Saturday, January 18, 2020
Aryabhata I and How He Influenced Math Essay
Aryabhata I was born in Kerala, India, but moved to Kusumapura early in life. His contribution to mathematics and science is vast, from approximating Pi better than anyone in his time period to deducing the Earth is round. He had many scientific and mathematic discoveries, which he wrote about in his book, the Aryabhatiya. He declared that the Earth rotates on its own axis and used logic to determine that this is what created night and day. (Jain) Part of Aryabhataââ¬â¢s fame was brought by his debunking myths of both religious and general varieties. Instead of the previously believed ââ¬Å"factâ⬠distributed by the Hindu priests that it was a demonââ¬â¢s head named Rahu swallowing the sun and moon, Aryabhata proved them wrong by driving the theory that eclipses happen because of the shadow given off by the earth and moon in place of the Hindu myth. Another myth he disproved by declaration was the thought that the moon gave off its own light, giving it the glow that dominated the night sky. In 499 A.D., at age 23, he wrote Aryabhatiya, which would be known as his famous astronomical opus. As a result of his paper, the Gupta dynasty ruler, Buddhagupta, gave him the title of Head of the Nalanda University to recognize his intellect (Kumar). Later, it is believed that he wrote another book, called the Aryabhata-siddhanta, but it is now lost (Jain). The book is split into three parts: the Ganita, which translates to Ma thematics; the Kala-Kriya, which contains Time Calculations; and the Gola, which is mainly sphere mathematics. The Ganita is astonishing because of its lack of proof concerning the 66 rules it provides (ââ¬Å"Aryabhata Iâ⬠). Aryabhataââ¬â¢s mind is also the basis of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. He created the equation for finding the circumference of a circle using the radius instead of the diameter, like the Greeks used. Forà this equation, C = 2Ãâ¬r2, he had to have a close value for Ãâ¬, which he successfully approximated somehow, and shared his discovery in Aryabhatiya: ââ¬Å"ââ¬â¢Add four to one hundred, multiply by eight and then add sixty-two thousand. The result is approximately the circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. By this rule the relation of the circumference to diameter is given.ââ¬â¢ In other words, n = 62382/20000 = 3.1416, correct to four rounded-off decimal placesâ⬠(Jacobs). The advancements on finding the numerical value of Ã⬠have dramatically increased since then, having calculated numbers on the upside of 5 trillion. His contributions to the mathematical world are still vast, and his discoveries are the foundation for modern algebr a and through that, most of math overall. Aryabhata I calculated the length of a sidereal rotation and year in his book as well. As for the sidereal rotation, he used the stars to determine that the time per day was 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds. The present value is 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.091 seconds. For the sidereal year, he found it to be 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, and 30 seconds, when the modern calculation is a mere 3 minutes and 20 seconds less than Aryabhataââ¬â¢s value. Aryabhata also impacted Trigonometry by his definitions of sine (jya), cosine (kojya), versine (utkrama-jya), and inverse sine (otkram jya). ââ¬Å"He was the first to specify sine and versine (1-cos x) tables, in 3.75à ° intervals from 0à ° to 90à °, to an accuracy of 4 decimal placesâ⬠(Kumar). The modern names ââ¬Å"sineâ⬠and ââ¬Å"cosineâ⬠are also believed to be mistranslations of the words introduced by Aryabhata, Jya and Kojya. In the field of Algebra, he provided results for the summation of series of squares: He did not disappoint the series of cubes: As for remembering the great Aryabhata, he has many colleges named after him, such as the Aryabhata Knowledge University in Bihar and the Aryabhata Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIOS) near Nainital, India. Indiaââ¬â¢s first satellite also shared his name. (Kumar) Works Cited ââ¬Å"Aryabhata I.â⬠Medieval History. About.com, 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. . Jacobs, James Q. ââ¬Å"The Ãâ¬ryabhatà ya of Ãâ¬ryabhata.â⬠The Ãâ¬ryabhatà ya of Ãâ¬ryabhata by J. Q. Jacobs. J.Q. Jacobs, 1997. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. . Jain, Ankur. ââ¬Å"Aryabhatta Biography.â⬠Aryabhatta Scientists | Biography. Study Helpline, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. . Kumar, Amit. ââ¬Å"Aryabhatta- The Great Indian Mathematician.â⬠The Braves and Smarts. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. . Oââ¬â¢Connor, J.J., and E.F. Robertson. ââ¬Å"Aryabhata the Elder.â⬠School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Nov. 2000. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .
Friday, January 10, 2020
The True Story About Sat Essay Writing Test Samples Two Approaches That the Experts Dont Want You to Know
The True Story About Sat Essay Writing Test Samples Two Approaches That the Experts Don't Want You to Know Lies You've Been Told About Sat Essay Writing Test Samples Two Approaches The following two paragraphs must contain certain examples pulled from the text to support your principal argument. A couple of sentences to draw your reader in, followed by a couple of sentences with your principal argument and supporting examples are lots. Transition from the last paragraph within this example (1 sentence). Introduce your very first example with some sort of transition (1 sentence). New Questions About Sat Essay Writing Test Samples Two Approaches Students with special accommodations may be able to spend the test on a computer, but otherwise it is a written test. Keep it simple and simple, then move forward. It is often as large or as small as it is possible to consider! Holt Online Essay Scoring provides the next forms of feedback and. You will have to practice this. 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Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Women s Rights Of Women - 966 Words
In past years women have been inferior to men and have sat in the background and watched as men ruled. Woman weââ¬â¢re treated as property and were only used for things like having children, raising the children, keeping the house clean, to cook, and to obey all of the wishes of a man. The only women that men highly respected were the goddesses, like the goddess Artemis, Hera, and Eris. The men would pray to the goddess for the things they donââ¬â¢t have in there life. From the day a girl is born she is property, she is owned by her father at first and then her husband. Women werenââ¬â¢t expected and in most cases aloud to go out and make their own money, they are even aloud to own a house or sue someone. The roles of women back then were final and it was a struggle for them to even exist, sometimes even women being seen was unheard of. A mans opinion was the only opinion that matter at that time, men determined what was right and what was wrong, what was socially acceptable , and what women were and werenââ¬â¢t aloud to do. Men had separate rooms from the women and children that they would take company into and talk with them because they believed that women didnââ¬â¢t need to hear what they were talking about because they were uneducated and didnââ¬â¢t have the right to have an opinion. Men even decided what women did for an occupation. They chose this the women were going to be a house wife or a prostitute. Women were treated no better then a domestic slave and they struggled trying to becomeShow MoreRelatedWomen s Rights Of Women Essay1455 Words à |à 6 Pagesa myriad of women have expressed through outlets such as public assemblies, literature, and speeches. There have been three waves of the womenââ¬â¢s movement, each targeting a variety of issues within each era. The third wave was in 1995, where Hillary Clinton spoke in Beijing, China, claiming that womenââ¬â¢s rights were the same as human rights, that every aspiring girl deser ved the civil liberties that every man was given around the world. Moreover, the movement had shifted towards women in developingRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1265 Words à |à 6 Pagesstands in the way of women being equal to men? Journalist Carlin Flora suggests the following, ââ¬Å"While not all claims to humanity are universal and no one context, culture or continent can truly represent all peoples, the following three examples from very different contexts, cultures and continents show that some violations of womenââ¬â¢s human rights are universal. In particular, it is still the case the world over that a womanââ¬â¢s reproductive rights, which impact on her right to life, are still seenRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women881 Words à |à 4 PagesTwenty ââ¬âfirst century ladies are discovering it a daunting task to keep up both sexual orientation parts as an aftereffect of the women s activist development. They are presently assuming liability for both the supplier an d the nurturer, battling like never before to acquire and keep a superior personal satisfaction. Woman s rights has supported in equivalent vocation opportunity, battling to get ladies acknowledged into the employment advertise, and what initially began as ladies strengtheningRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women Essay1647 Words à |à 7 Pagesthe early 1920ââ¬â¢s, women thought they had achieved the unachievable. They could finally work, keep their earned wages, marry whomever they please, and even vote. After reaching their goal and fighting vigorously, women could taste equality and the freedom they deserved. While women still have the right to work in todayââ¬â¢s society, women are not exactly treated equal in the workplace. Regardless of the past and the extreme measures taken to ensure equal opportunities for both men and women, there are manyRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1590 Words à |à 7 Pagesthe 1920s, women were ignored in every aspect of their life. From politics, to social situations, women were constantly looked at as lesser. The 20s was a decade of women ready to fight for their rights. From gaining social freedoms, to getting political rights, the 20s was the first decade of feminism. Many women played key roles in the fight for women s rights through speeches, marches, and much more. The women that fought for their rights in the 1920s completely changed how women live their livesRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1230 Words à |à 5 PagesWomenââ¬â¢s suffrage has stretched from the 1800ââ¬â¢s to present day, as women have struggled to have the same civil and constitutional rights as men in politics and be appreciated as equals in the workforce. Groups of women known as suffragists questioned the customary views of womenââ¬â¢s roles. Eventually our nation has evolved and realized that male-controlled societies suppress womenââ¬â¢s rights. From the beginning steps taken in 1850 to 2013 with women earning combat roles in the m ilitary, womenââ¬â¢s rolesRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1206 Words à |à 5 Pagesto speak of women and the role of women in this election, the subject of women is tiresome but necessary in a world where gender is still existent as an obstacle for most. I cannot identify what woman is. I am basing my definition from our modern understanding of woman, our general view, and the popular experience. People are using younger women voting for Bernie Sanders as proof of genderââ¬â¢s irrelevant in this election, that women have achieved their rights. Even if women ââ¬Ëhave rights nowââ¬â¢ it doesRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1393 Words à |à 6 Pages Women all over the world are being treated different than men. Iran is one of the places that women are being treated the worst. From restrictions to punishments, women in Iran are being treated with no respect, and that is not okay. Womenââ¬â¢s rights activists have tried to get it to change, and have traveled to many places to try and get more people to join their movement. There are many issues with women not having the same rights as men. One of the main problems is that they are treated lessRead MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1272 Words à |à 6 PagesThroughout history, women have fought a strenuous battle for equal rights. Many men, and even some women, all over the world believe that women do not share the same value and importance to society as men do. On September 5, 1995, Hillary Clinton spoke at the 4th World Conference on Women, on behalf of women all over the world. Clinton raised awareness on how women s rights are being violated and why it is important to recognize women s rights as equal to everyone elseââ¬â¢s rights. Even today, in 2016Read MoreWomen s Rights Of Women1052 Words à |à 5 PagesThe family has traditionally been the basic unit of Chinese society where women have long been charged with upholding society s values in their roles as wives and mothers. Especially in the Qing Dynasty, women were required to balance society s i deals with the reality of raising a family and maintaining a household. Throughout the imperial period and into the beginning of the twentieth century, the relationship among family members was prescribed by Confucian teachings. The revered philosopher
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Queer Evolution Word Goes Mainstream - 1087 Words
Kids Just Donââ¬â¢t Understand Parents are hard folks to please. Ask anyone and they will say just that. Whatever a child does, they receive some sort of comment or criticism from their folks. While some parents are mean and criticize their children with the intention of hurting them, most parents criticize their children because they care and love their child. It boils down to the language parentsââ¬â¢ use with their kin, and the actions behind their language. In Martha Irvineââ¬â¢s essay Queer Evolution: Word Goes Mainstream, she explains the evolution of the word queer and how the word has changed over time from a negative to a word that is seen as more tolerated. Irvineââ¬â¢s ideas are echoed in Deborah Tannenââ¬â¢s Youââ¬â¢re Wearing That, and Michael Kimmelââ¬â¢s Bros Before Hos in that words parents use with their children might be harmful without the children understanding the actions behind the words. Irvine explains in her essay that words and the ideas behind the words is suspect to change over time. Tannen and Kimmel point out in their essayââ¬â¢s that this is the case when children interpret their parentââ¬â¢s comments as negative instead of positive. Queer Evolution describes how queer transformed from a hateful word to a mainstream word. Although she specifically uses the history of the word queer, the same ideas can be said for many other words. Irvine explains ââ¬Å"in the 1920s and ââ¬Ë30s the word queer became synonymous with ââ¬Å"pansyâ⬠, ââ¬Å"sissyâ⬠, and even ââ¬Å"pervertâ⬠. That is not the case anymore inShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Deborah Tannen s Queer 1204 Words à |à 5 Pagesof Michigan published an article titled Queer Evolution which talked about how the word ââ¬Å"Queerâ⬠itself has evolved into the mainstream. Originally the wordââ¬â¢s definition was to describe something as odd or weird. Society utilized the word ââ¬Å"Queerâ⬠as an insult to the LGBTQ communit y. As more sexual orientations are being discovered, ââ¬Å"Queerâ⬠became a more accepted word in the gay community in order to make things simpler. Irvineââ¬â¢s essay showed that whatever word we use, can affect a person depending onRead MoreThe Internet, And Media Globalization Essay2172 Words à |à 9 Pagesdelve into the concepts of pop culture, representations in narratives, the evolution of the internet, and media globalization. First of all, chapter eight informs the reader about how the media contributes to influencing culture in todayââ¬â¢s generation with entertainment and art. Chapter nine then discusses the various representations and stereotypes in narratives and how they influence the media. Then, chapter ten goes into detail on the power and impact of the internet and technology around theRead MoreThe United States1445 Words à |à 6 Pagesevidence. At the turn of the century, metropolitan areas began to have secretive subcultures that allowed queer citizens to socialize among each other. This largely went unnoticed by the government until the 1914 Portland Vice Scandal, when over fifty people were detained and tried for engaging in sodomy in Portland, Oregon (Boag, n.d.). This brought the issue of homosexuality to the mainstream and quickly led to nearby states enacting harsher punishments to discourage such activities, including theRead MoreCompare and Contrast Functionalism and Structuralism14315 Words à |à 58 Pagesany simple, factual account of ââ¬Ëwhat makes people tickââ¬â¢ as discovered by social psychologists. You will, I hope, get a good, basic grounding in the key WHAT IS SO CIAL PSYCHOLO GY? 5 topics, methods and approaches that have been taken by mainstream social psychologists, predominantly by means of experimental studies used to test their theories of and explanations for a wider diversity of social psychological phenomena. At the same time this book is intended to take you somewhere else, wellRead MoreThe Dichotomy Between Structure And Agency Essay5109 Words à |à 21 Pagescentral authority towards individual freedom and personal autonomy (Ritzer, 2011). The expression of identities point to peoples agency. People are at liberty to chose their sexual identities and live it. The Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer campaigns and recognition are cases in point that underscores personal freedom and autonomy. It was reported recently that ladies, men and women walked the streets bare chested without any covering in the United States and Canada recently. This actionRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words à |à 656 PagesMcMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past Sharon Hartman Strom, Political Woman: Florence Luscomb and the Legacy of Radical Reform
Monday, December 16, 2019
Can You Say What Your Strategy Is Free Essays
string(66) " that executives should be forced to be crystal clear about them\." www. hbr. org Itââ¬â¢s a dirty little secret: Most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement. We will write a custom essay sample on Can You Say What Your Strategy Is or any similar topic only for you Order Now If they canââ¬â¢t, neither can anyone else. Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? by David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad Reprint R0804E Itââ¬â¢s a dirty little secret: Most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement. If they canââ¬â¢t, neither can anyone else. Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? by David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad COPYRIGHT à © 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Can you summarize your companyââ¬â¢s strategy in 35 words or less? If so, would your colleagues put it the same way? It is our experience that very few executives can honestly answer these simple questions in the af? rmative. And the companies that those executives work for are often the most successful in their industry. One is Edward Jones, a St. Louisââ¬âbased brokerage ? rm with which one of us has been involved for more than 10 years. The fourth-largest brokerage in the United States, Jones has quadrupled its market share during the past two decades, has consistently outperformed its rivals in terms of ROI through bull and bear markets, and has been a ? xture on Fortuneââ¬â¢s list of the top companies to work for. Itââ¬â¢s a safe bet that just about every one of its 37,000 employees could express the companyââ¬â¢s succinct strategy statement: Jones aims to ââ¬Å"grow to 17,000 ? nancial advisers by 2012 [from about 10,000 today] by offering trusted and convenient face-to-face ? ancial advice to conservative individual investors who delegate their ? nanharvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 cial decisions, through a national network of one-? nancial-adviser of? ces. â⬠Conversely, companies that donââ¬â¢t have a simple and clear statement of strategy are likely to fall into the sorry category of those that have failed to execute their strategy or, worse, those that never even had one. In an as tonishing number of organizations, executives, frontline employees, and all those in between are frustrated because no clear strategy exists for the company or its lines of business. The kinds of complaints that abound in such ? rms include: â⬠¢ ââ¬Å"I try for months to get an initiative off the ground, and then it is shut down because ââ¬Ëit doesnââ¬â¢t ? t the strategy. ââ¬â¢ Why didnââ¬â¢t anyone tell me that at the beginning? â⬠â⬠¢ ââ¬Å"I donââ¬â¢t know whether I should be pursuing this market opportunity. I get mixed signals from the powers that be. â⬠â⬠¢ ââ¬Å"Why are we bidding on this customerââ¬â¢s business again? We lost it last year, and I thought we agreed then not to waste our time chasing the contract! â⬠page 1 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? David J. Collis (dcollis@hbs. du) is an adjunct professor in the strategy unit of Harvard Business School in Boston and the author of several books on corporate strategy. He has studied and consulted to Edward Jones, the brokerage that is the main example in this article, and has taught in the firmââ¬â¢s management-development program. Michael G. Ruksta d was a senior research fellow at Harvard Business School, where he taught for many years until his untimely death in 2006. â⬠¢ ââ¬Å"Should I cut the price for this customer? I donââ¬â¢t know if we would be better off winning the deal at a lower price or just losing the business. Leaders of ? rms are mysti? ed when what they thought was a beautifully crafted strategy is never implemented. They assume that the initiatives described in the voluminous documentation that emerges from an annual budget or a strategic-planning process will ensure competitive success. They fail to appreciate the necessity of having a simple, clear, succinct strategy statement that everyone can internalize and use as a guiding light for making dif? cult choices. Think of a major business as a mound of 10,000 iron ? lings, each one representing an employee. If you scoop up that many ? ings and drop them onto a piece of paper, theyââ¬â¢ll be pointing in every direction. It will be a big mess: 10,00 0 smart people working hard and making what they think are the right decisions for the companyââ¬âbut with the net result of confusion. Engineers in the RD department are creating a product with ââ¬Å"must haveâ⬠features for which (as the marketing group could have told them) customers will not pay; the sales force is selling customers on quick turnaround times and customized offerings even though the manufacturing group has just invested in equipment designed for long production runs; and so on. If you pass a magnet over those ? ings, what happens? They line up. Similarly, a well-understood statement of strategy aligns behavior within the business. It allows everyone in the organization to make individual choices that reinforce one another, rendering those 10,000 employees exponentially more effective. What goes into a good statement of strategy? Michael Porterââ¬â¢s seminal article ââ¬Å"What Is Strategy? â⬠(HBR Novemberââ¬âDecember 1996) lays out the char acteristics of strategy in a conceptual fashion, conveying the essence of strategic choices and distinguishing them from the relentless but competitively fruitless search for operational ef? iency. However, we have found in our work both with executives and with students that Porterââ¬â¢s article does not answer the more basic question of how to describe a particular ? rmââ¬â¢s strategy. It is a dirty little secret that most executives donââ¬â¢t actually know what all the elements of a strategy statement are, which makes it impossible for them to develop one. With a clear de? nition, though, two things happen: First, formulation becomes in? nitely easier because executives know what they are trying to create. Second, implementation becomes much simpler because the strategyââ¬â¢s essence can be readily communicated and easily internalized by everyone in the organization. Elements of a Strategy Statement The late Mike Rukstad, who contributed enormously to this article, identi? ed three critical components of a good strategy statementââ¬â objective, scope, and advantageââ¬âand rightly believed that executives should be forced to be crystal clear about them. You read "Can You Say What Your Strategy Is" in category "Papers" These elements are a simple yet suf? cient list for any strategy (whether business or military) that addresses competitive interaction over unbounded terrain. Any strategy statement must begin with a de? nition of the ends that the strategy is designed to achieve. ââ¬Å"If you donââ¬â¢t know where you are going, any road will get you thereâ⬠is the appropriate maxim here. If a nation has an unclear sense of what it seeks to achieve from a military campaign, how can it have a hope of attaining its goal? The de? nition of the objective should include not only an end point but also a time frame for reaching it. A strategy to get U. S. troops out of Iraq at some distant point in the future would be very different from a strategy to bring them home within two years. Since most ? rms compete in a more or less unbounded landscape, it is also crucial to de? ne the scope, or domain, of the business: the part of the landscape in which the ? rm will operate. What are the boundaries beyond which it will not venture? If you are planning to enter the restaurant business, will you provide sit-down or quick service? A casual or an upscale atmosphere? What type of food will you offerââ¬âFrench or Mexican? What geographic area will you serveââ¬âthe Midwest or the East Coast? Alone, these two aspects of strategy are insuf? ient. You could go into business tomorrow with the goal of becoming the worldââ¬â¢s largest hamburger chain within 10 years. But will anyone invest in your company if you have not explained how you are going to reach your objective? Your competitive advantage is the essence of your strategy: What harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 2 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? your business will do differently from or better t han others de? nes the all-important means by which you will achieve your stated objective. That advantage has complementary external and internal components: a value proposition that explains why the targeted customer should buy your product above all the alternatives, and a description of how internal activities must be aligned so that only your ? rm can deliver that value proposition. De? ning the objective, scope, and advantage requires trade-offs, which Porter identi? ed as fundamental to strategy. If a ? rm chooses to pursue growth or size, it must accept that pro? tability will take a back seat. If it chooses to serve institutional clients, it may ignore retail customers. If the value proposition is lower prices, the company will not be able to compete on, for example, fashion or ? t. Finally, if the advantage comes from scale economies, the ? rm will not be able to accommodate idiosyncratic customer needs. Such trade-offs are what distinguish individual companies strategically. De? ning the Objective The ? rst element of a strategy statement is the one that most companies have in some A Hierarchy of Company Statements Organizational direction comes in several forms. The mission statement is your loftiest guiding lightââ¬âand your least speci? c. As you work your way down the hierarchy, the statements become more concrete, practical, and ultimately unique. No other company will have the same strategy statement, which de? nes your competitive advantage, or balanced scorecard, which tracks how you implement your particular strategy. MISSION Why we exist VALUES What we believe in and how we will behave VISION What we want to be STRATEGY What our competitive game plan will be BALANCED SCORECARD How we will monitor and implement that plan The BASIC ELEMENTS of a Strategy Statement OBJECTIVE = Ends SCOPE = Domain ADVANTAGE = Means form or other. Unfortunately, the form is usually wrong. Companies tend to confuse their statement of values or their mission with their strategic objective. A strategic objective is not, for example, the platitude of ââ¬Å"maximizing shareholder wealth by exceeding customer expectations for _______ [insert product or service here] and providing opportunities for our employees to lead ful? lling lives while respecting the environment and the communities in which we operate. â⬠Rather, it is the single precise objective that will drive the business over the next ? ve years or so. (See the exhibit ââ¬Å"A Hierarchy of Company Statements. ) Many companies do haveââ¬âand all ? rms should haveââ¬âstatements of their ultimate purpose and the ethical values under which they will operate, but neither of these is the strategic objective. The mission statement spells out the underlying motivation for being in business in the ? rst placeââ¬âthe contribution to society that the ? rm aspires to make. (An insurance company, for example, might de? ne its mission as providing ? nancial security to consumers. ) Such statements, however, are not useful as strategic goals to drive todayââ¬â¢s business decisions. Similarly, it is good and proper that ? ms be clear with employees about ethical values. But principles such as respecting individual differences and sustaining the environment are not strategic. They govern how employees should behave (ââ¬Å"doing things rightâ⬠); they do not guide what the ? rm should do (ââ¬Å"the right thing to doâ⬠). Firms in the same business often have the same mission. (Donââ¬â¢t all insurance companies aspire to provide ? nancial security to their customers? ) They may also have the same values. They might even share a vision: an indeterminate future goal such as being the ââ¬Å"recognized leader in the insurance ? eld. However, it is unlikely that even two companies in the same business will have the same strategic objecti ve. Indeed, if your ? rmââ¬â¢s strategy can be applied to any other ? rm, you donââ¬â¢t have a very good one. It is always easy to claim that maximizing shareholder value is the companyââ¬â¢s objective. In some sense all strategies are designed to do this. However, the question to ask when creating an actionable strategic statement is, Which objective is most likely to maximize shareholder value over the next several years? harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 3 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? Growth? Achieving a certain market share? Becoming the market leader? ) The strategic objective should be speci? c, measurable, and time bound. It should also be a single goal. It is not suf? cient to say, ââ¬Å"We seek to grow pro? tably. â⬠Which matters moreââ¬âgrowth or pro? tability? A salesperson needs to know the answer when sheââ¬â¢s deciding how aggressive to be on price. There could well be a host of subordinate goals that follow from the strategic objective, and these might serve as metrics on a balanced scorecard that monitors progress for which individuals will be held accountable. Yet the ultimate objective that will drive the operation of the business over the next several years should always be clear. The choice of objective has a profound impact on a ? rm. When Boeing shifted its primary goal from being the largest player in the aircraft industry to being the most profitable, it had to restructure the entire organization, from sales to manufacturing. For example, the company dropped its policy of competing with Airbus to the last cent on every deal and abandoned its commitment to maintain a manufacturing capacity that could deliver more than half a peak yearââ¬â¢s demand for planes. Another company, after years of seeking to maximize pro? ts at the expense of growth, issued a corporate mandate to generate at least 10% organic growth per year. The change in strategy forced the ? rm to switch its focus from shrinking to serve only its pro? table core customers and competing on the basis of cost or ef? ciency to differentiating its products, which led to a host of new product features and services that appealed to a wider set of customers. At Edward Jones, discussion among the partners about the ? rmââ¬â¢s objective ignited a passionate exchange. One said, ââ¬Å"Our ultimate objective has to be maximizing pro? t per partner. â⬠Another responded, ââ¬Å"Not all ? nancial advisers are partnersââ¬âso if we maximize revenue per partner, we are ignoring the other 30,000-plus people who make the business work! â⬠Another added, ââ¬Å"Our ultimate customer is the client. We cannot just worry about partner pro? ts. In fact, we should start by maximizing value for the customer and let the pro? ts ? ow to us from there! â⬠And so on. This intense debate not only drove alignment with the objective of healthy growth in the number of ? ancial advisers but also ensured that every implication of that choice was fully explored. Setting an ambitious growth target at each point in its 85-year history, Edward Jones has continually increased its scale and market presence. Striving to achieve such growth has increased long-term pro? t per adviser and led the ? rm to its unique con? guration: Its only pro? t center is the ind ividual ? nancial adviser. Other activities, even investment banking, serve as support functions and are not held accountable for generating pro? t. De? ning the Scope A ? mââ¬â¢s scope encompasses three dimensions: customer or offering, geographic location, and vertical integration. Clearly de? ned boundaries in those areas should make it obvious to managers which activities they should concentrate on and, more important, which they should not do. The three dimensions may vary in relevance. For Edward Jones, the most important is the customer. The ? rm is con? gured to meet the needs of one very speci? c type of client. Unlike just about every other brokerage in the business, Jones does not de? ne its archetypal customer by net worth or income. Nor does it use demographics, profession, or spending habits. Rather, the de? nition is psychographic: The companyââ¬â¢s customers are long-term investors who have a conservative investment philosophy and are uncomfortable making serious ? nancial decisions without the support of a trusted adviser. In the terminology of the business, Jones targets the ââ¬Å"delegator,â⬠not the ââ¬Å"validatorâ⬠or the ââ¬Å"do-it-yourselfer. â⬠The scope of an enterprise does not prescribe exactly what should be done within the speci? ed bounds. In fact, it encourages experimentation and initiative. But to ensure that the borders are clear to all employees, the scope should specify where the ? rm or business will not go. That will prevent managers from spending long hours on projects that get turned down by higher-ups because they do not ? t the strategy. For example, clarity about who the customer is and who it is not has kept Edward Jones from pursuing day traders. Even at the height of the internet bubble, the company chose not to introduce online trading (it is harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 4 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? till not available to Jones customers). Unlike the many brokerages that committed hundreds of millions of dollars and endless executive hours to debates over whether to introduce online trading (and if so, how to price and position it in a way that did not cannibalize or con? ict with traditional offerings), Jones wasted no money or time on that decision because it had set clear boundaries. Similarly, Jones is not vertically integrate d into proprietary mutual funds, so as not to violate the independence of its ? nancial advisers and undermine clientsââ¬â¢ trust. Nor will he company offer penny stocks, shares from IPOs, commodities, or optionsââ¬âinvestment products that it believes are too risky for the conservative clients it chooses to serve. And it does not have metropolitan of? ces in business districts, because they would not allow for the convenient, face-to-face interactions in casual settings that the ? rm seeks to provide. Knowing not to extend its scope in these directions has allowed the ? rm to focus on doing what it does well and reap the bene? ts of simplicity, standardization, and deep experience. De? ning the Advantage Wal-Martââ¬â¢s Value Proposition Wal-Martââ¬â¢s value proposition can be summed up as ââ¬Å"everyday low prices for a broad range of goods that are always in stock in convenient geographic locations. â⬠It is those aspects of the customer experience that the company overdelivers relative to competitors. Underperformance on other dimensions, such as ambience and sales help, is a strategic choice that generates cost savings, which fuel the companyââ¬â¢s price advantage. If the local mom-and-pop hardware store has survived, it also has a value proposition: convenience, proprietors who have known you for years, free coffee and doughnuts on Saturday mornings, and so on. Sears falls in the middle on many criteria. As a result, customers lack a lot of compelling reasons to shop there, which goes a long way toward explaining why the company is struggling to remain pro? table. Customer purchase criteria* Low prices Selection across categories Rural convenience Reliable prices In-stock merchandise Merchandise quality Suburban convenience Selection within categories Sales help Ambience poor Delivery on criteria * in approximate order of importance to Wal-Martââ¬â¢s target customer group Source: Jan Rivkin, Harvard Business School Mom pop stores Sears Wal-Mart excellent Given that a sustainable competitive advantage is the essence of strategy, it should be no surprise that advantage is the most critical aspect of a strategy statement. Clarity about what makes the ? rm distinctive is what most helps employees understand how they can contribute to successful execution of its strategy. As mentioned above, the complete de? nition of a ? rmââ¬â¢s competitive advantage consists of two parts. The ? rst is a statement of the customer value proposition. Any strategy statement that cannot explain why customers should buy your product or service is doomed to failure. A simple graphic that maps your value proposition against those of rivals can be an extremely easy and useful way of identifying what makes yours distinctive. (See the exhibit ââ¬Å"Wal-Martââ¬â¢s Value Proposition. â⬠) The second part of the statement of advantage captures the unique activities or the complex combination of activities allowing that ? rm alone to deliver the customer value proposition. This is where the strategy statement draws from Porterââ¬â¢s de? nition of strategy as making consistent choices about the con? guration of the ? rmââ¬â¢s activities. It is also where the activity-system map that Porter describes in ââ¬Å"What Is Strategy? comes into play. As the exhibit ââ¬Å"Edward Jonesââ¬â¢s ActivitySystem Mapâ⬠shows, the brokerageââ¬â¢s value proposition is to provide convenient, trusted, personal service and advice. What is most distinctive about Jones is that it has only one ? nancial adviser in an of? ce, which allows it to have mor e of? ces (10,000 nationally) than competitors do. Merrill Lynch has about 15,000 brokers but only 1,000 of? ces. To make it easy for its targeted customers to visit at their convenienceââ¬âand to provide a relaxed, harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 5 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? ersonable, nonthreatening environmentââ¬â Jones puts its of? ces in strip malls and the retail districts of rural areas and suburbs rather than high-rise buildings in the central business districts of big cities. These choices alone require Jones to differ radically from other brokerages in the con? guration of its activities. With no branch-of? ce management providing direction or support, each ? nancial adviser must be an entrepreneur who delights in running his or her own operation. Since such people are an exception in the industry, Jones has to bring all its own ? ancial advisers in from other industries or backgrounds and train them, at great expense. Until 2007, when it sw itched to an internet-based service, the ? rm had to have its own satellite network to provide its widely dispersed of? ces with real-time quotes and allow them to execute trades. Because the company has 10,000 separate of? ces, its real estate and communication costs are about 50% higher than the industry average. However, all those of? ces allow the ? nancial advisers who run them to deliver convenient, trusted, personal service and advice. Other successful players in this industry also have distinctive value propositions Edward Jonesââ¬â¢s Activity-System Map This map illustrates how activities at the brokerage Edward Jones connect to deliver competitive advantage. The ? rmââ¬â¢s customer value proposition appears near the center of the mapââ¬âin the ââ¬Å"customer relationshipâ⬠bubbleââ¬âand the supporting activities hang off it. Only the major connections are shown. TARGET CUSTOMER individual conservative delegates decisions PRODUCT blue chips PRICE one-time commission mutual funds HEADQUARTERS St. Louis home of? e for all activities TECHNOLOGY satellite (historically) LOCATION rural suburban strip mall REGIONAL STRUCTURE no regional management COMPENSATION each ? nancial adviser is a pro? t center ONE FINANCIAL ADVISER PER OFFICE advisers run their own of? ces MARKETING local mailings knocking on doors INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY long-term buy and hold CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP face-to-face convenient tru sted ? nancial adviser VALUES CULTURE volunteerism mentoring BRANCH SUPPORT branch-of? ce assistant OWNERSHIP partnership, not public BROKER TYPE entrepreneur member of community HIRE TRAIN hire from outside industry internally train all ? ancial advisers harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 6 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? and unique con? gurations of activities to support them. Merrill Lynch. During the ? ve-year tenure of former CEO Stan Oââ¬â¢Neal, who retired in October 2007, Merrill Lynch developed an effective strategy that it called ââ¬Å"Total Merrill. â⬠The companyââ¬â¢s value proposition: to provide for all the ? nancial needs of its high-net-worth customersââ¬âthose with liquid ? nancial assets of more than $250,000ââ¬âthrough retirement. While a lot of brokerages cater to people with a high net worth, they focus on asset accumulation before retirement. Merrillââ¬â¢s view is that as baby boomers age and move from the relatively simple phase of accumulating assets to the much more complex, higher-risk phase of drawing cash from their retirement accounts, their needs change. During this stage, they will want to consolidate their ? nancial assets with a single trusted partner that can help them ? gure out how to optimize income over their remaining years by making the best decisions on everything from annuities to payout ratios to long-term-care insurance. Merrill offers coherent ? nancial plans for The Strategic Sweet Spot The strategic sweet spot of a company is where it meets customersââ¬â¢ needs in a way that rivals canââ¬â¢t, given the context in which it competes. CONTEXT (technology, industry demographics, regulation, and so on) COMPETITORSââ¬â¢ offerings CUSTOMERSââ¬â¢ needs SWEET SPOT COMPANYââ¬â¢S capabilities such customers and provides access to a very wide range of sophisticated products based on a Monte Carlo simulation of the probabilities of running out of money according to different annual rates of return on different categories of assets. How does Merrill intend to deliver this value to its chosen customers in a way thatââ¬â¢s unique among large ? ms? First, it is pushing brokersââ¬âespecially new onesââ¬âto become certi? ed ? nancial planners and has raised internal training requirements to put them on that road. The certi? ed ? nancial planner license is more dif? cult for brokers to obtain than the standard Series 7 license, because it requires candidates to have a college degree and to master nearly 100 integrated ? nancialplanning topics. Second, Merrill offers all forms of insurance, annuities, covered calls, hedge funds, banking services, and so on (unlike Edward Jones, which offers a much more limited menu of investment products). Since several of these products are technically complex, Merrill needs product specialists to support the client-facing broker. This ââ¬Å"Team Merrillâ⬠organization poses very different HR and compensation issues from those posed by Edward Jonesââ¬â¢s single-adviser of? ces. Merrillââ¬â¢s compensation system has to share income among the team members and reward referrals. Wells Fargo. This San Francisco bank competes in the brokerage business as part of its tactic to cross-sell services to its retail banking customers in order to boost pro? t per customer. It aims to sell each customer at least eight different products. ) Wells Fargoââ¬â¢s objective for its brokerage arm, clearly stated in a recent annual report, is to triple its share of customersââ¬â¢ ? nancial assets. The brokerageââ¬â¢s means for achieving this goal is the parent companyââ¬â¢s database of 23 million customers, many of them brought into the ? rm through one particular aspect of the bankin g relationship: the mortgage. Wells Fargo differs from Edward Jones and Merrill Lynch in its aim to offer personalized, rather than personal, service. For example, the ? mââ¬â¢s IT system allows a bank clerk to know a limited amount of information about a customer (name, birthday, and so on) and appear to be familiar with him or her, which is quite different from the ongoing individual relationships that Jones and Merrill brokers have with their clients. harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 7 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? LPL Financial. Different again is LPL Financial, with of? ces in Boston, San Diego, and Charlotte, North Carolina. LPL sees its brokers (all of whom are independent ? nancial advisers af? liated with the ? rm) rather than consumers as its clients and has con? ured all of its activities to provide individualized solutions and the highest payouts to its brokers. This means that the vast majority of the activities performed by the corporate headquar ters staff are services, such as training, that brokers choose and pay for on an a la carte basis. As a result, LPLââ¬â¢s headquarters staff is very small (0. 20 people per broker) compared with that of Edward Jones (1. 45 people per broker). Low overhead allows LPL to offer a higher payout to brokers than Jones and Merrill do, which is its distinctive value proposition to its chosen customer: the broker. By now it should be apparent how a careful description of the unique activities a ? rm performs to generate a distinctive customer value proposition effectively captures its strategy. A relatively simple description in a strategy statement provides an incisive characterization that could not belong to any other ? rm. This is the goal. When that statement has been internalized by all employees, they can easily understand how their daily activities contribute to the overall success of the ? rm and how to correctly make the dif? cult choices they confront in their jobs. Developing a Strategy Statement How, then, should a ? rm go about crafting its strategy statement? Obviously, the ? rst step is to create a great strategy, which requires careful evaluation of the industry landscape. Leaving No Room for Misinterpretation Executives at Edward Jones have developed a detailed understanding of every element of the ? rmââ¬â¢s strategy. Here is an example. â⬠conservativeââ¬Å" Our investment philosophy is long-term buy and hold. We do not sell penny stocks, commodities, or other high-risk instruments. As a result we do not serve day traders and see no need to offer online trading. We charge commissions on trades because this is the cheapest way to buy stocks (compared with a wrap fee, which charges annually as a percentage of assets) when the average length of time the investor holds the stock or mutual fund is over 10 years. â⬠individualââ¬Å" We do not advise institutions or companies. We do not segment according to wealth, age, or other demographics. The company will serve all customers that ? t its conservative investment philosophy. Brokers will call on any and every potential customer. Stories abound within Jones of millionaires who live in trailersââ¬âpeople all the other brokerages would never think of approaching. investorsââ¬Å" Our basic service is investment. We do not seek to offer services such as checking accounts for their own sake, but only as part of the management of a clientââ¬â¢s assets. â⬠who delegate their ? nancial decisionsââ¬Å" We do not target self-directed do-it-yourselfers, who are comfortable making their own investment decisions. We are also unlikely to serve validators, who are merely looking for reassurance that their decisions are correct. Edward Jonesââ¬â¢s Strategy Statement To grow to 17,000 ? nancial advisers by 2012 by offering trusted and convenient face-to-face ? ancial advice to conservative individual investors who delegate their ? nancial decisions, through a national network of one-? nancialadviser of? ces. harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 8 Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? This includes developing a detailed understanding of customer needs, segmenting customers, and then identifying unique ways of creating value for the ones the ? rm chooses to serve. It also calls for an analysis of competitorsââ¬â¢ current strategies and a prediction of how they might change in the future. The process must involve a rigorous, objective assessment of the ? mââ¬â¢s capabilities and resources and those of competitors, as described in ââ¬Å"Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990s,â⬠by David J. Collis and Cynthia A. Montgomery (HBR Julyââ¬âAugust 1995)ââ¬ânot just a feel-good exercise of identifying core competencies. The creative part of developing strategy is ? nding the sweet spot that aligns the ? rmââ¬â¢s capabilities with customer needs in a way that competitors cannot match given the changing external contextââ¬âfactors such as technology, industry demographics, and regulation. (See the exhibit ââ¬Å"The Strategic Sweet Spot. ) We have found that one of the best ways to do this is to develop two or three plausible but very different strategic options. For example, ? eshing out two dramatically different alternativesââ¬âbecoming a cheap Red Lobster or a ? sh McDonaldââ¬â¢sââ¬âhelped executives at the Long John Silverââ¬â¢s chain of restaurants understand the strategic choices that they had to make. They had been trying to do a bit of everything, and this exercise showed them that their initiativ esââ¬âsuch as offering early-evening table service and expanding drive-through serviceââ¬âwere strategically inconsistent. Competing on the basis of table service requires bigger restaurants and more employees, while drive-through service requires high-traf? c locations and smaller footprints. ) As a result, they chose to be a ? sh McDonaldââ¬â¢s, building smaller restaurants with drive-through service in hightraf? c locations. The process of developing the strategy and then crafting the statement that captures its essence in a readily communicable manner should involve employees in all parts of the company and at all levels of the hierarchy. The wording of the strategy statement should be worked through in painstaking detail. In fact, that can be the most powerful part of the strategy development process. It is usually in heated discussions over the choice of a single word that a strategy is crystallized and executives truly understand what it will involve. The end result should be a brief statement that re? ects the three elements of an effective strategy. It should be accompanied by detailed annotations that elucidate the strategyââ¬â¢s nuances (to preempt any possible misreading) and spell out its implications. See the exhibit ââ¬Å"Leaving No Room for Misinterpretation. â⬠) When the strategy statement is circulated throughout the company, the value proposition chart and activity-system map should be attached. They serve as simple reminders of the twin aspects of competitive advantage that underpin the strategy. Cascading the statement throughout the organization, so that each level of management will be the teacher for the level below, becomes the starting point for incorporating strategy into everyoneââ¬â¢s behavior. The strategy will really have traction only when executives can be con? ent that the actions of empowered frontline employees will be guided by the same principles that they themselves follow. â⬠¢Ã¢â¬ ¢Ã¢â¬ ¢ The value of rhetoric should not be underestimated. A 35-word statement can have a substantial impact on a companyââ¬â¢s success. Words do lead to action. Spending the time to develop the few words that truly capture your strategy and that will energize and empower your people will raise the long-term ? nancial performance of your organization. Reprint R0804E To order, see the next page or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500 or go to www. br. org harvard business review â⬠¢ april 2008 page 9 Further Reading The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series Here are the landmark ideasââ¬âboth contemporary and classicââ¬âthat have established Harvard B usiness Review as required reading for businesspeople around the globe. Each paperback includes eight of the leading articles on a particular business topic. The series includes over thirty titles, including the following best-sellers: Harvard Business Review on Brand Management Product no. 1445 Harvard Business Review on Change Product no. 842 Harvard Business Review on Leadership Product no. 8834 Harvard Business Review on Managing People Product no. 9075 Harvard Business Review on Measuring Corporate Performance Product no. 8826 For a complete list of the Harvard Business Review paperback series, go to www. hbr. org. To Order For Harvard Business Review reprints and subscriptions, call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500. Go to www. hbr. org For customized and quantity orders of Harvard Business Review article reprints, call 617-783-7626, or e-mail customizations@hbsp. harvard. edu page 10 How to cite Can You Say What Your Strategy Is, Papers
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Crisis and Trauma Counselling for Psychotherapy - myassignmenthelp
Question: Discuss about theCrisis and Trauma Counselling for Psychotherapy. Answer: Introduction: The concept of crisis and trauma counselling has been developed to help people resolve crisis inducing events. These situations occur in any circumstances and have to be dealt with as soon as possible. In many occasions the individuals facing problems lose all capabilities of responding to situations, so they require the proper amount of help and support in order to come out of their depressing state of mind. In order to help a client to combat his or her depression and stress levels it is necessary to understand the given situation well and help the person accordingly. Proper identification of the problem is hence an extremely important step in crisis and trauma counselling. Situations experienced by the client: The provided case study is about a 34 year old psychologist named Patricia. She has faced the pressure of being a single parent. The responsibility of single-handedly raising a child is quite challenging. Apart from this the client also has responsibilities pertaining to the society. In this connection it can be clearly stated that the client faced significant personal issues. These consisted of being a single parent and tackling responsibilities of raising her son and even the work pressure. Being a single parent, the client is incapable of sharing her problems and getting the required mental and emotional support which can usually be provided by a spouse. The situational issue related to this case is that of balancing all aspects of the clients life. The responsibilities of work cannot be ignored by her and at the same time she does not get adequate rest after fulfilment of all her responsibilities. The client also has an office at her home from where she works late into the night and hence the situation in which she is working are taxing and extremely strenuous (Capuzzi Stauffer, 2016). The environment at work which the client faces during the day is also very strenuous as the organisation which she works in has very less chances of employing additional staff. This also contributes towards her increased stress levels (Gladding Newsome, 2017). Besides this, there is a significant amount of speculation and judgemental attitudes towards single parents which needs to be dealt with in a proper way for which the client might feel stressed or pressurised. Signs and symptoms experienced by the client: Due to the stressful work conditions of the client as well as situational factors, she has upheld certain symptoms related to changed psychological, emotional as well as behavioural patterns. Regarding the physical traits it can be said that the client faced considerable amount of exhaustion at work. The client also indulged in comfort eating at the time of stress which accounted for even more amount of stress related to her body weight. She also suffered from severe headaches due to tension and also had difficulty in falling asleep. Her racing thoughts and random patterns of thinking did not let her fall asleep (Headington Institute, 2017). Emotionally the client started feeling down, low, de-motivated at work and dreaded work. There was a certain amount of distance which she felt from her everyday activities. She also felt extremely frustrated regarding her job and felt that she was deprived. She felt let down and sad at not being given the level of promotion which she felt she desired. The behavioural changes were experienced in her daily response to the other staff members and her colleagues. There was an increased irritation in her demeanour and she felt that her colleagues were irritating. The mails which she sent seemed to communicate the levels of her anger and frustration. The client also felt as if her tasks and responsibilities at work were weighing down on her and her productivity started declining despite the additional efforts which she put in (Levers, 2012). The ways in which the client can improve the situation: The best way in which stress can be managed is by channelizing ones thoughts in a particular direction. A person needs to try to choose one thought over another or tackle one thought at a time which is necessary in case of this particular client as well. In case one thought is focussed at a time there will not be a chance of experiencing chaotic thoughts in ones mind. There also are spiritual solutions to such problems, like meditation and the art of staying calm. The thoughts in the head can be calmed down to a significant extent by regularly practicing the art of meditation. The client can start by devoting a certain amount of time in the morning for meditation and can keep on increasing the time bit by bit in order to calm the thoughts which crowd the mind (Headington Institute, 2017). There also needs to be a support system where the client should be able to reach out to others and share the trauma or sad experiences. In case the client can share the problems with her colleagues she can receive a sense of reassurance which might help her concentrate on her work and reduce the levels of frustration experienced by her. It is advisable that the client works towards building a friendly relation with her son so that they can interact casually and can solve each others problems (Hillman, 2013). The psychological inception of the thought processes of the client needs to be understood by her in order to control the thoughts before they start to occupy the brain. The client can also attend inspirational talks in order to attain peace of mind (Levers, 2012). Conclusion: There are several ways in which victims of trauma or crisis situations can be tackled. It needs to be understood that they should not lose hope and should keep on focussing on the positive aspects of life. It needs to be remembered that these situations are very normal and can be tackled with proper care. It is due to the regular interaction with the victims of violence that a negative impact falls on the people who work in such centres. Proper counselling and monitored medication in special cases can solve the issue easily. References: Capuzzi, D., Stauffer, M. D. (2016).Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. John Wiley Sons. Gladding, S. T., Newsome, D. W. (2017).Clinical mental health counseling in community and agency settings. Pearson. Headington Institute. (2017).Headington Institute | Blog | Managing Stress: How you think about stress matters. [online] Available at: https://www.headington-institute.org/blog-home/609/managing-stress-how-you-think-about-stress-matters [Accessed 21 Oct. 2017]. Headington Institute. (2017).Headington Institute | Blog. [online] Available at: https://www.headington-institute.org/blog-home/search/resilience [Accessed 21 Oct. 2017]. Hillman, J. L. (2013).Crisis intervention and trauma: New approaches to evidence-based practice. Springer Science Business Media. Levers, L. L. (Ed.). (2012).Trauma counseling: Theories and interventions. Springer Publishing Company.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
The Road of Life free essay sample
In his poem, Traveling through the Dark, William Stafford presents the reader with the difficulty of one mans choice. Immediately, the scene is set, with the driver, who is traveling through the dark on a treacherous winding road when suddenly he sees a dead deer in the road. Right away, the speaker realizes what he must do: It is usually best to roll them into the canyon. The reader can recognize that this is not a new situation for the speaker and he makes it clear that to leave the deer lying in the road could cause an unsuspecting car to swerve and go toppling into the canyon, which might make more dead. The speaker then continues to report the details of what he did next: he got out of the car, which he parked Just ahead of the deer carcass, and stumbled back of the car. He examines the deer and finds that she has stiffened already, almost cold. We will write a custom essay sample on The Road of Life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But as he drags her body over to the lip of the canyon, he notices that she was large in the belly. It appears that the doe is pregnant because when he felt her side it was warm. The baby was still alive. This turn of events causes the speaker to reconsider. Pushing a dead deer off the side of the cliff is one thing, but a deer whose baby is alive is different. He knows that if he ushes the dead doe over the cliff, he is killing the unborn baby, so beside that mountain road [he] hesitated. Although a car could come speeding around the turn at any time, the situation catches the speaker off guard and makes him wonder how could he Just heartlessly toss away this innocent life? The speaker seems to be contemplating two options. He could try to deliver the baby to save its life, which he would prefer to do. But he quickly realizes that this option is not a realistic one at all. He couldnt do a surgery like this on such a dark road and be able to keep the baby alive. The speaker thinks hard about what to do. He calls his hesitation my only swerving, because when he realized that the doe was pregnant, his decision to toss it over was reconsidered. But he finally comes to the conclusion that he has no choice but to try to save other humans before its too late so he pushed her over the edge into the river. Who is it best for, the deer or man? Is human life more important than animal life? These are questions that arise when reading the poem and are questions that the speaker must answer before the night is over. Through his use of metaphor, symbolism, and personification, Stafford alludes to the difficult decisions that occur long the road of life, especially death, and the consequences that are a result from those decisions. With the use of these devices, Stafford shows the theme of death as a consequence of these decisions and reveals the conflict between humans and nature. The poem uses four four-line stanzas and a concluding two-line verse. It is a narrative description of the speakers actions during the darkness. There are no regular rhyme schemes and its irregular in meter. But Stafford seemed to be playing with rhymes by using near rhymes like road and dead; killing and belly; waiting and hesitated; engine and listen; swerving and river. Stafford may be doing this so the poem doesnt have a definite structure, giving it a more relaxed feeling when reading it. The poem seems to be set in a conversation style, where the speaker is talking out loud, reliving the event that occurred that night. To illustrate the theme of death, Stafford presents a metaphor relating the literal road to the road Wilson River road. Also, the reader gets the sense that the road is dark and isolated. The only lit section of this road is the stretch that the speaker is travelling n. Symbolically, this represents the speakers current life. The road that has already been traveled symbolizes his past. The speaker may be unable to see his past because of the darkness. He also literally cant see farther ahead, only as far as the headlights will allow, because of the darkness. This sy mbolizes how the future in our lives is yet to be discovered. Staffords symbolic description of the road is comparable toa mans trip along the path of life. In this poem though, Stafford reveals conflicts with stopping along the path of life, not travelling along it. The eceased deer is what forces the speaker to stop along the road, but death in life is what causes humans to stop along their path and take time to make decisions. Stafford also uses symbolism of the deer, canyon, and river to reinforce his theme. The deer is seen as a roadblock which must be dealt with before the speaker can continue on his trip. He cant simply push death to the side of the road as the reader sees when he has a hard time making up his mind. But the deer would Just decay if it were left there. Instead, as Stafford states in the first stanza, it is usually best to oll them into the canyon. Stafford shows the way to deal with this is to discard of it immediately and not to hesitate at all. This may be true for the safety of other cars and people, but symbolically the reader sees it is necessary to deal with this problem so one can continue on their path in life. The canyons with the river at the bottom could symbolically represent a way to wash all our problems away. By Just pushing the deer over the edge and not hesitating, one is getting rid of this problem without letting these troubles hold them back. Another way the decisions made when topping along the road of life are symbolized is through Staffords use of language. The word swerving is used twice in the poem. When explaining why the man should move the deer, Stafford writes, to swerve might make more dead. This also could symbolically refer to a swerve in Judgment. If the speaker makes a swerve in his decision, it has consequences which may cause problems or even death.
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