Modern Artists Joan Miro and Marcel Duchamp Essay

Modern Artists Joan Miro and Marcel Duchamp - Essay Example The essay "Modern Artists Joan Miro and Marcel Duchamp" explores Joan Miro and Marcel Duchamp and their works. Marcel’s artwork stands out as an artistic handy work with varied materials that make it real and fascinating to look at thereby inducing immense attention from viewers. This is because the artwork comprises of varied incorporated material not necessarily purchased by procured locally probably collecting worn out pieces of metals and other materials including threads. At a first glance, one cannot tell if the materials used entail ready available resources like copper collar, metal stand and a pulley. I also got fascinated by the work since it shows how thought major level of creativity. This is because for one to come up with a final product that encompasses fitting a painted papier- mache demisphere on velvet covered disk requires patience as well as outstanding creativity. Other intriguing encompasses the artiste’s blending of harmonious colors within the wh ole piece of work, which are black, white and brown. Hence, making the object appear integrated also with its settings and other parts such that it is not contrasting its varied parts together with shadow cast just close to it. This brings out the impact of visibility, which makes it exceptional compared to other pieces of work that may resemble it. Mainly, this is an artistic technique commonly associated with exceptional artists in their quest to create attention despite their works’ settings or placement in a museum as in Marcel’s artwork. ... Based on this piece of work (completed in 1936) depicting perching parrot, I guess the artist’s interest encompassed making his works resemble mostly nature and other wild creatures though in an illogical manner. This is evident in the way he is capable of incorporating wild features in his work and other things like a shoe as well as hat whose original settings as expected by mere audience does not resemble what he has made through this artwork. However, the artwork is extremely intriguing, which was the reason of choosing it. Similar to Marcel, the artists has also embraced use of harmonious though having lighter shading to align adequately with the artwork settings and somehow wildly nature. The latter is evident in the way the perched by the parrot seems all through having almost close colors thus no sharp contrasting. In addition, Miro’s work resembles that of his counterpart Marcel through assembly of varied aspects to create a unique and an identifiable object. I n comparison with Marcel’s artwork, Miro seemed to have gone further into utilizing refined aspects to come up with this artwork, which are shoe, art and others like different material for engraving the map, which is diverse from the brown one protruding from the base. The reason behind choosing this artwork was due to the artist’s fascinating way of incorporating nature with other aspects to make the viewer deem he or she is in the wild. This is via Joan merging varied materials to come up with appears like a tree hoisting a bird in order to bring out the hidden fascination in nature and the wild. Thesis: Marcel and Joan despite their respective artworks differing in the manner of materials incorporated in

Computer forenscis Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Computer forenscis - Article Example Customization and optimization; the source code can be modified; therefore, the OS can be customized to suit the requirements of a particular lab. Support; its Adhoc support is excellent; mailing lists answer calls and provide assistance within minutes. It offers fast implementation of feature and patch requests. Disadvantages; requires retraining, learning Linux takes time and effort, and the command line is not intuitive. Support; Linux offers no formal support organization. Support queries are direct to the community, and the answer quality varies considerably. Interoperating; interoperating with proprietary technologies is difficult, implementation takes time and may even be incomplete. Volunteer development effort; many projects are in perpetual development stage and may be edgy, poorly documented and abandoned (Wolfe). In a forensic lab setting, both Linux and Windows have advantages and disadvantages. They are different but employ similar tools. The main difference is the approach taken in obtaining and interpreting the data. Recovery of data is crucial in forensics, and this is where Linux has an upper hand over Windows. Data on Linux is held for months even on heavily used systems. Linux file system avoids file fragmentation, and data remain clustered together. Deleted files are, therefore, easily recoverable on Linux than on Windows. Also, everything in Linux is noted as a file, and this translates to; any transaction occurring in Linux will leave traces

Internalization And Social Learning Theory Young People Essay

Internalization And Social Learning Theory Young People Essay According to research, the effects of inter-partner violence witnessed by the child or young person can cause significant internalized behaviours, whereby the emotional and psychological effects of the violence have caused common problems including anxiety,  [1]  social withdrawal  [2]  and depression  [3]  for children and young people. It is of our own ignorance that some people choose to presume that a child is just being quiet rather than experiencing significant stress and emotional problems (Calder 2004:57). It is this ignorance that increases the childs felt isolation alongside their psychological and emotional disturbances. It is arguable that the lack of mature coping strategies a child has, alongside the failure of others to recognise when a child needs help, is what puts them at greater risk of experiencing such traumatic and indeed clinical behaviours. For example, Davis and Carlson (1987)  [4]  found in their study regarding children of battered women that 68% of preschool children and 53% of school age children in their sample had depression that was of a clinical concern.  [5]   The internalised behaviours of depression, anxiety and social withdrawal are interestingly typical of what the abused mother (victim) often goes through (WHO 2000; Hester et al 2007; McCue 2008). According to the Home Office, 75% of domestic violence cases result in mental health consequences to women (Home Office, 2001). These behaviours are not surprising in relation the physical and emotional harm that domestic violence may cause. The victim may be fearful of when the man may next strike causing anxiety. Depression may come from thoughts and feelings that they cant get themselves and their children out of the abusive home. Furthermore, the stress, anxiety and depression caused by their situation may lead them to avoid social environments, withdrawing themselves from anything which may lead them to be noticed, questioned, embarrassed or shamed. One may question however, how do these behaviours in the child occur? When analysing the environment the child is subjected to, the reasons for why they may have symptoms of depression, anxiety and social withdrawal become apparent: Anxiety Constant reminders around their home may keep them anxious and fearful of when the violence may next occur; there may be broken furniture, blood stained carpets/walls as well as other reminders around the home, even cuts and bruises physically apparent on their parent, signifying the childs lack of control.  [6]   Withdrawal The child is silent and withdrawn. They will have learnt that silence and not being outspoken is the best way to behave if they dont want to get beaten or they do not want to see or hear their mothers beaten. This can be taught verbally and/or visually through associative learning means.  [7]  (Lieberman 2000:41-55). For example if they witness their father repeatedly violating their mother there are two responses; the mother stays quiet and does not respond-the consequence maybe that the father does not continue to be violent, the atmosphere may calm. The second response may consist of a volatile reaction from the mother, screams, shouts and/or crying-the consequence is that their father will continue to violate. Therefore the child learns and associates that being loud, outspoken and overtly emotional will increase the violence, so the child may become quiet and withdrawn with the hope that the violence will reduce. Depression The depression may stem from their insignificance, their silence, their feeling of powerlessness and the feelings of guilt for not protecting their mother. Feelings of powerlessness and guilt may increase the childs emotional and psychological trauma, particularly if there are no significant internal or external supports.  [8]   We can apply these behaviours to social learning theory, which is based on the principle that behaviours observed as a young person will become learned and modelled as if the behaviour they have observed is the norm.  [9]  For example if the normal social behaviours of an abused mother in the home involve depression, anxiety, quietness, such behaviours are likely to be modelled by the child, because of their attachment (psychological, emotional and biological) but also because they havent had the opportunity to learn any other behaviours. Social learning can also be applied by observing an actual activity and seeing what it achieves which is sometimes referred to as associative learning.  [10]  For example, children and young people who internalise their behaviours may do so because they have learnt from their parents relationship that when the mother is quiet and withdrawn the abuse is less likely to occur. A case study which demonstrates this kind of social learning behaviour has been highlighted by a case brought forward to the Domestic Violence Integrated Response Project (DVIRP), a support network based in the East Midlands (UK) which offers supports including the Break-Thru programme for children aged 7-16 years who have witnessed and or experienced domestic violence. An 8 year old boy was referred to the Break-Thru programme for therapeutic sessions after he had witnessed domestic violence. He saw his father hit his mother on a weekly basis. If he attempted to intervene his father would hit him too. Due to this the boy learned to stay upstairs where he would hear the abuse instead. This learning process is one which demonstrates the influence in staying quiet, withdrawing from difficult situations, as arguably this boy learnt that these internalized behaviours were the best way to act in order to reduce trouble. But what about those children who model and socially learn from the perpetrators behaviour? There has been significant research carried out surrounding the cycle of violence thesis and the social learning theory of aggressive behaviour  [11]  (Walker 1979; Straus 1990; Grusec 1992; Bandura 1997) because there is concern that children may learn from their parent, who is the perpetrator, that using such modes of behaviour is the only means of achieving what they want (Calder 2004:23). Effects on behaviour: Externalization and social learning theory A significant impact on children and young people who have witnessed domestic violence considers how the childs experience influences their externalized behaviours.  [12]  highlight how all but one study examining impacts of domestic violence found that children who were exposed to domestic violence on a regular basis externalised significant behavioural problems, most commonly: aggressive, hostile, disruptive and anti- social behaviours compared to children from non-violent homes, similar to that of the perpetrator (in this case the father). However one must consider that the significance of such externalised behavioural problems demonstrated in these cases will vary according to support mechanisms in place during and post domestic violence and other situational circumstances at the time of the study. For example some children and mothers were placed in refuges at the time of the studies  [13]  where a sudden change of home, school, friendships and adjustment to refuge livin g were most probable and likely to affect their behaviours differently to those who still live with the perpetrator. Historically scientists have questioned the motivation behind aggressive behaviour. Albert Bandura (1997)  [14]  , in particular, proposed a social learning theory that focuses on externalised aggressive behaviour and how it can be implanted by roots of observational learning. This theory considers that when children witness adults committing violent acts this will influence children to imitate or model this violent behaviour too.  [15]  Similar outcomes of observational learning have been found in other studies and research surrounding the effects of domestic violence upon behaviour. The case study regarding the 8year old boy brought forward by DVIRP, as discussed previously, highlighted that the boy displayed externalised behaviours including anger for which he had no outlet; this resulted in him copying his fathers behaviour and being aggressive by hitting his mum and breaking household possessions (Appendix 1). This case, along with other such cases which are demonstrated through research by the likes of McGee (2000)  [16]  and Abrahams (1994)  [17]  , highlight that childrens role models (parents) do heavily influence behaviours; if the child had not witnessed his fathers violent behaviour he may not have externalised aggression, he may have been able to diffuse his anger through alternative methods. Not only do such learnt externalised behaviours affect familial relationships, it has been suggested that children living in homes with heightened hostility are likely to resolve their own interpersonal difficulties, for example with peers, by imitating and utilizing the modes of aggression and hostility they have picked up from the home (Straus 1990)  [18]  , thus potentially leading them into drug and alcohol abuse, running away and juvenile delinquency.  [19]  Delinquency was shown in its extreme form by the media attention that surrounded the Sheffield Crown Court case on the Edlington attack where grievous bodily harm with intent was committed by two brothers aged 10 and 11. The barrister on the case implied that the two boys may have learnt such extreme violence and criminal behaviour from their parents. The barrister highlighted that the two boys had been subject to a toxic home life as they witnessed extreme domestic violence in the home; for example they saw their father threaten to slice their mothers face to bits with a knife (BBC News 21/1/2010).  [20]   On the contrary one must recognise that this case is an extreme form of externalization behaviour that has influenced a criminogenic life path, but there is no clear evidence to suggest the criminal acts carried out by the two boys were the sole consequences of learnt behaviour and such behaviours are not representative of all children who have been affected by witnessing domestic violence. However those who do exhibit hostile behaviours, whether it be on a low scale level or an extreme level are likely to affect important stages of their life, including the school learning process and involvement in peer socialisation; arguably two key aspects of developing the self during childhood.  [21]   Alongside the effects of externalised behaviours as a young person, researchers have also paid close attention to the impact of domestic violence on children and young people as they make transitions into adulthood. Many studies have found evidence for the intergenerational cycle of violence theory which argues that adults who externalize violent and abusive behaviour have most likely witnessed violent and abusive behaviour as children  [22]  23 Physical Symptoms Although children present in homes where domestic violence occurs are likely to suffer physical abuse as well, the physical effects of being the witness to domestic violence are quite different than symptoms of abuse, itself. The physical effects of domestic violence on children can start while the fetus is present in the mothers womb. Studies have shown that low infant birth weights are associated with both the direct physical trauma inflicted on the fetus mother, as well as the emotional stress that is placed on the victim of the domestic abuse. Direct physical abuse on the female victim can lead to multiple physical injuries associated with the infant child, ranging from premature birth, excessive bleeding, and even fetal death. Increased maternal stress during the times of abuse, especially when combined with smoking and drug abuse, can also lead to premature deliveries and low weight babies.[3] Infant children who are present in the home where domestic violence occurs often fall victim to being caught in the crossfire. They may suffer physical injuries from unintentional trauma as their parent is battered. Infants may be inconsolable and irritable, have a lack of responsiveness secondary to lacking t he emotional and physical attachment to their mother, suffer from developmental delays, and have excessive diarrhea from both trauma and stress. Physical effects of witnessing domestic violence in older children are less evident than behavioral and emotional effects. The trauma that children experience when they witness domestic violence in the home, plays a major role in their development and physical well being. The children, however, will exhibit physical symptoms associated with their behavioral or emotional problems, such as being withdrawn from those around them, becoming non-verbal, and exhibiting regressed behaviors such as being clingy and whiney. Anxiety like behavior is also a common physical symptom in children who witness domestic violence in the home. These children harbor feelings of guilt, blame, and are constantly o n edge. They may startle at the smallest things, such as a car door slamming or a glass cup accidentally falling to the floor. If their anxiety progresses to more physical symptoms, they may show signs of tiredness from lack of sleep and weight and nutritional changes from poor eating habits.