, 20(4), 553-560. Schermerhorn, A. C. , Cummings, M. E. , & DeCarlo, C. A. (2007). Children's influence in the marital relationship. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(2), 259-269. Stolz, L. (1941, October). Review of Family BehaviorModern Marriage, and Modern Marriage. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 36(4), 608-610. Retrieved September 01, 2009, doi:10. 1037/h0052788 Neubeck, G. (1959, Sum). Review of Why Marriages Go Wrong. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 6(2), 168-169. Retrieved September 01, 2009, doi:10. 1037/h0039159

Issues of Group in Iium

[pic] English for Academic Writting LE 4000 Dr. Faridah Abdul Malik Section 50 A Study on IIUM Students on the Issues of Group Workings Saiful Bahri ABSTRACT Under organizational behavior comes group behavior, how individual behave when working in group. This paper examines the posible errors that can be found in tasks done in group. The result showed that some of the errors are done on purpose due to laziness of IIUM students. Although, these students are aware of what causes the problems and what they should avoid to have a free-problem group work but they still manage to do them, either intentionally or unintentionally. Therefore, in reminding them, some ground rules and peer assessment should be adapted in each group. Keywords: free-rider, teamwork, miscommunication, and time management. INTRODUCTION Organizational behavior is the study of individuals and the behaviors they have within an organization and in a workplace setting. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes sociology, psychology, communication and management (Organizational Behavior Introduction, Catherwood Library). Group behavior is a part of the organizational behavior in which it falls under the interdiciplinary field of sociolagy, how individual work in small r large groups. Group behaviour differs from  mass actions  which refers to people behaving similarly on a more global scale while group behaviour refers usually to people in one place and having a coordinated behaviors. The members in a group should each be interdependence (depends on other member’s output as well), have social interaction (there should eithe r be verbal or non-verbal communication), have a perception of a group ( agreeing that they are a part of a group) and mush have common in purpose (to achieve the same goal). Working in groups have their advantages, one of them being, having a collective set of ideas. Having many people working on the same work allows the work to get not only your input but also from others in the group. This increases the quality, reliability and validity of the work. Although, problems may arise as well, as individuals have their own behaviors and may not be compatible with other people, and that then will effect the quality of your group work’s output. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the possible errors that can be found in tasks done in groups. In details, the objectives that i want to reach is: 1. to understand how miscommunications can happen in a group among the IIUM students, . to determine whether IIUM students work together when given a group assignment, 3. to understand how time becomes a big constraint when working in groups among the IIUM students. Some terms that may be found in this paper are free-riders, teamwork, miscommunication, and time management. †¢ Free-rider A person that is in a group but not doing any work but still get rewards and benefits from the work done. †¢ Teamwork The collective work that members in a group put in to accomplish the assignment (task/job) that is given to their group. Each one of them gives contribution and work together in harmony in doint the work. Miscommunication When the members are not interacting among each other in doing the work, each are working separately, not knowing the growth of their work and not refereing to one another when one has reached a dead end with their work. †¢ Time management The way that a person manages or allocate their time in doing specific things in terms of whether they are on-time or not. LITERATURE REVIEW Working in groups are complicated because one has to adapt to all behaviors of the group members and if one cannot adapt, problems will start to rise. Some students are used to working alone all the time, therefore they will have difficulties in working in group. They will have to listen to other’s ideas, accept them, know how to interact and so much more. Like what Whatley (2009) said, without experience in group working, it will be hard for students to overcome the problems of working in group in which it will show in the quality output of your group’s work. Although, these students may not have the experience, their group members whom might have some (experience), may teach them or can lead the group knowing what and how to do it. This is the best part of working in groups, the students get to learn from one another. Leaning on one another in the group allows issues to be solved that arises from group work, the students should together come up with some basic rules that each should agree on and follow. If problems are left unsolved or undealt with, it may either grow bigger causing more