Category: Samples

 

Intergovernmental Management

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14^th, December 2012

 

Models of Inter-Organizational Collaboration

Collaboration is a process that includes different independent stakeholders who come together and work, building a consensus to produce results. However, reaching a consensus does not necessarily mean that a permanent agreement has been achieved, as there are problems based on ideological differences of the involved stakeholders that may erupt and call for a resolution (Margerum, 2011). Margerum refers to collaboration as not just a process, but as an approach to planning and public policy. People collaborate for different reasons, especially to share knowledge and information and collaboration involves stakeholders, who create the depth of a collaborative approach. Collaboration is a deliberative process, which involves the participation and debating of issues by everyone, including the public, who have a stake in the outcomes too. However, collaboration needs consensus to be reached between the stakeholders and the public. Networks are also vital in collaborations. Reaching a consensus is easy, but translating the consensus into results is the hard part. The networks are responsible for guiding and supporting implementation, as well as supporting the management responses.

Margerum integrates the seven Cs into the collaboration process. First communication, which is sharing of information, is essential. This could be one-way or two-way. However, a two-way communication is most appropriate for collaboration, as it is more interactive. Consultation between government or non-governmental organizations and the people offers a significant exchange of information and gives an opportunity for feedback from the public. In addition, conflict resolution in collaboration begins with communication, which must be effective. Conflict resolution may be formal or informal. Consensus building involves stages that lead to a mutual agreement between the involved parties. Cooperation makes the parties work independently toward one goal. Finally, coordination makes the parties work collectively toward one common goal (Margerum, 2011).

On the other hand, Norris-Tirrell and Clay in their collaboration model, define collaboration as a way of addressing problems affecting the public through the sharing of information and knowledge among different parties to result in positive change. Before getting into collaboration, it is important for the parties to be prepared to work outside the boundaries of their organizations or departments. In addition, Norris-Tirrell and Clay present collaboration as a continuum and argue that collaboration has different uses in the society, but most importantly, helps in meeting community demands, apart from offering solutions to public problems. However, Norris-Tirrell and Clay address strategic collaboration. Its importance includes the adoption and integration of knowledge, ideas, and perspectives of the different set of participants. In addition, it serves to bring participants out of their status quos in order to offer a more diversified platform for them to address the different public problems. Strategic collaboration is beneficial to organizations, as it realizes positive internal changes. However, for a strategic collaboration to be effective, a deliberate intention to collaborate needs to be put in place. Norris-Tirrell and Clay suggest that the leaders of an organization must identify the effects of collaboration, including both negative and positive effects before getting into one. These effects can be short-term or long-term (Norris-Tirrell & Clay, 2010).

These two collaboration models exhibit a level of compatibility. They both address collaboration as a process that involves the collective efforts of different parties to meet a common goal. In addition, these models explain the importance of collaboration to organizations, in the case of effective collaboration. The difference between the two is that while Margerum’s model intensively explores the whole collaboration process, including the parties and the systematic procedures resulting to the collaboration, Norris-Tirrell and Clay use a different approach in the presentation of their approach. While Norris-Terrill and Clay compare organizations that have embraced collaboration, and those that have not embraced collaboration, Margerum does not address organizations without collaboration; instead, he dwells on the collaboration concept alone. Nonetheless, both models are effective in explaining collaboration, and if used appropriately, may result in effective collaboration in organizations.

Inter- organizational networks

                The contemporary society is an age of the network, as networks today have replaced hierarchies that existed in the past. Therefore, the contemporary generation is the epitome of information. Networks occur in different forms, and these are essential in management. Networks may occur because of collaborations between different organizations, and bureaucracies. Program specialists, as well as public administrators play an important role in the formation of networks. Goldsmith and Kettl (2009) trace the roots of government networks to the period after the Second World War, when the government collaborated with various organizations to increase the production of various goods and services to meet the national consumption level. During this period, America had experienced an economic boom and there was a rise in consumerism. The government alone could therefore, not afford to cater wholly for the production of goods and services that the American population needed. The government had to call for the intervention of the private sector to help in the production process (Goldsmith & Kettl, 2009)

The difference between inter-organizational networks and private networks lies in their levels of interaction and collaboration with the external parties. Inter-organizational networks have a higher level of interaction and collaboration as compared to the private networks. Unlike the private networks, inter-organizational networks function beyond their organizational boundaries, gathering diverse information from different players in the external environment. The private networks are quite limited in their interaction as they are restricted to interactions and collaborations at the departmental levels only.

According to Agranoff (2007), networks are of great benefits to the public sector. These add a significant value to the public, which would have not been achieved in the absence of these networks. They also help in pooling information and making necessary adjustments across boundaries of organizations, and not departments only. Networks also offer solutions to issues of weak or over-ambitious organizational policies, in the context of dispersed power, face political demands for inclusion and broader influence, and help to address resultant issues in the case of unemployment, education, and job training (Agranoff, 2007). All these issues are often beyond the control and management of single organizations. Networks also change the way managers public managers work. They force the managers to work at the boundaries of the state, with public organizations, as well as the private, non-governmental organizations. They therefore, have minimized the government’s role in management and control of organizations. Networks remain relevant today, even as their relevance and importance grows more in future.

Team Work and Team Building

Dyer, Dyer & Dyer (2010) in their book “Team Building; Proven Strategies for Improving Team,” address the importance of team building in the contemporary corporate world. In addition, they mainly focus on team performance and offer guidance on how poor performing teams can become better performers. This book is important today, and comes in handy for business managers and employees, who comprise teams and team leaders. Therefore, reading this book will help them develop their teams, and work to improve their team performance. In addition, this book pays a closer attention to the teams that perform poorly, and so guidance is given on how these teams can transcend into well performance. The key assumptions of the book mainly revolve on team performance. First, the authors use three Cs to show the determinants of teams that perform exemplarily. These include the context, composition, competencies, and change management skills of the teams.

