Plot and Themes of J.R.R. Tolkiens Book The Hobbit

Plot and Themes of J.R.R. Tolkien's Book 'The Hobbit' The Hobbit: Or, There and Back Again was composed by J.R.R. Tolkien as a childrens book and first distributed in Great Britain in 1937 by George Allen Unwin. It was distributed not long before the episode of WWII in Europe, and the book goes about as a preface of sorts for the extraordinary set of three, The Lord of the Rings. While it was initially considered as a book for youngsters, it has been acknowledged as an extraordinary work of writing in its own right. While The Hobbit was in no way, shape or form the principal dream novel, it was among the first to consolidate impacts from various sources. Components of the book draw from Norse folklore, great fantasies, Jewish writing, and crafted by nineteenth century Victorian childrens writers, for example, George MacDonald (writer The Princess and the Goblin, among others). The book likewise tries different things with an assortment of artistic methods including types of epic verse and tune. Setting The tale happens in the anecdotal place that is known for Middle Earth, a mind boggling dreamland which Tolkien created in detail. The book contains painstakingly drawn maps demonstrating different pieces of Middle Earth including the tranquil and ripe Shire, the Mines of Moria, the Lonely Mountain, and Mirkwood Forest. Every territory of Middle Earth has its own history, characters, characteristics, and centrality. Principle Characters The characters in The Hobbit incorporate a wide scope of imagination animals, generally drawn from old style fantasies and folklore. The hobbits themselves, in any case, are Tolkiens own creation. Little, home-cherishing individuals, hobbits are likewise called halflings. They are fundamentally the same as little individuals aside from their extremely huge feet. A portion of the fundamental characters in the book include: Bilbo Baggins, a calm, unassuming Hobbit and the hero of the story.Gandalf, a wizard who starts Bilbo’s venture with the dwarves. Gandalf causes Bilbo to save his notoriety for careful decency and go on an experience that will change the hobbit forever.Thorin Oakenshield, the pioneer of a gathering of 13 dwarves who wish to recuperate a fortune crowd taken by a dragon.Elrond, a savvy head of the elves.Gollum, a once-human animal who found and is represented by an incredible ring of power.Smaug, the winged serpent and rival of the story. Plot and Storyline The tale of The Hobbit starts in the Shire, place that is known for the hobbits. The Shire is like a peaceful English open country, and the hobbits are spoken to as calm, farming individuals who avoid experience and travel. Bilbo Baggins, the hero of the story, is astonished to end up facilitating a gathering of dwarves and the incredible wizard, Gandalf. The gathering has concluded that currently is the perfect chance to travel to the Lonely Mountain, where they will retake the dwarves treasure from the winged serpent, Smaug. They have assigned Bilbo to join the campaign as their criminal. In spite of the fact that at first hesitant, Bilbo consents to join the gathering, and they head off a long way from the Shire into the undeniably perilous segments of Middle Earth. Along the way, Bilbo and his organization get together with a wide scope of animals both delightful and horrible. As he is tried, Bilbo finds his own internal quality, faithfulness, and shrewd. Every part includes a communication with another arrangement of characters and difficulties: The gathering is caught by trolls and about eaten, yet are spared when daylight strikes the trolls and they are gone to stone.Gandalf drives the gathering to the Elven settlement of Rivendell where they meet the Elvish pioneer, Elrond.The bunch is gotten by trolls and driven profound underground. Despite the fact that Gandalf salvages them, Bilbo gets isolated from the others as they escape the trolls. Lost in the troll burrows, he unearths a strange ring and afterward experiences Gollum, who connects with him in a round of enigmas. As a prize for comprehending all enigmas Gollum will show him the way out of the passages, however in the event that Bilbo fizzles, his life will be relinquish. With the assistance of the ring, which gives intangibility, Bilbo get away and rejoins the dwarves, improving his notoriety with them. The trolls and Wargs give pursue, yet the organization is spared by eagles.The organization enters the dark woodland of Mirkwood without Gandalf. In Mirkwood, Bilb o first spares the dwarves from goliath arachnids and afterward from the prisons of the Wood-mythical people. Approaching the Lonely Mountain, the voyagers are invited by the human occupants of Lake-town, who trust the dwarves will satisfy predictions of Smaugs downfall. The undertaking goes to the Lonely Mountain and finds the mystery entryway; Bilbo scouts the winged serpents refuge, taking an incredible cup and learning of a shortcoming in Smaugs defensive layer. The irritated mythical serpent, deriving that Lake-town has supported the interloper, decides to annihilate the town. A thrush has caught Bilbos report of Smaugs powerlessness and reports it to Lake-town safeguard Bard. His bolt finds the chink and kills the dragon.When the dwarves claim the mountain, Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, a treasure of Thorins administration, and conceals it away. The Wood-mythical beings and Lake-men assault the mountain and solicitation pay for their guide, reparations for Lake-towns obliteration, and settlement of old cases on the fortune. Thorin cannot and, having called his family from the Iron Hills, fortifies his position. Bilbo attempts to emancipate the Arkenstone to take off a war, yet Thorin is die-hard. He expels Bilbo, and fight appears inevitable.Gand alf returns to caution the entirety of a moving toward armed force of trolls and Wargs. The dwarves, men, and mythical beings rally, however just with the opportune appearance of the falcons and Beorn do they win the climactic Battle of Five Armies. Thorin is lethally injured and accommodates with Bilbo before he kicks the bucket. Bilbo acknowledges just a little bit of a lot of the fortune, having no need or requirement for additional, yet at the same time gets back an affluent hobbit. Subjects The Hobbit is a straightforward story when contrasted with Tolkiens masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. It does, in any case, contain a few topics: It investigates the procedure by which an untested individual builds up the understanding and abilities to turn into a leader;It guides the peruser to scrutinize the estimation of riches instead of harmony and contentment;It expands on Tolkiens individual involvement with World War I to think about the subject of whether triumph, however attractive, merits the cost of war.

September 11th - Article Summary 2002 essays

September eleventh - Article Summary 2002 expositions Kitchener-Waterloo Record: Opinion, Wednesday, September eleventh 2002 page A10 A Firefighters Reflection: I will never be the equivalent This article is about a New York fireman that was engaged with the September 11 fear monger assaults on the World Trade Centers. Kevin Flaherty has been on the Fire Department of New York for a long time. He keeps in touch with us since he is appreciative for the assistance he got from the Canadian Firefighters. He is pleased to wear an American-Canadian banner pin. Kevin was working the day of September eleventh; he was with Engine 238 that was called to Tower 2. He heard noisy unstable commotions while moving toward the structure, looking into he understood that individuals were tumbling from the 80th floor. The touchy clamors were individuals hitting the ground-it was steady, they continued bouncing. He was spooky by the way that individuals werent ablaze were alive until they had hit the ground. Once Kevin entered the structure he got news that one of his companions was hit by a jumper and slaughtered. A gathering of firemen were requested to go up 2 stories before the fire in To wer 2; they were to take their air chambers. In the event that they got worn out, they were to remove their hardware and keep heading up. As he arrived at near the floors that were consuming, he heard an uproarious thundering clamor. The lights gleamed and they felt wind on their backs. Kevin was lifted off his feet and tossed over a lot of gates over the hall and into the divider. It felt like a nuclear impact. Kevin says. He couldnt see or hear. At that point in the obscurity he heard Engine 238, Engine 238. The lieutenant was pulling together them. They found an exit plan and saw that the pinnacle was starting to crumple, he started to run yet he knew he couldnt get away from the flotsam and jetsam. He fortunately endure the flotsam and jetsam without a scratch, however the lieutenant was not seen anyplace. It was the most troublesome thing Kevin has ever done. The lieutenan... <!

What color is that dress Check your perception.