and more problem but if lucky it would just go away. In either way, the members will be affected as they will feel some tension going around and might not perform as well as they could have. It is possible to go through the motion of a team project exercise and still not learn fundamental lessons about the essence of working in teams, ranging from communication skill to the ability to motivate others (Wolfe, Student Attitudes toward Team Projects). In the study of Dunne and Rawlins (2000), Hansen (2006) and Prichard, Stratford, & Bizo (2006) taken by Whatley (2009), it is known that a team project in higher level of education can provide a safe environment for learning about group working, with the help of guidance as a base for them to work on. Ford & Morice (2003), suggests that a micro management strategy should be opted in group assignments that would teach the students about how to act in when in group so that they can prepare themselves for when they enter the workforce. From Chang (1999), in the study, it was found that most students participated well and put effort in the group because they will be assessed by their fellow group members. Therefore, in the ground rules, assessment should be included, too, as Chang (1999) study showed how it motivates the student to perform. Running on ground rules, communication should be highlighted and stressed on it’s importance when working in group. In cases of free-riders or not distributing equal work among the group members, they should voice out and let other members know how you feel about it and how unfair it is for that to happen. They need to communicate amongst themselves and take part in doing the work. Whether the communications are done in all direction, horizontally or vertically, what is important is that it should be clearly communicated and spoken in language and terms that is able to be understood. Not only should communication be put in the ground rule but also the importance of time management. Therefore, as Whatley (2009) said, to ensure trust in the group, they (the group members) should agree on some ground rules and follow them. From Whatley (2009) again, she had mentioned that in gaining consensus among all the group members, a group must have some face-to-face meeting as well as having selecting some ground rules in order to have a clear and ambiguous communication in the group. â€Å"Conflict involves negotiation, whether it resulted in a Win-Lose or a Win-Win outcome. Naturally a Win-Win outcome is preferred. † (Chang, 1999) Free-rider is a serious problem in group work. Students who do not contribute effort and input will effect the other members emotionally, though, most times they do not show. It is very unfortunate that the student still have the decency of wanting their name to be included on submited work. It is all too possible to for students to let others do the heavy lifting of a team project, and yet reap the benefits of the eventual outcome (Wolfe, Student Attitudes toward Team Projects). It is possible for high levels of individual accomplishment to go unrewarded, or even punished, as a result of the factors beyong their control (Wolfe, Student Attitudes toward Team Projects). Yes, tonnes and tonnes of problems may arise from group work, but it offers some beneficial rewards also. For example, one get to share it’s ideas among the othe groupmates and in turn gets some ideas or feedbacks back from their groupmates. Futhermore, doing work in group eases the workload one has to do if is working alone. In groups, tasks are divided among all members and each are given own responsibilies in the group. From Ford & Morice (2003) findings, they found that even though students frequently encounter problems working in group but they would still prefer to work in group rather than individually. This shows that, eventhough they had problems but having the knowledge and ideas being shared in groups are more important that it can scratch out the negative side of group work to them. After conducting a statistical analysis on the test scores, it was found that students who participated in collaborative learning had performed significantly better on the critical- thinking test than students who studied individually (Gokhale, 1995). RESEARCH METHODOLGY This section discusses the methodology of the research. The main purpose of the research is to investigate to investigate the possible errors that can be found in tasks done in groups. To evaluate and assess the student of IIUM, 20 students were selected randomly. Data for the research were collected through questionnaire. This research uses only the quantitative research methodology. The instrument used to collect the data was questionnaire. A set of questionnaire containing 18 questions are divided into 4 sections was newly developed. Different question types, such as, ranking, yes-no, and open-ended were used in the questionnaire. The different sections of the questionnaire were: i) Background , ii) Communication , iii) Team work iv) Time management. The respondents of the study were the undergraduate students of IIUM from different kulliyyahs. On 3rd December 2011, a total of 20 questionnaires were distributed to IIUM students at different kulliyyahs and