Monday, September 30, 2019

Management and Leadership Models Essay

As Regional Director for Happy Face Frozen Foods (HFFF), I hold a great responsibility to meet sales projection levels at each of my sales districts. Hitting goal is not just a numbers game- it’s a task of managing people within the culture of the organization. My ultimate goal for District IV and district manager Tony’s performance deficiency is to diagnosis issues and problem areas. Multiple management/leadership models and concepts are needed in order to shift this district to become profitable and successful. PERFORMANCE MODEL Skills, Abilities, Traits Tony appears to have a lack of effort, despite being young, aggressive, talkative, appears to be intelligent, and was a top sales representative. I questioned his work ethic capabilities, but the Myer Briggs Type Indicator says we are polar personality opposites as he is an ISTJ and I am an ENFP. In general, his type explains why his apparent lack of effort is actually  his â€Å"introverted† and â€Å"sensing† personality; Tony self-reflects, works alone, thinks before acting, keeps energy inside, is hard to read, and verbalizes well though out ideas, concern for present and practical matters, likes things to be precise and clear, and wants step-by-step approaches. I had promoted him despite of his tendencies towards coercion and party reputation, which seemed to be a lack of cooperation skills and professionalism. Again, his type explains these traits of Tony’s â€Å"thinking† and â€Å"judging† personality; he finds it easy to be firm-minded and give criticism, brief, concise and impersonal, uses pros and cons lists, doesn’t like surprises, resist or does not notice change, and wants advanced warning. As a top manager his thinking process is great for following rules and procedures, but as a leader of his district he needs to improve all traits involving interaction with people. In order to compliment Tony’s personality traits with my own, I must reduce perceptual errors with a self-understanding of how our opposing traits interact. Tony’s sensing type needs intuitive types at work to see possibilities, deal with complex issues, explain other intuitives, and spark innovation. His thinking type needs intuitive types at work to persuade, smooth feathers, teach and coach, and anticipate reactions. Tony has several of the Kirkpatrick and Locke Leadership Traits to facilitate success, which include drive, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business, but Tony’s sales team is hesitant to discuss his performance as a manager. A person does not become a leader by virtue of the possession of some combination of traits; therefore, with proper action Tony can transform those traits toward becoming a successful leader. Tony has three factor categories of leadership to accomplish, which include managing skills, vision, and implementation. I can provide Tony with specific guidelines for goals, objectives, and situations so he will have the managing skills for decision-making and problem solving. To improve his vision of the company, I can train him in the importance of the Big Five personality traits to become extraverted, conscientious, open, less neurotic, and agreeable. I can teach Tony how to apply the MBTI types among  his subordinates and myself, so he can properly implement his vision to the team through team building, motivation, and training. His efforts will increase their trust in his abilities and be more likely to give proper feedback in the future. Role Perceptions Inappropriate behavior concerns in Tony’s district arise from sexual harassment complaints, unwanted nicknames, mixture of work and personal relationships, and name calling shows that action for ethical conduct is lacking. Because Tony is involved in some of the unethical action, a quick response is needed at the management and subordinate level. Nielson’s guidelines for changing unethical organizational behaviors are not easy, but start with an intervention strategy implemented by corporate guidelines and myself. Caution should be used as I could be misled on details, and do not want to damage relationships and hurt the organization unnecessarily. The advantage of leading an ethical change increases incremental performance, but must include Tony in the process of establishing ethical rules and procedures in order to implement long-term. Rallying others to agree for the good of the organization takes consensus building through patience and relationship building, and can happen with ability and courage. Tony perceives his abilities for his own â€Å"book of business† as a successful sales person to be a major part of his job requirement. As a superior, my perception of his skills and traits lack the ability to manage his people, and his personal success makes me doubt his capabilities even more as he ignores his job requirements to train and coach his sales team, especially the two brand new employees. Tony needs to understand the importance of socialization practices, and appreciate the problem of transitioning a new employee. To prepare Tony in the training of his team, helpful mechanisms to utilize change are found in the elements of Schein’s organization socialization, which include basic goals, preferred means the goals are to be attained, basic responsibilities of the members, behavior patterns required for effective performance, and a set of rules to maintaining identity and integrity. New entrant should have multiple sources, whether official literature,  examples set by Tony and other employees, direct instruction, rewards and punishment system, and experimenting with new values and behavior. Success of socializing techniques depends on the initial entry of the organization and what Tony does to keep them. He must build commitment and loyalty early in the socialization process by investing time and effort into the new members, and since the two new hires have already been introduced to a laissez-faire style of management, Tony’s efforts need to be well prepared. Establishing socialization is included through training opportunities to Tony to train his sales team, giving Tony a formal role definition and the guidelines to defining his subordinates roles (which he will appreciate as an ISTJ), giving Tony a performance appraisal and future personal goals to improve, and to coach Tony the norms of a successful manager. The Determinant of Person Perception describes Tony’s situation as an ineffective leader based on the perception of his subordinates, which is influenced from the mixture of Tony’s and the subordinate’s characteristics. His ineffective leadership mixed with the subordinates lack of direction has created an Organizational Citizenship Behavior that allows discretionary behaviors based on personal choice within the workforce; several of the current norms that are being utilized and promoted under Tony’s supervision include tardiness, teasing, competitiveness, ignorance of complaints and concerns, inclusion of personal life and work, and individuality. These structureless norms and values are dangerous to the well being of Tony’s district as he does not understand his role as a leader to structure right and wrong norms, pivotal norms and values should be made clear in order to survive. The norms and values that should be implemented include trust, honesty, integrity, empathy, respect, teamwork, separation of life from professional work, and the total changes should keep 60-70% of operations stable in order to keep the organization running smoothly. The Simple Change Process has three phases to implement desired norms and values; the Unfreezing Phase includes immediate action between myself and Tony to establish how he wants the team to operate, create rules and procedures to follow, and to reprimand actions that are breaking current rules. The Moving Phase includes actions  for Tony to model new norms, train and educate the rest of the team, and provide incentives for following the new behaviors. The final process in the Refreezing Phase involves more rewards systems, standardization, and implementation of the new structures. Even if the perception of Tony’s lack of effort is a symptom of his set characteristic traits, I also need to understand as his supervisor the Self-Concept Theory of Motivation. The idea that humans are self-expressive, motivated to maintain and enhance self-esteem and self-worth, self-concepts are composed in part of identities, and this behavior isn’t always related to clear expectations or to immediate or specific goals. Tony is no different and also holds inner motivations that are not easily seen, I need to get to know him better before the districts sales meeting next month to understand his motives and actions. His current performance has demonstrated low results for the higher expectations I demand; if Tony does not have some expectation to work for, meeting my expectations is difficult and is a lose-lose situation. To give Tony direction, we can practice the Goal Theory to link Tony to specific and challenging goals with appropriate feedback for Tony to know ho w much effort to contribute in order to achieve increased task performance, and to understand what expectations to meet. Any theory or concept Tony learns can be applied to relationships with his subordinates, but will be difficult to implement with the current presence of Learned Helplessness. Tony has set such high expectations for performance and punished employees both by disregarding and berating employees publicly; his employees have become passive from repeat failures and will most likely remain passive even after changes are made. Organizationally Induced Helplessness is evident as the attribution to failure leads to behavioral influences, and Tony’s subordinate, Britni, is clearly suffering from substance abuse and practices it in the workplace openly. Because the negative environment has forced employees to shut down mentally, the operation of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy is not in effect here as Tony places high expectations, and they are not performing better because of these expectations. The factor missing in order to for the prophecy to work in Tony’s environment is more input from Tony to teach his subordinates to  reach the expectations he sets. To stop influencing negative behavior and start influencing positive attributions, organizational goals need to be easier to obtain and set clearly by Tony, because subordinates who stopped trying have already decided goals are impossible to reach such as the case with Melanie who was forced to structure her sales route by herself. Minimizing OIH can be done through multiple strategies: immunization that sets specific levels of success can begin with the new norms and values that will be set through the Simple Change Process, rewarding those who follow quickly. Attribution Training will direct failure away from internal fault and toward external conditions, and Ego Defense will develop attributes so if Tony continues to berate his employees, they will learn to not let it threaten their self-esteem. Performance Goals Tony punishes Big Ron’s performance for not getting the product out ahead of schedule is an example of Tony’s need for the Goal-Setting Concept, which assigns employees a specific task, quota, performance standard, or deadline. The use of punishment to affect behavior has negative consequences of modifying an employees behavior, such as a short-term effect, resentment of the punisher, negative aftereffects, doesn’t reinforce desired heavier, and creates an atmosphere of fear. Tony may punish too soon because of lack of training on my part, not aware of alternatives, looking for quick solutions, personal gratification, out of frustration, or believe it is the best way to change behavior. The misunderstanding of the product schedule time between Big Ron and Tony is directly attributed to miscommunication and a lack of goals. Big Ron perceives his goals to be only within the processing plant, Tony communicates his goals to be overseeing Big Ron’s operations and delivering the product. A helpful mechanism would for both to work together as a team and manage by objectives from each side. Tony and Big Ron need to use Participative Goal Setting and set specific and difficult goals together to lead to higher performance and relationship building. Merely telling Big Ron to â€Å"do his best† and to be supportive would be sufficient, but the best gain  comes from a set standard. They can also hold Management By Objectives â€Å"assignment† sessions to discuss what each side’s efforts will include. If Big Ron knows why Tony wants the products early, he can then communicate that status knowing Tony really needs that information. If Tony knows why Big Ron can’t get the products out sooner, he can then exert efforts to help Big Ron. When the task is done, a final performance appraisal feedback session will give each side a chance to voice actions that worked, need changing for future projects, and to give constructive feedback for the other person. This will build a climate of trust, and shows an acceptance of goal failure. Based on head quality control engineer Daniella’s visit with the sales force informal leader Bill Gates, is uninvolved with his job at HFFF with multiple side interests. Bill needs to get involved, and since he is in a leadership position can be given roles to support the sales force and himself by taking their performance under his accountability. If workers have a chance to participate in setting goals, they will be more committed to attaining those goals. If larger goals are broken down into short-term goals, workers will receive more frequent feedback about goal accomplishment and, thus, strive harder to meet those goals. A list of good goals similar to what Bill can make could include setting specific short and long term sales goal quotas, to create friendly competitions within the sales team, for individuals to talk to a certain number of clients or make a certain number of presentations, to meet with each sales rep individually to hear progress reports, and many more. The SMARTFIC model is a good checklist to prepare Bill to present Tony a plan of action within the sales force team. To start, Bill rates himself on scale of 1-5 on each goal setting area: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic/rewarded, timely, feedback, integrated/intermediate, and challenging/clear. He can keep or change the specificity or attainability of each goal based on the scale results, and once the goals are presented and approved by Tony, Bill can implement among the team. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards Along with Bill’s goal setting for the sales team, rewarding Bill and team members based on bonuses and commission compensation will motivate the implementation to be successful. Tony could also be motivated to perform better if he was given a bonus for getting positive evaluations, as a demonstrator at a recent training program recently evaluated him negatively. To pinpoint the best reward system for Tony, I can use the Modifying On-The-Job Behavior concept to first identify target behavior, such as his need for procedure. The second step is to perform an Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence (ABC) functional analysis to identify Tony’s trigger for needing procedure and when he uses this behavior. The third step arranges antecedents by removing obstacles, providing opportunities, appropriately scheduled consequences, such as unexpected events that cannot be controlled or sporadic behavior from others. The fourth and final step evaluates the results to find how to imple ment more procedure-based structure within Tony’s environment and utilize his best behaviors. This analysis also needs to be implemented by Tony onto his employees so they see that he appreciates their well being and can develop trust with him on other issues. Hertzberg’s Motivation Theory says if there is job dissatisfaction, the hygiene factors must be addressed before motivating employees. Tony’s team holds many hygiene factors in their workforce situation, including inappropriate subordinate work and personal relationships initiated by Tony, personal life issues addressed at work with Britni and Bill, poor supervisor relations among everyone, laissez-faire work conditions, and a lack of organization policy. Once they work through the hygiene factors, Tony can then motivate his team by setting goals for achievement, recognizing their achievements and efforts, giving them responsibilities, and chances for growth to contribute to their job satisfaction. The better the team is satisfied, the better job they can all provide. Tony created tension in his district when he hired his college buddies based on their personal relationship, and will have to overcome judgment and the tension by making his sale rep friends work hard to e arn their keep. In order to do so, Tony needs a standardized set of job dimensions and outcomes to give them, as outlined in the Job Characteristics Model. This concept gives core job  dimensions that can include skill variety, task identity, and significance to specify the sales reps various duties ranked by importance, levels of autonomy to make informed and unforced decisions on their own, and proper feedback in the form of evaluations from other subordinates or myself, instead of Tony because of their personal relationship. These dimensions lead to critical psychological states that provide experienced meaningfulness of the sales reps work, responsibility for their own works outcomes, and knowledge of their actual results. The process finally leads to personal and work outcomes that result in high internal work motivation that produces quality work performance and satisfaction, and proves their worth of working with the other subordinates while holding respect for Tony despite his initial favo ritism. Melanie complains that nobody, especially Tony, listens to her concerns, and is frustrated with the competitive and inefficient environment. While she may just be a complainer, Tony can quickly implement One Minute Praising to praise Melanie immediately when she should be appreciated, be specific about her finding an inefficiency in the training programs, share feelings of how her ideas could impact the team, and encourage her to find ways to make training programs more productive. This could help Melanie to not feel so ignored, especially if she is praised for something that is obviously a concern for her. When she begins to be more positive, her negativity will change in front of other employees and they wont ignore her as much. Tony can easily use this on all employees and voice his support for positivity to encourage the concepts use amongst the subordinates. If Melanie continues her complaining and negativity, Tony can use the One Minute Reprimanding to reprimand the complaining immediately, be specific about what she has said, share feelings of how the complaining affects the team, and remind her how good of a person she still is. The concept assists Melanie to realize how her complaining affects her coworkers, and will end the behavior. Tony needs to fix his working relationship with Big Ron quickly in order to address the possible ecoli breakout issue that Big Ron had on the health inspector visit. Not only is the health risk an ethical issue concerning consumers, Big Ron’s action plan to blackmail the inspector is an alarming  example of a lack of internal procedures. To address both of these issues and to prepare for future situations, Tony needs a Contingency Plan to manage risk that could have catastrophic consequences. Contingency Strategies are a result of the contingency plan and are devised for a specific situation where things could go wrong, although they cannot predict future outcomes. Tony’s strategies need to include procedures for situations that can happen within the management office, at the warehouses, and other facilities and need to include the managers at each location for input of specific internal details. These strategies prepare the organization or the person for anything that could happen in future and are back up plans that support the organization when the actual plan fails. For positive reinforcement for the behavior to increase, Tony must apply the strategy AND reward for something desirable or pleasant. The reward need to be individual-based in order to encourage employees to act ethically and receive personal recognition for their actions. Tony’s intricate involvement in Britni’s personal dating life and his friends looking for a good time is an example of negative reinforcement within the workplace. This involvement and his personal relationship with human resource manager, Margaret, are behaviors that need to be eliminated. I need to use the Coaching and Reinforcement Concept to tell Tony what to do to cease his involvement, show him how to change through role-play practice, then let him try to implement within the situations. I’ll observe his performance, and either praise his progress or redirect if it fails. A weakness in Tony’s relationship with his subordinates is a major issue in the balance of work performance. If the subordinates do not respond to Tony and he makes no initiative to manage his people, the district is at risk of failing and ruining sales figures. To create a trusting and open work environment, the PRICE System from Putting the One Minute Manager to Work says to pinpoint the performance area of interest, such as the subordinate/management relationship, then record and measure the current performance level on a graph. We must involve everyone to agree on  performance goals and strategies for coaching and evaluation, with extravert personalities on the team in charge of coaching, observing performance, and reporting to Tony to manage consequences. Tony and the team must then evaluate, track performance progress, and determine future strategies. The results of successful implementation of this system will strengthen the relationships between Tony and his subordin ates and eliminate the â€Å"fear† that is prevalent throughout the organization. Human resource specialist, Mary Ann, is enthusiastic about work-family balance and schedules of reinforcement concepts, but Daniella tuned her out during a recent visit. If employees and reporting superiors dismiss constructive ideas, the company may miss out on great progress opportunities and the employees who value change. The Reinforcement Appropriate Behaviors concept encourages hard working employees; if workers receive immediate reinforcement for their hard work, they will work harder than if their reinforcement is delayed. Frequent reinforcement of positive behavior and infrequent reinforcement of negative behavior results in higher performance. Workers will work harder if their reinforcements for work are somewhat random in either a variable interval or ratio. Mary Ann’s interest in Performance Model theories can be rewarded in the future based on this concept through praise and the responsibility to help host internal training sessions if we specifically provide her the proper way to relate them to her workforce. Her success could lead to creating reward programs and working with Tony to think of reward opportunities. Kerr’s Common Management Reward Follies says we hope for long-term growth, teamwork, challenging objectives, restructuring, and commitment to total quality, but we often reward quarterly earnings, individual effort, making the numbers, adding staff, and less than quality. Relatedly, Tony is reluctant to take charge of the sales team, but from afar demands higher levels of productivity. Tony is seeking simple quantifiable standards to measure but some aspects are highly visible and most aren’t, so a lacking view of performance factors and results doesn’t help break out of old ways of thinking. Since current rewards systems hardly exist, Tony must explore what types of behavior are currently being rewarded to positively reinforce  desired behavior. Equity Model The disturbing story of a possible kickback program involving sales manager, Jeff Daniels, and his stress related behavior is symptoms of the Equity Theory and Justice: The Concept of Fairness says Jeff must believe his is being treated fairly or his motivation will wane. Employees must evaluate their inputs in relation to their outcomes as compared to the inputs and outcomes of others to determine fairness, and inputs of employees on the job include enthusiasm, knowledge, innovation, and skills, while outputs include salary, satisfaction, recognition, and training opportunities. If the outputs of Jeff’s efforts are not equal to his inputs, he will find a way to make that mental equation balanced. If balancing to him means receiving under-the-table funds and lashing out on others as a consequence of a work-stress overload, then his promotion to International Protocol Specialist will only reward his unethical behavior and actions. Although the action of Mary Ann and Nelson arriving late to meeting with Danielle seems minor, this action sends the message that other business etiquettes are not important and will not represent the company at its best. The Reinforcement and Rewards concept says part of Tony’s job is to direct the behaviors of employees by providing appropriate rewards to reinforce the desired behaviors that lead to organizational effectiveness and success. Reinforcement stimuli Tony could incorporate for not only tardiness, but other common courtesies, include attendance awards and office-wide recognition, employee of the month awards with reasons attached to the award, and spontaneous cash awards for sighted acts of kindness. Effort-Reward Probability Although the ultimate Performance goals are nowhere near to be reached, there are good opportunities to reward good effort. The Effort-Reward Probability concept produces effort and follows Vroom in that abilities and traits can also multiply to determine performance. Examples have been provided with other models, but Steve Stricker aka â€Å"Mr. Insensitivity† deserves credit for his enthusiasm and attempt to correct a bad situation in the most efficient way possible. While his handling of the situation was not  the most desired, he still holds my respect enough to want him to supervise Tony’s district. The more good efforts we can multiply with good rewards, the better the performance the organization will gain. Satisfaction and V = Valence The majority of Tony’s workforce chooses to remain silent about most incidents that happen at work because the consequences of speaking up are higher. The Valence outcome of the Expectancy Theory model needs to be changed the most for this team as their value of rewards based on their needs and goals are low. The current valence level that I provide Tony, and Tony provides his subordinates can be rated a â€Å"0† as indifferent to the outcome of rewards, which is very much my fault for not encouraging a reward system to my own subordinate and setting the right example. I can start from my own practices to implement a rewards system specifically for Tony, and various programs for him to relay down to his team. COMMUNICATIONS Tony needs to improve his communication with subordinates in order to convey and receive information, gain acceptance for his ideas, maintain relationships with coworkers, establish trust, keep people involved in a project, to produce action or change. The change should include the climate of the workplace, as it is defensive, in the sense of the amount of control and superiority that is exerted from Tony’s competitive nature. In order to create a supportive climate, while allowing a friendlier competitive environment, Tony needs to encourage equality among the team and to practice empathy. He will also appear more reasonable if he learns to admit when he doesn’t know an answer, admits when he is wrong, and asks for help. When Tony ignores his employee’s requests for help and suggestions, his unrelated and tangential responses levels of listening serve as punishment to his employees for speaking. To display listening in the workplace, Tony must stop talking, show he wants to listen, empathize, go easy with arguments and criticisms, and again stop talking. He will encourage future interactions when he develops their trust. To practice the three elements of trust, Tony needs to show an inclination towards charity through  benevolence, practice integrity through a consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty of one’s actions and the ability to lead his team. To develop trust, he must demonstrate concern for others well-being and needs, be willing to see other peoples point of view, correspond between his words and deeds, and not be afraid to show emotion. When Tony received negative feedback from the recent training program, he most likely felt embarrassed and defensive. Tony needs effective feedback, he will not listen to the training program if we assume he should know what to do, evaluative, late, negative only, and punishing in the face of others at the program. In order for him to learn, it needs to be descriptive, specific, timely, and positive with the negative, and he needs to listen, check, clarify, and ask the feedback of others. There will be situations in the future similar to the miscommunication with Big Ron that will frustrate Tony, but he needs to make himself clear even if he is upset by managing from the HEART to convey his message to others: to be heard and understood, if disagreed with to not be made wrong, to be acknowledged for good, to look for right intentions, and to be told the truth with compassion. If he can correctly convey this message throughout a disagreement, relationships will be saved and solutions can be found. Tony should also remember to listen; two ears, one tongue, DM’s who don’t listen have less information for making sound decisions. Gibbs describes communication as a people process. The more supportive a climate is, the less defensive a person has read into distortion and can respond productively. A supportive climates in Tony’s relation with Big Ron can include descriptions of updates at the facility, problem orientation to seek mutual solutions to get products out early, with no hidden agenda from fear of reprimand, empathy for each other’s position, equality in interaction, and provisionalism of always seeking new information outside of personal knowledge. LEADERSHIP Traits Approach My perceptual distortion of Tony’s capabilities can be further discussed through Leadership Traits, which can describe Tony’s drive, personalized leadership motivation to be in charge, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business. These are great leadership traits to have, but he needs to apply them in order to be an effective manager. The fatal flaws of leaders who derail, which also apply to Tony’s traits, include insensitivity of others, aloof and arrogant, overly ambitious and managing, and inability to adapt to situations. Fortunately Tony’s fatal flaws can be improved with the Emotional Intelligence at Work concept, which highlights Tony finding self-awareness through assessing his current position, self-regulation to determine whether he seems trustworthy, holds integrity, and is openness to change). Tony does hold motivation for a strong drive to achieve, but can improve on optimism organizational commitment in management. Empathy is his biggest weakness and can improve on expertise in building and retaining talent and being sensitive to others, and his efforts to build social skills in his effectiveness in leading change, persuasiveness, and expertise in building and leading teams will ultimately change his workforce to trust his judgment and commit to the organization. Another trait-based approach for improving skills is the Three-Skill Approach, which suggests Tony’s effective administration to depend on three basic personal skills: technical knowledge about work and specialization, human ability to work with people, and conceptual ability to work with ideas and concepts. Tony’s knowledge of the company is very strong as he was a top sales rep and can work with set concepts that use step-by-step approaches. When Tony improves his ability to work with ideas and people, he will increase the effectiveness of his leadership. Power Approach Tony has an element of fear within his relationship with subordinates, and Big Ron was treated so meanly because of a miscommunication. The Power Approach explains good sources of power are legitimate and reward, but bad sources of power that Tony is guilty of include coercive and charismatic. According to Yukl and Taber, Tony identifies as an authority power and  effective leaders are expert and referent. Subordinates will comply with his orders, but do not accept his goals, although he is in position to get possible commitment, and just as easily to get possible resistance. Tony can enhance his authority power by making polite requests, not demands, requests made in clear and simple language, checking to make sure subordinate understand and giving reason for the request if necessary, and following up to verify they have complied. Overall to appear more personable and less powerful, Tony needs compassion. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, top power tools that Tony’s subordinates will respond to are patience, gentleness, teachableness, acceptance, kindness, openness, consistency, and integrity, which all are in line with compassion. Situational Leadership Model Situational Leadership says it’s not so much what you are, as what you do. I find many things to change of Tony’s relations with his subordinates, when my own leading of his development is lacking, and my leadership style should combine directive and supportive behaviors. I can institute directive behavior by clearly telling Tony what, how, where, and when to do something, then closely supervising their performance. I can increase supportive behavior by engaging in two-way communication on a more frequent basis, listening to his concerns, providing support and encouragement, facilitating the interaction, and involving him strongly in decision-making. I need to give Tony more Directing as a manager and leader, even through he only needed Delegating as a salesman. Tony, in turn, needs to apply the same concept of Directing to many of his new salesman and Coaching for the rest of the employees. Understanding the effectiveness of situational leadership and communicating thi s understanding with Tony will enhance our relationships at all levels, and reduce the perception of Tony lacking training duties. Effective leaders are those who can recognize what employees need and then adapt their own style to meet those needs. Path Goal Theory Tony is lacking in leadership behaviors according to the Path Goal Theory in  helping subordinates to shape their tasks. The idea is to define goals, clarify path, remove obstacles, and provide support, and Tony is achievement oriented based on the leadership behaviors as he challenges subordinates to perform work at the highest level possible, a high standard of excellence. To help subordinates meet Tony’s standards, he needs to provide guidance of how to obtain excellence. Leaders Member Exchange Theory Tony should form an individualized working relationship with each of his subordinates, and the exchanges in content and process should be dyadic with unique characteristics. High quality leader-member exchanges produced less employee turnover, and exchanges can be in-group or out-group. Tony has created a tight in-group from hiring his college friends as salesmen, but still doesn’t hold the qualities of a true in-group that has mutual trust, respect, liking, and reciprocal influence. Out-groups are based on job a description, which is the relationship Tony holds with his team, and even I hold with him as a superior. Tony is in Phase 1 Stranger, the phase in leadership making that is directed toward self-interest rather than toward the good of the group; roles with the team are scripted, influences are one way from Tony to subordinates, exchanges are low quality, and interests are for self. Transformational Leadership and The Leadership Challenge Tony’s aggressive leadership style is unwanted by many of his subordinates, the Leadership Challenge can help him implement carry out significant changes, which include to challenge the process, inspire a shared vision and enlisting others, enable others to act to foster collaboration and strengthen others, model the way and set the example and encourage the heart by recognizing individual contribution and celebrate accomplishments. Tony is currently a Laissez-Faire Leadership style, hands-off, let-things-ride approach that gives little effort to help followers satisfy their needs. Out of the four I’s he is most lacking â€Å"individualized consideration† to provide a supportive climate, listen carefully, and act as coaches. If Tony adopts any of the transactional leadership factors to perform a better job, the Contingent Reward to obtain agreements from followers on what must be done and what the payoffs will be. Servant Leadership One of the biggest struggles Tony will have is in following Servant Leadership by putting followers first, supporting personal development, honesty, treating fairly, share power, and enabling others. The antecedent conditions are strong as the culture, leader attributes, and follower receptivity to wanting a leader. The core of the process is weakest in conceptualizing the organization, emotional healing in sensitivity to others, putting followers first, helping followers grow, behaving ethically, empowering, and creating community value. The outcomes cannot happen until the core of the process is successful, but include follower growth and performance, organizational performance, and societal impact. Tony can improve with training in empathy, compassion, and listening. Once his team sees his efforts to be a better person, they will respect his position better. CONFLICT Conflict will always be part of an organization, whether to be avoided as described by the traditional view or necessary for a group to perform effectively as described by the interactionist view. Because Tony and I will be making many changes to the organization and our personalities differ so much, we should practice integrative bargaining through goals by expanding the pie so both parties are satisfied, motivation with win-win solutions, focus by showing interest, interests being congruent, information sharing being high, and the duration of the relationship being long term. Tony has been a Shark in terms of conflict: he is forceful towards his subordinates to achieve his goals at all costs, and overpowers others to win conflicts. He needs to become more of a Fox, and be more concerned with goals and the relationship, willing to give up something for the common good, and resolve conflict by finding middle ground. To use the Problem Solving Approach to Conflict Resolution between Tony and I’s interactions, we must identify the problem, set a goal or objective, generate and evaluate solutions, and create an action plan. Because Tony most likely does not want to deal with the personal relationship issues within the organization, especially since he is directly  involved, the Hill’s Model for Team Leadership is an easy tool to aid leadership problem solving and to clarify its complex nature. My leadership decision is to take action for the task needs of the group and intervene for the internal task force. My next action will managing the conflicts of interest, external alliances of corporate human resources, and to receive the desired outcome of team satisfactory for future development. PERCEPTION In my expectations from hiring I did not take into account the function of Tony’s personality and the management environment he would work in, especially since his MBTI traits are ISTJ and I am ENFP. The Halo Effect is in full swing on my part as I held a cognitive bias in the judgment of Tony’s character, which influenced my overall impression of him. Tony’s perception is also flawed in using projection as a defensive mechanism to place his own actions on other people, such as the late shipment of product onto Big Ron, and the failing sales numbers onto his salesmen. He has used projection to improve his own self-image and have a reason for failures. When Tony teases Chris, he sends a very strong message to his subordinates, as it is in verbal form, a face-to-face channel, toward immediate subordinates, it’s a high channel richness that is allowing multiple cues from Tony’s words, and tone of voice which strengthens the message of his unintended te asing. When Melanie complains about the long training classes, she is dealing with Primacy Effects, as the listener is more likely to start off paying attention then drift off when the subject gets boring or the listener is internally processing data. Our company does not want ineffective training sessions, therefore if we want information to stand out in a person’s mind we must use it at the beginning of a conversation or a written list and not let it get lost in the middle. Repeating messages consecutively several times through messages after the training sessions will embed it in their minds. When Tony ignores Melanie’s complaints, he believes in Theory Y but leaves her be. He lacks empathy for this situation, a perceptual error that can be reduced with conscious empathizing for her feelings. When Tony is given backhanded compliments for helping Britni get dates, she has received an area of self-consciousness of her ability to date. To reduce perceptual errors in this situation, self-acceptance involves self-understanding, a realistic, albeit subjective, awareness of her strengths and weaknesses, she can then feel about herself that she is of â€Å"unique worth†. When Tony misunderstood Big Ron, he became defensive from constructive criticism, and sometimes when actions or motives for the action are questioned, it is best to just explain. Interpersonal attributions happen when the causes of the events involve two or more individuals, and it is likely that one will always want to present oneself in the most positive light in interpersonal attributions, which is what Tony did. Tony creates perceptual defense in being angry instead of remaining neutral. Tony should communicate his needs and practice better listening skills so the miscommunication doesn’t happen again. TEAM PERFORMANCE: Meeting in Orlando Before the team meeting, I want to spend quality time with Tony and let him know what my concerns are and the pros and cons to the issues. I want to hear his side and be able to work together on some misconceptions since we are in direct rank and contact with each other. I need to keep him on my team if he is going to follow any changes I want to make. At the team meeting I plan to merely observe the group in their natural state, then as I am included, congratulate the team on aspects of the meeting that went well and motivate them based on those positives. Topics of improving performance, ethics, and setting goals, and making plans for future collaboration. Nothing can be completely fixed within this one meeting, but is a start for positive change. The golf game is where I will begin to gather more details of the group’s dysfunctions and look for contradictions in what Tony and other members have relayed to me. The biggest aspect of team functioning I want to discuss with the golfing group a and improve are relational of the ethical concerns and team dynamics. Any process I decide will involve teams of people, so I will be able to rally subordinates to work with Tony and I through this  rapport-building game. Already, I see the reasons for team failures to occur from degrading employees, inequities in reward system, an aggressive leadership style, a weak team leadership, and a fear of the leader. I expect particular behaviors from the Role Nomination Form to be lacking which include task-oriented behavior like initiating activity, seeking/giving information and opinions, elaborating, testing workability, and group-oriented behavior such as encouraging, expressing group feelings, harmonizing, gate-keeping, and setting standards, and what may occur from these lacking behaviors which include anti-group behavior such as resistance, recognition seekers, dominators, and avoiders. Janis says groupthink happens when members of decision-making groups become motivated to avoid being too harsh in their judgments of the leaders or their colleagues ideas. Some Groupthink symptoms are present in this situation, including members who have doubts or differing points of view seek to avoid deviating from what appears to be group consensus by keeping silent about misgivings and even minimizing to themselves the importance of their doubts, and there’s an illusion of unanimity- if someone doesn’t speak, it’s assumed they are in full accord. Tony could be leading his subordinates in groupthink by constantly voicing his beliefs and reprimanding anyone who opposes or wants to report higher than him. Victims avoid deviating, and keep silent about their misgivings and even minimize to themselves the importance of their doubts. To fix this issue, the leader should assign he role of critical evaluator to each member to air objections and doubt, adopt impartial stances in the beginning, monitoring group size by splitting up into smaller teams, then coming back together with results, and appointing a devil’s advocate to always look at the other side of things. Effective teams have adequate resources, effective leadership, climate of trust, a performance evaluation, and reward system that reflect team contributions. The team effectiveness model for this group needs leadership structure and a climate of trust, a composition of allocating roles and finding abilities of members, and a process that has specific goals and  common purposes. Overall, every model and concept discussed for this situation has a solution that can be used to address problems when I attend the monthly directors meeting with Tony. The most important aspect of all these concepts is being able to apply them within myself in my relationship with Tony, as he is my partner to making his district profitable. Open communication, trust, and mutual problem solving with his team should help me land the international assignment and leave Tony skilled and ready to continue great performance after I am gone.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Graduate school Essay