What color is that dress Check your perception. The Blue-Black / White-Gold Debate There is a debate  raging across the internet about the color of the dress in the photo to the right. Is it blue and black? Or white and gold? I read about this debate and was skeptical. Was this some big scam? When I look at the picture I see blue and black and cant imagine it would be anything else. I decided to test this proposition my self. I was surrounded by people this past weekend at a family event, so carried around my laptop asking my relatives what color they thought the dress was. Reality Check? Of my first three subjects, my mom  saw blue and black. So did my cousin  Michael. But my cousin Carol saw white and gold. The more people I asked, the more I realized that this  is for real. People see the colors in this dress differently and each person is completely convinced about the rightness of his or her view. My cousin Michael was an interesting case. I showed him the picture a second time in different lighting, and he saw it as white and gold. But a minute later, he was saying it was back to black and blue. He still insisted he was right and I was playing tricks on him with the lighting on my computer. Wow. Being Right Do you think you know things like what color that dress is? I know I do.  My brain does not even want to consider that someone else really and truly sees it as a different color. That  dress is  black and blue! But many people I know and trust were right there  saying  with complete conviction, White and gold. This reminds me of another exercise where one person is looking at a mug from the handle side, and another is looking from the non-handle side. To one person, there is no handle. To the other, its clearly a handled mug. Heres the rub:  Both people are right!! And they are both stuck in a perspective. The Gift of Perspective If we could get this about other issues religion, the cleanliness of our kitchens, what it means  to leave on time, [insert your  issue here], imagine how much better our relationships could be. Imagine how much less we would fight over the not-important things.  We could be curious instead of right. We could truly be over there with the people in our lives, listening to them  accurately. How does this principle apply to writing? Whatever we write, whether it’s a blog article, an e-mail message, a book, or a resume, one person might read it one way and another person might read it completely differently. The same resume can be loved by one hiring manager and hated by another. I notice it with my e-book too: People rate How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile everywhere from 5 stars to 1. It’s rare to find any topic on which people agree 100%. If we can take that as a gift instead of as a point of contention, we can all grow and expand as we explore each other’s perspectives. I challenge you to try this at home. Make someone right today who you are totally convinced is wrong. Who knows what might emerge from there?

Private Prisons Use A System Known As An Occupancy...

Private prisons use a system known as an occupancy requirement. Such is a case in which a private company requires a state to keep a prison the company owns filled with a minimum percentage of inmates. This policy is made to stand no matter how crime in the state may fluctuate. Occupancy requirements are common practice within the private prison industry. In the Public Interest group reviewed 62 private prison contracts. The group found that 41 of those contracts included occupancy requirements that demand local or state government must keep the prisons between 80 to 100 percent full. According to the report all the big private prison companies such as CCA, GEO Group, and the Management and Training Corporation try to include occupancy†¦show more content†¦The three strike law was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in 2015. Some individuals arrested under it have been realised. However, during its existence, it had made the building of 20 new federal prisons ne cessary. Another law that benefits private prisons is mandatory minimum sentences. This is a law that ensures a minimal number of years is sentenced for a certain crime, as decided by the Supreme Court. The law, therefore, doesn’t allow for the consideration of individual circumstances such as criminal history. This law has caused a tremendous increase in the prison population. The mandatory minimum sentence law is enforced on judges, but not prosecutors. However, under the circumstance, it is considered that prosecutors who would gain professionally from successful convictions, do not have sufficient incentive to exercise their discretion responsibly. While it is apparent why companies involved in the prison industry would support or even push for such a law, they are not the sole cause of the making of this law. There are three main groups outside the prison industry who, due to knowledgeable beneficiary intentions or misinformation, strengthen the strict law against crime and cause the overpopulation and long sentencing that in turn make the prison industry profitable. One of the ulterior motivatedShow MoreRelatedCorporate Lobbying : Detention Watch Network1869 Words   |  8 PagesDetention Watch Network Another strategy is a system known as occupancy requirement. Such is a case in which a private company requires a state to keep prisons the company is building or taking over filled to a minimum percentage. This policy is made to stand no matter how crime in the state may fluctuate. Occupancy requirements are common practice within the private prison industry. The In the Public Interest group reviewed 62 contracts for private prisons operating around the country at the localRead MorePrivatization Of Prisons And Its Effects On Private Prisons2897 Words   |  12 PagesPrivatization of prisons is the confining of inmates by a third party that is contracted by a government agency and it refers to the takeover of present public facilities by private operators and the operation of new prisons by for-profit prison companies. Privatization is simply a contract that shifts public functions and responsibilities, in whole, from the public sector to the private sector. Private prisons can als o be defined as a contract to provide other services to public prisons such as transportationRead MoreFederal Prisons And Its Effects On The United States3590 Words   |  15 Pagesbudget did not allow for prison expansion so, as a result, they needed more investment from companies. 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Relationship between the Change in Shapes in Yield Curves...

Letter of Transmittal Introduction This assignment is to study the relationship between the change in shapes of yield curves and change in economic prospect of an economy. In this study, Australia and America are selected for the detailed analysis of the topic. Time series data from December 2009, December 2010, December 2011, December 2012 and the most updated May 2013 will be collected for further analysis. The study will be divided into 4 parts. Below we will explain briefly how we will handle the tasks. Task 1: We will plot the yield curves of Australia and America using the yield data of Australian Treasury notes and government bonds as well as the U.S. Treasury bills. Then, we will relate the curve shapes to expectation theory of the interest rates for further explanations. Task 2: We will discuss the relationship between the change in the slope of yield curves and the change in the prospect of economy by plotting the graphs of slop change in yield curves for Australia and America. Data with a higher frequency will be collected for more detailed study. Task 3: We will look in to how effective the RBA and the FED have done on the change in monetary policy and how these policies affected the yield curves respectively. Actions taken to deal with the impact from financial tsunami in 2008 will be target of our discussion. Task 4: We will conclude the findings above and try to give out opinions on how the investors and policy makers should do to achieve a betterShow MoreRelatedUk Votes Brexit : Huge Global Political Consequences1839 Words   |  8 Pagesdiscussed and, therefore, the ensuing parting terms. The bulk of the analysis has been about the consequences for the UK economy, including the potential breakup of the Union via a second Scottish referendum. 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The Image of Nursing Free Essays

The Image of Nursing Dawn Davis Texas AM University-Texarkana The Image of Nursing Following is a discussion of the image of nursing and professional identity. Factors contributing to nursing image and the effects of nursing image are included. The Image of Nursing What is the professional identity, or the image of nursing? How does the public view this hardworking profession? Do they understand what a nurse does? Do they understand the thought processes involved in caring for patients. We will write a custom essay sample on The Image of Nursing or any similar topic only for you Order Now Do they understand the knowledge involved in critical thinking? Do they have any idea that we formulate plans of care and that we put together nursing diagnosis with treatment plans, nursing interventions, expected outcomes? Do they understand that we are their advocates? Do they understand that all care is channeled through nursing and that we are their main defense for patient safety? Are we professionals in the eyes of the public, and in our own eyes? For my own research on this paper, I randomly quizzed ten people that I met in public, not people that knew me personally. I asked them what they thought of nurses, and asked them to give me some adjectives to describe nurses in general. Some of the positive responses that I received were; kind, caring, cool, they help the doctors, they take care of patients, outstanding, knew what they were doing, they saved my life, and excellent. I also received some negatives. One person told me that they knew one nurse that was totally uncaring, unprofessional, and mean. Another individual told me that many years ago her son, who passed away, was HIV positive and she felt that the nurses neglected him because of his diagnosis. I was appalled at the negative answers, and somewhat disappointed with the positives. While the positives that I received were all fantastic traits, not one person mentioned traits such as educated or professional. My very limited random research was completely in line with the findings in our text book, Professional Issues in Nursing. So, it would seem that, in general, the public doesn’t completely understand the wide scope of nursing. They understand some of the basic functions of nursing. The few random individuals that I spoke with based their perceptions mainly on personal past experiences with nurses. Nursing Image What is Nursing Image? This is a concept that needs more clarification and study to increase nurse’s awareness of factors that affect public perception. â€Å"Understanding the moral values in today’s nursing practice will help nurses to work together with a common comprehension of their aims. This should also allow greater appreciation of the practice of nursing highlighting the equal importance of both fundamental basic nursing care and the advanced clinical roles† (Horton, Tschudin, Forget, 2007) Nursing image also affects the decision to enter nursing as a profession, to remain in nursing, and to encourage others to become a nurse. A broad definition is â€Å"Nursing Image is a multidimensional, all-inclusive, paradoxical, dynamic, and complex concept. † (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, Mohammadi, 2012) To further define: * All-inclusive and paradoxical refers to both stereotypical and professional image. * Dynamic includes the changing view of nursing as a profession. * Complex, because many factors influence the formation of the image. Factors affecting Nursing Image Many factors combine to influence the image of nursing as a profession. Some of The factors include media, poor communication and visibility, clothing style, the nurses’ behaviors, gender issues, and professional organizations. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, Mohammadi, 2012) * Media- Historically media has not painted a very professional image of nursing, although, recently this has improved to portray a more capable, independent, strong, intelligent individual. * Poor communication and invisibility- Nursing is an invisible profession and this is a major threat to nursing’s social status and perceived value. It is believed that since nursing is mostly female, that there is poor communication with media and reporters. Nurses also somewhat reluctant to share knowledge, experience, expertise, competence, and intelligence to change portrayal in the media. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, Mohammadi, 2012) * Clothing style- Appearance is the first thing a person notices. A professional uniform that also defines them from other disciplines increases professionalism. * Nurses’ behaviors- Some believe that the nurse is not identified as professional individual, we refer to the physician as Dr. ___, and the nurse is known by the first name. Different levels of nursing education do the same job; this may devalue nursing as an intellectual profession. Nurses with negative image of nursing may also project that to others. â€Å"Self-image shapes behavior and performance in the workplace and affects how we think and act. † (Fletcher, 2007) * Gender issues- Generally nursing is viewed as a fem ale dominated profession. Men are normally viewed as having positions of power. Women are thought of as caring, more emotional and less aggressive than men. This gender stereotype tends to limit the number of males recruited and retained in nursing. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, Mohammadi, 2012) * Professional organizations-Globally, there are 14 million nurses. Nurses are the largest group of health professionals in the world. Unfortunately, there is limited unity. Involvement in professional organizations, and standing together on issues is important in changing nursing image and increasing professional identity. (Rezaei-Adaryani, Salsali, Mohammadi, 2012) Effects of Nursing Image on Nursing One very important effect of public misunderstanding of the profession of nursing and the knowledge and skill required is a limited number of potential candidates for the future of nursing. Thirty years ago a significant number of young people would have chosen to be a nurse when they grow up, less than 5% of students responded so in a 2004 study. (Huston, Professional Issues in Nursing, 2010) Another important factor is that inaccurate nursing stereotypes may have a negative effect on the self-esteem f nursing as a whole. Both of these factors combined lead to increase in nursing shortage, short-staffing, heavy workload, job dissatisfaction, and burn-out. This can lead to current nurses leaving the profession. In general, nurses’ image of nursing tends to be better than that of the public. This is related to the fact that nurses are educated about the profession. I also asked several Registered Nurses to give adjectives to describe nursing. I received responses such as; educated, professional, critical thinkers, overworked, advocates, compassionate, unappreciated, caring, researchers, knowledgeable, multitasker, empathetic, thorough, supportive, educators, and leaders. Many changes need to be made to change the image of nursing in public view. Nurses must be heard in the media. Nurses must speak positively about their profession. The public needs to be educated about the profession of nursing. Nurses should act, perform, and dress like professionals. Nurses should actively encourage bright individuals to join the profession. Current nurses should positively socialize nursing students, and new nurses, acting as optimistic and confident mentors, sharing their expertise. Nurses should join and be active in professional organizations, to increase unity, and be active in the political processes. Imagine the strength and respect nursing would command if half of the nurses joined. In summary, the image of nursing needs to be changed for the better. Change starts with the profession itself. Every nurse should take accountability to make these positive changes through action, involvement, education, and behavior. Bibliography Fletcher, K. (2007). Image: changing how women nurses think about themselves. The Author, 207-215. Horton, K. , Tschudin, V. , Forget, A. (2007). The Value of Nursing: A Literature Review. Sage Publication. Huston, C. J. (2010). Professional Issues in Nursing (second ed. ). (H. Surrena, Ed. ) Philadelphia, PA, USA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Rezaei-Adaryani, M. , Salsali, M. , Mohammadi, E. (2012, December). Nursing Image: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis. Contemporary Nurse, 81-89. How to cite The Image of Nursing, Papers

