Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Media Concentration Is More Sensitive Than The Largest...

Nevertheless, these changes in the instrument point in the right direction, improving some of the deficiencies mentioned earlier. The new measurement, for example, assigns more weight to criteria such as pluralism and media concentration. The questionnaire section on â€Å"Pluralism and editorial independence† includes, for the first time, the following questions, all on a scale from 1 to 10.: D.2 - Do media reflect the range of opinions among members of the public? D.3 - Do public media provide coverage of and access by all political currents? D.4 - Is investigative journalism developed enough to uncover matters of significance? D.9 - To what extent do radio and television stations with the largest audiences present independent and critical news? Question D.11 on media concentration is more sensitive than before, since respondents are asked to evaluate it from a scale from 1 to 10. Moreover, another question is included to assess economic concentration in general and possible conflicts of interests: D.12 - What proportion of general-interest media is owned by companies with other interests in non-media sectors of the economy? (5 if 50%; 10 if 100%) The questionnaire introduces several questions on self-censorship: D.7 - Do journalists practice self-censorship for fear of the following consequences? a) Civil lawsuits or criminal prosecution b) Professional reprisals or attacks on reputation c) Threats to physical safety of the journalist or his family and friends, to hisShow MoreRelatedCOM3702 Portfolio10930 Words   |  44 PagesMEDIA STUDIES PORTFOLIO STUDENT NUMBER: 35772085 SURNAME AND INITIAL: Moatshe, P MODULE CODE: COM3702 SUBMITION DATE: 7 October 2014 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that this is my own work and personal work, except where the work(s) or publications of others have been acknowledged by means of reference techniques. 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Monday, December 16, 2019

Mayan Culture Free Essays

Modern Mayan culture has its roots in a very ancient culture. Ancient Mayan civilization spanned more than 3000 years and featured a written language, agriculture, a well-ordered social class system, a well-developed religious system, development of a calendar and trade. Much of the ancient tradition and culture has survived and been incorporated into the modern Mayan culture. We will write a custom essay sample on Mayan Culture or any similar topic only for you Order Now Religion Mayan religion is a hybrid of Christianity and ancient Mayan beliefs and rituals. The sixteenth century church, a central institution in the process of conquest, set the tone of the future relationship by working to replace Mayan religion with Spanish Christianity and to Hispanicize Mayan culture in general. (Stoll, 2003) Although many of their Gods have been replaced with statues of Christianity, the stories barely resemble the Christian versions. Today, devout Maya worship at mountain and cave shrines, making offerings of chickens, candles and incense with a ritual alcoholic drink. The Maya are a very superstitious people and have countless superstitions regarding events in mature which forewarn the observer of sickness, disaster, and death. Shaman/ daykeepers keep count of the 260 day ritual calendar and provide healing by identifying curses and offended ancestors, counting seeds and crystals in their divinations, and performing curando rituals. Marriage Mayan marriage is not prearranged by the family, although in ancient times it was accepted practice. In the more traditional villages, the young man must still ask the father for his daughters hand in marriage and certain rituals are followed. There is a traditional engagement and wedding  ritual dance that many Maya use in their wedding ceremonies. Most young married couples will live with either set of parents until they can begin a household on their own. The average marriage age of Maya people is 16 for females and 19 for males. Very few Maya remain unmarried as family and children are very important to the Maya. Family Family is a very important part of Maya culture. The average Maya family will have 6-8 children and most newlyweds have their first child within a year of marriage. In the domestic life of the Maya, family ties are strong, although outward displays of affection, such as kissing and embracing, are rare. Couples are considered affectionate if they carry out their respective duties faithfully. To their babies, however, the Maya are demonstrative and fondle and caress them, using baby talk as white parents do. It is evident that most parents are very fond of their children. Very rarely do fathers chastise their children physically and the mothers resort to harsh punishment only occasionally.  