Dyer, Dyer & Dyer (2010), in their book, also note that today’s teams do not perform to their capabilities. They link poor team performance today to a number of reasons. First, lack of clear objectives and goals may lead to underperformance of teams. Similarly, if a team comprises wrong people, with wrong skills, it will most likely perform lowly. These problems will result in poor decision-making, as well as poor problem solving in the team. Since most companies today embrace teamwork, this rampant underperformance of teams is a major concern to the world economy today. Team building in companies today is a requirement as the company services and produce have become sophisticated today, and require a group of people with different skills to appropriately handle the sales and marketing part, research, production, management, and product development. All these processes are diverse and cannot be handled single-handedly.

The authors in this book have however, overlooked a few aspects of team building, as they have discussed their ideas one-sidedly. By dwelling only on the poor-performing teams, and how they can become better performers, this book has neglects the high-performing teams, and on highlighting how they can sustain their high performance, or even exceed their highest performance. Nonetheless, the high-performing teams can still apply the strategies in this book to strengthen their teams further.

References

Agranoff, R. (2007). “Managing within networks: Adding value to public organization.”

Georgetown University Press: New Jersey.
Dyer, W. & Dyer, J. (2010). “Team Building; Proven Strategies for Improving Team

Performance.” 4^th ed. John Wiley & Sons: New York.

Goldsmith, S. & Kettl, D. (2009) “Unlocking the Power of Networks: Keys to High –

Performance Government.” Brookings Institution Press: New Jersey.

Margerum, R. (2011) “Beyond Consensus: Improving Collaborative Planning and

Management.” The MIT Press: London.
Norris-Tirrell, D. & Clay, J. (2010) “Strategic Collaboration in Public and Non-profit

Administration: A practice-Based Approach to Solving Shared Problems.” CRC Press: New York.

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The Relationship of Social Service Director’s and Director of Nursing Leadership Style and its Effect to Nursing Home Resident’s Psychosocial Well-Being

 

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The quality of care in nursing homes is largely dependent on the type of leadership employed by the nursing administrators. Therefore, the leadership style used by both the Social Service Director and Director of Nursing in the nursing homes should relate in a manner that produces positive results on the nursing home residents. Of great importance is the psychological needs of the home residents, which must be met by the leaders, to ensure the overall high quality of life of the patients. Therefore, the leadership styles employed by the Social Service Director and Director of Nursing can serve as a measure of quality of care, including psychological care of residents in nursing homes (Ford, 1997).

Nursing homes, apart from other functions, serve to ensure that the psychological needs of elderly patients are met. These needs include anxiety, loss of identity, depression, dementia, loss of personal control, and adjusting to the new environment. In addressing these needs, social workers and leaders in nursing homes seek ways of how to help the residents in the best manner. It is therefore essential that the leaders in these nursing homes have the right professional qualifications. For instance, they must have the professional capacity to address psychological needs of the residents. According to the Social Work Policy Institute (2010), lack of professional qualifications has resulted in the failure to cater for the residents’ needs effectively in most nursing homes.

Both the Social Service Director and Director of Nursing in nursing homes must play the role of monitoring and assessing resident psychological care. By using different indicators, the effectiveness of the care of the nursing home can be determined. This is important as loopholes in care can be identified, and corrected. Similarly, they could use survey agencies and accrediting organizations, which will use data collection and analysis to determine the quality of care, with specific interest to psychological care (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2012).

The Social Service Director and Director of Nursing in nursing homes should adopt leadership styles that closely relate. Most importantly is that their leadership should focus on coordination, monitoring and assessment of operations in the nursing home, and specification of roles of staff. A relationship-oriented kind of leadership is more capable of ensuring that the psychological needs of residents are met. In this type of leadership, there is supporting, developing, and recognizing the subordinate staff, who are the core to care provision in nursing homes. If these are appreciated by the Social Service Director and Director of Nursing, who are their seniors, they will be motivated to provide quality care to the residents (Nagelkerk, 2005).

The use of American Psychological Association (APA) style of writing and formatting has been beneficial for this essay. The most essential application of APA formatting style in this essay is how it has helped in the refining of my critical thinking. This is through the fact that APA has required me to organize my essay in different parts to ensure flow of ideas. This includes the introduction, body, and conclusion, which have different content, some drawn from different literature, but presented in a logical manner. Further use of APA formatting in my papers will most likely help me improve my writing skills (Dunn, Halonen & Smith, 2009).

In conclusion, the leadership forms adopted by the nursing leadership teams influences the quality of care in nursing homes. Leadership that is based on personal relationships stands a greater chance of affecting positively on the psychological well-being of residents in nursing homes. However, more research needs to be conducted in this area to affirm further the relationship between leadership styles of nursing directors and social services directors to the quality of care provided in nursing homes, and especially the psychological well-being of residents.

 

References

National Association of Social Workers [NASW]. (2012). NASW Clinical Indicators for

Social Work and Psychosocial Services in Nursing Homes. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/standards/nursing_homes.asp

Social Work Policy Institute. (2010, May). Social Work Services in Nursing Homes: Toward

Quality Psychosocial Care. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/research/social-work-services-in-nursing-homes-toward-quality-psychosocial-care.html

Dunn, D., Halonen, J. & Smith, R. (2009). Teaching Critical Thinking in Psychology: A

Handbook of Best Practices. London: John Wiley & Sons.

Ford, W. (1997). Nursing Home Leadership. London: The Management Advantage, Inc.

Nagelkerk, J. (2005). Leadership and Nursing Care Management. New York: Elsevier Health

Sciences.

 

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The Rise of Ronald Reagan and the New Right

            Ronald Reagan, a former democrat rose to power in 1966, when he was elected as Republican governor of the state of California, where he served until 1975. His power status peaked in 1980 when Reagan was elected the president of the United States of America. Reagan assumed power at a period when U.S.A. was in the middle of successful government initiatives and positive prospects for governance. His ideologies that enhanced his attainment of presidency mainly revolved around moral order in society. He was also opposed to the high taxes imposed on the citizens by government, and pressed for individual initiative. However, Reagan was faced with a people who held reservations about the post-war government expansion and influence. Nonetheless, Reagan is remembered for having initiated a change in the argument as to whether the government could still be trusted to deliver national development or whether this task was to be entrusted with a private enterprise.