[4] Children who witness domestic violence in the home can suffer a tremendous amount of physical symptoms along with their emotional and behavioral state of despair. These children may complain of general aches and pain, such as headaches and stomach aches. They may also have irritable and irregular bowel habits, cold sores, and they may have problems with bedwetting. These complaints have been associated with depressive disorders in children, a common emotional effect of domestic violence. Along with these general complaints of not feeling well, children who witness domestic violence may also appear nervous, as previously mentioned, and have short attention spans. These children display some of the same symptoms as children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. On the reverse, these children may show symptoms of fatigue and constant tiredness. They may fall asleep in school due to the lack of sleep at home. Much of their night may be spent listening to or witnessing violence within the home. Children of domestic violence victims are frequently ill, and suffer from poor personal hygiene. Children who witness domestic violence also have a tendency to partake in high risk play activities, self abuse, and death by suicide.[5] Children who witness domestic may show many physical symptoms of trauma, emotional stress, and possibly, physical abuse. Children who witness domestic violence in the home should be assessed for the physical effects of the violence by everyone around them. It is easy to see the physical injuries if the domestic violence turns into child abuse, however, the other physical findings may be difficult to evaluate. Any child who has changes in their eating habits, sleep patterns, or bowel patterns should be further examined or questioned by someone whom they trust. Behavioral Symptoms Domestic violence in the home affects children in different ways and the children exposed to this type of violence are likely to develop behavioral problems. Domestic violence can cause children to have regression with out of control behavior.[6] When a child is a witness of domestic violence, they often imitate behaviors. Children think that violence is an acceptable behavior of intimate relationships. They may develop a sense of social acceptance to this behavior and become the abused or the abuser. Some warning signs of domestic violence in children may be bed-wetting or having nightmares. Some children may become distrusting of adults. The child may try to act tough and have problems letting other people into their life and there are some children that may even isolate themselves from their close friends and family. Another behavioral response to domestic violence may be that the child may lie in order to avoid confrontation and excessive attention getting. Adolescents are in jeopardy of academic failure, school drop-out, and substance abuse. Their behavior is guarded and they are secretive about their family members. They get embarrassed ajbout the home situation. Adolescents dont like to invite friends over and they spend their free time away from home. Denial and aggression are their major forms of problem solving. Teens cope with domestic violence by blaming others, encountering violence in a relationship, or by running away from home.[7] An estimated 1/5 to 1/3 of teenagers who are involved in dating relationships are regularly abusing or being abused by their partners verbally, mentally, emotionally, sexually and/or physically. 30 to 50 percent of dating relationships can exhibit the same cycle of escalating violence in marital relationships.[8] Emotional Symptoms About 3.3 million children are exposed to domestic violence in their homes every year.[9] Not only are these children at risk for developing physical, behavioral, and social problems, but they are prone to develop emotional problems as well. These children often have conflicting feelings towards their parents. Feelings of distrust and affection often coexist for the abuser. The child becomes overprotective of the victim and feels sorry for them.[10] Children exposed to domestic violence often develop anxiety. They fear that they may be injured during an altercation between their parents, or even fear that their parents will abandon them. Children also worry about the safety of the parent that is being abused. Many times children fear that they are to blame for the violence that is occurring in their homes. Grief, shame, and low self esteem are common emotions that children exposed to domestic violence experience. Depression is a common problem in these children. The child often feels helpless and powerless. More girls internalize their emotions and show signs of depression than boys. Boys are more apt to act out with aggression and hostility.[11] Witnessing violence in the home can give the child the idea that nothing is safe in the world and that they are not worth being kept safe which contributes to their feelings of low self worth and depression.[12] Some children act out through anger and are more aggressive than other children. Even in situations that do not call for it, children will respond with anger.[13] Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can result in children from exposure to domestic violence. Symptoms of this are nightmares, insomnia, anxiety, increased alertness to the environment, having problems concentrating, and can lead to physical symptoms.[14] These children are not allowed a normal childhood. There is a role reversal between the child and the parent and the responsibilities of the victim who is emotionally and psychologically dysfunctional are transferred to the child. (see parentification.ua.edu)This is also known as parentification. 20,21 In this situation, the parents treat their child as a therapist or confidant, and not as their child. They are forced to mature faster than t he average child. They take on household responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for younger children.[15] The responsibilities that they take on are beyond normal assigned chores, and are not age appropriate. The child becomes socially isolated and is not able to participate in activities that are normal for a child their age. The parentified child is at risk for becoming involved in rocky relationships because they have been isolated and are not experienced at forming successful relationships. Also they tend to become perfectionists because they are forced to live up to such high expectations for their parents.[16] Social Symptoms Children exposed to domestic violence frequently do not have the foundation of safety and security that is normally provided by the family. The children experience a desensitization to aggressive behavior, poor anger management and problem solving skills, and learn to engage in exploitative relationships.[17] The symptoms of children living with violence present differently at various ages of development. School age children exposed to domestic violence present with an excessive worry of possible danger and feelings of resentment towards the perpetrating party.[10] Symptoms include isolation from friends and relatives in an effort to stay close to siblings and victimized parent.[17] Adolescent children present with a difficulty in trusting adults and engage in excessive social involvement to avoid volatile situations at home. The adolescent may display these symptoms by joining a gang or becoming involved in dating relationships that mimic the learned behavior.[17] Children exposed to domestic violence require a safe nurturing environment and the space and respect to progress at their own pace. The caretaker should provide reassurance and an increase sense of security by providing explanations and comfort for the things that worry the children, i.e. loud noises.[10] The children should develop and maintain positive contact with significant others such as distant family members.