Preparation Before applying, understand why attending graduate school makes sense to you. To clarify why you want to attend graduate school at this point in your life, try answering questions such as: †¢Ã‚  What will this degree enable you to achieve? †¢Ã‚  What do you plan to do with your advanced degree? Be able to express what about you and your experiences will help you to succeed in the program: †¢Ã‚  Make lists of professors, courses, research projects, ideas, travel, and other experiences that have been important to you, or have influenced your decision to apply to graduate school. †¢Ã‚  Think about any volunteer, extracurricular, or paid work experiences, as well as interests, special skills you possess, or honors and awards you have received. †¢Ã‚  What have you learned from your experiences? How have you used this knowledge? †¢Ã‚  Provide the admissions committee with information that supplements (not repeats) the information in the rest of your application. What important aspects are not clearly reflected in your resume, college transcripts and test scores? For example, you might want to indicate how you hope to benefit  from graduate studies, and how you intend to apply and integrate your graduate studies in your career. Writing Tips †¢Ã‚  Answer the question. Some applications require a general personal statement, others ask you to write on more specific topics. Be sure to tailor your essay to the school’s request. †¢Ã‚  Keep the essay clear, concise, and to the point. The essay demonstrates your writing ability and communication skills. Engage your readers with an effective introduction and clear structure. Say what you mean directly and avoid using phrases like â€Å"I think† or â€Å"In my opinion.† †¢Ã‚  Write your personal story. Set your statement apart by discussing WHAT is important to you, WHY it is important, and HOW you have used your talents and abilities in your life. †¢Ã‚  Be specific and give examples. For instance, instead of simply stating that you would make an excellent doctor (lawyer, engineer, etc.), provide reasons and examples. What experiences have you had that encouraged you to enter this field? †¢Ã‚  Follow any format guidelines provided by the school, such as length, font, or margin size. †¢Ã‚  Proofread! Ask several people to read through your essay, especially faculty in your desired area of study, English professors, career counselors, parents, and friends who will give you honest feedback. Ensure that there are no typos, misspellings, or grammatical errors. Over → USD Career Services †¢ Hughes 110 †¢ 619-260-4654 †¢ careers@sandiego.edu †¢ www.sandiego.edu/careers Tailoring Your essay will be different for each application. Know the special features, emphases, or approaches of each program, and reflect these in your essay. †¢Ã‚  What are the school’s strengths? †¢Ã‚  What makes the program a good choice for you? †¢Ã‚  How might you contribute to the program? Cautions †¢Ã‚  Do not include references to your experiences or accomplishments before college, unless there was an extraordinary achievement or trauma that had a significant impact on your current situation. †¢Ã‚  Do not mention subjects that are too controversial. Avoid offending the admissions committee. †¢Ã‚  Do not be too general. Top schools may receive thousands of applications, and you want yours to stand out. Keep your essay interesting, relevant, and tailored to the school. Additional Resources Websites at many universities contain advice on writing graduate school essays. The Writing Center at RPI www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/gradapp.html UC Berkeley: Graduate School Statement http://career.berkeley.edu/Grad/GradStatement.stm UCSD: Application Essays http://career.ucsd.edu/sa/applicationEssays.shtml These commercial web sites offer helpful samples and tips on writing graduate school essays. By listing these sites, USD Career Services is not endorsing the additional paid services. Essay Edge www.essayedge.com/ Admissions Essays www.admissionsessays.com (click on Writing Tips) All About the Graduate Admissions Essay http://gradschool.about.com/od/essaywriting/All_About_the_Graduate_Admissions_Essay.htm The following books on graduate school essays are available in the USD Career Services Library. Graduate Admissions Essays, by Donald Asher (Ten Speed Press) Peterson’s Perfect Personal Statements, by Mark Stewart (Thomson Peterson’s)