Organization Behavior Human Resource Manager

Question: Discuss about theOrganization Behaviorfor Human Resource Manager. Answer: Introduction The study of human behavior during recruitment process is vital in determining where best to place the individual to perform best. The behavior of an individual indicates to the Human Resource Manager (HRM) if the particular employee can perform well. It is important for the HRM to be on the lookout for such talented individuals during recruitment, selection, and placement (Abraham et al., 2015, p. 336). The organization has different factors that tend to influence the way an employees behavior such as the organization culture and the motivation given to the employee inside the workplace. Often the HRM will try to find the right incentive for a given attitude and behavior to help bring out the best out of employees. Some personality traits show that an individual will perform better than all other candidates when given a particular position. Though this is just a prediction by the HRM, the employee may live up to expectations or perform dismally in the given position. The purpose of this essay is to determine and discuss how different individual attributes have a direct impact in the workplace. The essay goes further to look at how Herzbergs and expectancy theories of motivation can help understand a persons behavior. Conscientiousness relates to how a person behaves around others and how careful a person is with people and the assigned tasks. Conscientious people have high levels of self-discipline and can thus make better employees and perform well. The emotional stability of a person is very crucial as many interviews and recruitment processes test this trait on interviewees. Emotionally stable individuals will cope very well with any work situation, and they do not bring personal problems and let it affect their performance. Emotionally stable persons tend to high-performing employees who are better decision makers. Extraversion is another personality trait that clearly shows that a person can be a productive employee. Extraversion makes a person to interact well with clients. Such a person, has developed good interpersonal and communication skills that help them to convince the customers into a deal. Extraversion correlates positively with performance. Agreeableness positively influences high job productivity. Agreeableness indicates that a person can relate to people better thus has a high chance of being very productive. This trait though is limited to people in higher managerial positions who have to enforce some rules and regulations in the firm. The Cognitive Resource Theory Fred E. Fiedler and Joe Garcia in 1987 developed the theory. The theory was formulated from the Contingency model of 1967. The theory is based on the need for intelligence in leadership. How can organizations detect the level of intelligence they need for certain positions in a candidate during recruitment? This question is crucial for HRM when they are trying to fill a management position. For managers, it is critical to be intelligent and adapt to any given situation for productivity. Intelligence is paramount in leadership. To formulate better decisions and set strategic goals and objectives, a leader has to be intelligent enough. Fiedler views stress as the biggest impediment to a leaders success in the organization. A human resource manager should identify intelligent and talented individuals to be placed in the managerial vacancies. Fiedler also states that a leader has to develop a good rapport with the staff. Good relations are a sign that a given employee will perform best w hen placed in certain positions and given the right motivation (Zhou, 2015, p. 723). The theory argues that various factors influence the rationality in decision making such as stress. The theory views stress as the main impediment to a leaders success in the workplace. To further expound on the theory more, Fiedler says that the more cognitively acute an experienced staff is on leadership issues, the more the employee can deal with the impacts of stress in the workplace. To overcome the effect of stress, the leader has to employ command given that only experience can make a good leader flourish even under high-stress levels. The theory views that candidates who are orderly during stressful interviews are likely to make better leaders and managers in the organization. It is crucial for productivity for the organization to employ talented individuals who when they combine work effort, organizational support and their individual attributes there is high job performance. Though there is no universally accepted way of measuring intelligence, the theory insists that intelligence is the main ingredient that well-performing employees have. This theory is particularly useful for placement of employees in higher positions in the organizations. The main issue that limits the high productivity of leaders is stress. When an organization recruits, selects and places an intelligent individual in a given position that suits his or her ability the person is likely to succeed. Intelligent individuals develop the right attributes needed by the job. These people are Conscientious, emotionally stable, extraversion and agreeable. These personal attributes when combined help the leader be a better decision maker. Human resource managers need to test for intelligence during recruitment, selection, and placement to identify the talented and most intelligent employee to join the organization (BaleÃ… ¾entis, BaleÃ… ¾entis and Brauers, 2012, p. 7966). The Cognitive resource theory is important in the placement of employees especially in managerial positions by testing for intelligence in addition to the ability to manage stress plus assessing critical leadership qualities. The Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) The SCCT theory, developed in 1994, aims at explaining three interrelated factors of career development (Ali and Menke, 2014, p. 175). The theory investigates how a person develops academic and career interests, makes educational and career choices in addition to ways of obtaining academic as well as career success. The theory incorporates various concepts from previous career theories. The theory uses factors such as interests, abilities environmental factors, values, norms amongst much more. The theory has a linked variables such as self-efficacy, beliefs, goals and outcome expectations make the foundation for SCCT. The theory impacts the recruitment, selection and placement process in organizations. The theory applies personal beliefs to find suitable employees and professionals. In using the theory, the human resource managers have to be very attentive to capture the beliefs of particular candidates and determine whether the candidates are transparent. Self-efficacy refers to a persons faith regarding their capabilities to perform various tasks. Self- efficacy beliefs differ from both global confidence and self-esteem. The self-efficacy beliefs can change swiftly and are tied to certain activity domains. It is worthy to note that an individual might feel extremely confident in their abilities to accomplish a given task successfully while feeling less confident and enthusiastic about their abilities to be highly productive in certain fields. For example, a scientist is confident when dealing with scientific phenomena but is less confident when placed in social or enterprising line. Self-efficacy beliefs emanate from the following primary sources namely; physiological and emotional states, social persuasion, performance accomplishments and common experiences (Duffy et al., 2014, p. 466). All these factors help shape the belief of a person and determine if the individual will be successful in a given position and not miss. Personal accomplishments which include the successes and failures related to specific tasks offer certain source efficacy information. Different factors interact to form a persons self-efficacy. The reinforcing information and messages, nature of social models and the different forms of physiological states a person experience ultimately affect the persons self-efficacy regarding different performances. A potential employee who has strong beliefs about his or her performance in a given position most likely can make a good employee. When a person has developed strong beliefs regarding a particular a given task, the person is rejuvenated and motivated to succeed. The SCCT also includes the belief regarding outcome expectations. A candidates effort and persistence in an engagement and the ultimate success of the activity are influenced by self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations. The theory also includes personal goals and their effect on the productivity of an employee (Michael, Hays and Runyan, 2015, p. 310). An employee whose personal goals are aligned with the goals of the organization will certainly make a productive employee. Self-efficacy mixed with personal goals in addition to individual attributes, motivation, and organizational support will improve job performance. Cognitive Placement Theory for Individual Performance The theory is used to determine individual performances. The theory is mostly used by the human resource departments when determining individual performances who become candidates for management positions. The Cognitive placement theory is useful when an organization needs to promote an individual or when hiring new employees (Cook and Artino, 2016, p. 1000). The employees have to be given a test and assigned to different weights to determine their suitability for the particular position they are being interviewed for. The theory is good as it can minimize biasedness and let the best employee from the bunch to be ranked in the top and land the job. The cognitive placement methodology is popularly used in determining individual performance. The study provides critical information that is necessary for the human resource managers make wise decisions on behalf of the company. The human resource manager has to determine who the best employee among a group of candidates is and if he or sh e is suitable for that position. Candidates who perform well individually will certainly make a productive employee when given the opportunity. The theory is useful in making decisions regarding managerial or leadership positions in the organization. A good and effective manager or leader has to be a high performer thus the need to pass the performance appraisal test. The method of cognitive placement is useful in determining the performance groups among potential employees during recruitment, selection and placement procedure. The cognitive placement line in performance appraisal will create two groups of top performers and bad performers. The top performers are seen as talent managers, and they are the ones likely to take up management positions in the company. The human resource managers assign the performance grades to the employees or candidates into one group. The grades vary from zero to a hundred with the top individual performance ranging from grade 90 to grade 100 while poor performance is assigned the