Ã‚   (Steggerda, 1941, p. 49) Food Production Strategies Many of the Mayan still live much the way they did when the Europeans came, weaving, cultivating corn and beans and collecting firewood to cook and heat their adobe houses. Electricity and road access have not changed the local traditions. Corn, which was cultivated by the ancient Mayans, remains the main crop. Most farmers still use the slash and burn method of farming used by their ancestors. Other strategies are share cropping and renting land to grow corn crops. The Maya form groups of up to twenty men, usually kin, rent a large piece of land, and divide it among themselves. Although this arrangement is much preferred to wage labor on the plantations, it   requires a minimum amount of capital for transportation, food, tools, seed, and so on, and expertise in dealing with the Ladino world. Many lack these resources and are forced into the largest of the temporary migratory streams. (Early, 1982, p. 88) Outside Contact The Maya, like most people who live in small and homogeneous groups where strong social controls operate, are conservative and unprogressive. Slow to take up new ideas, their attitudes and their material culture have been very little changed by modern trends and technological developments. Their pottery, weaving, and cross-stitch work have remained very much the same during the entire history of Yucatan. In general, they have not adopted the Spanish language but rather the Spaniards have adopted the Maya language. Their mode of dress has not changed appreciably for hundreds of years, and it is my belief that their daily life is very similar to that which their ancestors led. Only in the large Yucatan towns and cities, where social contacts are freer and where social controls cannot be maintained as strongly as in the smaller communities, are there signs of change. In such towns the European mode of dress is gradually being adopted, especially by the women, and cosmetics are commonly used. The people petition the government for radios, electric lights, and corn-grinding machines, and the idea of progress is gaining a hold in their minds. The cooperative movement and similar modern methods of economic organization are being tried. (Steggerda, 1941, p. 37) In Belize, the founding of the Maya Village Indigenous Experience is attempting to change the limited outside contact of the Maya culture by exposing it to tourism. They hope to bring money to the communities and improve the quality of life in the villages. (Steinberg, 2004) Many other Mayan communities are following this example in an effort to become more modern but they maintain the ancient rituals and beliefs, much like modern day New Orleans. These five concepts show the history and persevering culture of the Mayan people. Traditions with religion and family provide a rich background to pass on to the next generation. While they are struggling to enter the modern age, many of the more traditional Maya see no problem with the lifestyle they currently possess. Living in the United States, technology is readily available and most people are adept at using it. Things we take for granted such as telephones, computers, television, and automobiles are slow to make their way into the more rural areas of the Maya culture but they live full lives without these things. This is a huge culture difference because most Americans do not believe they can live without technology. The family tradition is also vastly different. Americans live a much faster paced life and many things must be balanced: work, children, marriage. Mayan women are traditional homemakers and Mayan men do the heavy labor. American women do many of the heavy labor jobs and not many people can afford to stay home with the children full time. Both cultures have pro’s and con’s to their lifestyle and culture but both are ever changing and adapting to the world around them. Both realize the importance of religion within a culture and continuing the race through children. The United States, however, is not one culture but hundreds and this gives it a unique background. It is much more varied than the ancient Mayan history the modern Maya still cultivate. References Early, J. D. (1982). The Demographic Structure and Evolution of a Peasant System: The Guatemalan Population. Boca Raton, FL: University Presses of Florida. Steggerda, M. (1941). Maya Indians of Yucatan. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington. Steinberg, M. K. (1994, Summer). Tourism Development and Indigenous People: The Maya Experience in Southern Belize. Focus, 44, 17+. Retrieved June 08, 2007, from Questia database: https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-19897117/tourism-development-and-indigenous-people-the-maya Stoll, D. (2003). Dow, James W. Alan R. Sandstorm (Eds). Holy Saints and Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in Mexico and Central America. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 9(3), 595+. Retrieved June 09, 2007 How to cite Mayan Culture, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Occupational and Organizational Cultures Administrative

Question: Discuss about the Occupational and Organizational Cultures Administrative. Answer: Introduction Wilson Brothers is a Canadian company which manufactures and supplies different categories of prepared foods which entail a variety of baked products and other kinds of bottled drinks for the Canadian people from many of its branches. The industry was started in 1960 by Bob and John. The company has six functioning branches in Canada and its headquarters are situated in Brandon Manitoba. Due to increased demand of its products, the company has widened its market and opened more plants. The Human Resource Manager requires assessing the companys performance and measuring its output based on the available resources. This will involve designing and structuring the business, designing jobs to impact its performance, enhancing effective decision making, engaging in