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Levels of Life Worksheet Essay

Complete all three parts of this worksheet. Part I: Atomic Structure – Fill in the missing information on atomic structure and organic compounds. Atomic Structure Subatomic Particle Charge Location in an Atom Proton Positive Nucleus Neutron Neutral Nucleus Electron Negative Spherical (outer-shell) Organic Compounds Large Biological Molecule Atoms it Contains Monomer(s) Function(s) in Living Organisms Carbohydrates C, H, and O Monosaccharides Source of energy Lipid C, H, and O Glycerol and fatty acids Cushion and insulate organs; builds cell membranes Protein C, H, O, N, and S Amino Acids Helps chemical reactions, provides support and structure, provides transport within bodies and provides movement of body Nucleic acids C, H, O, N, and P Necleotides Stores and transmits genetic information Part II: Characteristics of Living Organisms – Seven characteristics distinguish an object or thing from an actual living organism. All seven characteristics must be present simultaneously for something to be considered living. Fill in the remaining characteristics in the following table. Characteristics of a Living Organism 1. Order – exhibit complex but ordered organization. 2. Regulation- the environment outside of an organism can change but the organism is able to internally adjust to maintain or regulate appropriate levels for survival 3. Growth and development- the information provided by genetics which determines the growth and development patterns of an organism. 4. Energy utilization- the energy an organism takes in to use in preforming life activities. 5. Response to the environment- the response of a living organism to its environment. 6. Reproduction. Organisms reproduce their own kind. 7. Evolution. Reproduction underlies the capacity of populations to change (evolve) over time. Part III: Write a 200- to 300-word explanation of how atoms make up organic compounds, which make up all living organisms, addressing all three domains. According to Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology, (2010) how atoms make up organic compounds, which make up all living organisms, by  addressing all three domains, are that atoms unite with carbon elements. For an example the elements could be hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. These three elements bond with atoms, and create carbon and hydrogen atoms. Then the three elements then become a linked chain, the chain produces three domains that the body and all living organisms need to function. They are considered as large biological molecules. Carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids are the three domains of the atom chain. The small molecules are what link the large biological molecules together. Carbohydrates are created by carbon, oxygen, hydrogen linking together which form polysaccharides. The chain is called a polymer, which is a small molecule. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen unite and form amino acids. The Amino acids then produce proteins. Also when carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen unite combined with sugars it becomes nucleotide molecule. The nucleotide molecule then produces DNA and RNA. Carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen united together then form fatty acids. The fatty acids produce glycerol, and this is how lipids are formed. All three domains of that create an atom are living organisms that bond with each other to create organic compounds that produce the chains that release the carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids. All three of these basic atoms are needed to grow food, and digest food that make up all living organisms including humans, animals, and natural gases. Reference Eric J. Simon, Jane B. Reece, and Jean L. Dickey. (2010). Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology,. Retrieved from Eric J. Simon, Jane B. Reece, and Jean L. Dickey, SCI/230 website.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Truman Doctrine or the Marshall Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Truman Doctrine or the Marshall Plan - Essay Example The Truman Doctrine came into being in 1947. It signalled a break with previous US foreign policy and undoubtedly contributed to the bitter rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. While the United States had previously pursued a policy of non-intervention and had hoped to return to this policy following the conclusion of the war, the Truman Doctrine effectively prevented this. Instead, it defined a policy of intervention in European domestic affairs as an extension of American national interests. Most specifically, the Truman Doctrine aimed to contain and curtail the power of the Soviet Union within Europe. Hence, upon being informed by the British forces that Great Britain could no longer afford to maintain a military presence in Greece for the purposes of fighting the Greek communist threat, the United States covered the cost of the operation. The point here is that the United States, irrespective of the concept of European nationalism and regardless of the Soviet U nion's own European identity and continental affiliation, had decided that intervention for the purposes of containing the spread of Soviet influence was both its right and duty. The consequence of its doing so was the division of Europe into East and West, into the Communist and the Liberal/Democratic blocs. The Marshall Pl

Thursday, September 26, 2019

To what extent, if at all, can leadership style affect employee work Essay

To what extent, if at all, can leadership style affect employee work motivation - Essay Example Competent leaders are able to propel an organization ahead through effective management of resources, maintenance of a favorable working environment as well as employee motivation. This paper evaluates the extent, if at all, can leadership style affect employee work motivation. It highlights various motivational strategies applied by leaders to generate contentment and competence among employees. Leadership Style and Employee Motivation Bureaucratic leadership is one of the styles that affect employee motivation. The entire organizational processes are accomplished according to the predetermined procedures, and all employees understand their roles in the process. None of them has a right to change any of the steps involved. Decision making is centralized, with no room for employees to apply their judgment in undertaking the tasks. This leadership style lowers employee motivation and hinders inventiveness. The workers suffer from inferiority complex as they feel that the leader is the only person who can make the right decision. The style leads to dissatisfaction of staff due to monotony and rigidity of leadership (Khurana, 2002). In Laissez-Faire leadership style, the leader focuses on maintaining interest among the workers due to the understanding that they need to be enthusiastic about their work for them to relate effectively with clients. The leader generates employee satisfaction through appreciating workers’ contribution to the accomplishment of organizational goals. Employees appreciate being trusted by the leader. They are allowed to complete various tasks on their own, especially in situations where the leader possesses confidence in their competence. Laissez-Faire leadership is a significant factor for an organization’s success since the leader has the capacity to develop strong working teams among the employees. Such leaders encourage flexible work practices such as developing their own work plan and engaging in activities outside the o rganization where they organize meetings with clients without supervision among other aspects of organizational flexibility. This leadership style allows the employees to own the organizational goals (Gemmill and Oakley, 1992). Charismatic leadership is significant in a leader’s ability to motivate employees. Such leaders possess allure and elegance, which are admired by many people. They have self-belief and confidence that are a major factor for success in leading workers to accomplish tasks. The Charismatic Leader gathers followers through personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority. As Conger & Kanungo (1998) observe, charismatic leaders are encouraging to their subordinates and try to pay attention to all. They try to make each person to feel important and appreciated. Reynolds (2000) observes that charismatic leaders encourage employees to feel relaxed when airing their views regarding their work. This is an important strategy that helps i n motivating employees to be inventive and has been core to the success of many organizations. A charismatic leader can be placed at level 5 of Jim Collins leadership hierarchy (Collins, 2001). He/she is determined to promote and accomplish his vision while on the other hand remains modest in his relationship with the subordinates. He/she regards his success as the success of the organization. The leader’s self esteem helps in maintaining confidence to utilize emerging

Rapid dissemination of images has had an impact on artists Essay

Rapid dissemination of images has had an impact on artists - Essay Example Artists who are not affiliated with any major companies find comfort in the Internet as an effective channel to distribute their labor of love to a particular niche (Poole and Le-Phat Ho 5). Pool and Le-Phat Ho mention that a survey in England reveals that art enthusiasts â€Å"explore† art materials online than those who are not interested at all (5). With this idea, it is significant to discuss postmodern artists and the impacts of digital technology to their works. Shepard Fairey. He is the man behind Studio Number One and is the well-known publisher of Swindle Magazine (Heller and Talarico 117). More than the common affiliations, Fairey bleeds art, as he started making artworks for shirts and later on to another medium since he was in college. His designs are of course authentic, making them in balance between quantity and quality (Heller and Talarico 117). In one of his artworks, Fairey expressed his stance over the rapid dissemination of the images of artworks with the advent of digital technologies. Particularly, he criticized existing laws concerning copyrights of artists to their artworks (Taylor 172). Fairey campaigned for a copyright law to be passed in the United States that is applicable in the present era. Fairey’s campaign is a manifestation of artists’ â€Å"anxiety† over copyright infringement (Taylor 172; Sullivan 41). The present media culture suggests it being an â€Å"open-source† of anything that can be stored and retrieved in there (Boomen et al. 271). Fairey fought for artists’ rights over their own work. He understood that there must be some acknowledgement of originality among breakthrough artists in the digital field. With this in mind, Fairey understands â€Å"new spatial heterotopias,† which suggest that there is actually a difficulty in delineating space and physical landscape in art (Boomen et al. 272). Sherrie Levine. Rephotography is her

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Week 7 Discussion Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 7 Discussion Questions - Assignment Example The American website offers a feel of black & white picture of the product image and the product features, while the Indian website uses the color element variously, particularly red color in sub titles of the product traits besides showing total range of all series available in black & white and color MFD models, differentiating them through the use of colored text, on the left side of the web page. The Indian webpage of the product focuses on the external features of the product, such as its design and frame but pinpointing at the same that the product is the outcome of â€Å"cutting-edge technologies.† Another mentionable difference is that the American web page of the product also includes and presents another similar product description as features of both are same. That similar product is MX-3100N. The American web page does not mention that the Open System Architecture is 3.0, unlike its Indian counterpart. Whether a gray market product available in the US market poses any risk or not, depends on the kind of product. Some gray market products can be too risky to purchase, for instance purchasing of drugs from the gray market in the US; it could be risky to the extent of life-threatening. As per the survey conducted by Premier Healthcare Alliance in 2011, a call for gray market drugs was posted in the Premier Pharmacy Weekly Update in the last week of April 2011, specifying the national drug codes (NDCs) and their retail prices for comparison with Premier base contract prices (Cherici et al. 1). Comparison of the drugs of gray market with of Premier base contract prices proved that all gray market drugs were manufacturer back-ordered or short-supply drugs. The marketing strategy used by gray vendors to sell their drugs was in the form of emails and fliers, using language tool such, â€Å"We only have 20 of this drug left and quantities are going fast.† All marketing and sale offers online were made for those drugs

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Comparing And Contrasting Wireless Security Essay