The “New Right” was a movement, as well as a name given to a group of activists, who were conservatives, and shared same ideologies. This group of conservatives came together in the year 1970 and together acted as a strong political force for the Republican Party, with the group’s five strategists playing an important role. In the early 1970s, the group met more frequently, in a bid to seek strategies of speeding up their development and establishment of conservative causes and ideas. They also sought ways of marketing themselves with their ideas in order to win the trust and votes of people.

In the mid-1970s, this movement/group began their mission of gaining popularity in the society. Among the strategies employed by the group’s strategists include holding a coalition meeting in 1973, development of the national Conservative Political Action Conference. The coalition meeting was in a bid to establish national coalitions; however, this resulted in their introduction to Howard Phillips, who had served as a Nixon administrator. He later played significant roles in the running of the New Right in Washington. By 1977, the New Right had gained considerable exposure and popularity in the U.S.A.

During the post-war period, Americans lived in disillusionment due to the moral and economic decay of the state. Conservatives aimed at defend the state and protect America’s traditional values. The New Right comprised practicing Christians, who were greatly opposed to sexual immorality and increased crime rate in the nation. These wished for religion to take a central place in the life of Americans. Abortion was another concern for the New Right; they agreed to support any political leader that would as well be opposed to abortion.  This was because of the 1973’s Roe v. Wade by the Supreme court, which had legalized abortion during a woman’s early months of pregnancy.

The New Right also comprised intellectuals such as economists, researchers, and journalists, who all contributed to the address of vital roles in the 1980s. their popularity mainly was due to their effort to restrict government intervention in the economy, as well as employing state power in the restoration of family values, and morality issues. Tough measures against crime, amendment of the constitution to allow prayers in public schools, women’s rights, and a strong national defense.

Ronald Reagan was the figure behind all the proposed state changes by the New Right. His televised speech in 1964 in support of Barry Goldwater was responsible for throwing him into the political limelight. After taking over American presidency from Jimmy Carter, he served a second term started 1984 after his overwhelming reelection. During his two terms, Reagan ensured stability of Americans, and was regarded a great communicator.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, which lasted between 1959 and 1973, was between the U.S.A. and North Vietnam. The U.S.A. demanded the end of communism, while Vietnam demanded the end of diplomatic relations with the U.S.A. This war was devastating to both countries as it left many dead and wounded. After the Tet Offensive in 1968, it became clear that Americans were not winning the war, neither was the Viet Cong.  However, this war was the most unpopular war in the war history of U.S.A. Neither of the parties won the war, and U.S.A. had to pull out of the war by the end of 1973.

The American citizens were opposed to this war for a variety of reasons, and this contributed to the unpopularity of this war. The actions of American troops in Vietnam did not gain any justification from the American people, as these troops were killing the Vietnams in large numbers. Similarly, many Americans in the troops in Vietnam were killed massively. 61 per cent of the American men killed were 21 years-old and below. Americans thought this was tearing their country apart and therefore wished for the war to end.

The killings that resulted from this war called for the action of the anti-war movements, demanding an end to the war as this was tearing the country apart. It is estimated that, approximately 300 Americans died every week in the war killings. The government expenditure on the war was also high. The government spent close to $30, 000 million each year on this war. In addition, $400, 000 was spent on every Vietcong guerrilla that died. According to the opponents of this war in the anti-war movement, if this war would continue for even a few more years, it was capable of devastating the state economy and result in death of more people. This war had to stop, as it was not healthy for both countries involved. Loss of life was also considered a violation of individuals’ right to life.

Back in America, the media played a significant role in bringing to public attention the effects of the war in process, mainly through the television and radio. The television aired the bombings of the Vietnam citizens by America, leaving many of them dead, and thousands homeless. All this views were brought closer to the Americans through the television. Scenes of torture by American soldiers on Vietnam prisoners were also showed, including the execution of some of them by the American troops. In addition, the effects of chemical weapons on the Vietnam civilians by the American troops were as well shown by televisions. This war had equally devastated Vietnam. The televisions equally showed the effects of this war on Americans. Images of dead American soldiers were shown in body bags. 300 000 Americans died in this war. This therefore evoked sympathy in Americans as they saw their country fall apart before their own eyes. More important was the events that unfolded in the Lai Massacre, where American troops massacred nearly a whole village in South Vietnam. This was the greatest indicator that this war was inappropriate.

The media exposition of the events of war resulted in massive anti-war protests across the country. In 1969, 700 000 protesters took to the streets in Washington DC, to demand a stop on the war. However, in 1970, four students were shot while protesting for the same course, and this resulted in chaos.

The Vietnam war was therefore the most unpopular war in the U.S. war history, because of the various controversial issues that surrounded it. In the 1960s, there was a high opposition climate to the Vietnam war, as different civil rights movements took counteractions. Other contributing issues to the unpopularity of this war was the fact that during this Vietnam war period, America as a nation was going through a lot of changes, and so had to deal with other national issues as well. For instance, it was during this period that Kennedy was assassinated; in addition the country had to deal with the civil rights anti-draft.

The rise of consumer culture in the post-war 1950s

Americans celebrated the end of the most devastating war in 1945, August. This period saw Americans come out of the Great depression, which had mainly been caused by the investment in weaponry for the war. However, they were uncertain of their economy, if they would plunge back into the depression or not. The period after war did bring a new struggle among Americans, but it was a different kind of struggle. America experienced a clash between business, consumers, and labour. This situation forced President Truman to look for strategies of ensuring a balance between these three. The major problem was the successful transition from war to peace, without obstacles such as shortages, labour unrests, and inflation.