lowest grade of 10. For recruitment and placement purposes, the human resource manager will only be interested with the top individual performer. The candidate is the most suitable to fill the vacant position. The candidate who scores high grades has the required individual attributes that are necessary for high productivity. The top indiv idual performers are regarded as talent managers and thus will help the organization to achieve its set objectives. When a high performing individual is well motivated and has the full support of the organization, he or she will perform well. If the individual is a manger the staff in his department will also perform well due to his abilities and influence. Herzbergs Theory of Motivation The two-factor theory or the dual-factor theory as commonly known, is based on the assumption that the workplace harbors factors that cause dissatisfaction or job satisfaction (Evans and Olumide, 2010, p. 73). Frederick Herzberg believed that the satisfaction and the dissatisfaction of jobs are not dependent on one another. Herzberg states that employees are not contented with satisfying the lower ends or aspects of a job. An employee will always want more in the workplace. The presence of a given position characteristic may act as a motivator towards job satisfaction while in another work set up the presence of that factor may lead to job dissatisfaction. For managers to improve job satisfaction, they must attend equally to both sets of characteristics and create no room for assumption. Herzberg found that job satisfaction is dependent upon achieving certain factors beyond the common job factors such as minimum wage rate. Herzberg then developed criteria to group all the factors tha t lead to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction into two groups namely Motivators and Hygiene Factors. The motivators give rise to intrinsic conditions such as recognition and personal growth. The motivators help employees to achieve job satisfaction. The motivators include; challenging work, involvement in the decision-making process, added job responsibilities and recognition for achievements made. On the other hand, the hygiene factors include salary, good pay, and status and job security (Vevoda et al., 2011). The hygiene factors do not lead to job satisfaction and higher motivation to the employee instead they serve as maintenance factors. According to psychologist Herzberg, these hygiene factors are responsible for job dissatisfaction in a workplace. Tony like every other employee is compensated well, but the job lacks motivators. Tony tells Shirley that all aspects of the work are okay but he lacks decision-making powers and the repetitive tasks were now boring to him. Though Tony is not well motivated, he would still come to work and do the little he can since payment is the s ame eliminating the need for hard work. Shirley needs to revolutionize the job setting to motivate Tony. Shirley needs to initiate job rotation and job specification to kill the boredom in addition to involving Tony in the decision-making process. Shirley should also develop policies to recognize top performers. This will motivate other employees like Tony to work harder and be recognized. Expectancy Theory of Motivation The expectancy theory was developed in 1964 by Victor Vroom from Yale Management School (Ball et al., 2016, p. 620). The theory focuses on outcomes and not on needs like most motivational theories. The motivation of an employee is an outcome of how hard an employee wants a given reward, expectancy and the belief that the performance will give rise to reward. The theory has three main aspects namely the valence, expectancy, and instrumentality. The valence refers to the reward that makes the employee engage in a given set of activities. Valence is an expected outcome of the activities and not the actual outcome of undertaking the activities. The expectancy is the belief and faith that if the employee exerts greater effort than before, the performance will be better. Many factors influence the expectancy, for example, the technical skills needed for the job and the availability of resources, information, and the support the management is offering the employees. Instrumentality is the b elief that high performance will result in better outcomes. When an employee engages in an activity they expect that there will be something in return though they have a guess of what it may be, they are not sure of the reward. The relationship between effort and performance revolves around the staffs recognition chnces. The relationship between performance and reward aims at talking about the extent to which getting a good performance evaluation will lead to firms goals. Rewards and personal goals relationship focuses on the value of the reward. The theory believes that an employee can decide to perform well or not. The staffs motivational level is influenced by expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. For Tony, there is no recognition in the workplace, the tasks are repetitive thus boring, and he had no control of the job due to the close supervision i.e. no job autonomy. In using the expectancy theory, the best way to motivate Tony is by setting personal targets and achievements. Tony needs to be given job autonomy to work hard and reach the set targets. When the objectives are met, it is up to the management of the organization to recognize such good performances and offer incentives in return. The bes t way to motivate Tony is by relating rewards directly to performance. Conclusion Different organizations motivate their employees differently. To properly motivate employees such as Tony, the organization needs to understand what aspects of the job are lagging behind (Yun et al., 2014, p. 735). Personality traits play a bigger role in recruitment, selection, and placement. A good candidate should have the right personality that suits the particular position. For organizations to succeed, they have to motivate the employees. References Ali, SR, Menke, KA 2014, 'Rural Latino Youth Career Development: An Application of Social Cognitive Career Theory', Career Development Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 175-186 Abraham, M, Kaliannan, M, Mohan, AV, Thomas, S 2015, 'A REVIEW OF SMEs RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION DILEMMA: FINDING A 'FIT'', Journal of Developing Areas, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 335-342. BaleÃ… ¾entis, A, BaleÃ… ¾entis, T, Brauers, WK 2012, 'Personnel selection based on computing with words and fuzzy MULTIMOORA', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 7961-7967. Ball, C, Huang, K, Cotten, SR, Rikard, R, Coleman, LO 2016, 'Invaluable values: an expectancy-value theory analysis of youths academic motivations and intentions', Information, Communication Society, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 618-638. Bocanegra, JO, Gubi, AA, Cappaert, KJ 2016, 'Investigation of Social Cognitive Career Theory for Minority Recruitment in School Psychology', School Psychology Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 241-255. Choochom, O 2016, 'A Causal Relationship Model of Teachers' Work Engagement', International Journal of Behavioral Science, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 143-152. Cook, DA, Artino, AR 2016, 'Motivation to learn: an overview of contemporary theories', Medical Education, vol. 50, no. 10, pp. 997-1014. Duffy, RD, Bott, EM, Allan, BA, Autin, KL 2014, 'Exploring the Role of Work Volition Within Social Cognitive Career Theory', Journal of Career Assessment, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 465-478. Evans, L, Olumide-Aluko, F 2010, 'Teacher Job Satisfaction in Developing Countries: A Critique of Herzberg's Two- Factor Theory Applied to the Nigerian Context', International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration Management (CCEAM)), vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 73 Fan, W 2011, 'Social influences, school motivation and gender differences: an application of the expectancy-value theory', Educational Psychology, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 157-175. Ginevra, MC, Nota, L, Ferrari, L 2015, 'Parental Support in Adolescents' Career Development: Parents' and Children's Perceptions', Career Development Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 2-15. Gruji?i?, M, Bata, JJ, Radjen, S, Novakovi?, B, Gruji?i?, S 2016, 'Work motivation and job satisfaction of health workers in urban and rural areas', [Radna motivacija i zadovoljstvo poslom zdravstvenih radnika u urbanim i ruralnim sredinama], Vojnosanitetski Pregled: Military Medical Pharmaceutical Journal of Serbia, vol. 73, no. 8, pp. 735-743 HSIU-LI, L, SU-HOUN, L, SHIH-MING, P 2011, 'MODELING MOTIVATIONS FOR BLOGGING: AN EXPECTANCY THEORY ANALYSIS', Social Behavior Personality: an international journal, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 251-264. Hyun, S, Oh, H 2011, 'Reexamination of Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of Motivation in the Korean Army Foodservice Operations', Journal of Foodservice Business Research, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 100-121. Michel, R, Hays, D, Runyan, H 2015, 'Faculty Member Attitudes and Behaviors Toward Male Counselors in Training: A Social Cognitive Career Theory Perspective', Sex Roles, vol. 72, no. 7-8, pp. 308-320. Morris, CW, Shoffner, MF, Newsome, DW 2009, 'Career Counseling for Women Preparing to Leave Abusive Relationships: A Social Cognitive Career Theory Approach', Career Development Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 44-53. Jean Francois, E 2014, 'Development of a scale to assess faculty motivation for internationalising their curriculum', Journal of Further Higher Education, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 641-655. Keller, K, Matusitz, J 2015, 'Examining U.S. Navy SEALs Through Cognitive Resources Theory (CRT)', Journal of Applied Security Research, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 317-329. Pope, DG, Fillmore, I 2015, 'The impact of time between cognitive tasks on performance: Evidence from advanced placement exams', Economics of Education Review, vol. 48, pp. 30-40. Purohit, B, Bandyopadhyay, T 2014, 'Beyond job security and money: driving factors of motivation for government doctors in India', Human Resources for Health, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-26. Vvoda, J, Ivanov, K, Nakldalov, M, Mareckov, J 2011, 'Motivation and Job Satisfaction of general Nurses working in out patient hospital departments from the Prespective of Hertzberg's Two-Factor motivation Theory', Conference Proceedings of the IV. International Conference of General Nurses Workers Educating P YUN, G, JIANQIAO, L, SHUDI, L, YANHONG, Z 2014, 'THE MEDIATING ROLE OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEVELOPMENTAL FEEDBACK AND EMPLOYEE JOB PERFORMANCE', Social Behavior Personality: an international journal, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 731-741. Zhou, J 2015, 'International students' motivation to pursue and complete a Ph.D. in the U.S', Higher Education, vol. 69, no. 5, pp. 719-733.