all questionnaire was returned. Of these number, 11 were male and the rest, 9, were female. No approval was needed in handing out the questionnaires in IIUM. During the actual study, questionnaire were distributed at various locations on campus, such as Economics Cafe’, KENMS, mahallah, HS kulliyyah and etc. Data were entered into the computer and analyzed using excel. Results were presented through frequency counts and other descriptive statistics. FINDINGS From the data collected, 11 of the respondents were male and nine of them were female, in which there were five of them who were 20 years old, two were 21 years old, seven respondents were 22 years old, two respondents were 23 years old and four of them were 24 years old. Most of the respondents are Malaysian, totaling to seven of them and the rest were Singaporean (four), Kyrgyz (three), Vietnamese (three), Indonesian (two) and Siamese (one). Most of the respondents were from Kulliyyah of Economics (six), one were from Kulliyyah of IRK, one from Architecture, one from Law, another one from Education, four being from HS, two were engineering students and the remaining four were from Kulliyyah of ICT. In which four of the respondents were first year students, another four were in their second year, seven being a third year student and five were in the fourth year of studying in IIUM. Figure 1: Student’s thought on group works [pic] Figure 1 shows the percentage of rankings on what students of IIUM think about group works, whether they like it or they prefer to work individually. As seen in the figure above, only 10% did not like working in groups whereas 25% said it was less preferred. 25% ranked them to be neutral on the issue, while another 25% and 15% of the respondents saying it is preferable and most preferable to work in groups, consequtively. Figure 2: Student’s preferred communication method [pic] Table 1: Communication method ranking |5 |4 |3 |2 |1 | |Call |0 |0 |3 |8 |9 | |Text |0 |0 |2 |5 |13 | |Email/Chatroom |13 |4 |2 |1 |0 | |Meet |7 |7 |6 |0 |0 | | | | | | | | Although, from Figure 2 and Table 1, the respondents showed otherwise. In Figure 2, comparison between the ‘Most prefered’ and ‘Not prefered’ ranks on the communication method is shown just to have clearer view of those who prefered to work in group and those who do not. The data in the table shows the whole data gathered on about how they really communicate with their groupmates. Figure 3 below shows the percentage on the students’ opinion to why miscommunication happens among their group members, in which most of them said because of misunderstanding, that is misinterpreting what one another is saying. 0% of them said because of language barrier (having hard time to commute in mutual language), 20% said it is because there are lack of meetings and the remaining 15% ticked ‘Others’. Those who ticked ‘Others’ said that because they are not able to accept other’s ideas and views. Figure 3 [pic] Figure 4: Experience with free-riders [pic] Figure 4 is for the section on teamwork. In which this figure shows the number of respondents having experience to grouping with a free-rider. As shown, 11 of them said they have and the rest never had. Apart from that, 35% of the respondents said yes that al l their members assigned the tasks equally, 10% does not and the highest percentage (55%) said only in some of their groups gives equal work and their other group does not. Refering to the questionnaire, Question 13 is similar to question 12, this is to make sure that there is reliability in the respondents’ answers, and there is. Basically, for those who answered that ‘only some of their group give out equal tasks’ (55% being 11 in number) said they were given extra tasks. These datas charts can be refered to in the appendix as Figure 7 and 8. Figure 5: Reason for finishing work late [pic] For the time management section, 15 of the respondents said yes it does take a long time for them to finish only their part. Interpreting that into percentage, 75% said yes (can be refered to Figure 9 in the appendix). Figure 5 above are data from those 75% that answered yes to taking a long period to finish own part, those who answered yes only answer this question. Therefore, seven of them said they are busy with other assignments, five says because the assignment is complicated therefore they need longer time and another three said they are just lazy to do their part earlier. Figure 6: Reasons for late to meetings [pic] In Figure 6, not all 20 respondents are being analyzed on, only thos who answered yes in showing up on-time to group meetings are being analyzed, that is 60%, the other 40% does not come on-time. For a better picture, this data is graphed into Figure 10 in the appendix. Moving on, most of these respondents said they come late because they are busy with other things, four of them said they do not like to be on-time, another four said things always comes up during those times and five of them do nont normally check the time therefore it is either their luck that they came on-time or not. Apart from asking about the respondents coming on-time, from the collected data none of the respondents’ other groupmates comes early to all meetings, but 7 said their group came