During the war period, there was the policy of rationing in order to save resources. Americans were encouraged to minimize their spending in order to ensure the conservation of resources. The government had even put a temporary ban on specific products for public use. For instance, Platinum was tagged a strategic metal fit for military use only. Therefore, this could not be used in making of jewellery. There were also rules on how many products a person could consume over a specified period. After every six months, the government distributed booklets showing the items that were rationed. These include rubber, silk, fuel, meat, coffee, butter, sugar, and most military items. The government instead encouraged citizens to grow own vegetables to minimize their spending.

After 1945, America experienced an economic boom, as there was a drop in unemployment rate, and the gross national product rose by 70 per cent. This drew some Americans back to consumerism, as they felt the government rationing had restrained them for long.

Most Americans were torn between going back to consumerism or continuing with the limited spending they had adopted. However, the government spurred consumerism among the Americans again. In order to further deal with the problem of unemployment, especially for the soldiers returning from war, the government needed to create jobs. This would also serve to strengthen the state economy. Therefore, the government perceived consumerism as a factor that would help in the achievement of the jobs creation. A campaign began by the government, marketing companies, and businesses, which would see Americans back on the track of consumerism. In this case, spending was regarded as a patriotic act, and not over-indulgence, as it had been portrayed before. Additionally, most political leaders declared consumerism as a strategy for defeating communism, considering this was a period of cold war between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union, a supporter of communism.

Among the possessions Americans were encouraged to own were homes, automobiles, and the television. This saw many Americans take loans to buy homes, thus increasing the number of people living in the suburbs. Ownership of homes gave birth to more needs. For instance, families now needed cars, as these were now considered necessities, and not luxury as before. The highways linking the suburbs to cities had been developed, so people needed to commute to work and to shopping places. This is where the American car culture originated.  Car culture further resulted in increased travels, thus diversifying the business opportunities in America. There was the emergence of fast food restaurants, motels, convenience stores, car parking, and camping services for families on vacations. This resulted in a shift in family spending patterns.

The television played a significant role in the spread of consumerism. As more families bought televisions, they were exposed to more commercials. These commercials informed consumers of new products in the market and their effectiveness. This was confirmed to have boosted the advertisers’ product sales, thus making them invest more in advertisements, further increasing consumerism.

The American Civil rights Movement.

The civil rights movement had a significant effect on the nation state of America. Since the establishment of this movement during the early years of America’s existence, it has served to call for and bring justice to major cases of justice and fairness in the American society.  During the Vietnam war period, the Civil Rights Movement era was quite successful. This era brought back the memories of important historical figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Malcom X, among others. In this movement, different forms of protests such as bus boycotts and street marches were used to show public opposition to vital decisions or issues affecting the society. The civil rights movement of the 1960s is mainly remembered for the immense changes it advocated for in America. Various scholars today agree that this kind of movement resulted in important social, legal, educational, and psychological reforms in the country.

In the legal dimensions, this movement led to the amendment of part of the clause in the constitution, as well as the enacting of new laws. For instance, the amendment of the civil Rights Act of 1964 and the civil Rights Act of 1991. In addition, within the past 50 years, the civil rights movement resulted in the enacting of multiple laws at the state and federal level, regarding discrimination. Discrimination forms such as racial discrimination and gender discrimination were rampant among Americans in the past. However, when the civil rights movement protested against this, laws were passed to curb this phenomenon. These laws applied to different spheres of the society, including schools, voting, the public spheres, and at the workplace. Other non-discriminatory laws pressed for by the civil rights movement addressed discrimination forms such as religious discrimination, age discrimination, and disability discrimination. These laws were enforced, and offenders of these were to face prosecution. Most of the laws proposed by the civil rights movement are still used in the American society today, thereby being the long-term impact of the past civil rights movement on America.

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Artistic Technique of Mark Twain in American Literature

            Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Mark Twain employed the technique of humour in most of his literary works. This includes exaggeration, satire, irony, high and low comedy, parody, absurdity, and other forms of humour. In his literary works, Mark Twain was more influenced by his literary profession and less by the past humourist novelists. He undertook his training in the school of newspaper fun-making and humorous lecturing, including an introduction to the Orthodox arts. He worked as a newspaper printer, then as a newspaper writer, with considerable exposure and interaction with famous writers. This experience therefore, shaped Twain and improved his writing expertise. The kind of humour and satire employed by Mark Twain did not result in any indecency or fierce seriousness (“Bartleby.com”). He meant for laughter of people, to take a break from their serious life. His humour equally ridiculed things and people of all statuses, including the poor and the rich, the poets and the fools, and the sinners and saints (Bellamy 52). Therefore, as much as Twain employs humour, he leaves his audience with the responsibility of identifying the moral lessons in his works, as serious issues affecting society are presented lightly by Twain.

In most of Twain’s books such as The Innocent broad, Following the Equator, The adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Tramp Abroad, Roughing It, and The Adventures of Huckleberry, some of the characters are involved in either domestic or foreign travel. In his real life, Twain loved travelling both within U.S.A. and abroad. His travelling experiences helped him compare different world cultures with the American culture. With this, he bluntly exposed the differences between what travel guidebooks wrote about attraction sites, and what he saw as an observer. His expeditions also highly influenced the content of his works. These gave him the opportunity to address different issues in a range of tones such as irate, outraged, appreciative, and annoyed. Twain’s other works such as A Pen Warmed Up in Hell, is an example of his works that employs the humour technique of high comedy. In this book, the travels made by some of the characters, such as when Satan visits paradise and when Captain Stormfields visits heaven, are quite interesting, and as well based on social, theological, and philosophical perspectives (Bellamy 62-66).

Mark Twain also employed the technique of using the eyes of the present to view the past. For example, he makes some of his nineteenth century characters travel into the ancient past. These visits to ancient history by Twain’s characters gave him an opportunity to veer into the past, and analyse the nature of events, places, and people who lived during different eras of the ancient past. Similarly, this analysis gave him a basis for proclaiming judgement on the past atrocities, social evils, and corruption of the church and political systems in society. In addition, the nature of past societies helped him to compare the past technology with the technology in his era, as well as past philosophy and ideologies with those of his generation. In some of his works, Twain allows characters of different social classes to trade their status. When a rich person takes a poor man’s position, they get the opportunity of understanding how it means to live in poverty. Twain therefore uses this to condemn social evils in the society, which propagate poverty of the poor through their oppression and alienation (“Bartleby.com”). Therefore, Twain uses different forms of the humour technique to address important social, political, and religious issues in society.