Comparing And Contrasting Wireless Security - Essay Example Yet, as recent events have shown, this wall is at best overstated and at worst illusory altogether. Regardless, wireless security is no longer a concern for only the home and business. As wireless access points grow in popularity, there is a growing need to secure networks that are designed to be used by members of the public. As Chenoweth, Minch and Tabor (2010) point out, these networks offer little or no security for the end user, which is a completely different problem, but related in the potential consequences of misuse. Finally, Potter (2006) believes that achieving true security at one of these public networks is impossible and that â€Å"Laptops and PDAs are so vulnerable in wireless hotspots, users would do well to turn them off† (p. 51). The views of wireless security that those authors give are separable into two different sets of categories. First, the authors either give an optimist/descriptive view or a pessimist/normative view of how end users should interact wi th wireless technology given security concerns. Loo (2008) witnessed the breach in internet security at a U.S. credit card processing center (a â€Å"descriptive† view) and wrote about how users can protect themselves. On the other hand, Chenoweth, Minch and Tabor (2010) and Potter (2006) described how there is virtually no security on wireless networks (a â€Å"pessimistic† view) and that users might be better off not using them (â€Å"a normative view†). Second, the authors give either an account of private home or business wireless security or an account of public hotspot wireless security. Once again, while Loo (2008) is writing primarily about private end users operating their own private networks, Chenoweth, Minch and Tabor (2010) and Potter (2006) are discussing networks in the context of public hotspots, as opposed to private channels. Seeing the literature in this way, one might realize that there is a certain consistency at work: from the time between 2006 and 2010, little advancements have been made in improving the wireless security for public networks. Meanwhile, private networks remain potentially unprotected, but that the weakest link in that chain is the end user, not the network itself as seems to be the case with public wireless hotspots. From this perspective, one can begin to put into context the kind of advice or observations that each article makes. Loo (2008) opens his discussion of private network wireless security by overviewing why end users are the weakest components in a computer system’s security. He writes, â€Å"In most systems, the weakest components are the end users, particularly when they are accessing the corporation’s databases with wireless facilities at home† (p. 68). Of course, what he is suggesting here is that corporations must safeguard their information from private individuals because, although those private individuals may think their connection is secure, it may be the eas iest access way that an outsider has to gain access to the sensitive information contained within a corporation’s network. Loo (2008) dispels some of the myths above this private security, including the common belief that home computers are not attractive to hackers. However, this belief is false considering the increasingly digitized way that individuals share knowledge and communicate. Not only

Monday, September 23, 2019

Sam 489 unit 10 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sam 489 unit 10 - Assignment Example ies and NGOs offer funding and programming in recovery and this should be properly harmonized to facilitate its effectiveness (Haddow, Bullock & Coppola, 2011). The advantage of giving equal weight, in terms of resources, to all phases of emergency is that it eliminates delays and dependence on the Federal government for funding. This is because the state organs can respond to any disasters at anytime without complaining for lack of resources. It is also apparent that supporting all phases with equal weight of resources will increase preparedness. For instance, the post-terrorist attacks and hurricane disasters have enabled state departments to allocate resources to emergency teams (Haddow, Bullock & Coppola, 2011). Such initiatives have also been instrumental in helping the survivors of the disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy victims. This enables the managers to design long-term recovery efforts that seek to attend to different situations. The availability of resources to the emergency management teams promotes education of the communities on ways of addressing disasters in their neighborhoods (Rubin, 2012). In this regard, it is essential to provide all phases of emergency management with equal weight of resources since it reduces confusion and

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Hand Made Music Boxes Essay Example for Free

Hand Made Music Boxes Essay In a market where monopolistic competition exists, businesses operate in a manner wherein producers sell differentiated products from one another, yet similar. This means that the product is not homogenous. Firms can still market their products by the highlighting the slight differences in their output. The various producers in this type of market are selling their products, in this case handmade music boxes, which act as substitutes. Firms are able to control the prices in some degree within a narrow range of prices. They enter the market if the profits are attractive wherein they can maximize their profit and are left with excess production capacity. In a market where there is monopolistic competition, there are many firms, which each firm has a small market share and operates independently from each other. (Salvatore, 2007) Enterprise, natural, labor and capital are considered as the factors of production in the economy. Given a firm that operates a business in hand made music boxes, these factors of production are important as to gain profit and be able to be competitive in the market. In a monopolistic competitive market, it is assumed that all these factors of production are mobile, in which if these are not being used efficiently, they will move instantly to where they can be maximized. (Harvey Jowsey, 2007) In an enterprise, entrepreneurial skills are needed to manage and direct the other three factors of production to enable a production of goods or services in the market. Operating a hand made music box needs skills from people that have managerial experiences that can lead the firm into a competitive advantage through effective planning and execution in producing the goods needed in the market. This will help in giving the business a competitive advantage wherein the characteristics of the hand made music box of a certain firm is made with quality than that of other firms in the market. (Case Fair, 2007) No business can operate without natural or land as part of its factors of production. Land is where the business is being done. It can be a factory, building, agricultural land or office, but this should have a location for it to be established. An access to land is needed in setting up firms. (Case Fair, 2007) Hand made music box business needs a factory for the assembly of parts and for storing. Moreover, this business needs a shop for the goods to be displayed so that the goods can be seen by the consumers that will buy the product. Access to land and property can raise the standard of production as well as be more competent in the market. (American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2002) Businesses manage to exist because of its labor force. Firms do need people who can do hours of work for them. In making hand made music boxes, there can be a composition of various assembly lines. These assembly lines are made up of people that will do specific parts in making the hand made music boxes of the firm. Skilled workers help the firm in having competitive advantage in the market. In a competitive market, skills of workers are important to produce high quality goods that can be sold to consumers. This will result in a high advantage of a certain firm that employs highly skilled workers over those firms that employ lesser skilled people. (Harvey Jowsey, 2007) In every business setting, capital should be present. Capital refers to equipments used by firms to produce goods. The workers of a hand made music box business need equipments for the production of the goods. These equipments will help the production be more effective and efficient. In a competitive market where different firms compete for products being sold to consumers, a firm needs capital that will increase the quality of the product. This will make the firm more advantageous in terms of output and quality in the market. (Harvey Jowsey, 2007) Given that the situated market is in a monopolistic competition scenario, a firm’s demand curve will intersect the industry’s demand curve at the firm’s equilibrium level of output and price. (Weins, 1999) This explains why the demand curve is relatively elastic and downward sloping, which can be associated to a flat, but not horizontal demand curve. Firms in this type of market will have less control over price to charge their output. A firm that makes profit in the short-run will break even eventually because of a decrease in demand in the long-run, which in this case will result in a zero economic profit. (Duffy, 1993) Considering the law of supply, monopolistic competitive markets might not produce large quantities as a response to higher prices. The hindrance to the positive-quantity supply relation is the market control and downward sloping demand curve among monopolistic competitive markets. Monopolistic competitive firms are considered to be price-searchers rather than price-takers because â€Å"prices will change by the comparison of marginal revenue with marginal cost in every possible price along with the market demand curve. † Prices are not placed equal to marginal revenue; furthermore, it is not equal to marginal cost and price. Thus, as a result, firms do not essentially supply more quantities of goods at lower prices. (Harvey Jowsey, 2007) In the short-run, individual firms behave like a monopoly thus they can raise their prices leaving the consumers options to buy similar goods from other firms. As for the long-run, there is a free entry condition where firms continue to occur in the market leaving the demand curve to continually shift leftward until the time when each of the firm earns a zero economic profit. Firms earn economic profit or loss in the short run, but eventually, new entrants will be attracted to profits thus would result to losses until these firms earn zero economic profit. The hand made music box firms will compete in the market for the available consumers that will purchase the goods.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Treatment Of Errors In The Classroom English Language Essay