What Does The American Flag Mean To Me Essays - Vexillology

What Does the American Flag Mean to Me? Freedom. Justice. History. The flag of the United States has a different meaning to it for every person. Whether it's just standing up in class everyday at school and saying the Pledge of Allegiance or if we really have respect for our countries flag. When you say the Pledge of Allegiance, do you really mean what you say? Do you even think about the words that are coming out of your mouth? While I was thinking about what to write for this essay, these questions got me thinking. What does the flag really mean? What was the purpose of it being made? I've always wondered why they chose the colors red, white, and blue to use in the flag and why only thirteen red and white stripes? I learned that the stripes represent the original thirteen colonies. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. There was an issue when two new states, Kentucky and Vermont, were added to the Union. They were debating whether to add two more stars and stripes to the flag or not. The result was that they did end up added the two new states onto the flag. Later, they noticed that for every new state that was made, they would have to add a new star and a stripe. Someone finally suggested that we change the stripes back to thirteen to represent the first thirteen states that the United States admitted in our country. They would only add a star or each new state admitted. That was successfully followed through. We now have thirteen stripes and fifty stars on the flag. I think that the history of the flag and what the symbols are really important to knowing what the flag represents. Many people may disagree with me and think that the history isn't the most important fact to know about the flag. Maybe you may think that it is all about who made the flag, if what the Pledge of Allegiance means, or what the flag was made for in the first place. Maybe you even think about what the Star- Spangled Banner really talks about when you sing it. These are all important things to think and know about. The flag is really valuable and should be respected by every citizen.

Free Essays on The Metamorphosis

THE METAMORPHOSIS In the opening lines of German author Franz Kafkas’ short story narrative â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, the protagonist Gregor Samsa a disgruntled traveling salesman who lives with and supports his parents and little sister, awakens from a night of unpleasant dreams to find that he has been metamorphosed into a cockroach he calls a â€Å"monstrous vermin† (Kafka, page 89). This particularly strange opening sets the stage for in my opinion, a very strange and very vague play. I say this because throughout the whole story we never find out much less are given any clue of how or why he managed to be metamorphosed into this insect. Not to mention what the moral of the story is or the fact that this whole book reads like one big nauseating, joke. As the story begins we basically from the get go are introduced to the daily gist of the book which is Gregor’s everyday struggle with his newly acquired body. This is evident when Gregor try’s to crawl out of bed but cannot because he is laid down on his back and as a cockroach does not have the means to get himself up and into a upright poistion. To make things worst when he awakens at half-past six o’clock and is immediately late for the five o’clock train he was destined to be on for his meeting with the porter. Gregor is now running the risk of being unemployed if he doesn’t make his appointed rounds as a traveling salesman. It is right before this point that we find out about Gregor’s utter contempt for not only his job and his boss but his special loan workout wage setup as well. You see Gregor’s parents are in debt to his boss who is only referred to as the â€Å"chief† (Kafka, page 90) of his firm. Gregor himself who is a returning veteran of our country yearns to be free his Indentured like servitude to his chief so that he can feel free to pursue other goals. This to me I find quit e peculiar because it is never stated what he plans on doing after he pays t... Free Essays on The Metamorphosis Free Essays on The Metamorphosis The Metamorphosis By: Franz Kafka Gregor Samsa has gone through a metamorphosis. This change has turned Gregor into a â€Å"monstrous vermin†. The anxieties, inner terrors, and cynicism, which fill Gregor’s life, are expressed by Kafka throughout the novel, metamorphosis. Franz Kafka uses these feelings as an element of Expressionism to convey Gregor’s attitudes towards his life and society. Examples depicting this element of Expressionism used in the novel are Gregor’s feelings towards his job, the effect his job has on his family, and the cruelty that his family displays. The novel opens with Gregor in his monstrous state, late for work. He infers that his job as a traveling salesman is very consequential, yet he is growing tired and frustrated, â€Å"The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I’ve got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all!† (Kafka 12). Gregor has a great amount of fury towards his job, which eventually led to his anger towards society as a whole. The fact that his office manager showed up at Gregor’s house plays an immense role in creating trepidation and anxieties in Gregor’s mind. Gregor feels strangled by his job and is too weak to tolerate the pressure. In addition to the pressure created by his office manager and society, the Samsa’s, especially Gregor’s father, take advantage of him. Gregor earns the basic income to support his family. â€Å"But of course he actually could have paid off more of his father’s debt to the boss with this extra money, and the clay on which he could have gotten rid of his job would have been much closer, but now things were undoubtedly better, the way his father had arranged them.† (Kafka 76). The superficiality of the Samsa’s has put Gregor ... Free Essays on The Metamorphosis THE METAMORPHOSIS In the opening lines of German author Franz Kafkas’ short story narrative â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, the protagonist Gregor Samsa a disgruntled traveling salesman who lives with and supports his parents and little sister, awakens from a night of unpleasant dreams to find that he has been metamorphosed into a cockroach he calls a â€Å"monstrous vermin† (Kafka, page 89). This particularly strange opening sets the stage for in my opinion, a very strange and very vague play. I say this because throughout the whole story we never find out much less are given any clue of how or why he managed to be metamorphosed into this insect. Not to mention what the moral of the story is or the fact that this whole book reads like one big nauseating, joke. As the story begins we basically from the get go are introduced to the daily gist of the book which is Gregor’s everyday struggle with his newly acquired body. This is evident when Gregor try’s to crawl out of bed but cannot because he is laid down on his back and as a cockroach does not have the means to get himself up and into a upright poistion. To make things worst when he awakens at half-past six o’clock and is immediately late for the five o’clock train he was destined to be on for his meeting with the porter. Gregor is now running the risk of being unemployed if he doesn’t make his appointed rounds as a traveling salesman. It is right before this point that we find out about Gregor’s utter contempt for not only his job and his boss but his special loan workout wage setup as well. You see Gregor’s parents are in debt to his boss who is only referred to as the â€Å"chief† (Kafka, page 90) of his firm. Gregor himself who is a returning veteran of our country yearns to be free his Indentured like servitude to his chief so that he can feel free to pursue other goals. This to me I find quit e peculiar because it is never stated what he plans on doing after he pays t...