 

Works Cited

“Bartleby.com.” Mark Twain. n.d. Web. Retrieved 13^th December 2012

<http://www.bartleby.com/187/10.html>

Bellamy, Gladys. “Mark Twain as a Literary Artist.” New York: University of Oklahoma Press,

2012.

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Islamic Perspective of War and Peace

            The relationship between Islam, war, and peace, continues to gain immense popularity in the world media today. This case has been aggravated by the current events in the Islamic countries, including the “Arab Spring” and the America’s 9/11 incident. However, the right judgement cannot be passed on such events without a full understanding of the Islamic worldviews, especially on the subject of war and peace. In order to understand the Islamic perspectives of war, special analysis and attention has to be directed to Islam’s main principles and ethics, including the major theories of classical and contemporary ethicists of Muslim.

Muslims believe that the state and church must be conjoined, therefore, offering no room for secularism. Ideally, the Islamic political theory employed by all Muslim nations starts with the practice of the Islamic Shariah in daily living of Muslim individuals.  Muslims believe that their creator laid down rules and laws to govern both the humans and the natural universe. However, because humans were given a free will, they are capable of breaking the laid down rules, although this is considered unbelief. In Islam, humans should work collectively to ensure peace, harmony, justice, dignity, and acceptance of diverse people. Therefore, Islam does not condone the breaking of rules (Mirbagheri 43).

Islam, like other religions, highly upholds the sanctity of life, as life is considered sacred.  The Qur’an clearly states that murdering one individual is same as murdering all human race (Qur’an 5:32, 6:151, 17:33). It is also upheld that the first right of all human beings is provided by their creator, and that is the right to life, security, and to peace. Therefore, Muslims ought to embrace this, except in a few cases. For instance, the elimination of major criminals by the state is allowed, because this ensures the security, justice, and peace of other citizens. However, Islam does not condone extra-judicial killings (Shirazi 54).

The practice of suicide bombing is highly associated with Islam today, seeming an acceptable aspect in Islam. However, a keen analysis of Islamic principles and ethics reveals that any suicidal act is forbidden in Islam. In Islam, suicide is likened to an abuse of God’s great divine gift of life; this is unpardonable, and the main sanction is the destruction of offenders in hell fire. Suicide bombing is therefore forbidden in Islam, not even euthanasia is allowed (Qur’an 4:29). Now, it is clear that the Qur’an has no provision for suicide bombers, neither does it promise them heaven nor ten virgins in their afterlife. Contemporary Muslim scholars have sharply criticized the practice of suicide bombing, hijacking of planes, terrorism of innocent people, and shedding of innocent blood, and its linkage with Islam. Therefore, acts of terrorism in Islam are highly condemned as these are called crimes of hirabah, similar to fighting and destruction of a person’s own society (Mirbagheri 43).

Muslims consider Islam a religion of peace. The name Islam itself means submission and surrender to the higher law, for the protection of freedom and dignity of all humans. The Islam greeting is “Assalamu ‘Alaykum,” meaning, “peace be unto you.” Therefore, peace is the root of the Islamic religion (Shirazi 54). However, Islam permits its believers to participate in armed struggle (Qital), for defending their religion, fighting oppression and injustice, and counteracting aggression. An important aspect of Islam is that peace does not necessarily mean that war is absent. Peace according to Islam is when the society is just, and devoid of any form of corruption, tyranny, and oppression. Therefore, wars against tyrannical systems are justified in Islam. However, war on innocent non-Muslims is not acceptable. According to the Qur’an, Muslims ought to maintain good relations with other countries despite their religious differences, or whether they are enemies (Qur’an: 60:8).

Islam, like Christianity, justifies war based on self-defence, quest for justice, or in defence of religion. However, Muslim prohibits the killing of civilians during war, as well as destruction of plants and animals. The Qur’an encourages Muslims to engage in war for a “worthy” cause. “Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors.” (Qur’an 2:190) “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for God. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers.” (Qur’an 2:193) “If they seek peace, then you seek peace. And trust in God for He is the One that hears and knows all things.” (Qur’an 8:61)

The Islamic concept of “Jihad” raises many controversies today, as most people lack a clear understanding of this concept, and largely confuse it for the Islamic holy war. Nonetheless, Jihad in Islam is the total struggle that allows Muslim individuals to exercise their intellectual, emotional, and physical powers when faced with earthly hardships. This therefore does not wholly rely on fighting and war; instead, Muslims proclaim war on the visible enemy, evil, and the self, as these are the major enemies of harmony in society (Mirbagheri 67).

It is quite surprising how Islam perceives war and peace. Theirs is a comprehensive and impeccable outlook on war and peace. However, what is even more surprising is how the Islamic faithful continue to massacre their system of war and peace. Judgment from some major events that have happened in Islam countries, it is quite clear that these Islamic standards of war and peace are downplayed.

 

Works Cited

The Qur’an (Oxford World’s Classics). Trans. M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. USA: Oxford University

Press, 2008.

Mirbagheri, Farid “War and Peace in Islam: A Critique of Islamic/ist Political Discourses.” New

Jersey: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Shirazi, Muhammad “War, Peace, and Non-Violence: An Islamic Perspective.” London: Tahrike

Tarsile Qurản, 2003.

 

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Impact of Music Education on Reading Achievement of Elementary Students

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12^th, December 2012

 

Music is a part of the fabric that makes up a society. All world cultures recognize music in their culture and place a high value on it, as it is through music that the society carries forward its ideals, thus ensuring continuity of culture. Apart from this role, music today plays many other roles and has many benefits in different areas of society. The manifest benefits of music education in education have led to many learning institutions to adopt music education as a mandatory part in their curriculum. Music education, as various studies have shown, contributes positively to the academic achievement in different study areas.