The Treatment Of Errors In The Classroom English Language Essay LAST PART OF CHAPTER 3 As I mentioned before, error correction is the classroom activity that most people think as one of the language teachers most important functions (Nunan, 1989: 9). This is because most of the time the teacher is the one who corrects. The first and most important step a teacher must take is to determine the aim of the activity. As Ancker (2000: 20) mentioned in his article Errors and Corrective Feedback, if the objective is to develop accuracy, then of course correction is necessary. In this case, the correct approach is to allow the student to self-correct first. If that does not work, teachers should allow peer correction. But if no one seems to know, teachers can give the answer or correct. Although error correction seems time consuming, it helps students to focus their attention and to reduce their dependence on the teacher, and this reduction of dependence encourages students autonomy. On the other hand, if the objective of the activity is to develop fluency, then correction may not be necessary (Ancker, 2000: 20). Unless the error has been made many times, then the error correction needs to take place. One important question is who should correct learners errors. There are three possible answers to the question: the teacher, the learner him/herself or the others learners (peer-correction). But this will depend on the importance or success of the error corrections, as well as the ability of the students to do self or peer correction. According to Ellis (1994: 489) studies of repair in naturally occurring conversations have shown a preference for self-initiated and self-completed repair. But, in many cases the teacher is the one who usually corrects students in the classroom. It may be appropriate to allow the learner to self-correct without any further help from the teacher by using clarification requests such as: what?, excuse me?, what did you mean by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..?, etc. That is because learners are actually capable of making changes in their developing Interlanguage systems (Allwright and Bailey, 1994: 49). Most of the times, teacher intervention should be reduced and students must be encouraged to provide feedback to their partners. In one interpretation of language acquisition, Kessler (1992: 85) suggests that the monitor can prevent or repair some errors under certain conditions. These conditions include: a) a focus on form, rather than on communication of meaning, and b) adequate time for the learner to process the output. Ellis (1994: ibidem) conducted a study to find out whether learners reformulate their use of past tense in their utterances, when given a second opportunity to do so, or ignore it. He found out that those who, when pushed through a request for clarification to reformulate their utterances, did so, by correctly forming the past tense and maintained their improved accuracy in the past tense on the subsequent occasions. Teachers must have clear that each teacher must come to an individual decision with respect to treatment of errors, just as a proverb says: what works well in Madrid may not work well in Tokyo, because not all the students have the same personality. Allwright (1996: 32) makes a strong claim for the study of error correction in the classroom in which they occur. From this observation, he came to the following conclusions: 1) Teachers just tend to repeat the correct model rather than telling the student where his error occurred and why it was incorrect. 2) Teachers are also inconsistent in their treatment of learning errors. (Because errors are not always corrected). Also, Allwright (1996: 33) asserted that another possibility is that other learners in the classroom could help by providing corrective feedback if it is necessary. In one experimental study related to this issue, Porter (1986, mentioned in Chaudron, 1993: 71) found that second language learners were able to accurately correct other learners errors, though they rarely did so. 3.1.2.3 Error Correction Techniques Although providing correct forms of learner errors is one of the most popular techniques among many language teachers (Hendrickson, 1980: 160), the use of various types of treatment methods has been recommended as it is considered to be more effective and successful than relying upon a single technique (Lynch, 1996, cited in Muncie, 2000: 50). Holley and King (1971, cited in Hendrickson, ibidem.) suggest that teachers should not use the methods which make learners feel embarrassed or frustrated. Therefore, teachers should be more sensitive about how to respond to learner errors. Fanselow (1977: 588) has argued that teachers should offer learners the greatest possible variety of treatments because different people need to be treated differently. Also teachers need to keep on trying out different possibilities of feedback that would have to be delivered in such a way as to provide affective support, so the learners will not be demoralized, at the same time as the negative cognitive information is transmitted. Once teachers do decide to treat noticed errors, and when they will do so, they have a variety of methods to their disposal. Allwright (1975, in Nunan, 1989: 32) points out the complexities of the teachers task. In the case of error correction, this can be illustrated by the following options confronting the teacher in the face of a leaners error: To treat or to ignore the error completely. To treat immediately or delay the error. To allow another student, a subgroup or the whole class to find the correct form. To return or not to the original error-maker after treatment. To test for efficacy of treatment. To transfer treatment or not. To let it be self-treated. All these suggested options are appropriate in different moments; the teacher only needs to develop the intuition, through experience and solid diverse theoretical foundation. As Allwright has a variety of options, Long (1977, in Allwright and Bailey, 1994: ibidem) also notes that teachers have three choices in deciding what to do when they find the error: To inform the learner that an error has been made To inform the learner of the location of the error To inform the learner of the identity of the error Moreover, Corder (1967, in Allwright, 1996: ibidem) declares that in order to show that there is a problem, the teacher usually a) retains evaluation, b) ignores the answer given and repeats the question, c) repeats the trouble source as a question, or d) changes addressee. Errors are inevitable, but if there are too many it is probably the result of inefficient practice or poor exploitation strategies. Teachers have an arrangement of techniques and nomination strategies to deal with any correction that needs to be made. Correction techniques should be helpful and supportive. When an error is detected, the next problem is that teachers would have to choose the best type of treatment to provide in order to help the second language learners achieve this needed awareness. There are many types of errors and according to Slimani (1992, in Panova 2002: 582), teachers often use seven types of feedback (or error correction techniques) when correcting errors that occur in the language classroom. They are: recast, translation, clarification request, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, explicit correction and repetition. As Slimani mentioned (ibidem) a recast is an implicit corrective feedback that reformulates a wrong or incomplete utterance. Example: 1. S: Dangerous? (Phonological error. /dangerus) T: Yeah, good. Dangerous. (Recast) you remember? Safe and dangerous. If you walk in the streetsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The second type of correction is the translation (from the teacher) that can be seen in many cases when students dont know how to say a definite utterance, for instance: 2. T: All right, now, which place is near the water? S: Non, Jai pas fini (L1) T: you havent finished? Okay, Bernard, have you finished? (Translation) The purpose of clarification request is to elicit reformulation or repetition from the student who has said a wrong form: 3. S: I want practice today, today (grammatical error) T: Im sorry? (Clarification request) In the example mentioned before, Im sorry is a type of clarification request but there is also another one that is very used: I dont understand. According to Lyster Ranta (1997, in Panova, 2002: 583), metalinguistic feedback refers to comments or information related to the form of the students utterance without providing the correct answer, as: 4. S: I accord T: Oh, but thats in French (metalinguistic feedback) Lyster Ranta point out that elicitation technique is a corrective feedback that prompts the learner to correct (Panova, 2002: 584); this is an example of a peer repairing: 5. T: In a fast food restaurant, how much do you tip? S1: No money (Lexical error) T: Whats the word? (Elicitation) S1: fiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦fourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (needs repairing) T: Whats the wordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in a fast food restaurant? (Elicitation) S2: Nothing (repair) T: Nothing, yeahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The sixth type of feedback is the explicit correction. 6. S: The day last tomorrow (lexical error) T: Yes. No, the day before tomorrow (explicit correction) In this type of feedback, the teacher provides explicit signals to the student that there is an error in the previous utterance. The last type of corrective feedback is repetition, which the teacher repeats the wrong part of the students expression, usually with a change of intonation. For example: 7. S: I am agree (lexical error) T: I am agree? (Repetition) The research on teacher treatment of learner error, including studies by Allwright (1975), Chaudron (1977, 1986b, 1987), Fanselow (1977b), and Long (1977), shows that teachers do not treat all errors that occur. The findings also reveal that teachers have a wide variety of techniques available for the treatment of errors, but they do not typically make full use of the repertoire of behaviors from which they might choose in providing feedback (Allwright and Bailey, 1994: 99-100). Knowing all these types of error correction techniques (named also as feedback) teachers are more self-confident on what they are doing, because they know that the type of feedback they give to their students is mentioned in the seven techniques pointed out before, and they make sure they are doing right. 3.1.2.4 Momentum of the Correction The dilemma of; to correct or not to correct, has persistently engaged the minds of language teachers. Concerning to correction, Lyster Ranta (1977: 51) acknowledge that there is a certain dilemma in this regard: if teachers do not correct errors, opportunities for students to make links between form and functions are reduced; if teachers do correct errors, they risk interrupting the flow of communication. According to Longs (1977: 279) opinion, once the teacher has decided that an error should be treated, the next decision that he/she has to make is when to treat the error. The teacher may deal with it immediately, or delay treatment somewhat (for instance, until the learner finishes with the message he/she is trying to convey), while still treating the error within the boundaries of the same lesson in which it occurred. The `problem with immediate error treatment is that it often involves interrupting the learner in mid-sentence, it is a practice which can certainly be disruptive and could eventually inhibit the learner willingness to speak in class at all. Allwright Bailey (1991: ibidem) assert that if we adopt the notion of Interlanguage in the discussion of second language learners errors, we realize that by treating errors, teachers try to help learners move ahead with their Interlanguage development. However, they believe mistimed error treatment may not be helpful and may even be harmful if it aims at structures which are beyond second language learners in terms of their Interlingua development. They refer to mistimed with forms at the right time in the course of the learners speech. While correcting errors, teachers can make corrections at the moment the error is made or at the end of the activity. Having the correction at the moment is advisable when students do not make many errors and this will help not only the students who made the error , but also to the whole class or those who are paying attention; and having the correction at the end of the activities is advisable when students have many errors and run on them every five minutes, so that students do not feel like foolish in front of the whole class. The place of error correction has been controversial because teachers have to know the adequate moment to do the correction and how to do it in order to not inhibit students participation. Nunan and Lamb (1996, in Poppi, 2001: @), point out that it is important to consider when the adequate moment to make a correction is. They say that it is better to correct errors at the end of the activity just by writing on the board and explaining the reasons of the errors made since in that way, the teacher gives a better explanation of the error, but also focuses more on the error. On the other hand correcting at the moment is not advisable, because of the lack of time and also the teacher could demotivate the students. Alternately, Allwright Bailey (1991: ibidem) state that teachers may postpone the treatment for longer periods of time for two reasons: a) teachers do not want to explain the error to the whole group. For instance, oral errors, particularly if they are shared by a group of learners, may form a starting point for a future lesson. Long (1977: 290) observes that error treatment becomes less effective as the time lag between the performance and the treatment becomes longer. Deciding when and which errors to correct causes problems to teachers, as teachers may think they are encouraging their students, but they are doing the contrary or vice-versa. Teachers must also take in consideration, that constantly interrupting students to correct them can be irritating. If teachers do not know when to correct, it is necessary to consider the nature of the activity that is being undertaken. For example if students are performing a drill in order to practice pronunciation or phrases, then they should be stopped immediately when they make the error, otherwise they will continue repeating defective language; on the other hand, in fluency, if there are frequent errors, the teacher can make a mental or written note to provide feedback after the activity, so students can feel comfortable and self-confident. Teachers do not have to correct all the time, they have to be conscious on what and when they are going to correct in order to promote students participation, otherwise if teachers make lots of corrections, students could be irritated (Norrish, 1990: 280). Long (1977: 292) points out that the psychology of research literature shows, that the feedback becomes less effective as the time between the performance of the skill and the feedback increases. What is more, Virgil Oller (1976: 288) think that correcting errors at the moment is a waste of time and instead of doing that, teachers should avoid error correction at the moment. So, correcting at the moment can certainly be troublemaking and could eventually inhibit the learners willingness to speak in class at all, or students could forget what they wanted to say. Contrary to this, correcting at the end of activities is better because teachers have already finished their activities and can explain in detail the reasons of the errors (Virgil Oller: ibidem). In short, we may say that teachers can choose the moment to correct their students taking into account their necessities. 