[10] All family members are encouraged to become involved in community organizations designed to assist families in domestic violence situations. The behavioural effects of domestic violence on education and the school response 4.1 Overview Education is widely accepted as to boost economic and social capital as in to maintain ones life. It is widely understood accepted by the society that compulsory education is a must for children and young people. This is due to the system which emphasises on social skills (interacting with peers, tutors, involving in discussions), moral and cultural knowledge (through learning History, Music), organisation skills (cues in accordance, deadlines and school uniforms) and academic skills (through Maths and Science) which will be a leading path for them for a successful life path. The children who are not able to cope up with the education norms by truanting and excluding themselves will be a great concern for parents and teachers.  [24]   Domestic violence does not impose direct impact on children as per researches done, though the impacts are rather limited yet of great significance. However it has been proved relevantly that domestic violence does give negative impacts on children and young people in social settings which include school.  [25]   Pro social behaviour is seen in children and young people when the family setting is of positive  [26]  and negative result is seen in those of poor family attachment and negative family relationship between child and parents.  [27]   It is agreed that children and young people of domestic violence background are more likely to be involved in negative behaviours outside home which increase the probability of school difficulties. It is easy to say that the domestic violence impact affects the children and young people diversely when they do not conform with the education system and unable to achieve proper academic qualification. Those impacts include increased risk of later employment issues,  [28]  involvement in crime  [29]  and mental health problems.  [30]  It is not to discuss the current impacts of domestic violence After analysing the possible effects of witnessing domestic violence on the childs behaviour in the previous chapter, this chapter shall focus on analysing the effects that these negative internalised and externalised behaviours have on the childs education Internalised and externalised behaviours: Impact on schooling Learning As seen earlier those children who have been affected psychologically and emotionally by domestic violence have internalised behaviours of anxiety, social withdrawal and depression, and externalised behaviours of a disruptive and aggressive nature compared to normal life leading groups.  [31]   Mostly these type of affected children and young people are not able to control their behaviour from social settings outside their home where they will have problems in adult relationship, aggressive or poor communication with peers, low rate of concentration in school and overall poor achievements in school.  [32]   The aggressiveness which shown by these group of people is the outcome of the process of domestic violence at home. Ones these children are placed outside of their home frame, they are restless of what might b happening to their abused parent while they are not present at home. This situation increases the severity where they will ill treat those people around them in schools.  [33]   And if [Dad] beat Mum up I would be at school thinking.What if I go home and Mum isnt there? What if somethings happened? (Hannah aged 15 in McGee 2000:80). Internalised behaviours of fear and anxiety caused by home circumstances have been found to affect rate of concentration and involvement in school practices (Abrahams 1994). Children who have been traumatised and suffer from internalised behaviours are more likely to become totally withdrawn from their class; their state of mind becomes dissociated whereby they become completely disconnected from the environment they are in (the classroom), which results in them missing out on large amounts of information (Cole et al 2005:37). This withdrawal may significantly hinder their academic development and success, particularly because there is potential that educational support by some parents in an abusive relationship is likely to be weaker than in comparable relationships affecting home study. Externalised behaviours may also cause damage to the child or young persons learning process. According to Cole et al (2005:34) a traumatised child may exert aggressive or disruptive behaviours in the classroom to their teachers and peers. While other children in the class (and some teachers) may perceive this behaviour as troublesome and irrational, these externalised, aggressive behaviours maybe a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Hester et al 2007) which can often be triggered by the actions, comments or tone of peers and teachers themselves. whenever I hear the teacher shouting, I just used to cover my ears cause I dont want to hear no one shoutingit was like bells ringing in my head (Karina aged 16 in McGee 2000:81). Some children who illicit aggressive behaviour towards a peer or teacher maybe doing so in frustration or defence because a particular tone, comment or action was expressed by them in the manner that the perpetrator did in the process of abuse they witnessed in the home. This illustrates how domestic violence can be detrimental to the communicative skills of children and young people because they gain distorted perceptions of the intentions, feelings, and behaviours of others (Rogosch and Cicchetti 1994 in Cole et al 2005:34) within the school environment. Social Exclusion and Impact on Attendance Not only are children likely to suffer academically because of their behavioural symptoms, their relationships with peers and other adults are also likely to be affected. Internalised behaviours such as depression, anxiety and withdrawal are symptoms which can exclude the www.internetjournalofcriminology.com Internet Journal of Criminology  © 2010 child or young person from their peers; their post-traumatic symptoms or behaviour may acutely disturb a developing close relationship with a best friend, create a sense of isolation from peers, or lead to social ostracism (Pynoos et al 1996:134). This social ostracism is further increased when children have to move schools because they need to be re-housed or take shelter in a womens refuge away from their violent home. This disconnection from both the academic and social life at school may lead children and young people who have been <

Essay on Hidden Conflict in Eudora Weltys A Worn Path :: Worn Path essays

Hidden Conflict in A Worn Path In Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" the conflict was not apparent at the very beginning. What was a poor, elderly sick woman doing gallivanting in the forest during the dead of winter? The reason became clear towards the conclusion of the story as the action revealed that the conflict was obtaining the necessary medicine for her grandson. When this conflict became obvious, another question came to mind. What kind of society did this woman live in that she had to go all the way from her home in the countryside to the city by herself to get the medicine? The conflict being illustrated is that of an individual versus society and the four problems that Phoenix faces as a result of this was her old age, her health, her grandson's health and her state of poverty. "Her eyes were blue with age. Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles..." (paragraph 2).    This quotation was one of many indications of Phoenix Jackson's old age.   Normally, in society there are benefits for the elderly and thoseof the golden age. There are various organizations that help people who are over the age of sixty-five. They also provide various services towards them such as meals on wheels. Was there not someone who could have delivered the medicine to this woman of nearly 100 years of age? Perhaps Phoenix Jackson was too shy or had too much pride to ask for a service of that nature. The doctors from the medical building knew about the condition of Phoenix's grandson and did nothing to try and help. This showed the lack of respect that was present in the society. In today's society, someone of that age commands and deserves the proper respect.    "She carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her," (paragraph 1).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The next conflict that plagued her is that of her health. In the preceding quotation, there was one important note that   readers shouldtake into consideration. The fact that she kept persistently tapping the earth in front of her could only indicate one thing-that she was visually impaired. She may not have been completely blind, but she had to have been substantially impaired to have kept tapping her cane in a redundant manner.