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 64

Assignment Example There was a difference of twelve years after which attempts were made again. The two successful colonies were thus discovered. They succeeded because of â€Å"profit seeking impulses of gentlemen backers than to a desire to create refuges for English people beset by religious, economic and political woes at home. (Anderson, 195)† Diseases like plague destroyed the colonies and measles and the colonists inferred it was God’s action to vacate the colonial land such that His selected men could occupy the same. Puritan religion dominated entire New England except the Rhode Island. The founders of the two successful colonies of New England were of Puritan origin and got themselves involved in hiring people from their co-religious backdrops. Though a few of the settlers did not have common views with that of the founders, they were rather governed b the â€Å"common purpose†. However the Puritans found the growing turn towards Protestant thoughts or Armenianism. Evangelical religion in fact is a reputed movement of Protestants and the turn of thought towards this religion took place during early eighteenth century (Bebbington,

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies used by Waitrose and Essay

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies used by Waitrose and ASDA in UK . How do they identify the needs of their customer - Essay Example The product should as well better the lives on the customers, who should always desire to come back for more; this keeps a business at a competitive advantage since it is capable of sustaining its customers. A marketing strategy should also be consistent such that, the marketing message remains the same. In this case, consumers will be certain of the product being sold. Hence, one should choose a certain appropriate market for his business and the marketing channels. In addition, a market for a business should be targeted such that, it is directed to the right customers. Normally, proper communication using right words attracts customers more; hence, an effective marketing strategy must be communicative (Hoos, 2010). Marketing strategies are inclusive of three forces, namely, competition, customer, and corporation. According to Jain, â€Å"a good marketing strategy should include a clear market definition, a good match between corporate strengths and the needs of the market and a su perior performance, relative to the competition in the key success factors of the business† (Jain n.d, pp 23). A good matching of the customer and corporation’s needs and objectives is important since it leads to a long relationship; however, competition must have an objective, for instance, the level of competition, which entails whether competition involves an entire market or a in a certain segment. Secondly, how to compete entails the means by which competition will take place, for instance, a product may be introduced to serve a specific customer’s need. Thirdly, when to compete involves a waiting for a certain time to penetrate into the market (Jain, n.d, pp 24). Therefore, according to Analoui (2003, pp 241), an effective marketing strategy should prioritize demands and wants of customers, identify a market for the business, select a marketing mix and drive the firm in to a competitive advantage. Marketing strategies used by Waitrose and ASDA in United Kin gdom and how they identify their customers Waitrose was founded by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose, and David Taylor, when the self-service for product was introduced in 1951. However, it operates as a grocery retailer in the United Kingdom, and it is aimed at providing the convenience as supermarkets do, in terms of services and products that are of quality, value, and fresh and in variety. Waitrose mainly deals with food and drinks and targets the upper market, providing variety of their fresh and quality products. However, Waitrose faces competition from related firms like the Tesco; this is due to Waitrose’s high prices, while consumer are capable of buying groceries in any place as long as the prices are friendly and the groceries are fresh. However, one of the strategy Waitrose has adapted in order to attract and sustain customers is product differentiation and delivering product of high quality (Addidas 2003, pp 5). According to Chadwick et al, (2007 pp 14), Waitrose acquir ed 40% in LMS e-commerce grocery business to expand its online service. Due to technology, the online service was effective and able to serve customers anywhere in terms of home delivery of groceries

Gender Analysis of Sports Presenters

Gender Analysis of Sports Presenters CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION The mindset of public towards the gender roles in sports Based on the findings in Chapter 4, the mindset of public in Kuala Lumpur towards the gender roles in sports is more open-minded in general. This means that the public in Kuala Lumpur believed that sports are not only males’ roles but it could be belonged to females too. However, there is only Gunther et al.’s (2011) study to support that the mindset of the public towards gender roles in sports is generally open-minded. From the findings, it is shown that the mindset of public disagreed that females are less knowledgeable and less competitive in sports as compare to males. This is supported by the study of Gunther et al. (2011), whereby the results shown that the public do not agree that females are less knowledgeable than males in sports. However, the findings of this study is contrasted by the study by Short (2012), in which it was mentioned that female sports broadcasters were seen as less competent and less knowledgeable in sports which showed contrast with the results of this study. In an interview, Kremer (2011) also mentioned that public often criticized that women do not know about sports, which also contradicted with the findings of this study. Although the mindset of public in Kuala Lumpur is open-minded, they believed males are the dominants and males are stronger in sports. This is supported by the outcome in the study of Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland (2006), which has clearly stated that sports have practically predominated by males or to say the attention is traditionally focused on males. Besides, the public in Kuala Lumpur also agreed that females show less interest in sports as compared to males. It is supported by the statement in Shine’s (2013) article where women are perceived as not interested and do not have the skills in sports. This could be because gender discrimination in sports has not been eliminated, which caused females not reaching a certain status in the public’s eye. In sum, the knowledge and the competency level of females in sports are not criticized in terms of their sex; however, males are still perceived as stronger and the dominants in sports. The reasons of males dominate in sports profession As the public perceived males are the dominants in sports profession, some reasons have been find out in this research. Based on the findings in this research, the reason of males dominates in sports profession is highly because males are biologically stronger than females. This is supported by the study conducted by Paulas (2013) where males are biologically stronger because of the structure of their body which differs from women. The research by Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland (2006) stated that biological nature is part of the consideration for males and females in participating sports. As sports emphasize a lot on physical strengths, females might be physically incompetent to participate in some sports because they are weak in strength. Toro and Sargent (2013) also concluded that males have the muscularity and superiority in sports because they run faster and jump faster than females. Males are overall more superior in sports. The public in Kuala Lumpur think that traditional gender roles are another major reason which leads to domination of males in sports profession. McMahon (2011) had given a statement that the nature of sports is masculine which is hardly related to feminine. Thus, this could be the reason that the public in Kuala Lumpur perceived sports as males’ gender roles. According to the research by Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland (2006), males have traditionally practiced to predominant in sports while females are not. In contrast, the public in Kuala Lumpur showed very slightly disagreed-to-neutral that sports show masculinity is the reason of males dominate in sports profession. According to Wilde’s study in 2007, sports are traditionally associated with males, masculinity and mainly dominated by the males. In the eyes of the public in Kuala Lumpur, sports maybe show masculinity, but that is not really a reason of why males dominate in sports profession. Moreover, the public in Kuala Lumpur does not perceive males as more superior in sports. In other words, both females and males are equal in sports. In the study of Paulas (2013), an argument has been raised up by saying that men are better than women in playing sports, which relates to the inherent biological features. However, females can be as skillful as males do because one’s skillfulness is related to how much instruction has taught to one in playing sports. In Grahame’s (2012) article also mentioned that, the biological differences in males’ body have made them more superior in most of the sports which differs from the opinion of the public in Kuala Lumpur. Besides, the public in Kuala Lumpur disagreed that the reason of males dominating in sports profession is because females are discourage to play sports. It is supported by Swanson (2009) where more females are encouraged to play sports after the enactment of Title IX in 1972 as compared to the past. 2012 Olympic Games, the women athletes have almost equal number as men and the ratio for athletes now is 50:50 male-female ratios (Gee, 2013). As Olympic Games is a worldwide sports, this could mean that females nowadays are encouraged to play sports universally. Furthermore, sports are not mainly designed for males in the view of the public in Kuala Lumpur. However, in the study by Paulas (2013), he found out that sports were designed for men at the first place. Sports such as basketball, football and baseball were created during the era where women were expected to stay in the kitchen and take care of the family. Sports were designed particularly based on males’ strengths and advantages where females can hardly beat males. As for most, the public in Kuala Lumpur do not believe that females are not competent in sports is the reason which caused males dominate in sports profession. Baiocchi-Wagner and Behm-Morawitz (2010) cited in their study that the public might be wrongly accused that females are less competent than males because males are better in playing sports. Also, Short (2012) also mentioned that women were seen as weak and less competent as compare to men which is not proven to be the truth. As nowadays more and more females started to step into sports profession, in which has proven that they are competent to compete with males in sports. Based on the open-ended data provided, the public perceived males are the dominant in sports because it is men’s interest. They are more passionate, enthusiast and willing to contribute their time in playing sports. In contrast, females do not like sports because they do not like to be exposed to the sun and sports are dirty and sweaty for them. In previous studies, it is shown that males show higher interest in participating, watching, and excelling in sports (Deaner et al., 2012). It concludes that males are more motivated to involve sports related activities which lead to the dominance of males in sports. An interesting reason that is concluded in the findings of this research is social and media influence. The preference of the social and media plays an important role in influencing the dominance of males in sports profession. The media coverage is more likely to focus on men’s sports than women’s sports. According to the study by Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland (2006), women’s sports are often treated as less important than men’s sports in media coverage. As a result, the public is able to be exposed to men’s sports more than women’s sports and to see males in sports has become a social expectation. In the study by Deaner et al. (2012) it was stated that sports interest is influenced by the societal gender roles, peers pressure, parents and so on. Thus, males will be more interested in participating sports while females have the social pressure to eschew sports. In the opinion of the public in Kuala Lumpur, education and parents’ influence also could be a reason of why males dominate in sports profession. As in the report by Garner (2012) stated that girls were being put off in Physical Education (PE) lesson because they have negative experience in participating PE such as being labeled as tomboy or unfeminine. Wetton et al. (2013) mentioned that the schools that favored boys’ sports activities have discourage girls’ attendance in participating sports. Other than that, parents do hold an important role in encouraging their children to involve in sports (Quinton, 2013). In the study by Wetton et al. (2013), the family background of the children and stereotypical view of parents do influenced children’s decision to not take part in sports. As the traditional mindset of gender roles in sports, parents might be more supportive for their sons to participate in sports but not for their daughters. Thus, there are more ma les involving themselves in sports than females due to the education and parents’ influence, in which has caused the dominance of males in sports profession. The level of opportunity of females to become sports broadcasters As concluded from the total scores of the level of opportunity for females to become sports broadcasters, the public in Kuala Lumpur believed that females have slightly high opportunity to become sports broadcasters. This has supported by Shine (2013) by saying that some organizations have started to hire talented female sports broadcasters because females can bring aspiring changes in sports broadcasting field. The public in Kuala Lumpur think that the opportunity is now given to females and females should be given equal opportunity to become sports broadcasters as males do. However, in the studies of Gunther et al. (2011) and Short (2012) showed that there are still inequalities in sports broadcasting field and this industry is lagging in creating equal opportunities for both males and females in becoming sports broadcasters. Although both of these studies are carried out in United States and England, but the public in Kuala Lumpur might be influenced by these leading countries. Besides, from the findings, it is shown that the public in Kuala Lumpur agreed that the opportunity for females on becoming sports broadcasters should be based on qualifications and skills rather than physical appearance. However, in the study of Gunther et al. (2011) found out that many stations are hiring attractive women regardless of their qualifications and skills just simply to retain their broadcasting license. The public acceptance of female sports broadcasters Moreover, this study has found out that the level of public acceptance of female sports broadcasters in Kuala Lumpur is high. The public did not particularly favored female or male sports broadcasters because they believed professionalism and knowledge of a sports broadcaster are important than one’s gender. Even for those major sports or male-dominated sports such as basketball and football, they do not think that only male sports broadcasters are good in reporting it. However, it is not supported by Shine (2013), where stated in her research that even though females are knowledgeable in male-dominated sports, the public will perceive females as do not have the skills to cover male-dominated sports. As in the study by Baiocchi-Wagner and Behm-Morawitz (2010) stated that women need to prove themselves twice to the public that they are worth as sports broadcasters. This has reflected that the acceptance of female in sports broadcasting field is very low. Many of the researchers have found out that the acceptance of female sports broadcasters were remaining low which contradict with this study. According to Futterman (2011), it has taken a long time for female sports broadcasters to be only partially accepted by the public. As long as gender discrimination and harassment still occurred, the acceptance of female in sports broadcasting will still low (Ebel, 2012). As time goes by, the difficulties or barriers for females have reduced, but the perception of the public on female sports broadcasters is stubbornly unchanged (Starphoenix, 2008).