early to most meetings, ten said their members came early to some of the meetings and the remaining three said none of them ever came early. DISCUSSION Under the communication part, it can be seen that with 20% respondents saying lack of meetings leads to miscommunication and not almost but all respondents agreed that the best communication method would be meetings. With that, looking at what they answered for the rest of communication part’s question, knowingly that face-to-face meetings are crucial, most of them only communicate through emails and chatrooms leaving with only seven respondents who actually is walking the talk (doing the meetings). This is supported by Whatley (2009), she had mentioned that in gaining consensus among all the group members, a group must have some face-to-face meeting as well as having selecting some ground rules in order to have a clear and ambiguous communication in the group. Miscommunication happens when they meet less, have language barrier, misunderstand one another, and being unable to accept what others have to say. These seven respondents sees the importance of ‘teamwork’ in accomplishing group works, therefore, they have them. From the analysis, the IIUM students have the awareness on the importance of having quality communication but somehow they are lazy in actually doing the things that would increase their communication’s quality. By having this meet-ups, all miscommunication can be overcome, even with language barrier, (if and only if the group members do not keep quiet about how they feel and what problems they ecounter with the group or task being assigned) when they have meet-ups and talk out their problems, and making sure each and every members understands the task they are being assigned. One of this paper’s research objective is to determine whether the IIUM students work together in their group, the obvious data that is graphed into Figure 8, shows that 55% of the respondents had been given extra tasks. From the datas gathered it can be seen that there are still those who free-rides on group assignment. Up to 11 respondents have had free-riders as their group member and all of the respondents said their group members would care if there was a free-rider in the group. Free-riders do not do any work, therefore when a free-rider exist in a group, tasks are not being allocated equally among all members as some of them have to do the task that was assigned to the free-rider. Proving this by the 55% of respondents saying yes that in some groups only that tasks were being distributed equally, other way of looking at it is that some does not distribute equally and another 10% said none of their group ever equally distribute them. Obviously, all members would not know that there is a free-rider until reaching to the compilation date, in which the free-rider do not have any work to send and would be giving excuses for it instead of doing it, and those members who care so much for the assignment would be doing the free-rider’s part of the work. Here are some statements to prove this. It is all too possible for students to let others do the heavy lifting of a team project, and yet reap the benefits of the eventual outcome (Wolfe, Student Attitudes toward Team Projects). It is possible for high levels of individual accomplishment to go unrewarded, or even punished, as a result of the factors beyond their control (Student Attitudes toward Team Projects). Looking at the time management aspect of the IIUM students, they are very undisciplined in finishing and submiting their part to other member, with a 75% of the respondents says they are usually late. Making their reasons to be because they are busy with other things, the assignment is complicated, and some even said they are just too lazy to get it done early. These students with this mentality (lazy to get assignment done early) are bad to be having in a group because they like to do things at the very last minute and with constraint in time, quality of work production would definitly not reach the standard. Although, in terms of being on-time at meetings, these respondents showed otherwise. Majority of them are on-time meaning that they do have time management under control. In some aspects the IIUM students are good with time management and in some they are bad. As proven by Chang (1999), in her study, she found that most students participated well and put effort in the group because they will be assessed by their fellow group members. In the peer assessment form, how each member manages their time in coming to meetings or submiting work on-time, should be included as this will motivate the students to manage their time better. CONCLUSION This study investigates the posible errors that are found in group work. It includes a bit on the importance of teamwork, how to overcome the issues and why the issues rise in the first place. The objectives of this study is to understand how miscommunications can happen in a group among the IIUM students, to determine whether IIUM students work together when given a group assignment, to understand how time becomes a big constraint when working in groups among the IIUM students. In overall, the findings shown that the IIUM students know the