equity when it comes to issues related to fairness in the company, facilitating productive organizational culture and change, improving team or group work, how conflicts within the organization can be resolved, choosing and prac ticing of the best leadership style, and use of power in a motivational and productive manner (Wilson Brothers Enterprise Ltd., n.d.). Organizational Design and Structure The industry has a medium sized branch in Ontario, Cambridge. Up to recently, bakery products and bottled drinks were prepared at this plant. For the recent 30 days the industry has made a deal with some big grocery chains to distribute the baked products that are part of their present market products as well as new bakery products that the grocery businesses have ordered. It is an opportunity to the company since many of the grocery chains have made a decision not to prepare the bakery on their own but rather buy them from Wilson Brothers and sell them for a profit. This means the company will increase its supply and sales based on the deal it has finalized with the grocery chains (Ancona, 2013). Since the branch in Cambridge does not have the potential to manufacture the products to address the needs of the contracts, the company through the Human Resource manager should seek for more facilities that can be on sale. For instance, it got a manufacturing industry in Scarborough that was previously under a Company that as well prepared baked foods. The branch has the vats, ovens, packaging, conveyor, and prep sections which are essential for producing products that are requested by the new contracts. This branch is designed to produce more bakery products, five times the capacity of the present Cambridge plant. A little blow over of trucks, majority with refrigerators, was also contained in the package deal; therefore the new branch shall not be contracting with a trucking organization supply their products to the consumers. Late increases in orders for bottled drinks will lead to the increased output of the bottling function at the Cambridge branch, hence, taking over the spac e lately utilized by the bakery function (Fleishman, E. A. (2013). The globalization as well as the economic crisis forced the company to re-thing the strategies and change the ways they are operating. The company began switching their focus from the market to products and the competitors resulting in the lots of piecemeal change initiative instead of looking at the overall organization design. The structures, roles and the functions of the company were realigned with the new objectives of the company. The company expands its supply of food to outside United States, Europe and any other countries to ensure that the global market is reached. However, one disadvantage with this design and structure does not make use of economies of scale (Feldman, 2016). Job Design Employee motivation is significant in any workplace whose aim is to maximize productivity and revenue generation. A Human Resource manager requires making all the efforts possible to increase output in the companys operations. As a result, Human Resource needs to apply all the job design guidelines to ensure they lead to the staff participation and motivation. In so doing, every employee should be assigned specific duties they are trained in and have an extensive experience with the roles they undertake in the production process. For instance, every worker should be assigned a task and responsibilities based on their qualifications regarding the job description that a particular position requires. An accountant should have training in Commerce, finance and any related expertise in the business field. Based on scientific theories to management (Henry Fayols approach), selection of employees should be based on their qualifications that meet the positions needs (Dyer, 2015). When it comes to promoting employees, the process should be fair so that the staff is likely to be motivated. Whenever the process of promotion is unfair, employees get demoralized and feel not accepted and appreciated for the work they do. However, when the promotion is fair and engaging, every employee is likely to do best for future possible promotion. The promotion criteria should be clear and easily understood by every staff member, so that there are possible demonstrations against promotion which may lead to reduction of the companys sales as a whole (Durkin, 2014). The way the job is designed plays a major impact on the employee motivation, commitment to the organization, job satisfaction, absenteeism and the turnover. The work of the managers is to plan the work to be done by the employees. For this case, there is no job appraisal, and successions hence the job design is not well utilized (Deal Kennedy, 2013). Decision Making Strategic decisions that are made by the Wilsons brothers should be communicated to the employees in an effective manner, so that desired goals of the business are achieved. The information should be sent periodically to the employees without fail throughout business period. The employees are told what is not working well so that comfort is build. The company does not concentrate in positives only but they rather call the negative also. The company focuses on what is not going well so that they can dig in and get the better. Employees enquiries are responded in time to avoid situation that the employees are lowering their moral (Chandler, 