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 15

The doctors at the hospital said Seth's survival was a miracle. Which, of course, it was. The police officers who talked to all of us believed Seth's actions had been rash – but also admirable. Defending a fair maiden tends to elicit that reaction, and since Seth hadn't been killed, no one else viewed his gallant defense quite the same as I did. Because honestly? I thought it was stupid. I thought it was so stupid, and I was furious. Beyond furious. I'd surpassed it and moved into an uncharted area of enragement. What had he been thinking? â€Å"I wasn't thinking,† he told me in a low voice, when I questioned him in the ER. The others had stepped out for a moment, busy with other things, and it was just the two of us. Seth lay on the bed, face still pale, but otherwise alive and well. â€Å"That guy had a gun. You were in his line of fire.† I opened my mouth to argue the poor logic there, but one of the doctors stepped back inside. She needed to check Seth, and I backed out of the room before I said something I'd regret. Seth might have acted like an idiot, but he was in the hospital with a major injury. Blowing up right now probably wasn't the most appropriate course of action for the healing process. Instead, I sought out Vincent. After his interview with the police, he'd stationed himself down the hall, back against the wall and hands stuffed into his pockets. He tilted his head back, face staring miserably up at the ceiling. â€Å"Hey,† I said, careful to keep a safe space between us. He glanced down at me. â€Å"Hey. How is he?† â€Å"Fine – considering everything. The doctors are amazed the bullet ‘missed.'† Vincent turned away and gazed blankly down the hall. He stayed silent. I didn't know what to say. So†¦you're a nephilim. How's that working out? Frankly, I could guess how that was working out. Horribly. Nephilim were the offspring of angels and humans. Those angels were now demons, of course. You couldn't sleep around with hot humans and still play for heaven's team – as I'd noted with Yasmine. It was why Jerome had fallen. In what had to be the most unfair deal in the world, many nephilim had been hunted and killed by angels and demons – even their own parents. Heaven and Hell viewed nephilim as dangerous abominations. The fact that nephilim tended to have unruly natures and poor impulse control didn't really help their reputation. As a result of their persecution, nephilim usually walked the earth disguised, hiding the full brunt of their power – which rivaled their parents' – as well as the immortal signatures that could give them away. And while I felt bad for them, they nonetheless scared the hell out of me. Many of them held grudges against angels, demons, and anyone else immortal. Jerome's son Roman was like that. He had come to Seattle a few months ago and embarked on a revenge killing spree. Looking at Vincent now, I wondered if I was dealing with the same sort of thing. â€Å"Does†¦Yasmine know?† I asked after several more awkward moments. His eyes flicked back to me. â€Å"Of course.† He said it with the same matter-of-fact tone he'd used when we'd talked about their relationship. It was a tone that implied how could she not know? Like it was absurd that he would keep anything from the woman he loved. â€Å"It kills her,† he said with a sigh. â€Å"It's eating her up inside.† â€Å"Because†¦of†¦what you are†¦?† â€Å"No.† His eyes were so sad that I almost forgot he came from a race of uber-powerful psychopaths. â€Å"She doesn't care about that part. What she can't stand is that it's a secret. That she has to hide everything. You know they can't lie†¦but she's not exactly telling the truth either. It's deceitful, and she hates that. And I hate that she hates it. I've tried to end our†¦thing a couple of times, but she won't do it because†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Because she loves you,† I finished. Vincent shrugged and looked away from me again. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I told him at last. And I was. How horrible. Yasmine loving anyone was dangerous enough, but for her to love one of the most despised creatures in our world†¦well, yeah. That took it to an entirely different level. An angel should have been reporting Vincent's existence, not hiding it. Vincent turned his attention back to me. â€Å"Who will you tell? Carter? Jerome?† I stared into those dark, dark eyes, those eyes filled with so much sorrow and so much love. I stopped being afraid of him. He wasn't Roman. â€Å"No one,† I said quietly. â€Å"I'm not going to tell anyone.† He turned incredulous. â€Å"Why? You know what I am. You know you could get in trouble for hiding me. Why wouldn't you tell?† I thought about it. â€Å"Because the system is fucked up.† I went back to Seth's room after that, and when I stepped out into the hall later, Vincent was gone. He wasn't at my apartment when I returned home that night. Seth was released the following morning, and I stayed home from work with him. â€Å"I don't need to be coddled, Thetis,† he told me gently – though I could swear there was the tiniest hint of annoyance in his voice. â€Å"I'm fine. I won't break.† We were sitting in his living room, side by side on the couch. He had his laptop, and I had a novel. I folded a corner of the page I was on and shut the book. I wanted to tell Seth that he would break, that that's what it meant to be mortal. I wanted to tell him a thousand things, just like I'd wanted to in the hospital, but once more I swallowed my feelings. â€Å"You just need to take it easy,† I said. â€Å"And I want to make sure you don't do anything too crazy.† â€Å"Right. Because my usual lifestyle is so physically vigorous.† He had a point. Most of his days were spent sitting and writing. He wasn't too likely to burst another artery that way. â€Å"I just want you to be careful,† I said obstinately. â€Å"You were shot last night, remember? That's not the same as falling on the ice.† â€Å"You overreacted to that too.† â€Å"Is it so wrong to care about you?† He sighed and returned to his work. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one biting back angry words. We spent most of the day like that, talking little. Whenever he expressed any interest in something – food, drink, etc. – I was quick to jump up and get it for him. I was the perfect nurse/servant. Finally, around dinnertime, he looked like he was nearing a breaking point. â€Å"Arent your friends doing something tonight?† he asked stiffly. â€Å"Are you trying to get rid of me?† â€Å"Just asking.† â€Å"They're having a card game.† â€Å"You aren't going?† â€Å"No, I'll stay here with you.† â€Å"You should go.† â€Å"I don't want to leave you. In case you need something.† â€Å"Then take me with you.† â€Å"What?† I exclaimed. â€Å"But you need to – â€Å" † – take it easy, rest, not strain myself. I know, I know. But look, I'm kind of getting cabin fever here, and honestly, I think you'd benefit from a little distraction.† â€Å"Seth – â€Å" â€Å"Georgina,† he interrupted. â€Å"It won't be much different than this. More sitting around, except with – â€Å" â€Å"Better company?† â€Å"That's not what I mean,† he said. We went back and forth, and as we did, I wondered when we'd reached this point in our relationship. Hitherto everything had been giddy and sentimental with us. How had we crossed the line into nagging? When had we started getting on each other's nerves? In movies, life-threatening experiences are supposed to bring people together. I finally relented, and we went over to Peter and Cody's place. The gang – consisting of Hugh, Peter, Cody, and Carter tonight – was surprised to see us since Seth often avoided immortal social events. But socially inept or no, Seth liked playing cards. It was the kind of analytical activity he enjoyed, and he could often get by without talking very much. Just before the game started, Niphon showed up. He and I exchanged brief glares and then proceeded to ignore each other. Inevitably, Seth getting shot came up in conversation. â€Å"You threw yourself in front of a gun for her?