importance of group work, how to eliminate problems and so on so forth but they still do not do the things that will cut out problems. Like in time management, the respondents know that that should be one of the things to be disciplined on but still they do not submit or come on-time due to valid reasons or simply because they are lazy. All the communication, team work and time management are crucial issues that are linked to each other in a certain way. The IIUM students have to overcome the miscommunication problems because when working real jobs later, it is crucial to have a smooth flow of communication amongst all members, because work cannot be completed with quality without communication. Therefore, these students have to start training themselves from now so that it would not affect them later in working life. Without communication, there would be no team work. Without teamwork, tasks are harder to be accomplised bacause the reason they are being given to work in groups because it would create a better work outcome having variety of ideas coming from each members and that it would quicken up the complition time of the assignment because tasks are divided. Therefore, serious actions should be taken on free-riders because they create dissatisfaction among all the other members in which will lead to stress and tension among the members. Some ideas on how to iradicate some of the group work problems as were shown in Chang (1999), in which peer assessments were done on each group members, in which they have to be honest and truthful about each comment. As for the limitations that were encountered in finishing this research, in which there were not many, searching for articles and journals to do reviews on was a bit of a fuss. To find the ones that are compatible and having some point being similar to this research was difficult, although successfully, some was found. APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE The data to be collected will be used for academic purposes under the subject LE 4000, strictly. Background 1. Gender:( ) Male( ) Female 2. Age:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 3. Nationality:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4. Kulliyyah:( ) Economics ( ) IRK( ) HS( ) Architecture ( ) Engineering( ) ICT( ) Law( ) Education 5. Level of study:1/2/3/4 Communication For Q6 & Q7, rank them with these; 5 = most prefered, 4 = prefered, 3 = neutral, 2 = less prefered, 1 = not prefered 6. With you working in groups are:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7. Your communication method:( ) Call( ) Text( ) Email/Chatroom( ) Meet 8. Which do you think is the best communication method? (Among the methods given in Q8) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9. In your opinion, why miscommunication happen? ( ) Lack of meeting( ) Language barrier( ) misunderstanding( ) Others Specify others: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Team work 10. Have you had any free-rider as a groupmate? ( ) Yes( ) No 11. Does your other groupmates care that there is a free-rider/s in the group? ( ) Yes( ) No 12. Do you and your groups equally distribute the work? ( ) Yes( ) No( ) In some groups, yes 13. Have you ever been given extra task to do in the group? ) Yes( ) No Time management 14. Does it take a long time to finish your part of your group assignment? ( ) Yes( ) No 15. If you answered ‘Yes’ to Q15, why so: ( ) Busy with other assignment( ) Complicated assignment ( ) Too lazy to get it done early 16. Are you always on-time for your group me etings? ( ) Yes( ) No 17. If you answered ‘No’, why so: ( ) Don’t keep track of time( ) Busy with other things ( )Things always come up( ) Don’t like to come early 18. How many of your groupmates usually come on-time to group meetings? ( ) All( ) Most( ) Some( ) None Thank you for your time. Figure 7: Equal work distribution pic] Figure 8: Extra task given [pic] Figure 9: Needs long time to complete task [pic] Figure 10: On-time to meetings [pic] REFERENCES Whatley, J. (2009). Ground Rules in Team Projects: Findings from a Prototype System to Support Student. Journal of Information Technology Education, 8, 161-176. Ford, M. & Morice, J. (2003). How Fair are Group Assignments? A Survey of Students and Faculty and a Modest Proposal. Journal of Information Technology Education, 2, 367-378. Gokhale, A. A. (1995). Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking. Journal of Technology Education, 7(1). Chang, V. (1999). How can conflict within a group be manage d? In K. Martin, N. Stanley and N. Davison (Eds),  Teaching in the Disciplines/ Learning in Context, 59-66. Proceedings of the 8th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, The University of Western Australia, February 1999. Wolfe A. M. (n. d. ). Student Attitudes toward Team Projects. Organizational Behavior. http://www. ilr. cornell. edu/library/research/subjectguides/organizationalbehavior. html Group Behavior. Wikipedia. 10 November 2011. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Group_behaviour Nishan Wimalachandra. Organizational Behavior. www. nishanw. org Jex, S. M. ,& Britt, T. W. (2008). Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioners Approach. Wiley; 2 Edition.