Middle Range Theory Essay

Middle-range theory, developed by Robert K. Merton, is an approach to sociological theorizing aimed at integrating theory and empirical research. It is currently the de facto dominant approach to sociological theory construction,[1] especially in the United States. Middle-range theory starts with an empirical phenomenon (as opposed to a broad abstract entity like the social system) and abstracts from it to create general statements that can be verified by data.[2] This approach stands in contrast to the earlier â€Å"grand† theorizing of social theory, such as functionalism and many conflict theories. Raymond Boudon has argued that â€Å"middle-range theory† is the same concept that most other sciences simply call ‘theory’.[3] The analytical sociology movement has as its aim the unification of such theories into a coherent paradigm at a greater level of abstraction. The midrange approach was developed by Robert Merton as a departure from the general social theorizing of Talcott Parsons. Merton agreed with Parsons that a narrow empiricism consisting entirely of simple statistical or observational regularities cannot arrive at successful theory. However, he found that Parsons’ â€Å"formulations were remote from providing a problematics and a direction for theory-oriented empirical inquiry into the observable worlds of culture and society†.[4] He was thus directly opposed to the abstract theorizing of scholars who are engaged in the attempt to construct a total theoretical system covering all aspects of social life. With the introduction of the middle range theory program, he advocated that sociologists should concentrate on measurable aspects of social reality that can be studied as separate social phenomena, rather than attempting to explain the entire social world. He saw both the middle-range theory approach and middle-range theories themselves as temporary: when they matured, as natural sciences already had, the body of middle range theories would b ecome a system of universal laws; but, until that time, social sciences should avoid trying to create a universal theory.[5] Merton’s original foil in the construction was Talcott Parsons, whose action theory Merton classified as a â€Å"grand theory†. (Parsons vehemently rejected this categorization.) Middle range theories are normally constructed by applying theory building techniques to empirical research, which produce generic propositions about the social world, which in turn can also be empirically tested. Examples of middle range theories are theories of reference groups,  social mobility, normalization processes, role conflict and the formation of social norms.[3] The middle-range approach has played a key role in turning sociology into an increasingly empirically-oriented discipline.[6] This was also important in post-war thought. In the post-war period, middle-range theory became the dominant approach to theory construction in all variable-based social sciences.[5] Middle range theory has also been applied to the archaeological realm by Lewis R. Binford, and to financial theory by Harvard Business School Professor Robert C. Merton,[7][8] Robert K. Merton’s son. In the recent decades, the analytical sociology program has emerged as an attempt synthesizing middle-range theories into a more coherent abstract framework (as Merton had hoped would eventually happen). Peter Hedstrom at Oxford is the scholar most associated with this approach,[9] while Peter Bearman is its most prominent American advocate. Middle Range Theory (Final) MRT approach was developed by R K Merton in contrast to abstract theorizing of total system in all aspect of social life by scholars particularly Talcott Parson. Hence it opposed the grand theorizing of social theory like functionalism, conflict theories etc. MRT is an approach to sociological theorizing that integrates Theory and Empirical research. They are constructed by applying theory building techniques to empirical data. These produce general statement about the social phenomenon under study which can be this verified by data. Examples: theories of reference groups; Social mobility; role conflict etc. However he agreed with Talcott Parson that narrow empiricism cannot arrive at successful theory. He saw MRT approach and theories as temporary that would become a system of universal laws on maturity, so before that he says that social science should avoid trying to create a Universal Theory. Currently MRT approach has become a dominant approach to Sociological theory construction and has been applied to other fields like archaeology, finance etc. as of now analytical sociology program is attempting to unify MRTs into coherent abstract framework as hoped by Merton.

Nokia: Values That Make a Company Global

STraTeGiC Hr MaNaGeMeNT case study with teaching notes Nokia: Values That Make a Company Global By Geraldine Willigan, MBA Project team Author: SHRM project contributor: External contributor: Copy editing: Design: Geraldine Willigan, MBA Nancy A. Woolever, SPHR Ram Charan, Ph. D. Katya Scanlan, copy editor Terry Biddle, graphic designer  © 2009 Society for Human Resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBA. This case was prepared by Geraldine Willigan, MBA, former editor at Harvard Business Review, under supervision of Ram Charan, Ph. D. , former faculty member at Harvard Business School, winner of best teacher award at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and a regular teacher in executive programs across the globe. The authors gratefully acknowledge the help of Juha Akras, Ian Gee, Antti Miettinen, Arja Souminen, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Hallstein Moerk, Tero Ojanpera and Shiv Shivakumar. Note to Hr faculty and instructors: SHRM cases and modules are intended for use in HR classrooms at universities. Teaching notes are included with each. While our current intent is to make the materials available without charge, we reserve the right to impose charges should we deem it necessary to support the program. However, currently, these resources are available free of charge to all. Please duplicate only the number of copies needed, one for each student in the class. For more information, please contact: SHRM Academic Initiatives 1800 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA Phone: (800) 283-7476 Fax: (703) 535-6432 Web: www. shrm. org/education/hreducation 09-0353 Nokia: Values That Make a Company Global Introduction In the summer of 2006, the global competitive landscape in which Nokia was operating was changing at an astoundingly fast pace. Market growth was shifting to emerging countries, mobile devices were being commoditized, handset prices were declining, networks were combining (Nokia had just merged its own networks infrastructure business with that of Siemens, forming Nokia Siemens Networks, or NSN), Microsoft and Apple were making moves toward mobile devices, new technologies were being developed, and new strategic opportunities were arising as mobile phones were becoming the gateway to the Internet. To win in such a fast-paced and intensely competitive environment, the company had to move with speed and do a superb job of satisfying consumers. Decision-making would have to occur at the lowest possible level to reflect the peculiarities of the local markets while leveraging the power of Nokia’s diverse people, its brand, its financial resources, and its technology and design expertise. Collaboration between locals and headquarters and among multiple cultures and partners was paramount. Nokia conducted extensive interviews with people inside and outside the company, including partners and suppliers, to understand how Nokia was perceived and how it might have to change. That research informed a number of actions and renewed the focus on Nokia’s culture and, in particular, its values. From Paper Mill to Conglomerate to Global Brand Nokia, headquartered in Espoo, near Helsinki, Finland, is the world’s largest mobile handset manufacturer. It holds some 40 percent of the global device market as of the second quarter of 2008. It operates in 150 countries and had more than 117,000 employees, including NSN, as of late June 2008. It is the top-rated brand globally. Annual revenues for 2007 were $74. 6 billion (51. 