† asked Peter, clearly impressed. â€Å"Well,† said Seth, a little uncomfortable at all those eyes on him. â€Å"Mostly I tried to jostle it away.† â€Å"You mean, disarm him?† â€Å"Well†¦no. More like†¦jostle. I don't really know how to ‘disarm' anyone.† â€Å"I figured maybe you took combat classes in order to write those fight scenes in your books,† explained Peter. Seth shook his head. â€Å"Never been in a fight in my life. Until last night.† â€Å"That's awesome,† said Cody. â€Å"Risking your life in the name of love.† I stared at the vampires disbelievingly while they babbled on about how amazing Seth's feat had been. They peppered him with more questions about the attack, and the anger I'd been trying to squelch since last night kept building and building. Across the table, Niphon listened with a smirk. Carter, in his usual way, concealed his feelings. I wanted to know why he wasn't out with the other angels, but the Seth thing was taking precedence over my curiosity. One thing struck me as odd. Hugh, listening quietly, seemed as angry as I did. I would have expected him to jump right in with the vampires, blithely pestering Seth for action-packed details and waxing on about how cool Seth's heroics had been. But the imp's face looked dark and stony, his eyes fixed pointedly on his cards. â€Å"The guy was probably high,† remarked Peter. â€Å"Never know what that might bring out. You jumping in like that was pretty ballsy when you think about it.† I couldn't take it anymore. â€Å"It was stupid!† I cried. Everyone's heads jerked in my direction. I ignored them, my eyes on Seth. â€Å"It was foolish and idiotic and, and – † I couldn't think of any more synonyms, so I let it go. â€Å"You shouldn't have done it. He couldn't have hurt me. He couldn't have killed me. You should have let me handle it!† I knew that Seth despised being the center of a commotion like this, but he returned my gaze with a surprisingly fierce one. â€Å"Georgina, there was a man with a gun in a dark alley. You were in front of him. Do you really think I was running through all sorts of logical scenarios at the time? ‘Oh, let's see. She's immortal, so even if she gets shot, there's nothing to worry about.'† â€Å"Yes,† I growled. â€Å"That is what you should have been thinking.† â€Å"What I was thinking was ‘The woman I love is in danger, and I would rather die myself than see anything happen to her.'† â€Å"But nothing would have happened to me!† â€Å"It's a basic human instinct to protect the ones you love. Even if they're immortal.† â€Å"That doesn't make any sense.† â€Å"That's because it's been too long since you were human,† he snapped. It was like being hit. I shot up from my chair and stalked off to the bathroom. Angry tears were welling up in my eyes, and I refused to let them show in front of my friends. Leaning my forehead against the mirror, I tried to do all the standard tricks for calming down. Deep breathing. Counting to ten. None of it worked. I didn't get it. I just didn't get it. And apparently, Seth didn't either. Why couldn't he understand? Getting shot – in my head, in my heart, whatever – would fucking hurt. The pain would be excruciating. But in a day or so, I'd recover. I'd go on. But Seth wouldn't. Why did he not see how serious this was? Death was forever. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out the image of Seth dead. Cold. Still. No more spark in those brown eyes. No more warm hand to hold mine. A sob built up in me, and I forced it away. After more deep breathing, I finally felt like I could return to the others. But as I stepped out of the bathroom and started to round the corner back to the kitchen, I heard more shouting. Hugh. â€Å"It was brave, okay? Noble. Gallant. Worthy of a gold star. But she's right. It was stupid. It was so fucking stupid, and you're even more fucking stupid for not realizing it.† â€Å"I get it,† said Seth. I could hear the weariness and exasperation in his voice. â€Å"I could have died. I know, okay? But I wasn't thinking about the larger workings of the universe. I was thinking about her.† â€Å"No,† said Hugh. â€Å"You weren't. I am so goddamned tired of hearing everyone talk about how hard it is to be you. They all go on and on about how amazing it is that you can handle this relationship with her. But, Christ. Really, what's hard about it? You have this beautiful, brilliant girlfriend who doesn't fucking age. She loves you. I know you can't have sex, and everyone acts like that's the end of the world, but come on. She's given you the green light to go get it somewhere else. I don't really see you suffering that much.† â€Å"What's your point?† asked Seth. â€Å"My point is that she's the one who suffers. She knows your life is a ticking time bomb. What have you got, another fifty years maybe? And that's if disease or an accident doesn't take you first. Fifty years, and you're gone. She has to live with that every day, knowing that in one breath, your life could be snuffed out like that.† I heard Hugh's fingers snap. â€Å"Not hurt. Not injured. Gone. She is going to watch you age, watch you gray and wither away, and when you do finally die, it's going to destroy her.† There was a moment's silence, then I heard Seth say uncertainly, â€Å"Fifty years isn't anything compared to the scope of her life. She'll get over me. As everyone keeps reminding me, she's immortal.† â€Å"All that means is that she has more time to mourn. If you had any fucking regard for her, you would have ended this stupid romance a long time ago. You would have never gotten involved. She was uncertain at first, but now she's in. She isn't going to give you up. You could turn into the world's biggest asshole, and she still wouldn't do it – not with all these romantic ideals she has now. She loves too easily – and gets hurt too easily.† I finally forced myself to move in the ensuing silence. Everyone looked away from me, except Niphon. He was obviously enjoying all of this. I sat back down, and the card game commenced. None of us were really into it, though. The atmosphere was stiff, the conversation forced and halting. It was the proverbial elephant in the room situation. When Peter awkwardly said he was getting tired, the rest of us practically flew out of our seats to leave. As I was putting on my coat, Carter strolled over to me. â€Å"Seth makes his own choices, as is his right,† Carter said softly. The angel was regarding me in that way that always sent chills down my spine. Someone wearing such an ugly baseball cap really shouldn't have that kind of ability. Honestly, how did his hats always get so dirty? â€Å"You can rage all you want, but in the end, mortals live their lives the way they decide to. It's not our place to interfere with that.† â€Å"Of course it is,† I said. â€Å"It's what you guys do. It's what we all do. That's the whole point of the Heaven and Hell battle – we purposely interfere with people's lives.† â€Å"Yes, but this is different.† â€Å"No, it's not.† Beyond him, I saw Niphon saying something to Seth. Great. The imp was probably trying to buy his soul. That was so not what I needed right now. I turned back to Carter. â€Å"Look, I've got to go. Say hi to the Get Along Gang when you see them.† I dragged Seth away from Niphon, and we headed home. I hadn't thought things between us could be any more uncomfortable than they had been at Peter's, but the car ride proved me wrong. Earlier, Seth and I had discussed him staying over at my place, but as I merged onto I-5, he asked, â€Å"I'd kind of like to get some more work done. Do you mind if I just go home?† The elephant had apparently joined us in the car now. I smiled tightly and kept my eyes on the road. â€Å"Sure. No problem.†