Business Accounting assement 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Accounting assement 2 - Essay Example The name of the company will be ‘Fit Stitch’ as it is a very short name and it shows the nature of business as well. The official website of the company will be published with the URL name www.fitstitch.com. Currently there is no company offering services with this name therefore, Fit Stitch will become a trademark for my business. The nature of the business will be sole proprietorship, which means that I will be the sole trader of this business and I would be liable to bear all profit or loss. Moreover, in this kind of business, only I would have the decision making authority, however, to increase the participation of my workers, I would take their input before making any business decision. Fit Stitch aims to offer affordable, outclass, quick and convenient stitching services it to its customers. Our skilled and expert designers offer outstanding stitching services for all kind of dresses. Our ultimate aim is to satisfy our customers while achieving break even profit. The company will offer its services in Lisbon, Portugal. There are two basic reasons because of which I am targeting Lisbon market: the first, it is my home city; second, the market need. Fit Stitch will target all these market segments including men, women and kids. Attracting customers who get their clothes stitched from tailors will be easier because most of these people are sick of the prices of tailors and they usually feel very boring when it comes to visit the tailors. Since we will be offering online service and with some extra charges we will also offer the facility to get order from home, therefore, most of the customers will find it very convenient. The customers who prefer readymade garments will also find Fit Stitch services convenient, affordable and creative therefore, they will be also attracted by Fit Stitch. The only weakness of this product is the geographical limitation. Since, the budget is limited therefore; Fit Stitch cannot offer its

Exploring the changes in the consumer behavior of female consumers in Essay

Exploring the changes in the consumer behavior of female consumers in regard to online shopping of cosmetics - Essay Example Questionnaire Analysis: 12 27 3.2. Interview Analysis: 28 4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 30 4.1. Conclusion: 30 4.2. Limitations and Problems: 30 4.3. Recommendations: 30 List of References 32 appendix a 35 appendix b 37 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Overview and Background: Consumer buying behaviour could be defined as an action that an individual takes in purchasing and using goods and services (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2009). Consumer buying behaviour could be best defined as â€Å"the process by which individual select, purchase, use, dispose of goods and services to satisfy their needs and wants† (Neal, Quester, and Hawkins, 2004). These purchasing decisions are the most complex to understand as consumer’s attitude and behaviour varies from person to person and purchase decisions are based on these factors. Each individual has a unique buying behaviour that sets him/her apart from others. This means that some people prefer to buy instantly to satisfy their needs . Some needs time to make purchase. Some people are fun-loving due to which they prefer traditional ways. Some consider time as money and are more focused on saving their time due to which they prefer online shopping. Some individual are easily influenced by others. Some influence others. This shows that consumer behaviour radically differs from person to person. The behaviour of consumers depends on motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes. An individual makes a buying decision based on these factors. Social, cultural and personal are some other factors that can influence consumer buying decisions. Social factor includes family, friends, peers, status and role in society; cultural factor includes social class, traditions and customs; personal factor depends on individual’s personality traits that change with the lifecycle. This shows that even purchasing patterns of consumers from similar occupation and background are different (Guthrie and Kim, 2009). Cosmetic products a re to meet the needs of the females. Females are mostly emotionally attached to cosmetic products and to influence them to make purchase is the aim of cosmetics industry. This anti-aging industry has helped the females to look beautiful, younger and to smell the best. The increasing trend of looking younger has increased the sales of cosmetic products as compared to earlier years. To help the consumers meet their need, retailers play an essential role (Guthrie and Kim, 2009). Retailers in this industry act as an intermediary to connect the consumers to the producers by providing the cosmetic products to the consumers. These retailers not only provide the consumers with the cosmetic products but also allow the consumers to buy popular international brands (Glamface, 