1 billion euros). The company began in the late 1800s as a paper mill, then evolved into a diversified industrial company and was an early entrant in the mobile era in the 1980s. In the 1990s, CEO Jorma Ollila restructured the conglomerate to focus on mobile phones and telecommunications, and Nokia became the technology and market leader, starting first in Europe, then expanding to the United States and dozens of other 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 1 developed and emerging economies, including China and India. In the early 2000s, Nokia was briefly challenged by Motorola and Samsung but was able to maintain and soon to increase the lead. In 2006, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (OPK, as he is known at Nokia) became CEO. Nokia’s strategy at that time was changed to c over both the mobile device market as well as services and software. In 2007, Nokia announced that it would become more like an Internet company. Transforming the Culture for the New Challenges As Nokia’s leaders pondered what would hold people together and enhance collaboration and speed across their large global company, they arrived at an answer—culture, of which values had long been a foundation. Values align people’s hearts and emotional energy and define how Nokia employees (â€Å"Nokians†) do business with each other and the rest of the world. Because Nokia’s existing values had been unchanged for more than a decade and research showed there was some ambivalence about them internally, the executive board, comprised of the CEO and about a dozen senior leaders, decided it was time to re-examine the values. OPK selected a team of people to create a process for doing so. The challenge to the team was to get all the people of Nokia intellectually engaged. In keeping with Nokia’s culture, the values would have to be the result of â€Å"the many† communicating with â€Å"the many. † Assigning this task was not trivial. It required that senior management be committed to live with the outcome. The values that emerged from the bottom up would have to be taken seriously and stick—or the organization would be seriously harmed. As the team got to work and explored the options, they determined that the best approach would be to combine high tech and high touch. The high-tech part of the values-creation process would be through the â€Å"Nokia Jam†Ã¢â‚¬â€using IBM’s Jamming technology that would allow all Nokians to engage in an online dialogue. The hightouch part would come through the use of the World Cafe methodology. The World Cafe methodology had sprung up in the mid 1990s to accommodate a large group of people from diverse disciplines and far-flung locations around the world who wanted to discuss issues of common interest. 2 That group was known as the Intellectual Capital Partners. To create an informal conversation among so many people, participants were divided into small groups seated around tables to discuss a given question. The groups would then repeatedly disperse and individuals would rotate to other tables, so ideas were disseminated, cross-pollinated and combined. As the conversations continued, facilitators compiled the ideas that emerged. The World Cafe methodology had been used in some small pockets within Nokia but had never been tried on a companywide scale. The concept was right, but it was impractical for all 50,000-plus Nokians to directly engage in a dialogue. So the idea emerged to have a subset of people from across Nokia get together to discuss Nokia values with a totally clean slate, as if they were recreating Nokia on the planet Mars. 2  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa A trip to Mars became the metaphor for assembling a cross-section of Nokians to participate in the World Cafe format and create the new values. Nokia’s Trip to Mars Nokia produced 5,000 elegant, visually exciting invitations that looked like boarding passes and airline tickets. These were sent in bundles through snail mail to people at various organizational levels and functional areas, including HR, in each of the business units. The instruction to the recipients was to find a way to randomly distribute their bundle to people in their offices and factories whom they would trust to have a discussion about Nokia’s values and culture. The recipients could also keep a ticket for themselves. Each ticket was in a â€Å"wallet† that described what Nokia was doing. It stated the current values and gave instructions for how to proceed, first by going to the Nokia Way web site to learn more and to register for a cafe in their local area. Participants also got two luggage tags, which they were supposed to discuss with their colleagues beforehand: a green one, which represented the values or ideas Nokia should be sure to take with it as the company moved forward, and a gray one, for things that could be left behind. Nokia held 16 cafes in 60 days around the world. More than 100 employees representing a cross-section of Nokia attended each one. The day of the cafe, small groups discussed a predetermined set of questions. One person served as host and stayed at the table while everyone else rotated to other tables, eventually returning to their original spots. People had taken the preparation very seriously and interviewed their teams ahead of time; some brought stacks of paper with various notes and ideas. As the discussions took place, ideas began to emerge and converge. Facilitators captured them graphically and in written scripts. The outputs from each cafe were then uploaded to the Nokia Way web site, and everyone at Nokia had access to it and was invited to comment. Several thousand more employees were able to participate in the dialogue through the means of the web site, giving their opinions and making suggestions and sometimes asking questions they hoped the next cafe would address. The sessions were also videotaped and edited into short video blogs that were so funny and engaging that they logged approximately 30,000 visits. The video blogs, too, elicited comments from fellow Nokians. The mix of people attending the cafes was just what Nokia’s executive team had hoped for: an assortment of people from offices and factories and from every functional area and organizational level. The cafe process allowed those diverse viewpoints to be heard. Engineers said Nokia needed greater tolerance for risk, for instance, while marketing people wanted more stability. In the process, it broke down biases and misconceptions and began to build social bonds. â€Å"Latin Americans were not the only people with emotions! one participant commented. Another said: â€Å"At first it felt like I couldn’t even find a common language with my Mexican  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 3 marketing colleagues in Nokia. It was exciting when we found a common language and vision, and everybody was on board. † As the cafes took place, four values began to emerge. These were to be presented to the top 30 leaders at the final global cafe to be held in Helsinki. But instead of writing them on a PowerPoint slide, the values were presented in a way that was experiential. Representatives from each of the Nokia Way cafes were chosen to attend, and on day one of the Helsinki cafe, they got together and brainstormed how to make the values come alive. They recreated some of the skits, songs and visual aids their local cafes had generated to express the thoughts and feelings that underlay the values. The representatives from the Finnish cafes built a bird’s nest and a sauna in the hotel meeting room to represent Nokia’s passion for innovation (the bird’s nest was for the hatching of ideas, the sauna to represent the fire of passion). The next day, the group made their presentation to the senior leaders, and after some discussion, the four values that had came out of the cafe process were affirmed. OPK, who, like many Finnish people, was ordinarily quite reserved, was visibly moved by the intensity and sincerity of the feelings expressed. He felt as though he could hear the voices of Nokians around the world, and he, too, wholeheartedly supported the values. He asked that a representative present them to a group of 150 top leaders that was meeting three or four weeks later as part of the annual Strategy Sharing process. The group selected Ganeas Dorairaju, a native Malaysian who had been working in Finland for the past decade, to represent them. He stood in front of the top leaders and explained the values and the process by which they were created. At the end of it, the audience gave him a standing ovation. One leader wondered if the values could be turned into a catchy tune. Soon after, an employee teamed up with her husband and did just that! Nokia’s New Values3 Nokia’s new values and the explanation of them are as follows: n achieving together. Achieving together is more than collaboration and partnership. As well as trust, it involves sharing, the right mind-set and working in formal and informal networks. engaging You. For us, ‘engaging you’ incorporates the customer satisfaction value and deals with engaging all our stakeholders, including employees, in what Nokia stands for in the world. Passion for Innovation. Passion for innovation is based on a desire we have to live our dreams, to find our courage and to make the leap into the future through innovation in technology, ways of working and through understanding the world around us. Very Human. Being very human encompasses what we offer customers, how we do business, how we work together, and the impact of our actions and behavior on n n n 4  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa people and the environment. It is about being very human in the world—making things simple, respecting and caring. In short, our desire is to be a very human company. The world cafe process generated values that are different and more open-ended than most companies’. As leaders at Nokia note, the values require discussion. People might not know right away what â€Å"very human† means, but once people start to discuss it within the context of Nokia, it becomes very clear. People do, in fact, have those discussions. They use them to say, â€Å"Hold on a minute, is this engaging you? Are we meeting that value in what we’re doing? † ‘Very Human’ is closely associated with technology; it reflects the fact that Nokia has to develop devices that are easy to use. And ‘Achieving Together’ is about customers and suppliers as well as fellow Nokia employees. ‘Achieving Together’ also helps remove the fear associated with being an industry pioneer. The values are aspirational but also model what was already working well at Nokia. In India, for instance, where Nokia has built a dominant market position of some 75 million subscribers in a very short time, the values were evident before they had been articulated, which likely influenced the input of the three cafes conducted in that country. One of the key factors that drove business success in India was the distribution system, which Nokia and its business partner, ATL, built from scratch when large consumer electronics retailers declined to carry mobile phones because of their low margins. Working together to find an alternative, Nokia and ATL hit on the idea to mimic the small (sometimes just 5 x 5 feet) kiosks that are found in villages across India from which vendors sell fruits and vegetables. They recruited individuals interested in running their own kiosks, trained them and ensured they would have products in the right quantities and at the right margins for those vendors to make a living. The Nokia team wanted to be sure that whatever arrangement they designed would benefit Nokia, ATL and the individual mobile phone vendors. That way, they would Achieve Together. The Nokia team in India—a mix of native Indians and technology and other experts from such far-flung Nokia locations as Finland, China and Indonesia—collaborated in listening to and observing people in various parts of India to understand their needs. Their approach was collaborative and Very Human. As a member of the leadership team in Nokia India explains, â€Å"One thing that Nokia prides itself on is that it is not arrogant. That comes across in every interaction. People never take for granted that they know everything. Because of conditions in parts of the country, Indians needed a mobile device that was dustproof and didn’t slip out of sweaty hands. They wanted a device that could be an alarm clock, radio and flashlight (or â€Å"torch†) as well as a phone. Nokia’s Passion for Innovation drove the team to find the technology solutions Indians needed. Nokia found that the process of creating values itself had merit. It allowed the many to connect with the many and demonstrated that heterarchy was more important than hierarchy. It captured Nokia employees’ understanding of the challenges they were facing personally and organizationally and their desire to create an organization  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 5 that could meet them. It also reflected the spirit of bonding across cultures, functions and silos. As a member of the executive team says, â€Å"It is proof that a strong global corporate culture is possible. † The next order of business was to track the effectiveness of the values. To that end, the company has created a number of vehicles. Nokia includes values in its annual employee survey, â€Å"Listening to You,† and made them a key part of the change pulse survey it undertook during a recent reorganization. The suggestion arose to have pictures to demonstrate the new values, so the company staged an employee competition for photos that represent the values. Photos were posted online, and employees voted for their favorite. The top prize went to a quality manager in one of Nokia’s Chinese factories, who got to accompany Nokia’s brand people on a photo shoot in Paris. Given the quality of Nokia’s artistic skills, it was a choice prize. More than 22,000 employees took part in the competition, and Nokia has a rich bank of photographs to represent the new values. Nokians now are learning to create 90-second films that tell how values are making a difference in their work. These films can be uploaded to a video hub where fellow employees can view them. As of October 2008, more than 60 films had been uploaded to the internal VideoHub, and they have had over 50,000 viewings. 6  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa Teaching Notes Global companies require the alignment of their employees and partners not only on the strategy itself but also on the values needed to make that strategy successful. Values reflect and shape corporate culture. A shift in strategy often requires a shift in values. The Nokia case explores the connection between values, strategy, and the collaboration, innovation, speed and flexibility that are required for Nokia to succeed. Nokia is a very large company, with one of the highest brand recognitions in the world. It has the rare ability to design a new strategy and reshape its culture to deliver the strategy at the same time. The Nokia case describes Nokia’s social process for achieving alignment on values—a component of corporate culture—across geographies, silos and hierarchical levels. The learning objectives of the case are as follows: n note NOTE note Instructor’s Note Distribute only pages one through sixNOTE case study document to of this students. A PDF version of this document is also available online for your convenience. To learn the social process of engaging multicultural, multi-country employees in generating and agreeing on a set of values. To concretely demonstrate one way to build a workforce receptive to crossfunctional, cross-cultural teaming that can therefore make fast, high-quality decisions and increase the organization’s flexibility. To probe and deepen understanding of the relationships between strategy, culture, values and business outcomes. To encourage participants to brainstorm alternative ways to engage employees and accomplish similar results. To challenge participants to think critically about whether Nokia’s approach to creating values can apply to other business issues. n n n n The case is appropriate for graduate students in higher-level HR courses and for HR professionals at the highest levels.  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 7 The classroom instructor might want to pose the following questions for discussion: 1. Why did company management choose values as a foundation for taking the culture to the next level? Nokia needs collaboration because it must routinely leverage its technology platforms, global brand and manufacturing footprint, experience base in multiple countries, and in-depth knowledge of consumers and the marketplace. While individuals must have some degree of freedom to act, they cannot know everything or understand in depth all of the implications of various trade-offs that must be made in the ordinary course of business. As people come together to exchange information and make trade-offs, they must also have a common glue to hold them together. Values can be a uniting factor; they can be the glue. In the process of creating values, discussions touch on other topics, such as strategy, management style, opportunities, competition, priorities, and the inadequacies of organizational structure and reward systems. Values can fill in the gaps or provide what formal mechanisms miss—for instance, they can support open communication outside of formal reporting relationships. 2. What is your view about the four values the cafe approach produced? Note that they are few in number—four instead of 12. They describe the kind of company many people would like to work for. They can be applied in the real world and are relevant to any job function or organizational level. They are in keeping with requirements for Nokia to succeed. They capture the sense of higher purpose and human dignity people long for in their personal and work lives and therefore encourage positive, authentic behavior. 3. How do Nokia’s values compare with those of your company? Graduate students can compare with a company they are familiar with or one the instructor presents. One option is to look at the values of a competitor—for instance, Apple, given that Apple is now going into the cell phone business. Consider whether people â€Å"connect† with the values, or whether the values are too abstract or too generic to be meaningful. How many are there? Are they actually practiced? Do they relate to company strategy? 