President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Essay example -- Biography Biographi

President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) "A Great Society" for the American people and their fellow men elsewhere was the vision of Lyndon B. Johnson. In his first years of office he obtained passage of one of the most extensive legislative programs in the Nation's history. Maintaining collective security, he carried on the rapidly growing struggle to restrain Communist encroachment in Vietnam. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, in central Texas, not far from Johnson City, which his family had helped settle. He felt the pinch of rural poverty as he grew up, working his way through Southwest Texas State Teachers College; he learned compassion for the poverty of others when he taught students of Mexican descent. In 1937 he campaigned successfully for the House of Representatives on a New Deal platform, effectively aided by his wife, the former Claudia "Lady Bird" Taylor, whom he had married in 1934. During World War II he served briefly in the Navy as a lieutenant commander, winning a Silver Star in the South Pacific. After six terms in the House, Johnson was elected to the ...

Knowledge For Social Work Essay

Social work education in Britain has undergone repeated and fundamental restructuring in the past decade. In the early 1990s the professional qualification, the Certificate in Qualifying Social Work (CQSW), was replaced by the Diploma in Social Work (DipSW), a shift which required significant curriculum changes. Now social work education is undergoing another major change, with the DipSW being replaced by an undergraduate degree. However, despite changes to practice and academic training requirements, there are some constants, some requirements which do not alter. One of these is the demand for social work students to demonstrate that they can ‘apply theory to practice’ as part of qualifying requirements. This requirement, presented casually alongside a long list of further requirements, characteristically fails to grasp that understanding the relationship between theory and practice has long been a source of debate within social science. In many respects, the recent debate in Britain (see Trevillion, 2000) continues, and draws upon, consistent themes in social theory over the relative merits or otherwise of positivist paradigms, with their underlying assumptions of a social world that can be revealed through the application of correct techniques. The early debates in social theory were structured by a widespread belief in the power of scientific and secular-philosophical knowledge to provide for the direction and improvement of natural and social life. The ‘age of reason’ provided a context of optimism in the possibilities for a collective life informed by justice and representing the march of progress. Though the optimism generally attributed to the Enlightenment was tempered by ambivalence on the part of some theorists, or rejected by others, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were dominated by philosophical and theoretical interventions which, in general, supposed that knowledge could provide a foundation for political and social progress. This supposition could only be held by assuming that the world could be conceived of as an object, containing an underlying unity, progressing in a logical way, and peopled by subjects whose access to rational thought would liberate them collectively from the superstitions of pre-modern life. The underlying mechanisms of historical progress, the necessary regularities in social life, were held to be available to discovery by the sciences and philosophies, so that such knowledge attained a key role in the achievement of social progress (Penna, et al, 1999). Although the ‘age of reason’ was also characterized by profound ambivalence concerning the possibilities for rational progress, the social sciences displayed a deep belief in the possibilities of knowledge to understand the social world and therefore guide the development of rationally organized structures, institutions and interventions. Thus the objective of knowledge-generation has been the establishment of a foundational knowledge, derived from the exclusive truth-producing capacity of science, that can inform social action. Foundational principles have been based upon two important assumptions: that theory involved a distinction between mind and world, between the subject and object of knowledge, and that language functioned as a neutral medium for the mind to mirror or represent the world (Seidman 1994: 3). This historical intellectual legacy, together with a need for professional status dependent on a proper ‘knowledge-base’, drives demands that professional practice demonstrate the application of theory to practice. I want to suggest here that this demand betrays a lack of understanding of what theory is and what it can do and, at best, leaves students confused, whilst at worst it leads to cruel or ineffective practices in agencies. Here I outline the historical context that has led to a particular understanding of theory as a guide to action, point to some perils of its application in practice, and suggest a different method of dealing with theory on social work degree schemes. What is Theory? What we call ‘theory’ can be understood as a form of social action that gives direction and meaning to what we do. To be human is to search for meaning, and all of us hold theories about how and why particular things happen or do not happen. Some of these theories are little more than vague hypotheses about what will happen if we act in a certain way in a certain situation and what we might expect from others. But many of the theories we hold are more complex and express our understandings of, for example, how organizations work, of how people become offenders, or why the distribution of resources is as it is. In this sense theories are generalizations about what exists in the world and how the components of that world fit together into patterns. In this sense also theories are ‘abstractions’ in as much as they generalize across actual situations our expectations and suppositions about the reasons why certain patterns exist (O’Brien and Penna, 1998). In the same way that we use theory in our everyday lives, we also draw upon various theories as part of the ways we act in the world, so understandings of the ‘social’ dimension of social work are also built upon different theoretical foundations. As O’Brien and Penna (1998) point out, theories about the validity of data and research procedures, theories about what motivates individual behaviour, theories about what will happen if we intervene in particular situations in x way rather than y way, become embedded in social, economic and criminal justice policies developed, implemented and managed by different social groups. Theories about the proper relationship between the individual and the state, men and women, homosexual and heterosexual, inform policy and practice frameworks so that the frameworks that legally bound social work, as well as practice priorities and interventions, differ substantially from country to country. Theory about social life is either used or promoted in particular policy and welfare frameworks in order to make them more ‘effective’ or ‘appropriate’, and is invariably embedded in the social programs that ensue from them. In this way theories make up the premises and assumptions that guide the formulation of particular policies and practices in the first place, as well as their later implementation. Such premises are essentially theoretical: they are ‘imaginary’ in the sense that the conditions they describe, the logics of action and the structures of provision on which they focus are not proven, definite realities. This use of theory in the ways described above developed from the intellectual sea-change of the eighteenth century European Enlightenment. Prior to the Enlightenment, social organization was understood through theological worldviews, and government of the population justified largely according to divine right and religious edict: the Sovereign ruled over a subject population because he or she was divinely ordained to so. However, from the middle of the seventeenth century onwards a shift in intellectual thinking occurred which was to have major implications for the development of European societies. This historical period – The Enlightenment – marks a time when people start to be understood as self-creating, rather than as products of divine creation. A philosophical shift, questioning theological understandings of the human world and establishing the legitimacy of scientific explanations of the natural world, results eventually in a humanist understanding of social or ganization. The Enlightenment sees the establishment of new philosophical systems for understanding both the natural and human worlds and the development of rational responses to social problems. The Enlightenment promises progress and represents a faith in science as a progressive force which can understand, and hence solve, problems in the natural and social worlds. In this intellectual movement, new ways of thinking overlay those they were in the process of replacing, so that the cosmic transcendence of religious thought was replaced by the universalism of philosophy, and the methods and principles of the natural sciences. It was assumed that a theory could be developed that would substitute for the truth of religion. Eighteenth and nineteenth century social thought was focused, in the social sciences, on the search for one theory that could explain the social world and hence provide a guide to action – a theory that could be used in practice – famously captured by the term praxis. However, as the twentieth century developed, this conception of theory came under increasing attack, and this attack is one which has many implications for the use of theory in social work education and practice. Part 2 Some Problems With Theory Several events in Europe contributed to a questioning of the application of theory to practice. The establishment of a communist society based upon the premises of Marxist theory was one such event. As the mass exterminations, abuses of power and repressions of the communist state came to widespread notice, so did the rationales underlying them. The communist leadership, following particular strands of Marxist theory, imposed upon populations conditions which, in theory, were necessary for the development of a communist society. Those individuals who did not fit the predictions of theory, or questioned the premises upon which action was based, were considered ‘deviant’ and sent for ‘retraining’ in labour camps when they were not killed. The endless compulsory ‘self-criticism’ that members of various Marxist groups carried out was aimed at making individual behaviour conform to the tenets of theory. Yet when many thousands of individuals failed to conform, it was their behaviour that came under scrutiny, rather than the premises and assumptions of the theory, resulting in tragedy for thousands. The second tragedy was the application of theory to practice by Germany’s Nazi leadership. These two examples provide perhaps the most extreme illustrations of the application of theory to practice, but the history of social welfare is littered with more mundane examples that nevertheless cause great misery to those subject to theory application. We have seen the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century whose influence contributed to the institutionalisation (and worse) of people with learning difficulties, the widespread use in the mid-twentieth century of lobotomies in treating people with mental health problems and, to take two examples from this author’s practice career, the use of psychodynamic and