2010). With a market size in billions of dollars, the cosmetics industry and its retailers are essential to provide customers the product that they require. Some of the major companies in the cosmetics industry are Procto r and Gamble, L’Oreal, Unilever, Avon etc. Proctor and Gamble is currently the market leader in the cosmetics industry with beauty sales of $21.1 billion followed by L’Oreal with beauty sales of $18.1 billion (Rodman Publishing, 2012). The top 20 beauty companies reported a sale of $155 billion which means that the industry has great potential to grow in the future (Rodman Publishing, 2012). The growth of each firm is highly dependent on the consumer buying decisions. Due to the technological advancement the companies have shifted to modern means of marketing and

High altitude Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

High altitude - Essay Example The results, as illustrated in figure 1 and 2, showed that there are changes in the cardiovascular system after exercise. There is increased value in both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. The result regarding the blood pressure is consistent with other researches (Kelley & Kelley, 2000) which indicated that there is a progressive increase both the systolic and diastolic pressure. The result regarding heart rate is also consistent with several studies (Arroll & Beaglehole, 1992) which indicated that there should be an increase in the heart rate after exercise. These changes in the cardiovascular system can be associated with the increase in the release of adrenaline after exercise which can cause an increase in the heart rate and blood pressure (Van Hoof et al, 1989). Figure 1. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure at rest and after exercise. (x-axis: subject; y-axis: blood pressure) Figure 2. Heart rate measured in beats per minute at rest and after exercise (x-axis: subject; y-axis: bpm) Also, results showed that there are major changes in the respiratory system after exercise. One observation is that there is an increased value in the respiratory rate (Figure 3). This is consistent with other studies which also showed an increase in the respiratory rate (Posner et al, 1992). ... The decrease in the gas volume can be attributed to the fact that the muscle of for breathing do not work maximally. It is because during exercise, the priority for the supply of oxygen is given to the muscles at work (gastrocnemius, bicep femoris etc). And lastly, regarding the gas composition, it was observed that there is an increase in CO2 while a decrease in O2 after exercise (Figure 5). The increase in CO2 and decrease in O2 is obvious because after exercise because there is a lot of work done. This work utilized more O2 and produces more CO2 through aerobic metabolism (Posner et al, 1992). Figure 3. Respiratory rate measured in breaths per minute at rest and after exercise (x-axis: subject; y-axis: number of breaths per minute) Figure 4. Gas volume measured in liters per minute at rest and after exercise (x-axis: subject; y-axis: liters of gas per minute) Figure 5. Gas composition of O2 and CO2 at rest and after exercise (x-axis: subject; y-axis: percent composition of gas) Al though not observed in the results, there are also some changes in the nervous system after exercise. Physical activity can actually improve cognitive function (Hertzog et al, 2008). Moreover, exercise can also promote protection against neurodegenerative diseases like dementia (Clement et al, 2005). And lastly, exercise can also enhance the release of nerve growth factors, which help the process of neurogenesis (McAuley, 2004). In the report, it is also stated that the students from the football team will go to La Paz, Bolivia for a series of matches during the break. It should be considered that La Paz, Bolivia is located in a high altitude and this might imply some changes in the physiological activity of the body which should be anticipated. It should be noted

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Reading response - Essay Example 2. A strong organizational culture demonstrates that an organization has clear core values, has knowledge of its market and is adaptable. In contrast, a weak organizational culture does not subscribe to clear values, lacks shared symbols and rituals, and is not shaped by the vision of the founders. Apple is an example of an organization with an extremely strong corporate culture, exemplified by Steve Jobs and his ‘Work hard, play hard’ ethic, and passion for innovation. This can be contrasted with the weak corporate culture at Nokia, with its emphasis on research, but poor adaptation to an innovation-driven market. 3. First, I will compose a very explicit mission statement, stating my organization’s core values. Second, I will communicate my vision for the future and list the objectives I hope to see achieved in the near future. Third, I will establish a strong symbol, along motivational lines, which will serve as the corporate logo. Four, I will put in place the tradition of awarding exceptional achievement with annual cash prizes and recognition. Five, I will make myself visible in the functioning of the organization, and attempt to embody and communicate the ideals of the organization and become the public face of the