2014). Decision making is very crucial in any organization. However, the decisions made can be significant based on how they are made and approached. In situations where decisions are made collectively, they are likely to be implemented faster and their outcomes experienced soon because most of the employees were involved in the plan. In such decisions, people work as a team to achieve the goals that are put in place. However, in cases where one or two people make decisions, they are likely to receive resistance and their implementation gets slow and this can lead to underperformance. Whenever the management as well as the Human Resource Personnel come up with certain decisions regarding the companys operations, the staff should be encouraged to take part in this process. It will lead to collective responsibility and accountability (Bradford, Gibb, Benne, 2015). The company should be able to separate ownership from management. Management team should be given sufficient priority to come up with decisions based on their skills and experience. Ownership should play a role in signing some contracts or buying of facilities. But, decisions to do with performance and other productive measures should be upon the management and the staff because they have a considerable experience in the functioning of the company than owners do (Bion, 2014). First of all, there are no equity policies. The perceived fairness determines if the employees are going to make extra effort to reach the organizational goals and the objective of his or her own job. The firm ensures that the rewards of the employees are rooted in the principle of fairness. The core driver of the retention, engagement and performance is the employee perception on fairness. Some of the fairness that the company ensures is making sure that there is career development and opportunities, compensation, work climate is conducive, management of supervisory conflict and by making sure there is no challenging work (Benne Shears, 2013). Issues to deal with promotion should be fair based on department gender and disability. All the three categories of people should be considered while promoting the current staff or recruiting the new employees. Fairness in an organization is a symbol that everyone is recognized in the company. It is through this recognition that the staff can work together as a team without any feeling for jealousy of the other. It is because the entire team is treated fairly and the sense of love will definitely develop among them (Beckhard Harris, 2014). Organizational Culture The strong business culture in the company indicates that employees are like minded and hold similar beliefs and the ethical values. When this beliefs and ethical values are aligned with the objective of the organization then it is proved that building teams is easier for there is quick build of rapport and trust. The culture of the organization has varying impact on the performance of the employees and the motivational levels (Beckhard, 2014). Whenever a weak culture exists, every employee is likely to have his or her own core values. Weak culture also lowers the companys performance since everyone feels to work in their own ways. It results in poor performance because the staff fails to cooperate collectively in achieving the companys objectives that are put in place (Beckhard, 2014). Organizational Change The Wilson Brothers limited expanded to the western United States and several plants in Europe as a way of expanding the market for its products. This allowed the company to sell more products generating more profits. The other change is that there was newly appointed director of human resources (Bass, 2013). The expansion undertaken by Wilson Brothers Company will result in increased profits. Whenever the revenues go high, the company is likely to grow faster and reach massive customers. Consequently, the employees are likely to get maximum motivation that can be inform of promotions or salary increment. The expansion includes the business deal with the grocery chain suppliers. The changes being contemplated in future include fully customer satisfaction and improved experience in their products. Another future contemplation of the industry is the plan of continued expansion to ensure it globalizes and be able to attract many customers to buying their products. In other words the company is maintaining the current market while searching for new customers as it proceeds to globalize and manufacture high quality products (Bass, 2013). Work Groups/Teams The brothers only attend meetings with two noteworthy teams in the company. They should be more present and get involved with other departments and teams as often as possible.There are no formal team meetings held in the office. Work groups and teams are very beneficial to a company because it gives employees the opportunity to stay in the loops, interact, and grow morale. There are no consistent policies on any employee relations issues, any employee at any level can be terminated at any time if he/she fell out of favor with the owners (Barley, 2013). It is beneficial if the brothers could project on improving teamwork within the organization. Teamwork means working as an entire company with equality and fairness. While working in a team, more ideas regarding any situations which arise can help in addressing the situations as soon as possible. Always teams accomplish tasks faster than when