Music has power and it is relevant in different subjects in schools. However, most schools have not implemented music education in their teaching plans. Music education is particularly of great benefit to the children in primary years as compared to those in higher grades (Cochran, 2008). In comprehension and reading skills, music enhances a pupil’s listening capacity. This is because of the influence music instruction has on the auditory perception of a pupil, which consequently affect their capability to read. In addition, for one to perceive music, there must be interplay of auditory mechanisms, including pitch discrimination, and these are linked to reading capabilities (Huber, 2009).

Different researches have been conducted to ascertain the benefits of music education in academic achievement. First, some researches show that adult musicians who were trained in music before the age of 12 had a better memory for spoken words than those musicians who did not receive any musical training (Butzlaff, 2000). Similarly, studies performed on children in elementary schools between grades 3-5 showed that those children with musical training improved verbal memory as compared to those who lacked music education. Therefore, musical education in elementary schools improves the verbal memory of pupils, which is a vital concept in their reading skills (Cochran, 2008).

In a study published in Psychology of Music (2009), children in the fourth grade, who had never participated in music education, were exposed to a three-year piano instruction. These were afterwards given different tests including, academic tests. The results revealed that piano instruction had an effect on their academic achievement in languages and mathematics, and increased their self-esteem. This was noted after different tests including reading; speaking, writing, and listening were administered on both groups. The group that was not exposed to music education scored poorly. According to Costa-Giomi (2004), the piano lacks much involvement in auditory mechanisms and therefore does not influence reading ability of pupils. However, from these study findings, we learn that the piano instruction, as part of music education is effective in improving academic performance, as it enhances children’s vocabulary and verbal sequencing, which are all important in reading and comprehension. To back this up, Lyons (2008) argues that integrated music education improves reading achievement for students in elementary classes. In another study published in the journal Psychology of Music (2009), children in elementary classes were exposed to complex tonal, rhythmic, and practical skills for one year. These afterwards portrayed a higher cognitive performance than their peers who did not participate in this program. This study therefore reveals that music plays a role in enhancing academic performance especially in language and literacy.

Conclusively, these and more studies have pointed to the links between music and academic achievement. There is a positive relationship between music education and academics. Music education results in increased abilities in non-musical spheres. This is because of the relationship between music interpretation and language interpretation. Educators should therefore, continue to incorporate different approaches in their teaching strategies, including music education, which has been proved to improve reading capabilities of children.

 

References

SAGE Publications/Psychology of Music (2009, March 16). Music Education Can Help Children

Improve Reading Skills. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 12, 2012 http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2009/03/090316075843.htm

Butzlaff, R. (2000). “Can music be used to teach reading?” Journal of Aesthetic Education,

34(3/4), 167-178.

Cochran, K. (2008). “The Effects of Singing and Chanting on the Reading Achievement and

Attitudes of First Graders.” ProQuest, London.

Costa-Giomi, E. (April 2004). “Effects of Three Years of Piano Instruction on Children’s

Academic Achievement, School Performance, and Self-Esteem.” Psychology of Music. 32 (2), 139-152.

Huber, J. (2009). “Music Instruction and the Reading Achievement of Middle School Students.”

Liberty University. Retrieved December 12, 2012 http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1318&context=doctoral

Lyons, L. (2008). “The Integration of Music with Reading Concepts to Improve Academic

Scores of Elementary Students.” ProQuest, London.

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11^st, December 2012

Ethical Dimensions of Research Studies

Case Study

This Human Subjects Research case involves a popular American HIV/AIDS researcher who is convinced that he has found a lasting solution to the AIDS pandemic. He believes that the HIV/AIDS treatment he has discovered will be cheaper than the present drugs used, while offering a permanent cure to AIDS, unlike the ARVS, which only prolong life. In order to prove the effectiveness of his new discovery, this researcher has to go to the field and test his medicine. However, he learns that cannot be allowed to carry out this kind of testing in the U.S.A as it is considered illegal and ethical. He therefore, resolves to conduct his testing on HIV/AIDS patients in one of the poorest countries in Africa. This idea works, as this African country, unlike the U.S.A, does not have laws against the withholding of standard treatment. He justifies his action with his assumption that it is better for poor HIV/AIDS patients to receive an unfamiliar treatment, than to die without any treatment at all.

This research is an ethics case as it fails to adhere to the principles of conducting a research. The main ethical issues involved in conducting research include informed consent, respect for anonymity, privacy, and confidentiality, and beneficence. Of all these ethical issues, the researcher fails to allow for informed consent of the people to whom, he was administering his new AIDS drug. By not telling the patients the truth about this new drug, and through taking advantage of the weak legal system of the African country, this researcher does not avail an opportunity for the patients to choose if they will be his guinea pigs or not. These patients therefore unknowingly are injected with the new drug, thinking it is the standard medication. In addition, when this researcher fails to give the patients information about the drug, he breaches the patients’ right to information, which is essential for them to base on while making their decisions of agreeing or disagreeing to the process (Murphy, 2004).

The possible cause of this researcher’s actions could be the strict rules and standards that the American government places on such sensitive cases, which involve lives of people. In addition, the researcher could have been evading the standard procedure for testing of new drugs, which is often quite long, and costly. This kind of practice by the researcher is sub-standard and does not measure up to the requirements of medical research ethics, thus considered unethical. The researcher does not follow the required procedure for fear of time and resource consuming processes. This is unethical as the researcher only minds about his welfare, while putting the lives of many people at risk (Johnson, 2001).

In order to reduce the ethical problems related to this case, the researcher could have opted to follow the right procedure of new drugs testing, no matter the expenses he would have incurred, as lives of people must be treated with integrity in research. The basic procedure for testing new drugs involves conducting laboratory tests as the first step. If the drug passes the test and does not cause death of the animal organisms used, the researcher then qualifies for the application of an Investigational New Drug (IND) from the United States Food and Drugs Administration. If the researcher acquires the IND, they are free to test volunteer humans in different stages (“U.S. Food and Drug Administration” Web). If the researcher in the case study followed this procedure, he would not have experienced any ethical issue in his research. Research on such sensitive issues should be as transparent as possible. The participants in the research must be fed with the complete true information about the research in order for them to make an informed decision. Sensitive issues, which may easily affect people’s lives, need to be handled carefully, while adhering to all the principles of research.

References

“U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” (n.d.) Development and Approval Process (Drugs). Web.

Retrieved http://www.fda.gov/drugs/developmentapprovalprocess/default.htm

Johnson, N. (2001). “Retroactive Moral Judgment and the Evolution of Ethics in Human

Subjects Research: A Case Study in Context.” Web. Retrieved

http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/hsr/hsr.html#What is Human Subject

Murphy, T. (2004). “Case Studies Biomedical Research Ethics.” MIT Press, London.

 

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Environmental Impacts of Tourism on Los Angeles

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There is a relationship between tourism and the environment, as tourism in any place highly relies on the quality of the environment of the place. However, the relationship between tourism and the environment is quite sophisticated, as tourism comprises many activities, which can turn out to be detrimental to the environment. These activities are elements of tourism development and may include the construction of resort hotels, marinas; golf courses, roads, as well as airports (“Travel Weekly”) Tourism development is therefore the main tourism factor that influences the environment. In addition, apart from the adverse effects of tourism development on the environment, it can also result in positive effects on the environment. This will mainly include the protection and conservation of the environment.

Los Angeles located in the Southern California, is a populous city, whose coastal nature makes it a hub for various aesthetic human activities, including tourism. However, the highly urbanized coastal city faces many threats due to the increased human activities in the area, including plans to develop on all the remaining open space. This case continues to fuel heated debates between the government, environmentalists, and developers. Available coastal resources for tourism in the city include beaches, coastal marshes, boardwalks, and ecological attractions such as kelp forests, tide pools, and coastal marshes (“Travel Weekly”).

In Los Angeles, the impact of tourism presents the area with a variety of effects. The high population of Los Angeles city puts pressure on the available natural resources, which are limited. Natural resources include soil, forests, fossil fuels, wildlife, and wetland. Both the residents of Los Angeles and tourists all struggle to experience the resources. On the other hand, humans put a direct pressure on the land’s renewable and non-renewable energy. The construction of multiple skyscrapers in Los Angeles area, for tourists’ accommodation facilities has put pressure on the land, leading to degradation (Schott, 2010).

Tourism has led to different forms of pollution in Los Angeles city. The largest percentage of air pollution and noise pollution by tourism is generated by the transport sector (Lumsdon, 2000). Accommodation is the second largest polluter of the environment, followed by tourist activities. In tourism related transport, the maritime ship emissions contribute to the pollution in the area of Los Angeles. These mainly release Nitrogen Oxides in the atmosphere. This happens along the Los Angeles – Long Beach area of California, which is USA’s busiest port, and with high level of pollution. The original meaning of the name Los Angeles is “valley of smoke.” This is because of the smog that covers the area. The population relies heavily on automobiles for transport of both the tourists and local residents. According to Lumsdon (2000), the aircrafts flying in and out of Los Angeles have contributed to the smog in the city, and this has resulted in increased respiratory diseases in people living close to the airport. In addition, the Long Beach port issue has also contributed to the air pollution of the region. The cruiseships are also another source of air pollution due to the smoke they emit. Similarly, airplanes, buses, and cars cause noise pollution in Los Angeles. In addition, the modern recreational vehicles such as jet skis and snowmobiles too pollute the environment (Lumsdon, 2000).

Tourism has also led to increased waste and littering in Los Angeles. Foreign and local tourists on trips use items such as water bottles and juice cans, which are disposable. This is because of the reluctance to engage in washing, which to them is a tiresome process. Most of them end up throwing these disposable items anyhow, thus littering the environment. These solid wastes are washed away by rainwater and end up in rivers or the ocean (Schott, 2010). This contributes to pollution of the water. Wastes on the shoreline and in the ocean distort the physical attractiveness of the coastal area, as well as causing death of aquatic organisms through suffocation. In the mountainous regions of Los Angeles, tourists on trekking expeditions have left behind their camping equipment, including oxygen cylinders, in addition to the garbage they leave behind. This has led to the degradation of the environment (Schott, 2010).

Water pollution is another environmental effect of tourism on the environment. In Loa Angeles, this comes in form of runoff, which is polluted. This mainly affects the water in the ocean as the runoff flows down the ocean. When it rains, the flowing water picks up pollutants on streets, parking lots, buildings, yards, and golf courses. Both the tourists as well as the local residents litter all these pollutants. This water flows down the ocean through the creeks, and causes water pollution. Consequently, the pollutants are detrimental to the life of aquatic organisms, which may end up dying. Similarly, the development of many tourist hotels and recreational facilities has resulted in the increase of sewage pollution. Wastewater from hotels dumped in water bodies lead also lead to death of marine organisms, thus having a considerable destruction of flora and fauna. Algae have sometimes affected coral reefs in Los Angeles as the sewage pollution triggers their growth. This also results in changes of the water’s salinity, therefore having a variety of adverse effects on the coastal environment, including death of marine organisms.

Physical damage is caused by human activities in tourism. This results in the damage of fauna and flora. The massive number of tourists in Los Angeles, in addition to the local tourists, tromps carelessly in forests. They smash the delicate flower gardens, thus leaving a less beautiful sight. Theses grasses, gardens, and forests, which are tromped act as habitat for different small animals and insects, therefore, this poses a threat to the survival of these small organisms.

Generally, tourism development puts a strain on the already scarce natural resources. Water is a natural resource, and fresh water is regarded as an important natural resource. In Los Angeles, there are many tourist hotels, which serve the different recreational needs of tourists. These hotels receive a high supply of water, which sometimes can be considered as an overuse. This water goes to these hotels to serve the tourists’ personal use, in golf courses, for hotel use, and to fill swimming pools in hotels. It is estimated that an average golf course may require close to 1800kgs of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides annually and needs water equal to volumes used by 60 000 people in the rural areas. This results in the generation of large amounts of wastewater, and may result in future scarcity and shortages of water, degradation of water.

Tourists and the residents close to 150 million times a year visit the Los Angeles beach. Therefore keeping the beaches clean is a priority for the government. The state government has adopted various strategies to counter the rate of pollution experienced in the Los Angeles beaches and other areas of tourist attraction in the environment. The State Water Resources Board (SWRB) monitors quality of water (Scott, Hall & Gossling, 2012). The detection of harmful pathogens has called for combined efforts of the SWRB, with local health departments to disseminate warning information to people and to ensure the waters are cleaned appropriately. The state has also invested in projects concerned with beach cleaning. It has set aside $100 million for Clean Beach Initiative grants that fund the local programs of beach cleaning to lower the degree of bacterial contamination along the coast. The state also funds research for the development of more effective detection methods. This helps in determining when to call for beach closures and to track for sources of beach contamination. In addition, the study of relationship between bacterial indicators and incidence of disease is underway.  The state of California is also working to ensure the residents adopt low-emission vehicles to lower the rate of air pollution (Scott, Hall & Gossling, 2012).

Conclusively, tourism continues to affect the environment in Los Angeles. However, the impact tourism has on the environment in Los Angeles is not positive, as it has resulted in dangerous effects to the environment. Different forms of pollution eventually lead to health hazards in people and other living organisms. Other impacts on the physical terrain such as congestion of buildings, which exert pressure on land, may lead to the destabilization of the land surface, which could further result in shifting of land. This situation therefore, calls for an urgent intervention to lessen the negative impacts. It is therefore, important that Los Angeles and other cities adopt ecotourism. This kind of tourism is mindful of the environment and friendly to the human population around. This tourism type also enhances conservation of the environment and other natural resources. Ecotourism is the solution to the environmental problems caused by tourism in Los Angeles.

 

References

“Travel Weekly.” (n.d) Los Angeles Travel Guide. Web. Retrieved

http://www.travelweekly.com/Hotels/Los-Angeles/Spotlight#WSCS

Lumsdon, L (2000). “Transport and Tourism: Cycle Tourism – A Model for Sustainable

Development?” Journal of Sustainable Tourism Vol. 8:5 (361-377). 2000

Scott, D., Hall, M. & Gossling, S. (2012). “Tourism and Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation

and Mitigation.” Routledge, New York.

Schott, C. (2010) “Tourism and the Implications of Climate Change: Issues and Actions.”

Emerald Group Publishing, London.

 

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Reasons for Euripides’ Hatred for Women

In the 5^th Century, the Greek tragic drama was characterized by the central importance of women. Most ancient Greek plays, except Sophocles’’ Philoktetes, in this period mainly relied on female characters to bring out their themes. In Euripides’ tragic plays, women are in strong opposition to their male counterparts. Euripides portrays women in a negative way, showing them as liars, murderers, law-breakers, bold, and distractors. However, the real Greek women were expected to be humble, silent, and adherent to the societal laws, which mostly allowed men to dominate.

According to Blondell et al., the fact that Euripides was interested only in the transgressive women is a proof of his misogyny (17). Euripides’ Aristophanes was criticized in relation to how women are represented as violators of the law. All tragic plays have this trait, so this is cannot be the basis for charging Euripides with misogyny. However, the fact that Hippolytos had to be re-written, due to public outrage concerning the representation of the central female figure shows that Euripides had crossed the boundaries of the drama conventions, and hence is a proof of his misogyny (29-33).

Euripides is remembered for representing women in his plays as they are in real life and not as heroines as other plays did. He however shows favouritism by complementing men and condemning women. This is a result of his two unhappy marriages, which resulted in his dislike for women, as the former wives failed to keep their marriage vows. In the Greek society, unfaithfulness in marriage, and especially from women, was highly condemned. Being a male dominated society, women in Greece were to submit to the men in their lives. Failure to live up to this called for condemnation. Therefore, Euripides used his tragic plays maybe as a way of letting out his stress and registering his disappointment and avenge on the women in his life, who had failed him.

 

Works Cited

Blondell, Ruby, Gamel, Mary-Kay, Rabinowitz, Nancy & Vivante, Bella. “Women on the Edge:

Four Plays by Euripides.” New York: Routledge, 2012.

 

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Why Euripides Hated Women

Euripides has been considered a misogynist, as he portrays a certain level of hatred for women in his plays such as Medea and Hippolytus. For instance, in Medea, a female character murders her children as a revenge strategy for her unfaithful husband. The same female character considers her fellow womenfolk as useless and evil. In another play Hippolytus, a female character, Phaedra is portrayed as immoral and incestuous when she falls in love with her stepson. These two episodes, among many others, are a reflection of Euripides tainted opinion on women, and is a proof that he was a misogynist (Lemprière 53).

Euripides must have hated women because he was born and raised in an era when misogyny was common and normal. Misogyny, which is hatred for women, was existent in the Greek culture though in an indirect measure. This ruthless belief was concealed in the Greek cultural norms, which highly based on gender roles. In this whole law situation, these laws highly restricted the women. They were denied their freedom through the dominance of men in society. Since women were considered inferiors of men, any slight mistake on their part would result in them being considered outcasts. This theme is repeated in Euripides’ plays (Lemprière 54).

Euripides in his plays is notorious for bringing out the female characters as inferior, while the male characters are superior. According to Lemprière, this aspect is by a great deal drawn from Euripides’ experiences in his domestic relationships (55). The relationships he had with the women in his life were marked with betrayal, which is why he also portrays the whole womenfolk as evil in his plays. Since the views Euripides had about women are shown in his damning of women, then he for sure, was a hater of women. Nonetheless, this aspect contributed to the successful development of his tragedies.

 

Works Cited

Lemprière, John. “Bibliotheca Classica: or, A classical dictionary.” eds. London: G. and C.

Carvill, 1831-2009.

 

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