4. How will Nokia’s values help execute the change in business strategy? The process and content of the values build trust, making people more receptive to information and ideas from elsewhere in the company. Information flows are likely to be nonhierarchical. Nokia should therefore be able to innovate and respond to change better and quicker. Take, for example, the value â€Å"achieving together. † This value is now fully socialized at all levels in the company. It gives a lower-level person the freedom to call a higher-level person for collaboration and expertise where needed. By reinforcing this behavior, the values help break hierarchies, silos and other barriers. 8  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 5. concisely define the behaviors that were stimulated through the cafe approach at Nokia. What information channels got opened? Individuals took time to think about the company and how it does and should operate. They expressed their ideas, knowing their ideas could have wide visibility and make a difference. Before attending the cafes, people sought input from their peers. Participants listened to the views from many other employees. They sought commonality among the viewpoints. They experimented with creative ways to express their ideas. Employees became excited about the company and renewed their emotional commitment to it. Information flowed across boundaries. Because participation in the value creation process required no special knowledge, every participant was on equal footing, including newer employees, whose fresh ideas and energy got released. Thus, information flowed up even from some of the youngest Nokians, who represent the future of Nokia. 6. What’s your evaluation of the social process for engaging thousands of employees across the globe in defining the values? It was an efficient way to engage a broad, diverse set of people. The ready acceptance of the values (the output) indicates that the process was effective. It mirrored the patterns of communication and cooperation in a matrix organization. 7. What does Nokia’s cafe process say about its senior leaders? The senior leaders were secure about their role in the company and heir personal power. Once they committed to the process, they had to be prepared to accept the output. They also had confidence in Nokia employees. They were willing to â€Å"let go. † Senior management of any company should not feel insecure about the outcome of the bottom-up process. Because the process is open, it has built-in sincerity. People want to do the right thing. Also, broad participation is a check against a few radicals who want their way. 8. If Nokia were to use the cafe process again in 2010, what change in values would you anticipate? The outstanding goal of this process is to produce a set of values that are enduring. If the company were to do it again, the values themselves might not be very different, but they might be deepened or tweaked because people will have examples of how they have been used, or not used. The exception is if Nokia were to make a 180-degree change in strategy direction. Then some new values might be needed. If such new values did not emerge through this process, consider whether the strategy shift will succeed. Also consider how the outcome might be different if some regions are far more successful than others going forward, and how working relationships might be affected. Consider, too, the values of younger people who will be entering the workforce around that time.  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 9 The instructor needs to press participants on how concrete the values are, how engaged the people are, what are the pros and cons of having values cascade upward, why this process generates energy, and how management can measure whether the values are indeed being practiced and having the intended results. The instructor can jumpstart discussion by dividing the class into eight small groups and having each group discuss one of Nokia’s four values, addressing the following: If the group participants were the leaders, how would they ensure that the value takes deep roots and builds a superb social fabric while at the same time improving business results? The instructor may choose to broaden the discussion to explore issues around new theories of organization and management, such as Enterprise 2. 0 and the use of Web 2. technologies that promise to overcome the bureaucracy associated with hierarchy and make the organization more agile and productive. 4 What some people refer to as Enterprise 2. 0 or depict as a flat organization includes the direct exchange of information among people at lower organizational levels and bottom-up decisionmaking. Nokia’s value-creation process is representative of this new way of engaging employees and doing business. The following questions c an prompt discussion: n Is there a negative side to mass participation, or connecting the many to the many? Lack of knowledge or commitment can cause people to generate bad ideas that nonetheless gain momentum. Senior management will appear to be heavy-handed if it derails or ignores them. The major risk is when management is not trusted by employees, is erratic or seen as incompetent. Under those conditions, this process will fail. If that failure gets the attention of the board, which in this day and age is likely, the board might well insist on a change in management. Good management should learn from anything that comes in that does not match their expectations. In what situations, or for what issues, does a cafe-type approach work or not work? Any time a new leader is starting to take charge of a unit or company, cafe-type approach is a fantastic tool to energize and align people and hear what’s on their minds. This could be used to generate ideas around any particular topic—for instance, to gather ideas for coping with the global financial crisis. Do you think employees want to weigh in on all issues? In this knowledge worker society, tapping everybody’s brain and energy can create momentum and be a competitive advantage. People want to participate. There may be some managers who don’t want to hear what people have to say. The blockage tends to be from management, not the employees. n n 10  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa n How do you know if the masses are generating a better or more authentic solution than a smaller number of experts? The adoption and application will reveal the validity of the solution. Let’s remind everybody that â€Å"experts† are also employees. All experts can learn from the front lines. Experts also can be narrow. An open process will surface those conflicts in point of view. In a fast-moving, highly volatile environment, it is hugely important to draw those conflicts to the surface and get them resolved. Even if the outcome is not better in some absolute sense, it will be better accepted. to what extent does engagement affect business performance? How can you measure it? An employee audit or pulse survey are common tools to measure engagement as well as perception of business performance beyond financial numbers. Have people shown more commitment? In this case, the value of achieving together might be evident in shorter decision cycle times. n  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 11 For Further reading Lawler, E. E. III, & Worley, C. G. (2006). Built to change: How to achieve sustained organizational effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Shirkey, C. (2008). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York: Penguin. Charan, R. (2007). Know-how: The 8 skills that separate people who perform from those who don’t. New York: Crown Business. McGregor, D. (2005). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill. Hamel, G. (2007). The future of management. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Goldsmith, M. (2007). What got you here won’t get you there: How successful people become even more successful. New York: Hyperion. 12  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa endnotes 1 For more on the history of Nokia, see â€Å"The Story of Nokia† on the Nokia web site, www. nokia. com/a4303001. For more on the World Cafe methodology, see www. theworldcafe. com /reading. htm. Nokia’s earlier values are as follows: 2003 n Customer Satisfaction n Respect n Achievement n Renewal 1992 n Customer Satisfaction n Respect of Individual n Achievement n Continuous Learning 3 4 For more on theories of organization, see, for example, Andrew P. McAfee. (2006, Spring). Enterprise 2. 0: The dawn of emergent collaboration. MIT Sloan Management Review.  © 2009 Society for Human resource Management. Geraldine Willigan, MBa 13 SHrm members can download this case study and many others free of charge at www. shrm. org/education/hreducation/pages/c ases. aspx. If you are not a SHrm member and would like to become one, please visit www. shrm. org/join. 1800 Duke Street Alexandria, VA 22314-3499