behaviour modification theory in practice. I observed the use of psychodynamic theory in practice in the social work department of an acute unit in a psychiatric hospital. A senior social worker specialized in dealing with depressed female lone-parents. Reading through dozens of case-notes (meant to aid my practice) I was struck by the way that these women’s depression was attributed to various failures in their early psycho-sexual development, whilst their practical circumstances – victims of domestic violence, poor housing, lack of money – were completely ignored. Needless to say, these women failed to improve, but the point to note here is that this failure was not attributed to the faulty premises of the theory and the way in which it was being applied, but to the women’s innate psychopathology. My second example is taken from two years in a residential home for children with learning disabilities. Here a behaviour modification regime was implemented by management with no critical appreciation of debates in psychology about what it means to be human, what motivates behaviour and how behaviour should be understood. Those children who did not respond to ‘positive reinforcement’ (the majority) were labelled and punished, whilst the underlying problems of the theory itself left unexamined. In short, in both these cases, where service-users failed to fulfil predicted outcomes derived from particular theoretical paradigms, the response displayed a notably similar characteristic as in the examples from totalitarian societies – the users were pathologised, rather than theoretical premises examined.An objection could be made here that these examples merely demonstrate a-typical historical circumstances or incompetent practitioners. However, whether at the level of whole societies, whole social groups, or numerous disparate individuals, a backlash against the conjoining of knowledge and power has been manifest in many locations, including: the overthrow of communism in the Soviet Union, the critical interrogation of ‘totalising’ discourses, the decline in membership of organised, hierarchical political movements, the widespread development of ‘rights-based ’ and user movements, and a suspicion of ‘expert’ practice and bureaucraci es. In social theory, the last three decades or so has seen a particularly sustained interrogation of the status of Enlightenment theory. Under the impact of post-structuralism, particularly that associated with Foucault and Derrida , an unpackaging of the assumptions and premises of theory construction has severely undermined the ‘theory as truth and guide to practice’ position. This is not to say such challenges to Enlightenment theory did not exist before, for a long tradition of hermeneutic and phenomenological thought had posed alternative understandings of human and social action. Post-structuralism, however, has mounted a comprehensive and thorough critique of the epistemological basis of structuralism and realism. In the current examination of Enlightenment thought, Derrida ‘deconstructed’ major traditions in western social thought, showing how accounts of human knowledge depended on the use of key textual devices for obscuring problematic philosophical categories, or for revealing and endorsing particular interpretations and meanings of social and political progress. The construction of any text lends itself to several meanings and interpretations, such that it is impossible to arrive at any one fixed, ‘true’ account. Foucault, on the other hand, examined the epistemology underpinning the Enlightenment belief in the replacement of an institutionalised theological belief system with one which emphasised Reason and the limitless capacity of human knowledge. Enlightenment philosophy suggests that what occurs in the world is subject to entirely knowable and explainable laws that can be discovered and used in the progress of human society and human mastery over the natural and social world. Foucault’s contribution to the unpicking of this position was to show, through examinations of historical understandings of punishment and sexuality, that there are other ways of understanding this history which suggest a very different interpretation of the Enlightenment and its effects on social life, and demonstrate that many truths and experiences of social life co-exist that make it impossible to provide an overarching account that explains everything. At the same time, science constantly shifts its parameters, so that what may be ‘true’ at one historical moment is rendered false later. This brief outline cannot do justice to the sophistication and breadth of the critique of Enlightenment theory, critiques which have resulted in major debates over how we can know our world and what valid knowledge claims can be made (c.f., Lemert, 1999). Even where the foundations of poststructuralist epistemology are rejected there is a much greater appreciation of the problems associated with universalism and linear structures, two of the major props of Enlightenment theory. The permeation of these critiques is perhaps most evident in mainstream emphases on ‘difference’ and social constructivism, ‘difference’ and postmodernism, (c.f.,Briskman, 2001), and a general rejection in many disciplines of overarching, grand theory (Leonard, 1997). Here attention shifts to the assumptions embedded in theory and the way in which these assumptions become embedded in projects of nation-building, in legal and organisational structures, and in policy initiatives. Goldberg’s (1993, 2002) work on ‘race’ and racialization traces this process of embedding through an examination of the ways in which Enlightenment thought depended upon a racialized subject of social action and object of social theory. The pervasiveness of this discourse entrenches and normalizes symbolic representations and values both culturally and materially within the institutions of modern life (c.f., Goldberg, 1993: 8). The social sciences are ‘deeply implicated’ in the building of a racist culture and in the ‘hegemony of symbolic violence’ underpinning social systems (Goldberg, 1993: 12, 9). Roediger (1994) examines a similar process in American history and nation-building, pointing to a normalization of ‘Whiteness’ in the construction of conceptual and political subjects. This legacy enters social work in various ways (see Taylor, 1993), but appreciating the role of theory as cultural artefact, as a cultural product, produced in, and reproducing, social assumptions of normativity and relations of domination and subordination, can be similarly achieved in relation to gendered and sexualized categories, for example. This leads us to a situation in which theory itself can be understood as a key resource in forging a ‘modern’ consciousness, and socio-political spheres shot through with asymmetries of power (Penna and O’Brien, 1996/7), where exploitation and oppression operate through complex and unstable socio-economic mechanisms (O’Brien and Penna, 1996). Not only can the ‘social’ upon which we work not be known in its entirety, not be predicted, not be subject to fool-proof risk assessment, evaluation and so on, but theory production has arguably been a contributory mechanism in the creation of precisely many of those socially problematic circumstances that social work sets out to address. In short, Parton (2000:452) hits the nail on the head in claiming that we need to learn to live with ‘uncertainty, confusion and doubt’. Where then, does that leave theory in social work, if we accept this position? I want to turn briefly, and finally, to some suggestions of the use of theory in social work education. Using Theory At the beginning of this piece I suggested that we all use theory in our everyday lives. Given that this is so, and that theory permeates every aspect of academic work, policy implementation and practice initiatives, even when it is tacit and unacknowledged, I would propose that social work students and, ultimately, service-users, would be better served if students were taught how theory-construction takes place and how to unpackage and critically examine theoretical edifices, accounts and the components through which they are constructed. The task for social work students would be not the mechanistic injunction to ‘apply theory to practice’ but rather to consider how adequate the application of theory to practice might be in X or Y case. To do this, they would have to be taught not so much along ‘who-says-what’ lines, but rather in terms of how theorising as an activity works and how different theories are constructed. Theory building is an exercise in logic, moving from initial assumptions and premises to conclusions, through an argument linked by one or more claims. Taking these components apart can be taught as a skill (see, for example, Phelan and Reynolds, 1996; Thompson, 1996) rather than through the more philosophically based, social theory courses provided in many other disciplines. Tackling theory in a skills-based way has several advantages: it demystifies theory and enables students to see that, with practice, they can take a theory apart and reconstruct it in much the same way as a plumber or mechanic might tackle a job; it leads to a critical scrutiny of practice proposals derived from (often unstated) theoretical premises and to confidence in rejecting the inappropriate; and, when the theory fails to deliver, it leads to critical scrutiny of the theory rather than the person on the receiving end of it. This is not a plea for eclecticism, but for much more modest expectations of the theory-practice relationship than are currently formally embedded in many social work training programmes. I say ‘formally’ because many people have a suspicion of theory but, in my view, for the wrong reasons. Most theories offer insights into the ‘social’ sphere that is the ‘work’ of social workers but, ultimately, a theory is only as good as its critics. This paper considers the demand for social work students in Britain to demonstrate that they can ‘apply theory to practice’ as part of qualifying requirements. It suggests that this demand betrays a lack of understanding of what theory is and what it can do and, at best, leaves students confused, whilst at worst it leads to cruel or ineffective practices in agencies. Understanding the relationship between theory and practice has long been a source of debate and, in many respects, the recent debate continues, and draws upon, consistent themes in social theory over the relative merits or otherwise of positivist paradigms with their underlying assumptions of a social world that can be revealed through the application of correct techniques. The early debates in social theory were structured by a widespread belief in the power of scientific and secular-philosophical knowledge to provide for the direction and improvement of natural and social life. The ‘age of reason’ provided a context of optimism in the possibilities for a collective life informed by justice and representing the march of progress. This paper outlines the historical context that has led to a particular understanding of theory as a guide to action, points to some perils of its application in practice, and suggests a different method of dealing with theory on social work degree schemes. Evidence-based practice in teaching and teacher education What is it? What is the rationale? What is the criticism? Where to go now? Christer Brusling, Oslo University College, Centre for Study of the Professions. Invited paper to a workshop at the conference Professional Development of Teachers in a Lifelong Perspective: Teacher Education, Knowledge Production and Institutional Reform. Centre for Higher Education Greater Copenhagen in collaboration with OECD, Copenhagen, November, 17-18. 2005. What is it? Where does it come from? What is the rationale? This movement, if I may call it that, seems to have originated in the British educational context, and with a lecture given by David Hargreaves to the Teacher Training Agency in 1996. Unfortunately I have been unable to get a copy of it in Norway – there is none in Norwegian libraries1. Lacking this original source I will rely on what comes forward in second-hand sources, in published criticisms in mainly British journals, and in later articles by Hargreaves, where he answers his critics. Philip Davies (1999) from University of Oxford, â€Å"the other place† from Hargreaves’ That doesn’t mean that the movement hasn’t reached Norway. A recent NOK 100 million proposal for educational research in partnership with schools show that at least the former conservative government knew about it, mainly through Demos, a British â€Å"independent think tank† (demos.co.uk) Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 88 perspective, writes favourably about evidence-based education in an article named â€Å"What is evidence-based education?†. He says that it operates on two levels, the first being â€Å"to utilize existing evidence from worldwide research and literature on education and related subjects†, the second â€Å"to establish sound evidence where existing evidence is lacking or of a questionable, uncertain, or weak nature† (p.109). The first level is described thus: Educationalists at all levels need to be able to: †¢ pose an answerable question about education; †¢ know where and how to find evidence systematically and comprehensively using the electronic (computer-based) and non-electronic (print) media; †¢ retrieve and read such evidence competently and undertake critical appraisal and analysis of that evidence according to agreed professional and scientific standards; †¢ organise and grade the power of this evidence; and †¢ determine its relevance to their educational needs and environments2. (Davies 1999, p.109). Davies acknowledges the debt of the education sector to medicine and other health professions, which predated education with fi ve to ten years in the implementation of the idea of evidence-based practices. According to Davies, it is derived from the University of Oxford Master’s programme in Evidence Based Health Care. argreaves explicitly argues for evidence-based teaching by pointing to the success of the idea in medicine, and by the similarity of the work of doctors and teachers: Practicing doctors and teachers are applied professionals, practical people making interventions in the lives of their clients in order to promote worthwhile ends – health or learning. Doctors and teachers are similar in that they make 2 Note that evidence-based education in this defi nition curiously enough comes out as a pure intellectual exercise, lacking the fi nal application to practice. Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 89 decisions involving complex judgements. Many doctors draw upon research about the effects of their practice to inform and improve their decisions; most teachers do not, and this is a difference. (Hargreaves 1997, p. ) One reason to turn to evidence-based education is that doing so would make education less vulnerable to â€Å"political ideology, conventional wisdom, folklore, and wishful thinking†, not to mention â€Å"trendy teaching methods based on activity-based, student-centred, self-directed learning and problem solving† (Davies 1999, p. 109). But what constitutes evidence? For Hargreaves (1997) evidence is evidence about â€Å"what works†. The dictionary says that evidence is â€Å"something that furnishes proof† (m-w.com). To be able to provide proof of the â€Å"working† you need to measure the outcome of the teaching activity in question, and you need a procedure of relating the measured outcomes to the activity to make the relation an evidence3. Hargreaves doesn’t see much of a problem with how outcomes are constructed, but is adamant about what ought to be the preferred procedure, the RCT, the randomized control trial, often called â€Å"the golden standard†4. Davies (1999), on the other hand, is more permissive of a variety of procedures, thus voicing a broader conception of educational outcomes. In addition to RCT, he mentions survey and correlational methods, regression analysis and analysis of variance. He allows for inquiries that seek to describe the meanings different people attach to different teaching activities, and the broader and long-term consequences of them, e.g. on â€Å"students’ and parents’ sense of self and their sense of social worth and identity† (p. 115). Analyses of naturally occurring teaching interactions, conversation and discourse are In keeping with the parallel with medicine, I would say that not only expected and beneficial outcomes should be measured but also non-expected and possibly harmful ones. Hargreaves here echoes the standard text of research methodology from 1963, Campbell & Stanley, Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research: â€Å"[We are] committed to the experiment: as the only means for settling disputes regarding educational practice, as the only way of verifying educational improvements, and as the only way of establishing a cumulative tradition†. Cited by Howe (2005), p.308. Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 90 also mentioned as worth-while in this context. He further wants to ask normative questions within the evidence-based teaching paradigm: â€Å"whether or not it is right or warrantable to undertake a particular educational activity or health care intervention† (p.115). Davies’ (1999) omission of the necessary last element in evidence-based practice, i.e. how the purported evidence is to be put to use in practice, avoids a difficult and much discussed problem. Hargreaves (1999b) is of course right in pointing out that this problem is different if practice refers to policy making, as in the phrase evidence-based policy, or to teaching in classrooms, as in the phrase evidence-based teaching. The use of evidence in policy making is about deciding on â€Å"large issues concerned with levels and types of resource allocation – decisions which are difficult to undo† while the use of evidence in teaching â€Å"refer to the relatively small-scale professional practices of teachers in schools and classrooms, which can usually be easily revised† (Hargreaves 1999b, p. 245). In both circumstances enter a lot of considerations apart from â€Å"evidence†. Answering critique from Hammersley (1997) Hargreaves (1999b) admits that context sensitive â€Å"’practical wisdom’ pervades (both) expert medical and educational practice. There is some hard science deep in the knowledge-base of doctors, but the closer a doctor gets to an individual patient, the stronger the elements of judgement or of practical wisdom that also enters into the decision. Teachers acquire ‘practical wisdom’ too; but, in comparison with doctors, they have little accepted scientifi c knowledge to insert into their decision-making.† He claims that the infra structure of knowledge available to teachers is far less developed than that available to doctors, and that teachers seem to be less effi cient than doctors in fi nding the scientifi c knowledge there is. He argues that one reason for this is that the knowledge base in medicine is cumulative while that in education is not, but ought to become. This leads to Davies (1999) second level of concerns about evidence-based teaching: â€Å"to establish sound evidence where existing evidence is lacking or of a questionable, uncertain, or weak nature†. Hargreaves’ lecture in 1996 to the Teacher Training Agency stated that teachers only to a small extent base their practice on (hard) scientific evidence, but he didn’t blame teachers but researchers for failing to produce such evidence, especially produced by RCT procedures. With the  £12,000,000 funding for developing evidence-based policy and practice by research he hoped researchers would be encouraged to respond appropriately (Hargreaves 1999a). In another journal article the same year, titled â€Å"The Knowledge Creating School†, he urges teachers themselves to produce the knowledge they need. To sum up: Evidence-based teaching is a concept borrowed from the health sciences and recommended for teachers (you might add: by new-public-management-governments and elite researchers). You may get the impression that it’s use implies a critique of teachers for not including research-based evidence in deliberations on how to teach, but mainly it is a critique of educational researchers for not providing the needed cumulative research-base, built on research of the randomized control trial (RCT) kind. The rationale is that once such research has taken off and its results have been efficiently disseminated, evidence-based, or evidence informed, teaching will become more frequent. Critique of the notion of evidence-based practice Hammersley (1999) challenges Hargreaves’ on three accounts: his description of educational research as non-cumulative, his prescription on how research could contribute to practice, and his argument that education should learn from medicine, which he considers a parallel to education. Hammersley shares the view that educational research could become more cumulative, but researching ‘what works’ has not proved successful in this respect, despite sustained attempts: â€Å"much educational research in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century was devoted to investigation of effective teaching; and one of the reasons for the changes in educational research over the past 20 years is precisely the failure of this work to produce conclusive, cumulative fi ndings† (p.144). But he also reminds us that there are different meanings of the concept â€Å"cumulative†. There are obvious â€Å"problems involved in identifying distinct and standardised ‘treatments’ in education†, Hammersley exemplifi es by the â€Å"problems faced by researchers seeking to distinguish teaching styles†. What about the problems in operationalising the concept of learning? What should be done about the disagreements about what students should learn? What about the problems of how to measure â€Å"the most important kinds of learning†? Hammersley asks if it is possible even in principle to do so. A preoccupation with what is easily measured may very well have profound effect on teaching, narrowing objectives accordingly. To establish fixed, universal causal patterns in teaching seems equally difficult, if not impossible. What might be aspired to is â€Å"local, context-sensitive patterns in which interpretation and decision on the part of teachers and students play an important role. Unlike in most areas of medicine, in education the ‘treatments’ consist of symbolic interaction, with all the scope for multiple interpretations and responses which that implies†. Hammersley thinks that â€Å"the production of information of high practical relevance usually depends on a great deal of knowledge that does not have such relevance†¦for science to be able to contribute knowledge that is relevant to practice, a division of labour is required: a great deal of coordinated work is necessary tackling smaller, more manageable problems that do not have immediate pay-off†. Hargreaves is described as having a â€Å"narrowly instrumental view of practical relevance†, promoting an ‘engineering model’ of the relationship between research and practice. An engineering model assumes that most teaching problems are technical, which is not likely. On the contrary they seem in most cases to be ‘practical’, that is involving making judgements in complex situations, exercising discretion, not following rules. The analogy with medicine is criticised for not taking into account that the practice of medicine is more towards the engineering side of a continuum which at the other side has the practical. Even within medicine the notion of evidence-based practice has been criticised for downplaying practical judgement in clinical situations, that â€Å"the focus of clinical practice is subtly shifted away from the care of individuals toward the care of populations, and the complex nature of sound clinical judgement is not fully appreciated† (Tonelli 2000). Hammersley cites a medical researcher who raises the same critique towards medical research as Hargreaves does to educational research: it is methodological weak, use inappropriate designs, unrepresentative and small samples, incorrect methods of analysis, and faulty interpretations. The blame is put on practitioners doing research without adequate research training, a fact that doesn’t actually support Hargreaves’ recommendation that more teacher research should lead to a stronger body of knowledge with practical relevance. Hammersley concludes his critique: â€Å"The diagnosis (of the current state of educational research) is mistaken and, taken as a whole: the prescription is likely to be lethal†. In the North American context an equally forceful critique of the arguments for research for evidence-based practice has been voiced by Howe (2005). His critique is organised under the headings â€Å"experimentism5 and scientifi c method†, and â€Å"experimentism and values†. The object of his analysis is a National Research Council report, Scientifi c Research in Education (2002), which he means represent a more moderate form of experimentism than other infl uential publications advocating research for evidence-based practice. In short he states that this report: †¢ unconvincingly characterizes the conduct of research as hierarchical, both temporally and logically (p. 309); †¢ offers little defense of its call for a renewed emphasis on randomised experiments against well-known criticisms regarding the issue of external validity (generalisability from research contexts to other contexts) (p.309); †¢ does not take into account Cronbach’s observation that generalizations decay, The word †experimentism† is used by Howe to refer to scientifi c research advocating the randomised control trial as the â€Å"best† research method. thus making the goal of a cumulative education science fundamentally unattainable; †¢ does not take into account that human intentionality signifi cantly complicates how to understand causal explanation in social research; †¢ places outcomes outside educational research, by focusing on means; †¢ places not-manipulable variables, like socio-economic stratifi cation, outside the limits of educational research by insisting on RCT as the method of choice, thus making educational research â€Å"a political innocent exercise†. Howe (2005) turns to Toulmin (2001) to fi nd an alternative to experimentism – an alternative that is without the short-comings described above: Activities for which social research is often seen as a tool for improvement – medicine and education, for instance – call for intentional behaviour on the part of practitioners in the form of craft-based practical judgement. Stephen Toulmin observes that when performed well, these judgements must respond in a â€Å"timely† manner to the unique and unanticipated actions of other persons, as well as to their different ways of seeing things. According to Toulmin, research informing such practices should exemplify a model that is â€Å"clinical† and â€Å"democratic† rather than â€Å"applied† and â€Å"elite† (Howe 2005, p. 317). Teachers’ relationship to research Do teachers experience a lack of research results when planning to teach? How do teachers relate to educational research? Do teachers fi nd some research genres more relevant and practically useful than others? Does teachers’ practice-based research contribute to a knowledge base of teaching? None of these questions are raised in the early discussions on evidence-based teaching, but specific answers to them seem to enter as premises to prescriptions. I would think that the answer to the first question is no. A common place view of teachers’ planning is that it is based on textbooks and concerned with amounts of â€Å"covering†, using standard methods of classroom instruction: a short introduction by the teacher, independent pupil work with textbook exercises, question-and-answer-patterns, summing up by the teacher in class. Twenty years ago research on teachers’ planning was frequent, today it seems to be an almost closed field of study. Perhaps the expectations of the paradigm of evidence-based teaching on teachers to include research results in their deliberations on how to teach may lead to its re-opening. Do teachers find some research genres more relevant and practically useful than others? Kennedy (1999) observes that: Many genre advocates refer to teachers to justify their arguments, claiming that teachers need more authoritative knowledge (so we should conduct experiments), more dynamic portraits that reveal multiple truths (so we should write narratives), or more richly detailed accounts (so we should do ethnographies). (Kennedy 1999, p.511) Case studies and ethnographies, she continues, have long been justified by: †¦contentions that educational events are governed not by universal laws of cause and effect but, instead, by human interactions and by multiple concurrent and interacting influences; that the meanings of these events can be understood only within their context; that detailed descriptions of the full range of these interactions and dynamics are the only way to accurately represent these events and their meanings; that the kind of complex dynamic knowledge represented in case studies and ethnographies is more like the kind of knowledge ordinary people use to store their experiences; and that such detailed and multifaceted descriptions enable audiences to see similarities and differences between the research setting and their own situations, thus enabling generalizations by analogy rather than by statistical extrapolation. (Kennedy 1999, p.54) She sets out to investigate if teachers find some research genres more persuasive, more relevant, and more influential on own practice, than others, and if so, what features of each genre contribute to these evaluations. 100 teachers were interviewed after having read five articles describing research of different genres. Results show that the three evaluative criteria were highly correlated, but also that reasons for valuing them varied across genres. Experiments appeared to be highly valued, but so were non-experimental comparisons and narratives. Case studies appeared more influential than surveys. Independent of genre research studies proved to be particularly useful if they â€Å"helped teachers understand the relationship between teaching and learning† (Kennedy 1999, p.528). Kennedy concludes that a majority of teachers found most of the articles persuasive and relevant, but for different reasons. The genre contentions with which she started were not empirically verified. The TTA itself designed a questionnaire on teachers’ perspectives on educational research, and distributed it as attachments to journals of two teacher organisations, one for primary teachers, the other for secondary teachers. Everton, Galton & Pell (2000) report on the findings. As an unknown number of subscribers were â€Å"corporate members for local education authorities and industrial companies† they were unable to specify teachers’ response percentages. It was however estimated that the first group only returned 15% of the questionnaires, the second possibly a little more. In the second group most, i.e. 84%, were filled out by school leaders. All in all: the manner this investigation was carried out does not justify its analysis in terms of â€Å"teachers’ perspectives†. Does teachers’ practice-based research contribute to a knowledge base of teaching? As a result of Hargreaves 1996 lecture to the Teacher Training Agency the British government allocated  £54000 to the funding of teacher research projects. In an evaluation of the resulting reports Foster (1999) found that â€Å"a significant minority of the projects appeared to be practical: concerned with the improvement of teaching, learning or educational achievement, rather than the production of knowledge† (p. 383). He found â€Å"that only in a minority of the reports are factual claims well established†¦ as a result, it is difficult to see these as much more than opinion based on pre-existing views of good practice† (p. 393). Foster concludes that critical scrutiny of findings from teacher research before dissemination is crucial, but is afraid that â€Å"the view of knowledge production and dissemination which underpins this TTA scheme sees little role for such scrutiny. The priorities are rapid production and immediate dissemination to practitioners† (p. 395). To sum up: There is research evidence that teachers see the RCT research genre as relevant and useful to practice, but no more so than many other research genres. There is research evidence that teachers’ practice-based research does not contribute substantially to a body of knowledge on teaching, not to mention a cumulative one. Concluding remarks In line with the observation that there is more to teachers’ decision making than following authoritative evidence-based rules for practice, the discourse have changed from talking dichotomously about evidence-based/not evidence-based teaching to talking about evidence-informed teaching (Hargreaves 1999b) or the extent to which teaching is evidence-based (Davies 1999). It is interesting to note that while waiting (?) for research-produced evidence on â€Å"what works†, in teaching and in teacher education, British teacher education has become teacher training, managed by the Training & Development Agency for Schools. Its publication â€Å"Qualifying to teach. Professional standards for qualified teacher status and requirements for initial teacher training† lists skills, competencies and understandings would-be teachers must acquire (TDA 2005). Hagger & McIntyre (2000) complains that â€Å"these lists have been accompanied neither by any rationale for the items listed nor by any explanation of the conception of teaching expertise which underlies the lists† (p. 485). Not surprisingly, I found that in this publication the word ‘training’ appears 51 times, the word ‘education’ 15 times (most of these in naming school subjects or institutions), the words ‘research’, and ‘theory’ did not appear at all. My conclusion is that there are serious problems, philosophical, historical, and political problems, with the notion of evidence-based practice transferred to teaching and teacher education, at least in its original interpretation. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (1999). Omnibus Survey. Rockville, Maryland Hill, K., & Romich, B. (2002). AAC evidence-based clinical practice: A model for success. AAC Institute Press, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-6. McKibbon, K.A., Wilczynski, N., Hayward, R.S., Walker-Dilks, Cynthia, & Haynes, R.B. (1995). The medical literature as a resource for evidence based care. Working Paper from the Health Information Research Unit, Mc,Master University, Ontario, Canada. Sackett, D.L., Rosenberg, W.MC, Gray, J.M., Haynes, R.B., Richardson, W.S. (1996). Evidence-based medicine: What it is and what it isn’t. British Medical Journal. 321: 71-2 American Educational Research Association (2005). Research Points. http://www. aera.net/publications/?id=314 (downloaded 15.11.2005) British Medical Journals Publishing Group (2005). Clinical Evidence. http://www. clinicalevidence.com/ceweb/conditions/index.jsp (downloaded 15.11.2005). Campbell Collaboration (2005). The Education Coordinating Group. http://www. cahs.colostate.edu/r-dcenter/CCECG/home.asp (downloaded 15.11.2005). Davies, P. (1999). What is evidence-based education? British Journal of Educational Studies, 47, 2, 108-121. Everton, T., Galton, M. & Pell, T. (2000). Foster, P. (1999). ‘Never mind the quality, feel the impact’: a methodological assessment of teacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency. British Journal of Educational Studies, 47, 4, 380-398. Hagger, h. & McIntyre, D. (2000). What can research tell us about teacher education? Oxford Review of Education, 26, 3-4, 483-494. Hammersley, M. (1997). Educational research and teaching: A response to David Hargreaves’ TTA lecture. British Educationl Research Journal, 23, 2, 141-162. Hargreaves, D. (1996). Teaching as a research-based profession: possibilities and prospects. London: Teacher Training Agency. Hargreaves, D. (1997). In defence of research for evidence-based teaching: A rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley. British Educational Research Journal, 23, 4, 405- 419. Hargreaves, D. (1999a). The knowledge-creating school. British Journal of Educational Studies, 47, 2, 122-144. Hargreaves, D. (1999b). Revitalizing educational research: lessons from the past and proposals for the future. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29, 2, 239-249. Howe, K.R. (2005). The education science question: A symposium. Educational Theory, 55, 3, 235-321. Kennedy, M. (1999). A test of some contentions about educational research. American Educational Research Journal, 36, 3, 511-541. Tonelli, M.R. (1998). The philosophical limits of evidence-based medicine. Academic Medicine, 73, 12, 1234-1240. Training & Development Agency for Schools (2005). Qualifying to teach. Professional standards for qualifi ed teacher status and requirements for initial teacher Agora nr. 8 – tidsskrift for forskning, udvikling og idà ©udveksling i professioner www.cvustork.dk/agora 100 training. Department for education and skills, London (downloaded 15 November, 2005, from www.tda.gov.uk). Briskman, L. (2001) ‘A Moral Crisis for Social Work: Critical Practice & Codes of Ethics’ in Critical Social Work, vol2, no1. pp1-9 Golberg, D.T. (2002) The Racial State. Blackwell. Oxford/Massachusetts Golberg, D.T. (1993) Racist Culture. Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning. Blackwell. Oxford/Massachusetts Lemert, C. (1999) ‘A World of Differences: What if it’s So? How will we know?’ in O’Brien, M., Penna, S. and Hay, C. (eds) Theorising Modernity. Reflexivity, Environment and Identity in Giddens’ Social Theory. Longman. London and New York. pp179-206 Leonard, P. (1997) Postmodern Welfare: Reconstructing an Emancipatory Project, Sage, London O’Brien, M and Penna, S. (1998) Theorising Welfare. Enlightenment and Modern Society. Sage, London O’Brien, M and Penna, S. (1996) ‘Postmodern Theory and Politics: Perspectives on Citizenship and Social Justice’ in Innovation, vol 9, no 2, pp185-203 Parton, N. (2000) ‘Some Thoughts on the Relationship between Theory and Practice in and for Social Work’, Brt. Jnl of Social Work, 30, 449-463 Penna, S., O’Brien, M. and Hay, C. (1999) ‘Introduction’ in O’Brien, M., Penna, S. and Hay, C. (eds) Theorising Modernity. Reflexivity, Environment and Identity in Giddens’ Social Theory. Longman. London and New York Penna, S. and O’Brien, M. (1996/7) ‘Inequality, transformation and Political Agency: reflections on Theresa Ebert’s red feminismn’ in Rethinking Marxism, vol 9, no 3, pp95-102 Phelan, P. and Reynolds, P. (1996) Argument and Evidence. Critical analysis for the social sciences. Routledge, London. Roedeger, D. (1994) Towards the Abolition of Whiteness. Verso, London, New York. Seidman, S. (1994) The Post-modern Turn. New Perspectives on Social Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Taylor, G. (1993) ‘Challenges from the Margins’ in Clarke, J. (ed) A Crisis in Care? Challenges to Social Work. Sage, London. Thomson, A. (1996) Critical Reasoning. A practical introduction. Routledge, London. Trevillion, S. (2000) ‘Social Work Research: What Kind of Knowledge/Knowledges? An Introduction to the Papers’, Brt. Jnl of Social Work, 30, 429-432 Sue Penna, Ph.D. can be contacted via e-mail at: S.Penna@lancaster.ac.uk

The Ethics for and Against Pet Ownership

Because of pet overpopulation, just about all animal welfare activists would probably agree that we should spay and neuter our cats and dogs. But there would be some disagreement if you were to ask whether we should breed cats and dogs if all the shelters were empty and there were good, loving homes available. Animal industries such as the fur industry and factory farms try to discredit animal protection groups by claiming that activists want to take people’s pets away. While some animal rights activists do not believe in keeping pets, we can assure you that no one wants to take your dog away from you — as long as youre treating it well. Arguments for Pet Ownership Many people consider their pets to be members of the family and thus treat them with love and respect. Oftentimes, this feeling appears to be mutual, as dog and cat pets seek out their owners to play, pet or invite them into their laps. These animals provide unconditional love and devotion — to deny them and us this relationship seems unthinkable to some. Also, keeping pets is a much more humane way for them to live as opposed to  factory farms, animal testing labs or circuses use and abuse the animals. However, thanks to regulations passed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture like the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, even these animals are entitled to a basic quality of life as sentient beings.   Still, even the Humane Society of the United States argues that we should keep our pets — according to one official statement pets are creatures with whom we share a world, and we rejoice in their companionship; you dont have to anthropomorphize to recognize that the feelings are returned...let us be close and cherish each other always.   The vast majority of animal activists advocate spaying and neutering. However, most will say that the reason is the millions of cats and dogs who are killed in shelters every year, as opposed to any basic opposition to the keeping of pets. Arguments Against Pet Ownership On the other side of the spectrum, some animal activists argue that we should not keep or breed pets regardless of whether we have an overpopulation problem — there are two basic arguments that support these claims. One argument is that cats, dogs, and other pets suffer too much at our hands. Theoretically, we may be able to provide good homes for our pets, and many of us do. However, in the real world, animals suffer abandonment, cruelty, and neglect. Another argument is that even on a theoretical level, the relationship is inherently flawed and we are unable to provide the full lives that these animals deserve. Because they are bred to be dependent on us, the basic relationship between humans and companion animals is flawed because of the difference in power. A sort of Stockholm syndrome, this relationship forces animals to love their owners in order to get affection and food, oftentimes neglecting their animal nature to do so. The animals rights activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) opposes keeping pets, partially for this reason. An official statement on their website states that animals lives are restricted to human homes where they must obey commands and can only eat, drink and even urinate when humans allow them to. It then goes on to list common mistreatments of these house pets including declawing cats, not cleaning litter boxes and scolding any creature to get off the furniture or hurry up on its walk. A Happy Pet Is a Good Pet to Have The opposition to keeping pets must be distinguished from a call to release domesticated animals. They are dependent on us for their survival and it would be cruel to turn them loose on the streets or in the wilderness. The position must also be distinguished from any desire to take anyone’s dogs and cats away. We have a duty to take care of the animals who are already here, and the best place for them is with their loving and caring human guardians. This is why animal rights activists who oppose keeping pets might have rescued pets themselves. Activists who oppose keeping pets believe that domestic animals should not be allowed to breed. The animals who are already here should live long, healthy lives, cared for with love and respect by their human guardians. As long as the pet is happy and lives a life of love without undue suffering, for most people, animal rights and welfare activists alike, pets are definitely fine to have!

Fidel Castro And The Cuban Missile Crisis - 908 Words

Fidel Castro came into power in the late 1950s. He was a very ruthless dictator that came into power by kicking American led companies out of Cuba. After the United States was kicked out of Cuba. The United States government ceased all trade and economic ties with the Cuban Government. The Cuban Missile Crisis started when an American spy plane that was spying on the island of Cuba noticed that there were missiles built on the island of Cuba, that they were built on the island of Cuba and that the offensive missiles were of Soviet design and making. After the plane noticed the offensive missiles in Cuba, the President of the United States John Kennedy called for an emergency meeting of all of the defense chiefs and they would decide what to do about the missiles in Cuba, which threatened the United States mainland. After the missiles were discovered on the island of Cuba, the United Nations Security Council held their own emergency meeting and there were some very hard words exchange d between the American ambassador to the United Nations and the Soviet Ambassador on why the missiles were on the Island of Cuba in the first place. The confrontation occurred in the United Nations Security Council where there are five permanent members of the Security Council. The Soviets wanted to deploy the missiles into Cuba to deter any involvement by the United States in Cuba and so that way we would not try to unseat the government of Cuba. That is one reason why the Soviets deployed theShow MoreRelatedFidel Castros Impact on Cuba, America, and the World1359 Words   |  6 Pages Fidel Castro, resigned now, and still living, was the dictator of the Cuban nation. He has had an big impact on America, and he an impact on our world. Fidel Castro was a Cuban dictator for a long time coming. Fidel Castro becoming a dictator not only affected the United States, but his arrival affected the world around us. Fidel Castro was a man who had a target on his head. Lots of people from all over the world wanted him dead. Fidel Castro wasn’t a capitalist person, he was a CommunistRead MoreThe Revolution Of The Cuban Revolution1559 Words   |  7 PagesThe Cuban revolution was the spark that ignited the flame of communism in Cuba. The developing nation gained independence only as recently as 1898, and was already filled with an atmosphere of distrust and resentment towards the United States. In July of 1953, a revolution began in Cuba between the United States backed President Batista and Fidel Castro. Fidel and his brother Raul Castro lead a series of guerilla warfare battles against the forces of President Batista. â€Å"I am Fidel Castro and we haveRead MoreJordan Belleman. Ms. Verdino Ms. Kingmr. Muraco . Social1461 Words   |  6 PagesStudies 801 12 May 2017 The Cuban Missile Crisis â€Å"The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts we have learned only recently how close we were to war but I know enough to make me tremble† (Joseph Rotblat). During the Cuban missile crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 milesRead MoreEssay about The Cuban Missile Crisis756 Words   |  4 PagesThe Cuban Missile Crisis Between 1959 and 1962 relations between USA and Cuba deteriorated. Up until 1959, America had kept General Batista in power over Cuba and had strong links, especially in trade. Castro’s ascent to power in 1959 triggered the short-term events contributing to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The main cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the cold relationship between the two great superpowers: America and Russia. This hadRead MoreFidel Castro Is Alive1443 Words   |  6 Pages Upon his release, Castro went to Mexico where he spent the next year organizing the 26th of July Movement, which was based on the date of the failed Santiago de Cuba barracks attack. On December 2, 1956, Castro and the rest his fellow rebels of the 26th of July Movement landed on Cuban soil with the intention of starting a revolution. They were only met with the welcome of heavy Batista defenses, causing nearly everyone in the Movement to be killed. Barely anyone escaped, and those who did whichRead MoreFidel Castro And The Cuban Revolution943 Words   |  4 PagesThe infamous Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro was born on a farm on August 13,1926 and he is currently 89 years old. He was the third child out of six. His full name was Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz Fidel Castro. He was not born into a poor family, his father Angel happened to be a very wealthy sugar plantation owner. At the time Cuba’s economy was not thriving, but Castro still grew up in wealthy conditions. He went to a private boarding school to receive his education. There he became a star studentRead MoreCuban Revolution By Andrew Caminiti1476 Words   |  6 PagesCuban Communist Revolution By Andrew Caminiti The terrible conditions that many Cuban citizens lived under during the Batista regime was unacceptable. The Cuban Citizens wanted a change and started a revolution. To find out why we go all the way back to 1868 when the United States defeated the Spanish Army giving Cuba its independence. The Cubans elected Fulgencio Batista who did not allow any more elections to take place. This angered many and a new revolution leader formed, Fidel Castro. FidelRead MoreCuba s Relationship With The U.s.1130 Words   |  5 Pagesas follows; Fidel Castro’s presidency of Cuba, Guerilla Warfare in Cuba, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fidel Alejandro Castro was born in Biran, Cuba on August 13, 1926. He was the third child out of six children, he had two brothers and three sisters. Fidel’s father, Angel Castro, was a plantation owner from Spain. His mother, Lina Ruz Gonzalez was Angel’s first wife’s maid. At the age of fifteen Castro’s father divorced his first wife and married Lina. By the age of seventeen Fidel was recognizedRead MoreA Brief Biography of Fidel Castro1316 Words   |  5 PagesHis full name is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz and he was born on August 13, 1926 in a Birà  n, Cuba. Castro’s parents are Angel Castro(father) and Lina Ruz(mother). His father was a wealth landowner while his mother was a cook and maid to Angel. Castro was the third of six children in his family. His parents sent Fidel to a Jesuit boarding school where he was disciplined and showed the true potential of his intellect. While in boarding school, he also showed a much bigger interest in sports rather thanRead MoreWhat Major Events in the Cold War Caused Fidel Castro to Side with the Soviet Union Super Power?805 Words   |  4 PagesWhat major events in the Cold War caused Fidel Castro to side with the Soviet Union Super Power? In the 1960’s the world was largely dominated by the Cold War which was a long period of tension and hostility that only occasionally broke out into open warfare. This conflict was caused by the rivalry of two superpowers - the United States and the Soviet Union and emerged after the Second World War. Both super powers had different ideologies - the United States was a capitalist democracy, whereas

Swot Analysis of Wal-Mart and Carrefour - 952 Words

Susan Donoho Argosy University SWOT Analysis of Wal-mart and Carrefour SWOT Analysis for Wal-Mart and Carrefour What is a hypermarket? According to Business Dictionary that is an online business definition resource, it is a â€Å"vast self-service warehouse-cum-retail outlet that combines the features of a supermarket, department store, discount store, and specialty store in one location.† A hypermarket may also be called a hyper-mart (Business Dictionary, 2012). The multinational retailers that are analyzed in this report are considered hypermarkets. This critical analysis will communicate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a SWOT analysis of Wal-Mart and Carrefour specifically in the country of China that†¦show more content†¦This new company created a strategy to divide China into four areas where by a managing office would create a strategy for that region to grow Carrefour stores. Each manager of a store had the freedom to adhere to customers, and customers preferences in order to reflect the region it was doing business with. The management also worked with local managers on regulations (Carrefour, 2012). The overall strategy of Wal-Mart is with efficient supply chains and cost effectiveness, which translates in to savings to the consumer. Normally Wal-Mart conducts business, such as in the US, with safety and conforms to In reports about Wal-Mart, and supply chains that have been â€Å"a mess† there seems to be frustration, and confusion with senior level executives who are resigning from Wal-mart. Wal-Mart corporate is investing more money into expanding across China than it did to expand across the USA because the country is poorer, not as well off, and supply chains in China are not dependable. Lack of quality in supply chain products have caused scandal and death in some cases, cause the loss of Wal-Mart reputation currency (Associated Press, 2008). REFERENCES Associated Press. (2008, October). Walmart opens stores in china s hinterlands. Retrieved from Associated Press: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27241451/ns/business-retail/t/wal-mart-opens-stores-chinas-hinterlands/Show MoreRelatedWal Mart And The Largest Retail Company1137 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Wal-Mart started as a small firm, with a single discount store and the simple idea of selling more for less. The company has gone a long way from one store to having more than 11,500 stores in 28 countries. Wal-Mart has been a very successful by becoming the largest retail company in the world employing 2.2 million in the World and 1.4 million in United States. This project is about the problems of Wal-Mart as a company with employees and the community at large. The company is knownRead MoreWal-Mart Dominating Global Retail Essay1498 Words   |  6 PagesWal-Mart Dominating Global Retail Brief summary The Wal-mart is the largest retail chain in United States and in the world. The wal-mart was founded in the year 1962 by Mr Sam Walton. It was originally named as Wal-Mart discount city in Rogers, Arkansas. At the time when the Wal-Mart stores started in the year 1962 it was focused only in small rural cites and town which had a population of 5000 to 25000. It was soon increased to 18 stores in 1969. In the next 30 years it had more than 4750Read MoreTesco Entering in China1244 Words   |  5 Pagesdecided to enter the country through a joint venture so that it could learn about the market through its partner, which had operated in the market for several years. Also, by the time Tesco entered China, other multinational retailers like Wal-Mart and Carrefour were already well-established in the market. The case discusses how Tesco faced the challenges in an emerging market like China by adopting strategies to suit that market. 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Critical evaluation of PEST and SWOT models SinceRead MoreCarefour Missadventure in Russia Essay4589 Words   |  19 PagesMaster of Business Administration Strategic Management Carrefour Misadventure in Russia Supervised By Submitted By John Kalmus Muhammad Omair STU 22782 Submitted To IBAM Word Count 3898 Submission Date 22 January 2011 Carrefour strategy is comprised of following components Organic, Sustainable and Profitable growth Fast return on capital employed Market Leadership through Acquisition Carrefour started business in 1963 by introducing the idea of hyper market by providing thousandsRead MoreEssay about Swot Analysis of Wal-Mart in China1779 Words   |  8 PagesWal-Mart in China October 31, 2011 The team is playing the role of management consultants in the case study of Wal-Mart stores in China. The team decided that a SWOT analysis was the best approach to the case in the beginning stages of the project. The SWOT analysis was designed as a tool that identifies  the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. The  method of SWOT analysis is to take the information from  an environmental analysis and separate it into internal  (strengthsRead MoreBusiness Strategy of Carrefour4959 Words   |  20 Pagesof great uncertainty and increasing volatility in the overall business climate, Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer aims to accelerate growth. Through a strategic lens, we seek to review and identify the various key areas that Carrefour need to focus so as to gain a stronger foothold in Asia. 1.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Research Background The purpose of the assignment is to analyze the business environment of Carrefour and ensure strategic integration of its people and policies with the aim of bringingRead MoreSwot and Macro Environmental Analysis of Nordstrom1664 Words   |  7 Pagesaccorded the last place in the priority list of company. Nordstrom working as departmental store in the retail industry would be effected by all the forces in the marketing environment. Nordstrom’s competitors are Wal-Mart, amp; K-Mart, and Carrefour. SWOT Analysis for Nordstrom: Strength: It was rationalized by the promoter that if customers are satisfied by the services and the best service could only be offered by highly motivated employee (sales force), the share holders, promotersRead MoreWal-Mar Global Expansion Strategy10037 Words   |  41 PagesWal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart: Global Expansion Strategy ____________________________________________________________ _________ Table of Contents A. Introduction B. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 1. The Adolescence of Wal-Mart 2. Channel of Distribution 3. The Financial Facts and Figures 4. Unique Expansion Strategy 5. Corporate and Management Culture C. The Competition in the United States D. Wal-Mart’s Global Strategy E. Expansion Target: France General Overview Retail Industry OverviewRead MoreCarrefours Strategy3339 Words   |  14 Pages| The strategy of Carrefour | | | Summary I- Introduction 3 I- Historic 4 II- Characteristics of supermarket distribution 5 a) Porter’s five 5 b) PESTEL 7 c) SWOT 9 III- Strategies in France 10 IV- International strategy of Carrefour 11 V- The new markets and the future 12 VI- Suggested strategies 13 VII- Conclusion 14 VIII- Bibliography 15 I- Introduction Carrefour was the first supermarket created in France and also in the world

Opportunity Component of Entrepreneurship Policy †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Opportunity Component of Entrepreneurship Policy. Answer: Introduction The government of Kenya has faced many problems due to the bad delivery of services in public sector. The government of Kenya has seen drastic changes in the operations of a legal constitution in the early 1990s. The government have more than 100,000 civil servants but does not have an impact on the services on the public sector (Abdalla et al., 2015). It provides enhanced government services for citizen by amalgamating services in one building. Therefore, questions have raised against the quality of Huduma centers regarding the quality of services in public sectors. This study focuses on analyzing the effect of Huduma centers in service delivery in Kenya. The challenges in providing public services have been discussed in the research. A proper literature review about the topic has been provided in the study. A critical analysis of the concept of the service delivery has been discussed in the research. Various models and theories have been discussed in the literature review that helps in resolving the issues in the public services. This study outlines the effects of the service delivery in the public sector in Kenya. The factors affecting the service delivery in Huduma centers has been described properly in the research. The study focuses on the strategies for mitigating the poor services in the public sector. The research consists of aims, objectives, and questions that help in increasing success factor of the research. The research depicts the impact of the bad services in the Huduma centers in Kenya. The government of Kenya has around 100,000 civil servants. However, there is a decrement in the quality of the services in the Huduma centers. The government of Kenya has started a concept of Huduma centers to transform the service delivery by providing access to public services and info ration to people of Kenya (Kiprop, Nyaoga Robert, 2017). The main problem is poor services in the public sector. The government of Kenya has been facing corruption from many years. The government has established various centers including Nairobi, Kisumu, Nyeri, Embu, Machakos and Mombasa. The implementation of the Huduma center is in progress. Therefore, the research has been done to understand the consequences of the negligence of the government of the Kenya (Hassan, Mike Guyo, 2017). The research has also focused on the impact of Huduma centers in the delivery of services to the public. Research aim, objectives and questions The aim of the research is to analyze the effect of service delivery in Kenya public sector by Huduma sector. The objectives of the research have been mentioned below: To analyze the effect of the Huduma Centres in delivery of service to the public in Kenya To critically analyze the transparency in services provided by Huduma Centres To identify the challenges faced by the Huduma Centres in providing service delivery to public in Kenya To determine contribution of Huduma Centres in providing customer satisfaction in government service delivery The research questions have been provided below: What is the effect of the Huduma Centres in the delivery of service to the public in Kenya? How have Huduma Centres provided transparency in providing services? What are the challenges faced by the Huduma Centres in providing service delivery to the public in Kenya? What is contribution of Huduma Centres in providing customer satisfaction in government service delivery? Huduma Centre is a concept started by the government of Kenya in order to manifest Public Service Delivery by providing access to government service to the public. The Huduma Centre is a one-stop shop approach for reforming the delivery of services in the public sector of Kenya (Wambugu, Wachira Mwamba, 2017). It aims to bring various services close to the public that helps in the development of the country. The government services including, birth certificates, national identity card, passports, marriage certificates and other necessities. However, these services are not available in the market if the Kenya. There is a lack of proper legal authorities, which can manage these activities. As commented by Otieno Omwenga, (2015), strategic leadership helps in maintaining such activities in the public. Leadership quality can be used for controlling weakness and loopholes on the legal authorities of the country. The change in the legal authorities is necessary that helps in reforming th e delivery of services to the public. The development of the organization depends on the strategic leadership in the operations of the organization. The dispatch of Huduma Centers acknowledged huge advance in the arrangement of service through ICT. The focuses give ones top looks for services, for example, registration of business, registration for National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) among other services (Opiyo et al., 2017). The result has been that there is an expansion in the number of MDAs giving services through ICT. Leadership is a procedure impact amongst leaders and subordinates where a leader endeavors to affect the conduct of subordinates to accomplish the authoritative objectives. Authoritative achievement in accomplishing its objectives and targets relies upon the leaders of the organization and their authority styles. By embracing the proper leadership styles, leaders can influence worker work fulfillment, duty, and efficiency at Huduma Centers. Later in 2009, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has supported Kenyan government for stepping up public sector reforms for focusing on national transformation (Ondego Moturi, 2016). The government of Kenya has taken the step for mitigating the issues in providing services to the public. The government of Kenya has provided passports, identity cards and driving licenses to the public that helps in maintaining the customer satisfaction in public. Kurt Lewins Force Theory of Change In 1957, Kurt Lewin introduced a three-step change model for understanding views and behavior of forces in the working environment. Various driving forces can facilitate change as they push employees in their direction. According to Lewin, the initial phase simultaneously of changing conduct is to unfreeze the current circumstance or business as usual. To start with, increment the main forces that immediate conduct far from the current circumstance or existing conditions (Kivikuru, 2017). A few exercises that can aid the unfreezing step including propelling members by setting them up for change, assemble trust and acknowledgment for the need to change, and effectively take in perceiving issues and conceptualizing arrangements inside a gathering. Lewin's second step during the time spent evolving conduct is development. In this progression, it is important to move the target framework to another level of balance. Three activities that can aid the development step including inducing workers to concur that existing conditions is not painful to them and urging them to see the issue from a point of view, cooperate on a journey for new, significant data, and associate the perspectives of the gathering to all around regarded, intense leaders that bolster the change. The third step of Lewin's three-step change model is refreezing. This progression needs to occur after the change has been executed with the end goal for it to stick over time. It is very likely that the change will be fleeting and the workers will return to their old behavior if this step is not taken. It is the real integration of the new esteems into the group esteems and customs (Kiprop, Nyaoga Robert, 2017). The motivation behind refreezing is to balance out the new balance coming about because of the change by adjusting both the driving and controlling powers. One activity that can be utilized to actualize Lewin's third step is to strengthen new patterns by a formal and informal mechanism. In the case of the Huduma Centres, the change management is necessary for eradicating competitive pressure, legislation and technological advancements. As commented by Muchai Kimuyu, (2017), the goals of the Huduma Centres can be achieved by full participation in the change efforts generated by complete agreement in different assets of change management. SERVQUAL MODEL The Servqual model is used to analyze the quality of services provided by any organization in the market. It compares between the customers expectation and quality of services provided by an organization. In this case, this model can be applied to analyze the services provided by the Huduma Centre in Kenya. The SERVQUAL has ended up being an important instrument for benefit organizations to better comprehend to their clients or customers esteem and how well they are addressing the necessities and desires of clients and customers (Muhika, Njeru Waiganjo, 2017). It gives a benchmark in light of client conclusions of a fantastic organization, on the positioning of key credits and on correlation with what workers of administration organizations trust clients feel. The SERVQUAL has gone under a few reactions. Chepkirui (2017) argued that the five measurements of RATER are not universals and that the model neglects to draw on set up the monetary, factual and mental hypothesis (Waruguru, Bwisa Kihoro, 2017).While benefit an incentive to the social combination is connected just with steadyness, benefit an incentive to tranquil life is related to both dependability and patronage plans. They contend that present execution best mirrors a customers view of administration quality and that desires are not some portion of this idea. () noticed that regardless of the possibility that it might be important to rephrase or adjust a portion of the things, yet the SERVQUAL scale is relevant in an extensive variety of business administrations. Hackney Tassabehji, (2017) argued that the expansion of things as well as measurements might bring about the loss of the scale's honesty. In their contentions in the help of the SERVQUAL. Wachira et al., (2017), the place that SERVQUAL remains the entire endeavor to conceptualize and measure benefit quality. Its principle advantage is the capacity of specialists to look at various administration businesses, for example, social insurance, managing an account, money related administrations and instruction. The SERVQUAL demonstrate recommends that clients assess the nature of an administration on five particular measurements: unwavering quality, responsiveness, confirmation, compassion, and physical assets. The SERVQUAL instrument comprises of 22 explanations for evaluating buyer observations and desires with respect to nature of an administration. Seen benefit quality outcomes from examinations by customers of desires with their view of administration conveyed by the specialist co-ops (Otieno, 2017). It can be contended that the factor supporting the conveying of good seen benefit quality is really meeting the desires of the clients. In this manner, phenomenal benefit quality is surpassing the clients' desires. Kaburu, (2017) proposed that client desires are convictions about an administration that fill in as measures against which benefit execution is judged. A gap is made when the recognitions of the conveyed benefit is not according to the desires of the client. They recommended that the SERVQUAL model could be reached out to quantify gaps in quality and could accordingly be utilized as a symptomatic instrument to empower administration to recognize benefit quality shortages. The gap score is ascertained by the discernment proclamations being deducted from the desire articulations. On the off chance that any gap scores end up being certain then this suggests desires are really being surpassed. These permits benefit chiefs to audit whether they need to re-send assets to regions of underperformance. Impact of Huduma Centre on service delivery to public The Huduma Centre have slightly helped in enhancing the delivery of services with a various context of success and failure. The One Stop Shop has able to enhance the service delivery in the public sector. The public sector has been reformed in the country for approaching result-based strategy in the service delivery. The challenges in providing service delivery are complex and require the innovative change in the management (Chitere, 2017). The strategies for mitigating these issues in Kenya require customer-centric, capacity-building, innovation and connected government. In Kenya, the Vision 2030 focuses on the public-specific strategies that