Indian Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indian Religion - Essay Example They comprise of two distinct parts, one is the Brahmanas or the knowledge, which deals with the direct realization of God and the Karma Kanda, which deals rituals and their performance. The Vedas are four in number Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda and Atharva-Veda. No Hindu religious text can be based on anything other than the Vedas; hence, the Puranas or Epics are also based on the authority of the Vedas. In the epics, the Divine Incarnations of God are described. These Divine Incarnations also, followed the precepts of the Vedas implicitly, thereby setting an example to the common man. As such, the Vedas are unchangeable and eternal; nothing can be added to, reduced or changed in them. The Puranas serve to illustrate the injunctions laid down in the Vedas. The very same Brahma Vidyas of the Vedas, or direct methods to realize the Ultimate Reality, are to be found in the Puranas. However, the emphasis in Puranas, as they deal with Divine Incarnations, is on Faith or Bhakti. The Bra hmanas with their emphasis on Brahma Vidyas, are what comprises the Path of Knowledge to realize God. It must be emphasized that Sanatan Dharma has many paths or methods to realize God. It is a highly developed religion and has a very strong base in practical religion. Initially the emphasis was on the Path of Knowledge but over a period of time it was realized that such logical reasoning to arrive at the ultimate truth was not possible for everyone. The path of Bhakti or Faith was found to be uncomplicated and very easy.

Adult Group Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Adult Group Learning - Essay Example style commonly prevail among the learners are the discussion methods in which they try to discuss the topics with their friends and try grasp as much as possible. Thus learning can take place independently and also it can happen in groups. Adult learning also happens independently and in groups. Adults have more intellectual abilities than the children and can learn the topics independently using some resources like internet, library resources etc. But some adults prefer group learning. They feel that working with a group is more beneficial to their learning than listening in class. This paper briefly explains adult group learning. McKeachie found significant relationships between attitude change and changes in perception of the group norms (Gibb, n. d, p.256). Moreover, Brewer et al (2003) have mentioned that the opportunity to work in small informal groups provides an avenue to interact with peers, fulfilling the needs of some adult learners with a high affiliation motive (Brewer et al, 2003) The attitude of the adults towards group learning is extremely positive. Man is a social animal. It is difficult for a person to live in this society without having the assistance from others. Same way, there are limitations for a person to learn things independently. While learning in groups adults will attain more enthusiasm and positive attitude towards their learning compared to learning independently. Moreover, face to face contact with groups tended to retain beliefs even after these beliefs shown to be without foundation (Gibb, n. d, p.256). It is a fact that all the people like the company of peers for everything. While working, playing, studying, people always like the company of others who are similar in their ages. Same way while learning also adults like the company of adults. It is difficult for an adult to learn in the company of younger people as young people might tease him or harass him. On the other hand he will be more comfortable in the company of

Case Project Troubleshooting WANs Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Project Troubleshooting WANs - Coursework Example This step would include identifying if the NIC is properly installed; cable connections into ports and wall jacks are not loose; network length does not exceed IEEE standards; and, device configurations. The best way to troubleshoot would be to replace a suspicious network component with an efficient one. I would set the NIC to 100 MBs with full duplex because there might be an auto-negotiation trouble with the router. I would also try rebooting the server. I would also check if there are any firewalls that are preventing the computers from seeing each other. After this step, I would log into the department’s gateway to check the transfer of data traffic. If that turns out to be okay, then I would try to locate any changes made to the gateway. In case there are no changes, I would try to use a trace route command to an Internet site to the other side of the router to find out where the blockage in data traffic is occurring. This trace route command will go beyond the gateway b ut will fail in case of no connectivity.