everyone works in his or her own ways to complete a particular task allocated to anyone. It is therefore necessary for the two brothers to delegate the responsibilities to team building personnel in an organization so that there is sustained team work to improve productivity forever. When people in an organization work as a group, they develop a strong culture which is supportive to the organization. Conflict There is no specific conflict resolution that is mentioned in the organization. However, various conflicts may arise in the company at any time during the working or off working hours. The conflicts can be employee to employee or organization to employee. There are various methods that can be used to deal with some of these conflicts. Among them include negotiation and arbitration. Negotiation involves bargaining which is aimed at getting the central point where all the parties are satisfied with the decisions made because they take part in achieving them. In arbitration process, the court gets in to settle the differences between the parties involved by law (Bales, 2013). Leadership Style The brothers have no succession plan for when they retire, which could be very damaging for the company. The brothers were very smart in hiring local CEOs in their foreign markets in order to respect the culture and integrate the culture into business practices. They were able to manage their foreign markets with cultural sensitivity and this is beneficial to not only productivity but also to the company's reputation (Argyris Sehon, 2012). Therefore, the company should set rules that govern the selection and appointment of the top management positions. In so doing, the future succession for those positions can be conducted successfully without any difficulties. Whenever there is a written succession plan, the upcoming administrators are likely to adhere to it. This will prevent any confusion in position taking when others retire (Argyris, Putnam Smith, 2014). Power, Influence and Motivation There is strong power which is being exercised by the brothers that makes the employees to be fearful for they suspect they can lose their jobs any time. So they are worried reducing their morals. This is because there are no policies that can defend their affairs as the employees (Argyris Sehon, 2012). The company should have policies that are friendly to the workers whether for employees on a contract basis or those employed as permanent workers. The policies should be written and be able to be signed by the employer and employees. The policies will enable the staff feel secure on their jobs and stop looking for alternative jobs elsewhere due to the fear that they may have while working for the organization. The management should consider applying considerable power to employees so that they do not feel downgraded or more inferior in the workplace (Ancona, 2013). Conclusion The Wilson Brothers Company has a great capacity to become superior in baked products and bottled juices. However, it requires strong Human Resources decisions that can be appropriate to it objectives. Human Resource management is a powerful tool to defining all the roles of each employee and how they can be motivated to achieve maximum production (Ancona, 2013). References Wilson Brothers Enterprise Ltd. (n.d.). From: www.profilecanada.com Ancona, D. G. (2013). Groups in organizations: Extending laboratory models. In C. Hendriek (Ed.), Annual review of personality and social psychology: Group and intergroup processes.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Argyris, C., Putnam, R., Smith, D. M. (2014). Action science. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Argyris, C., Sehon, D. A. (2012). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Bales, R. E (2013). Interaction process analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Barley, S. R. (2013). Semiotics and the study of occupational and organizational cultures. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 393-4 13. Bass, B. M. (2013). Organizational psychology. Boston: Allyn Bacon. Beckhard, R. (2014). Organization development: Strategies and models. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Beckhard, R., Harris, R. T. (2014). Organizational transitions: Managing complex change. Rea~ng, MA: Addison-Wesley. Readin~ MA: Addison-Wesley. Benne, K., Shears, P. (2013). Functional roles of group members. Journal of Social Issues, 2, 42-47. Bennis, W. G. (2012). Changing organizations. New York: McGrawHill. Bion, W. R. (2014). Experiences in groups. London: Tavistock. Bradford, L. P., Gibb, J. R., Benne, K. D. (Eds.). (2015). T-Group theory and laboratory method. New York: Wiley. Chandler, A. P. (2014). The visible hand. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Deal, T. W., Kennedy, A. A. (2013). Corporate cultures. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Durkin, J. E. (Ed.). (2014). Living groups: Group psychotherapy and general systems theor. New York: Brunner/Mazel. Dyer, W. G., Jr. (2015). Cultural change in family firms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Feldman, D. C. (2016). A contingency theory of socialization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21, Festinger, L. (2014). A theory of cognitive dissonance. New York: Harper Row. Fleishman, E. A. (2013). Leadership climate, human relations training, and supervisory behavior. Personnel Psychology, 6, 205-222.