might help in maintaining the progress of the service delivery in the country. The feedbacks of citizen help in analyzing the various factors influencing the quality of the service delivery in Huduma Centre. The literature review has explained the Kurt Lewins theory of change and Servqual model to analyze the effect of the Huduma Centres on the service delivery (Pfeil, Schott Agarwal, 2017). The change theory has helped in providing concept about the change management in the Centre. The Servqual model has discussed about the quality of the services offered by the Centre. The Servqual model is based on the customer satisfaction factor in the market. In any organization, basic leadership happens at three levels thus procedures can likewise be figured at all these diverse levels. Procedures are figured at all these levels since a solitary procedure is insufficient, yet additionally inadequate. These diverse levels of key basic leadership also, a vital definition in any organization incorporate, corporate level, business level, and practical level. The corporate level takes major key choices. The execution of any organization will concisely rely on the key choice it takes. (Ondego Moturi, 2016). Kurt Lewin presented the three-advance change display. The three main forces unfreeze, change and refreeze, encourage change since they drive workers in the coveted bearing. Restraining forces thwart change since they push workers the other way. In this way, these powers must be investigated and Lewin's three-advance model can help move the balance toward the ar ranged change. As per Muchai Kimuyu, (2017), one-stop shops are one of a few institutional substitutes Governments frequently embrace to sidestep or quicken existing methodology where they are broken. No less than 15 nations in the Middle East North Africa district have some sort of OSS in presence as a major aspect of their organization advancement endeavors. One-stop Shops ended up noticeably well known in the 1980s as a way to advance speculation, frequently as an aide to organization advancement organizations (like GAFI). The essential thought is that a financial specialist would just be in contact with one single substance to acquire all the fundamental printed material in one streamlined and facilitated process, as opposed to going through a hierarchy of various government bodies (Kivikuru, 2017). The most exceptional and understood cases where such an OSS framework works sensibly fruitful are the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore, the Malaysian Industrial Advancement Authority ( MIDA) and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland. Three cases including speculators can depend on the offices to give essentially every one of the endorsements and clearances required (Ondego Moturi, 2016). Conclusion It can be concluded that the Huduma Centre has helped in maintaining the service delivery to the public. The challenges in the service delivery in Kenya has been described in the research. The critical analysis of the literature review has helped in an understanding concept of quality of service and strategic leadership. The use of the Kurt Lewins theory change has provided brief information about the change manager in the Huduma Centre. The Servqual model describes the quality of services and gap analysis of the Huduma Centre. Therefore, the use of these theories and models have helped in mitigating the challenges in the providing services to the public of Kenya. References Abdalla, A. G., Kiragu, J. K., Waswa, F. A., Ono, F. T., Kariuki, J. W., Ikua, D. M. (2015). Effect of Huduma Centers (One Stop Shops) in Service DeliveryA Case Study of Mombasa Huduma Centre.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,5(6), 102-117. Chepkirui, n. (2017). Determinants of utilization of information communication and technology in projects in state corporations in Kenya: a case of national hospital insurance fund. Strategic Journal of Business Change Management,4(4). Chitere, P. O. (2017). COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN KENYA: Peoples' awareness and perceptions of their governance systems and participation in their leadership and poverty-reduction projects.Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal,4(6). Hackney, R. A., Tassabehji, R. (2017). The Impact of ICT on Public Service Development in Africa: an empirical analysis. Hassan, A. M., Mike, I., Guyo, W. (2017). Integrated service approach and service delivery in huduma centres in kenya: the moderating effect of transformational leadership style.European Journal of Business and Social Sciences,6(02), 302-314. Kaburu, E. K. (2017). Towards Enhanced Adoption of Innovative Building Technologies in Construction Industry.International Journal of Innovative Research and Development,6(8). Kiprop, F. J., Nyaoga, R. B., Robert, K. K. (2017). The Relationship between Customer Arrival Practices and Customer Satisfaction in the Huduma Centre in Nakuru County, Kenya.International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences,5(5), 229. Kiprop, F. J., Nyaoga, R. B., Robert, K. K. (2017). The Relationship between Customer Arrival Practices and Customer Satisfaction in the Huduma Centre in Nakuru County, Kenya.International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences,5(5), 229. Kivikuru, U. (2017). Ideals, buzzwords and true trying: ICT and communication policies in Kenya.Journal of African Media Studies,9(2), 307-321. Muchai, D. N., Kimuyu, P. K. (2017).Prospects for information and communications technology-enabled services in Kenya: The case of the mobile money transfer industry(No. 2017/86). WIDER Working Paper. Muhika, D. W., Njeru, A. W., Waiganjo, E. (2017). Influence of Financial Reporting Requirement on Formalizing Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,7(7), 83-100. Muhika, D. W., Njeru, A. W., Waiganjo, E. (2017). Influence of tax compliance requirement on formalizing small and medium enterprises in kenya.American Journal of Finance,2(6), 47-78. Ondego, B., Moturi, C. (2016). Evaluation of the Implementation of the e-Citizen in Kenya.Evaluation,10(4). Opiyo, R., Mwau, B., Mwanga, K., Mwaniki, D. (2017). Attaining E-Democracy Through Digital Platforms in Kenya. InE-Democracy for Smart Cities(pp. 441-459). Springer Singapore. Otieno, d. A. (2017). Drivers of effective implementation of inter-agency projects in kenya: case of kenya coastal development project.Strategic Journal of Business Change Management,4(3). Otieno, I., Omwenga, E. (2015, May). Citizen-centric critical success factors for the implementation of e-government: A case study of Kenya Huduma Centres. InIST-Africa Conference, 2015(pp. 1-9). IEEE. Pfeil, H., Schott, B., Agarwal, S. (2017). Recent Developments and Key Considerations Impacting the Operations of One-Stop Shops for Citizens. Wachira, K. (2017).The Role of University based Business Incubators Strategy on Enterprise Growth in Kenya(Doctoral dissertation, COHRED, JKUAT). Wambugu, D., Wachira, M., Mwamba, M. D. (2017). The effect of innovation on service delivery in the public sector in kenya.International Journal of Business Strategies,2(2), 1-21. Waruguru, M., Bwisa, H., Kihoro, J. (2017). An Assessment of the Opportunity Component of Entrepreneurship Policy in the Youth, Women, and Uwezo Funds in Kenya.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,7(1), 283-305.

The Women Essays - American Quakers, First-wave Feminism

The Women The women's suffrage party fought for years on the right to vote. They weren't going to stop until they got their right. For instance, Alice Paul organized a parade through Washington D.C. on inauguration day, which supported women's suffrage and also picketed the White House for 18 months. Paul was put in jail for that and started a hunger strike. Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Shanton supported the women's suffrage for fifty years later. Neither of them lived to see the 19th amendment ratified on August 26, 1920. The amendment was ratified under Wodrow Wilson as the President of the United States. Now with the 19th amendment, women have the right to own property, be employed, get an education, get a divorce, and get custody of children. They got all this with the right to vote. On August 26, 1995, It was the 75th anniversary of the 19th amendment. The women of the past showed the government that women weren't just meant for taking care of their husbands and children. In my opinion, what the women did in the past made the world a better place today for the women of the United States. 195 These are some of the important dates that happened during this period. Carrie Chapman Catt was the President of the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) for many years. In 1903, Mary Dreier, Rheta Childe, Leonora O'Reily formed the women's trade union league. In 1913, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organized the Congressional Union. It was formally known as the NWP- National Women's Party in 1916. In 1914 the NFWC (National Federate Women's Club) had more than two million white and colored women involved. In 1916, Jeannette Rakin of Montana became the first woman to be taken into the United States House Of Representatives. There were seventy-five women who had major roles in women's suffrage. They were ver important and did a lot of hard work for the women's suffrage. Some of them were: Susan Brownell Anthony arrested for trying to vote Elizabeth Cady Shanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments Alice Stone Blackwell was the recording secretary Harriot Stanton Blatch founder of the Women's Political Union Amelia Bloomer publisher defending women and how they dressed in New York. Lucy Burns helped organized the Congressional Union Carrie Lane Chapman Catt became president in 1915 Lucretia Coffin Mott started the first women's rights convention with Stanton and her sister Martha Wright in New York Anna Howard Shaw was President from 1904 to 1915 Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote a book about women independence. Alice Paul picketed the White House for women's suffrage 240 WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE By definition, women's suffrage is the right for women to vote. Women's suffrage started back as far as the 1600's. I am going to talk about the 1800's. Women's suffrage upset many women in the United States. Women were known to be in the home at all times. They were there to give care for the their husbands and children. Politicians feared women coming in the political race because they thought that women might vote them out of office. In the early 19th century, women were considered second class citizens. Often after marriage they weren't allowed to own property. It was also improper for women to speak in public alone. They were told to refrain from getting an education. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton set women's suffrage in 1848 at the Women's Right Convention in Seneca Falls, New York Falls Elizabeth Cady Stanton decided to make her own declaration called The Declaration of Sentiments by using the Declaration of Independence as her guidelines. RESOULTION 9 was the women had the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony was arrested for attempting to vote for Ulysses S. Grant in the 1872 presidential elections. It wasn't just in the United States that women's suffrage was going on. It was going on all over the world. It was going on in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Scandinavia, and Italy. In Canada, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan got the right to vote in 1916. Quebec didn't get the right to vote until 1940. In Mexico, women got the right to vote in1953. In Great Britain, all women got the right to vote in 1928. In Scandinavia, in Finland, they had the right to vote in1916. Before WWI women