3.1.2.5 Students Attitude Attitudes are complex, hypothetical construction, which general definition includes some notion of evaluation. Ajzen (1988: 85) states that an attitude is a disposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, intuition or event. In addition to this, Triandis (1971: 289) writes that an attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. This evaluative aspect of attitude is its defining attribute, and sets it apart from other affective variables. Attitude is an emotion that all people show when they have views of an attitude object: i.e. a person, behavior or event. Attitudes come from judgments. Triandis (1971: ibidem) says that attitudes develop the ABC model (affect, behavioral change and cognition). The affective response is a physiological response that expresses an individuals preference for an entity. The behavioral intention or change is a verbal indication of the intention of an individual. And the cognitive response refers to a cognitive evaluation of the entity to form an attitude. Heider (1958, in Triandis: ibidem) points out that attitude is usually defined as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, and situation). The type of feedback language teachers provide for students reflects their view of language and their objectives. The attitude of students plays an important role in learning a second language. This attitude is developed by a variety of factors, among them feedback, which may have desirable or undesirable cognitive and affective results. Students characteristics have an impact both on the teacher who corrects the learners errors and on the learner who is corrected. The teachers treatment of error might also be influenced consciously or unconsciously by the state of mood teachers are. The attitude of learners toward error correction, not only by teachers during focused activities but also by native speakers with whom they converse, is remarkably positive (Chenoweth, Chun and Luppescu, 1983: 82). Cathcart Olsen (1976: 41) found that ESL learners who hold positive attitude toward correction like to be corrected by their teachers and want to have more correction than they are usually provided with. Another important point about attitudes is that they are subject to change; they are not set in concrete. This is good news for teachers in that poor attitude can be changed. But the good news is tempered by the fact that there are many variables associated with attitude change, such as the state of mood, the classroom environment, the students personality and so on. Probably, the most difficult aspect of the correction process is tailoring corrections to individual students. Teachers who wish to provide effective correction must consider its effect on each individual student. The problem has two aspects: affective and cognitive side. Truscott (1998: @) says that on the effective side, learners clearly differ in their reactions and attitudes to correction. For some, no adverse effect is likely unless corrections are delivered in a very aggressive or unfair manner. For others, there is a serious danger that correction will produce embarrassment, anger, inhibition, feeling of inferiority, and generally negative attitudes towards the class and possibly toward the language learning itself. Consequently, there are different reactions in students because all students are different: positive and negative. In this way, in order to avoid harmful effects and to make correction effective, the teacher should see each student as unique and to ask how each student will respond to correction in many possible forms, varying the type of error correction and the frequency of the correction, the clarity of the correction and the most important: the intensity of the correction. Nunan Lamb (1996, in Poppi, 2001: @) mention that attitudes and responses vary among students depending on the different ways that teachers treat their errors. For example, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.teachers can correct students in a way that makes students feel comfortable and some students can have a positive attitude to the correction while others will react with a negative attitude by making gestures (like a grimace) and some others will just accept the correction and repeat it with a smile (Pinazo, 2001: @) Moreover, Wajnryb (1992, in Poppi, 2001: @) makes the point that, if teachers attempted to correct every error that occurred in class, there would be little time to do anything else. Correcting at anytime many times creates a negative classroom atmosphere, discouraging learners from risk-taking and experimentation. So, when learners are corrected intensively by the teacher it could have negative consequences in their motivation. Students will think that if they continue speaking, the teacher will continue correcting, and in order to avoid this reaction (the teachers one) they stop speaking. Pholsward (2001: @), in his investigation at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce at the Faculty of Humanities in the language department of English, about students reaction to the error treatment, concluded that most students were quite relaxed and satisfied as they helped each other in a groups attempt to identify errors. In Pholswards research, the teachers would suggest answers in guidance to students and if the students were still not responsive, the teachers would identify errors and edit them, followed by detailed explanations. In brief, Ellis (1994: 490) affirms learners attitude towards error correction can also vary according to their characteristics, their cognitive and affective states and the nature of the treatment they receive. Apart from what was mentioned before, students reaction is complemented by non-verbal gestures, too. Students talk with gestures and their meanings are clear and specific for instance: waving goodbye. Other types of gesture, the gestures that express emotional states, reflect the mood and feeling of people. Pinazo (2001: @) expresses that these gestures show anxiety or tension of the moment such as pain, triumph and happiness. The attitudes that will be taken in consideration in this research project are: positive and negative, with its corresponding classification that were taken from the works of these authors: Rebel Gà ¼nther (2002: 49-51, 96-165), Louis Porcher (1989: 77-82), Ana Muà ±oz (2002: @), Olman Martà ­nez (2004: @) and Pinazo (2001: @): POSITIVE ATTITUDE NEGATIVE ATTITUDE Move the head from up to down in a moderate form Smiles Laughs Repetition of the correction Lips movement by saying thank you Soft tone of voice Quickly movement of the head in an affirmative form Hinge or attentive look Grin Smirk Sneer Snarl Rotating the eyes upward (eye rolling) Rude tone of voice Fig. 3.1 Common attitudes on error correction 3.1.3 Error Correction, Motivation and Communication in English Language Learning Motivation is as much an effect as a cause of learning. Ausubel (in Budden, 2004: @). Motivation is related to error correction in English language learning because the manner teacher corrects, is the way in which students are going to react to teachers correction. Students main goal is to participate in communication with other people. This learning goal is possible if teachers can keep students motivation for learning during oral practice activities. Terese (2005) explains that one natural and non-treating way of encouraging students to give feedback is by using a number of strategies like: clarification requests (What did you mean byà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦?), requests for repetition (sorry, can you say that again?) and the use of questioning looks. This means that motivation is the force which determines if learners initiate, or not on a task, also how much energy they dedicate to it and how long they continue in it. Famous research carried out in the second half of the twentieth century by Gardner and Lambert (1999 in Harmer, 2001: 205) suggested that students who felt more warmly about a language, who wanted to integrate into the culture of its speakers were more motivated (and learnt successfully) than speakers who were only learning language as a means to an end (e.g. getting a better job). Harmer (1999: ibidem) says that real motivation comes from within each individual. Teachers are not responsible of their students motivation; they can only encourage students by using word and action, while teaching the foreign language. Motivation is the energy that catalyzes behavior. In psychology, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior (Budden, 2004: @) Motivation is a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with personality or emotion. It is sometimes assumed by language teachers that if students make any kind of error when talking to a native speaker they are learning, but learners frequent attitude to this is to maintain a terrified silence upon meeting a native speaker (Norrish, 1990: ibidem). This is because students think that errors discredit them with the person they are talking to. On the other hand, certain errors may conduct to a breakdown in communication, while others to social reactions. For instance, one of the breakdowns in communication is inhibition (Norrish, 1990: ibidem). Students get inhibited because they fear making errors when communicating and being ridiculous in front of the teacher or native speakers. But also when staying in the classroom or talking with other students, they feel embarrassed when making errors, because they are afraid of being seen as dumb. Nunan and Lamb (1996, in Poppi 2001:@), mention an investigation on teacher behavior and student responses on occasion of which the following question was established: Do students attitude about the types of error treatment used by their teachers in the classroom during oral classroom tasks influence their motivation? They concluded that students do hold attitudes about different ways that teachers treat their errors, and also learners would like the teacher to improve raising their awareness by allowing opportunities to self-correct and to analyze the errors; the learners would like to be provided in a positive way with information and clarification, rather than: a) being exposed by non-verbal signs, b) providing feedback without explanations, c) asking the students to repeat the sentence and d) activating the right answer on the part of the student. Additionally, students would like to build up the belief that errors are to be considered as signs of progress of the learning process , rather than evidence of failure. Correcting errors disturbs the ongoing communication process (Truscott, 1998: @) but it is important to express that errors do not necessarily guide to a breakdown of communication, because sometimes correcting errors in students encourage them to continue participating in order to improve their speaking skill. In short, along this theoretical framework, I have mentioned all topics related to error correction that will be necessary to carry out this research project. For instance, I have mentioned that errors are considered to be incorrect, wrong or should not be done. In addition to this, I have described the different types of errors like error, mistake, lapse or slip as errors, this way was easy to identify what I was referring to in the investigation. I have talked about the sources of errors; but also, and something important is that, I have mentioned error correction and the types of error correction that teachers usually use when correcting students. When correcting errors, I said that we need to take into account who will treat errors and when to treat errors. CONCLUSION Being a teacher of a foreign language implies having certain skills, whether by nature, acquired outside teaching, or arising from university studies in education. They may also gain this knowledge with books concerning issues of education or by taking professional courses on the subject. In this case, the research presented, is primarily based on improving teaching skills of those teachers who didnt study a bachelors degree in English Teaching, by providing the teaching of various courses. Improving in various teachers fields was primarily important. But, understanding two main points that serve as departure is the start point: what does teaching mean? And what does being a teacher imply? Teachers must understand that a good class depends on many factors; although the material presented to teach the class is important, the teacher should take into account that leadership and management at the beginning, during and at the end of the class is essential, for the students to learn what is taught. It is of vital importance to know the likes and preferences of the students who we give classes to; this will serve as a key piece to encourage them, especially those who learning a foreign language are a rejection. Teachers should practice self-reflection on how to teach a foreign language, and have feedback from other teachers; this is of great help in order to implement different kinds of methodologies in the classroom, especially in error correction during the communication of the students to the teachers and among themselves. Doing the research on these topics, I noticed and reflected on the magnitude of being a teacher I understood that teaching is a great responsibility, because the way of teaching depends on the likes and disposition of the students to the learning of English language, due to the motivation transmitted by the teacher. This also includes the methodology used by the teacher to teach a class, as it influences how well students understand the topic. Another important point is the attitude that teachers have in front of groups when teaching. It must be enthusiastic and positive, factors to include in the education of a class presentation. Of all these factors that I explained above, I conclude that it is very significant to continue preparing ourselves and practice teaching training, in order to perk up foreign language education. Improving internally and externally all the factors in teachers such as: learning new teaching methodologies, be at the forefront of materials that can be used with the group, making use of different types of feedback from teachers, using different tools and techniques in teaching as well as self-reflection are some of the factors explained in this research. This paper concludes that teachers that do not have a bachelors degree in English Teaching should always look for continuous improvement in different ways in all areas, in all levels of language education towards the students. Taking into account all the factors set above, this research was done, in order to improve the level of education qualitatively, pedagogically and psychological practicability in the teachers practice of English teaching at the Liceo Josà © Vasconcelos, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas.