DQ-4-Terence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

DQ-4-Terence - Essay Example The new information threatens the regulatory requirements as they provide conflicting information. Concerns though have risen to whether the different uses of internet guidelines are beneficial to the organization and whether the new patterns should align or contradicts the general communication patterns from the body. Investigations into this inquiry are therefore the paramount objective of the paper, articulated through discussions and evidence from the scholarly articles by different researchers. Organizational structure determines the operational policy and the work process of any company that the business employs. Actions as the managerial reporting, movement of knowledge, decision-making process and dissemination of information are the essential components ensured by the organizational structures (Im, Hong & Kang, 2011). The structures whether they move within the organization and between the groups levels has no inherent of being better than the other. Rather, the structures have their sole benefit to the organization that suits them well in a particular situation (Wixom & Watson, 2012). Information flow in the major organizations has been structured on a departmental level and organizational level. The corporate level can be referred to as the flow of ideas within the organization that is inherent from the other organizations branches. The department heads use their own internet rather than sharing a broader network in the whole group. The organizational level uses a different internet in communication to other regions. Many individual will argue that it’s due to the independent nature employed by the organization to ensure each unit performs to its best. Whether the idea of separating internet usage within and between the groups’ levels remains a question for debate? Operating with the same policies and work procedures means the organization has similar goals and objectives to accomplish and why separate their internet

Life in the Antebellum U.S Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Life in the Antebellum U.S - Essay Example The Native Americans were the initial occupants of land in America. They hunted and gathered to sustain their nutritional requirements. President Thomas Jefferson saw the institution of a policy which allowed Native Americans to retain their ancestral lands east of the Mississippi. The only condition attached to this was that the native population was to assimilate themselves with the rest of the population. They were to supplement their hunting and gathering practices with agriculture. As time elapsed, it became impossible for the government retain their policy. The rapid population increase among the immigrants and Whites in America made it improbable for the government to retain this policy. They, therefore, resorted in the displacement of Native Americans from their ancestral land. The president Andrew Jackson signed 'the Indian Removal Act’ on May 26, 1830 (Keegan 72). The acquired land was to be used to set up plantations. These would ensure large-scale production of cro ps that would be used for food and other industries. It would also provide the immigrants with a place to settle in; where they could begin building their lives. Time ensued, and the Whites encroached on Native American’s land outnumbering the native population. They assumed total ownership of the land and established their own institutions and systems. The Natives signed treaties that guaranteed them equal land West of Mississippi in exchange for their original parcels of land. Tribes that did not co-operate faced forceful eviction from their lands by government officials who abused their power. For example, the Cherokee people experienced forceful eviction from their land. This was after signing the ‘Treaty of New Echota’ by a small part of the entire tribe. The tribal leaders missed out of the entire treaty signing process. This led to the death of estimated 4,000 tribe members in 1835. The march came to be known as the ‘Trail of Tears’ (Keegan 27 ). The government justified their actions by claiming that the natives’ presence disrupts the harmony in the region. They also claimed that the land would benefit the American population. However, this was not entirely true. Many of the government officials were greedy and simply desired sole ownership of the land. This led them to act in inhumane ways that led to the death of many Natives. These officials also did not honor the terms of the treaties in which they coerced the natives to sign. The Antebellum period saw increased manufacturing of products in America. Most manufacturers were, therefore, in need of cheap labor to meet their manufacturing demands. This could only be provided by immigrant workers. There were two categories of immigrant workers in the antebellum period. The first lot is the workers who migrated to America left their homes to search for a means to sustain their livelihood without coercion. The others underwent forceful eviction from their countries w ithout their approval. The zeitgeist of that time supported the expansive use of slave labor. The thriving slave market profited from the sale of slaves acquired from conquered states in the African continent (Keegan 33). A variety of factors worked together to contribute to widespread colonialism; and in turn to slavery all around the world. The superior states were always in constant disagreement as they all rushed to acquire colonial territories overseas. The Berlin conference 1885-1886 came up with guidelines of

Fast Food in US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fast Food in US - Essay Example They are modeled after success, and as long as you go away with food in hand, they really could care less about the effects it has on you, or your life down the long road. This is what Eric Schlosser took a deep look into in the book Fast Food Nation. Using witty examples and biting realism, Schlosser was able to tear apart the wrapper surrounding the Big Mac that is the fast food industry. Showing the whole what they really were eating, Schlosser offered a unique journalistic look into the making, formation, and distribution of the one of the most beloved things in America: Food. The companies probably weren't expecting this to happen. They were safe under the wrappers they had made, and didn't want people to know how unhealthy the food is, and how it really is all part of a consumer fraud in a way, where the supplier is supplying the consumer with something that is unhealthy while making no attempts to change this. One of the main reasons the companies do as good as they do is their products. In today's fast paced society, everybody is busy, hustling around, always moving. We live in a very fast paced society, and time is money. And everybody needs to eat, but not everybody can find the time to sit down at an expensive meal. Money is also an issue here. Some people can't afford to eat out all the time. The state of families is not what is was years ago, and in effect, is causing more people to eat out compared to what they used to. So here comes fast food to save the day. Offering a quick and easy solution to each of these problems, fast food is quick, easy, cheap and simple. It offers a quick hamburger to a busy businessman, or to a family who only has a spare few minutes in which time they need to eat dinner. Fast food offers all of these solutions, and with new to go orders and serving sizes, the convenience only continues to grow. As popularity grows, so does the message, you can come here and get a quick food in the middle of your fast passed life. No busy lines, no busy sit down restaurants, just a cheap easy and quick meal. Than it itself offers a lot to customers and really widens the fan base of such fast food joints. Convenience and price are two factors of the product, but only a small part of the large picture of the product. Mass producing the product is important, and I am not just talking about mass producing the product actually, but in the people's minds. Images of good looking fast food sandwiches are thrown every, on build boards, on commercials on tv, on magazine ads, everywhere you look is the image of a good tasting burger. This is very in your face advertising, but when a person needs something quick, they remember that add and that image and go back to that fast food place to eat. The image of the product that is displayed is just as important as the actual product, and the fast food companies make sure to display a good quality image, and to display it all over the place, well engrained into people's memories. All of these are strong factors to the product of fast food, but one of the next items is how the food is actually presented. Although most fast food is not different from one another, they would have you believe that it is way better than the other guys, and the competition between the chains keeps more and more original

Relativism and Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Relativism and Morality - Essay Example This is used to describe values and concepts of ethical and moral considerations (Baghramian, 2004). Goodman pointed out that relativism can be equated to compromise of value which can prevent conflicts but it prevents the achievement of a meaningful morality or values. This is a bold philosophical view since values, ethics and morality are concepts significantly affected by the social norms (Goodman, 2010, p.87). Goodman’s view regarding relativism can be considered as an important eye opener. He stated that due to the intentions to achieve a common good, the global formulations are becoming culture-bound. This means that cultural differences are being considered as one of the most important factors if not the top most priority. Such scenario leads to the generalization of moral laws which according to him is in the risk of blandness, vagueness, and compromise of principles, which is common and widespread in the present era. The ambiguity in the guiding principles of morality in the international community becomes the law and judicial tactic (Goodman, 2010, p.87). This can be observed in the manner different nations, cultures and societies deal with social, economic, and political issues. Issues that are considered charged and controversial although of great importance and vitality are faced with ambiguity, thus, lost in social compromises of different forms. There are numerous issues that can be cited as examples such as abortion, divorce, same sex marriage, etc. The relativism in morality can explain why in some nations and cultures, these issues are accepted while in other nations and cultures, such issues are prohibited and even detested. Due to the differences in the view and opinions of different nations and communities in the world and due to the stratification of societies on the basis of geographical, cultural, religious, and economic divides, social and political authorities are preventing heated discussions that can lead to violent misunderst andings. As a result, the international community can be observed to have a moral view that is bland and safely coasting between the multitudes of clashing moral views. Moral values are meant to guide and to lead the people in different forms of decision making process. But having a relative morality can be considered ineffective to guide the people their way of life. Upon expression of the dangers of compromise and relativism in morality, Goodman presented his view on the different crimes. He stated and stressed that regardless of the fact that compromise in values rule the present society, there are actions that are simply wrong and that no social and cultural consideration can correct. Goodman said that slavery, genocide, terrorism, murder, rape, polygamy, and incest are examples of crimes and actions that are plainly and absolutely wrong, regardless of the perspective (Goodman, 2010, p.89). This means that it is hard to justify any of these acts as a morally right act on the bas is of any particular culture. No logical reason can justify killing and causing hard to other people such as terrorism, genocide, and murder as the right thing to do in any given situation. Similarly, no logical reason can make slavery and limiting of other people’s rights and freedom such as slavery an acceptable act. This is the same for rape, polygamy, ad incestuous relationships wherein no reasons can make these sexual

Educating in math Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Educating in math - Essay Example Every problem in mathematics requires understanding of the underlying concept and using the ideas to solve the problem. By studying mathematics major, I have the opportunity to work on many mathematics problems in various topics such as geometry, calculus and statistics. Through the study of mathematics, my analytical skills will be enhanced, and this will help me think clearly. For instance, one of the analytical skills needed in mathematics is paying attention to detail. This will allow my mind develop the ability to think critically and come up with logical arguments. In addition, one the important skills in mathematics is the ability to investigate in order to understand and solve mathematics problems. This skill also contributes to improving my thinking through deeper analysis and examination of a problem. Studying mathematics involves interpreting texts, mathematical expressions, functions and graphs. As a student, I have to communicate these ideas to the teacher and fellow students in order to demonstrate my understanding. Therefore, through mathematics, my communication skills will be greatly enhanced. The math major course gives me the opportunity to engage with fellow students and the teachers in understanding mathematical concepts and solving problems. Communication is important in every aspect of life, and mathematics helps me improve on this important skill. This will be vital not only to my social life but also throughout my career. The knowledge acquired by studying mathematics major is important in enhancing creativity and innovation. In particular, the knowledge gained through studying various topics in mathematics will help me create solutions to current problems. For example, the ideas gained through the study of statistics could be used to provide creative solutions on how to manage an organization’s data. The math major course offers the flexibility one needs in providing creative and innovative solutions to various problems.

Boeing corporation crisis Essay Example for Free

Boeing corporation crisis Essay Attached is a report of the biggest crisis that the Boeing Corporation has ever faced in its existence. First it will describe the events leading up to the problem before it became a public issue. Then we will discuss in extensive detail exactly what the problem is that Boeing is facing and how they can overcome it. The team of xxx completed the research and the written report of the crisis. Boeing is an international supplier of commercial airline planes, military defense aircraft, and surveillance. Partially due to the September 11th attacks on the United States, the Boeing Corporation will be laying off 30,000 employees from their nationwide facilities. The layoffs will affect cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and will affect employees from entry level to executive offices. The announcements of these issues have caused Boeings stock to fall to a surprising low and production levels to drop dramatically. XXX would like to thank XXX for giving us the opportunity to complete this research assignment. The research helped us learn how to more efficiently utilize the different databases available to us and put it into a format so it can be presented to a public organization or the media. The skills learned in the duration of completing this report will be able to be utilized when presenting to upper management a detailed issue and solutions to a specific problem. Boeing Corporation Crisis Cal State Fullerton Jean Fuller May 28, 2002 Executive Summary Today the Boeing Corporation is facing one of the largest crises in the history of the company. They are in the process of laying off a total of 30,000 employees from their facilities nationwide. The layoffs will take place in cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Most of the layoffs affect the commercial airline division, but the military defense and aerospace divisions will also be affected. The plan for the reduction in employee size began in July 2001, but the attacks on the United States on September 11th left the company having to lay off more employees. At the present time, Boeing is mainly focusing on reducing the amount of mandatory layoffs. This is going to be hard to accomplish because of the reduced demand for the companys goods and services. In the future, Boeings focus will be on returning to a high level of production and profitability. They will be focusing on competing with the competition by increasing product innovation and reducing expenses that the company incurs during production in an effort to keep prices low. Due to economic slowdown and reduced spending by consumers, the Boeing Corporation was beginning to experience loss in revenues and a decline in production. Not more than three months later, the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York impacted the demand for commercial aircraft because of fear to travel by airplane. Also, heavy competition with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Boeing is not being awarded as many contracts with the United States military, which is causing a decline in revenues for the aerospace and military defense divisions. There are not many ways to overcome the entire problem, but there are some alternatives that the company can consider in order to reduce them. The alternatives are to distribute hours equally among the employees, reallocate employees into different divisions, offer severance pay, and to continue to layoff employees. Boeing has to be careful in the way that this particular situation is handled. If employees feel as though they are being treated unfair, they will not have job satisfaction and production may decrease. The best possible solution for the Boeings problem is to equally distribute the hours among the employees. By doing this employees will maintain their jobs. This will result in higher job satisfaction than other alternatives, and Boeing will not have to go through an extensive process to rehire when they return back to a stage of profitability. Boeing Problem Statement As Boeing faces one of the greatest financial crises in the history of the airline industry, Boeing plans to cut production workers, engineers and support staff by mid-2002 (Nyhan, September 2001). Because of a declining economy as well as terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, Boeing is laying off a total of 30,000 employees in all divisions of the corporation: aerospace, commercial aviation, and military defense. The layoffs will happen in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Seattle, Oklahoma, and the Puget Sound area, and will affect everyone from salaried executives to the hourly paid maintenance employees. Layoffs are a sign of company turmoil and should be avoided to maintain the company stockholders. Short and Long-Term Goals Boeings primary short-term objective is to maintain a reasonable level of profitability given the recent occurrences. It will attempt to accomplish this by reducing the amount of dollars that are paid to the current employees by either reducing their hours, or completely terminating their employment with the company. Because of current supply and demand of the company, profits will be reduced if the current level of employees is maintained. Boeings long-term objective is to be the number one supplier of commercial, aerospace, and military aircraft and technology. They aim to accomplish this by maintaining a level of profitability that satisfies the stockholders and corporate executives. They also want to maintain a high level of competition with the current competition: Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. If Boeing loses government aerospace and military defense contracts to the competition, there is a high probability that the company will become insolvent and declare bankruptcy. Details of the Problem Prior to September 11th, Boeing was going through trying times. Their satellite manufacturing operations were in a recession. This was due to the bursting of the internet and telecom bubbles (Laing, 2002). The Commercial Airline Industry was also facing a slowdown. This was a result of high fuel prices, labor cost increases, a softening of the national economy and low passenger traffic (Smith, 2001). Also, improvements in production efficiency for Boeing led to a plan to decrease up to 15% of its employees in the commercial-aircraft business. This efficiency in production was due to the industrys first ever-moving assembly line for the final phase of the production process, which cuts unneeded steps (Holmes, 2001). Likewise, by the end of 2001, Boeing lost out on the largest military contract ever when the Pentagon picked rival Lockheed Martin to build the Joint Strike Fighter for shared use by the Air Force, Navy and Marines. This next generation manned fighter is expected to flow more than $200 billion in revenues over the next 20 years (Laing, 2002). But most traumatic for Boeing were the terrorist attacks on September 11th. They transformed what had been shaping up as a mild downturn in commercial jet orders into a veritable collapse in demand (Laing, 2002). After the attacks, the need to fly drastically declined due to fear and security issues that made flying a nuisance. This left the US Airline Industry in a serious crisis. Companies such as Continental, US Airways, American, and Delta cut up to 20% of their capacity (Smith, 2001). Source: www.bloomber.com The terrorist attacks resulted in Boeings stock to plummet. Prior to September 11th, Boeings stock was falling because of the downturn in the economy. From the graph above, we can see that the attacks made the stock price to fall from $50 a share to $30. This was a sign that investors knew the impact the terrorist attacks had on Boeings industry. After September 11th, Boeing planned to respond to these problems by cutting production rates by 50 percent (Nyhan, November 2001). On September 18th, one week after the attacks, Boeing announced at a press conference that it would layoff up to 30,000 employees by the middle of 2002 (Smith, 2001). On that day, Boeing reduced the level of employees by 12,000: 3,000 through retirement and attrition, and 9,000 through layoffs (Farley, 2001). Boeing also stated that their jetliner orders would decrease drastically. In the next three years 80% of their 2001 orders would be delivered (Smith, 2002). They also planned to cut their monthly production of aircraft by half, from 48 to 24. The director of people at Boeings commercial airplane unit said, In order to match our reduced production rate, we will need to accomplish the majority of the 20,000 to 30,000 reductions in 2002 employment by midyear. Members of the Associated Press and Kiro 7 Eyewitness News stated, Last week Boeing officials announced plans to layoff as many as 30,000 employees, mostly in the Puget Sound area, by the end of next year because of plummeting demand for new planes and postponed deliveries since the terrorist attacks. Boeings commercial airplane division is not the only division that the layoffs will effect. Surprisingly 5,000 of the 30,000 layoffs are predicted to come from the military division. The military division cutbacks are also due to the September 11th attacks, but they are mainly due to global economic slowdown (Klein, 2001). This comes as a surprise because the military division is expected to grow in a time of war or terrorist attacks. Stockholders may assume that the government will request an increased level of production of fighter jets and military bombers so that the United States can dominate in the war against terrorism. In addition, the layoffs will not only affect the Boeing employees, but also people outside the company. As many as 20,000 of the Boeing layoffs may occur in the Seattle area alone, resulting in an additional 34,000 jobs lost by Boeing suppliers, subcontractors, and others (Klein, 2001). Alternatives Before Boeing implements any solutions they must maintain a good level of communication with their employees. The employees must know the reasons for a particular action taken by Boeing in order to avoid any mistrust and confusion (Hoffman, 2001). For example, an employee will wonder why layoffs are taking place when Phil Condit, Boeings CEO, is making an annual bonus of $1.13 million (Webber, 2002). Boeing must carefully explain their plans and what they are hoping to accomplish through their actions. Boeing can reduce the amount of layoffs by implementing any of the following solutions: Distribute Hours Among Employees The first solution for Boeing is to spread the hours among the employees for each department. Every department is given so many hours it can use for each week at the beginning of the quarter, depending on the amount of business Boeing has. If those hours taken and spread among the employees for each department, not as many layoffs will occur. The hours will be spread out by reducing the workweek from five days to four. By cutting one day out of an employees schedule Boeing is able to give those hours to another employee, which under the circumstances would be laid off. Once four employees each receive a deduction in their workweek one employee will be able to maintain their job and not be laid off. The advantage to this solution is that fewer employees will have to be laid-off. Employees will have their hours cut according to seniority. Some employees that have been with the company for a number of years will not be affected by the action. By holding onto the employees and not laying them off Boeing will be prepared to handle new contracts as they arise. Boeing is predicting that the recent decline in contracts is only short-term and business will soon return to their previous levels. The disadvantage to the solution is that some employees will not be able to afford a reduction in hours. In this scenario employees will not be satisfied and hold each other responsible for less hours. If employees are not satisfied then their production will decrease due to their dissatisfaction. Re-Allocate Employees The second solution for Boeing is to train employees in other departments within the company. This will allow Boeing to reallocate employees in different departments rather than laying them off. With the commercial airline department being hit the hardest by the recent terrorist events, employees in that department could transfer to other departments if they possessed the knowledge. The advantage in training employees outside their departments is the value it will add to the employee. If an employee has the knowledge and know how to be productive and efficient in other departments, not just his own, they become an instant asset to the company. Due to their flexibility Boeing can move the employee around in accordance with demand. A disadvantage to this solution is that Boeing will incur high costs for training employees to do other jobs. A slowdown in production will also result due to the time spent on training. The transition for an employee to move from one department to another is difficult because the employee will not be as efficient. Severance Pay Early retirement packages will be available to qualified employees. The retirement packages to be offered will vary depending on the number of years an employee has with the company. For each full year of service an employees has with the company, up to twenty-six years, they will receive one week of pay (Hoffman, 2001). The employee can take the severance pay in either a lump sum or as an income continuation. The single lump sum plan pays the severance pay to the person in one check within one month of leaving the company. The income continuation plan will pay the severance pay on the regular paydays every two weeks (Boeing, 2000). The advantage to this solution is each individual makes their own decision and they have total control of what they want to do. Also high salaries will be eliminated as management personnel take the package. Once management leaves, the ones that find early retirement appealing, Boeing will be able to promote employees into those positions without having to pay the large salaries. The disadvantage to this solution is that not many jobs will be saved because not many employees will go for the early retirement package. Boeing will also lose experienced managers if they decide to take the early retirement package. If this solution is implemented Boeing will continue to layoff employees because not enough jobs will be cut. Continue Layoffs The last solution is to continue to layoff employees as necessary. This will allow Boeing to keep revenues high because the layoffs will occur according to the market. If Boeing does not get as many contracts as they expected for a particular quarter, the layoffs will help the companys finances. The disadvantage to this alternative is the potential of business picking backup. The market for commercial jetliners is expected to boom in two years and Boeing needs to be able to handle the new contracts. If Boeing has to constantly train new employees as business increases, in an effort compensate for the ones that were laid-off, they will not be operating at full efficiency. Solution Boeing realizes that layoffs cant be completely eliminated, however they want to reduce layoffs to the lowest possible amount. Boeing will accomplish that by distributing the hours in each department among the employees. This solution will allow Boeing to save jobs by reducing the employees workweek from forty hours to thirty-two hours. The management of each department will determine the hours to be cut and the number of employees that are affected. This will be implemented on June 1, 2002 throughout all departments. Most employees will be affected by the reduction in hours, and management must be prepared to cope with the initial negative reaction. In order to measure the results of the solution, Boeing must evaluate the impact on its bottom line along with the toll its taking on their employees. An evaluation will occur every six months and will be lead by top executives and the department managers. Once evaluated, a decision will be made by the board of directors on whether or not to continue with the reduction of hours or to incorporate a different action. The thirty-two hour workweek is expected to be temporary as analysts are predicting a turn around in demand for planes (Holmes, 2001). As production returns to capacity, hours will be returned back to employees according to seniority. Reference List Airlines slash workforces. (n.d.) retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.proquest.com . Airwise News. (2001, September 22). Majority of Boeing layoffs in aircraft sector. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com Associated Press Newswires. (2002, March). More Boeing layoff notices. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. A71327300 Associated Press Newswires. (2001, September). First Boeing layoffs set to take effect Dec. 14. Retrieved May 7, 2002, from www.seattleinsider.com/news/boeing.html Boeing Company. (2002). A Brief History. Retrieved April 8, 2002, from www.boeing.com/companyoffices/history/boeing/html. Boeing Company. (2002). Layoffs Benefits Plan. Retrieved May 7, 2002, from www.boeing.com/companyoffices/benefits/boeing/html. Carlton, D.R. (2002, January) Boeing bleak outlook. The Economist, 362 (8257), 58. Corliss, B. (2002, April). Boeing deliveries drop 10%. Retrieved May 7, 2002, from www.msnbc.com Farley, G. (2001, December). Union leaders file grievances. The Associated Press. Retrieved April 15, 2002, from www.king5.com/cgi-bin/gold.cgi Genna, C.A. (2002, April 19). More layoff notices to be issued at Boeing. Retrieved May 8, 2002, from www.latimes.com Gillie, J.F. (2001, November). Lost jobs in Puget Sound area. The News Tribune, Tacoma. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com Gillie, J.F. (2001, December). 1,700 new layoff notices today. The News Tribune, Tacoma. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. TCMA0135500 Global general aviation industry delivery breakdowns for jets. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2002, from http://rdswebl.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite.html. Hoffman, R. (2001, June 29). The Dynamics of Downsizing. Retrieved May 18, 2002, form www.hradvice.com Holmes, S.C. (2001, November 26). Aerospace industry downsizing. Business Week, (3759), 108-109 Klein, A. (2001, October 13). Boeing faces massive layoffs. The Washington Post. Retrieved April 15, 2002, from http://detnews.com/2001/business.html. Laing, J.R. (2002, April). Gaining Altitude: Corporate profiles. Barrons, 82 (17), 21-25. Lloyd, M.K. (2001, December). Losing Altitude; Aviation. The Economist, 361 (8253), 81-83. More Boeing layoff notices going out. (n.d.) Retrieved April 26, 2002, from www.seattleinsider.com Nyhan, P.J. (2001, September). Boeing expects to layoff up to 10 percent in commercial division. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 10, 2002 from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. SEPI012700. Nyhan, P.J. (2002, February). Boeing lays off 1,000 local workers. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Nyhan, P.J. (2001, November). Majority of Boeing layoffs to hit by June. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com Schneider, R. (2001, December). Losing Altitude: aftershocks from September 11th. The Economist. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.infotrac.com. Article No. A81118376. Smith, B.A. (2002, January 21). Boeing continues its production cost focus. Aviation Week Space Technology, 156 (3), 43-44. Smith, B.A. (2001, September 24). Boeing cuts delivery estimates, prepares for major layoffs. Aviation Week Space Technology, 155 (13), 29-32. Song, K.M. (2001, December). Boeing layoff face challenge. The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. SETL0135600. Song, K.M. (2002, April). Effects from Boeing cutbacks felt. The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 18, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. SETL0211100. Standaert, J. (2002, January). Boeing trims 2,300 more jobs. The News Tribune, Tacoma. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. TCMA0201900. Thomas, G.D. (2002, April). Tough times ahead. Air Transport World, 39, (4), 31-33. Webber, J.P. (2002, April 19). Boeing hurt by slowdown. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 8, 2002, from www.latimes.com

Theories of Reading Essay Example for Free

Theories of Reading Essay So far, there are three main theories which explain the nature of learning to read. First, the traditional theory, or bottom up processing, which focused on the printed form of a text. (2) the cognitive view, or top-down processing enhanced the role of background knowledge in addition to what appeared on the printed page. Third, the metacognitive view, which is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending a text, and thus, emphasizes the involvement of the reader’s thinking about what he is doing while reading. 1. The traditional bottom-up view The traditional bottom-up approach to reading was influenced by behaviorist psychology of the 1950s, which claimed learning was based upon â€Å"habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response† and language learning was characterized as a â€Å"response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning processes,† where â€Å"some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,† and â€Å"only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist† (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of the audio-lingual method, which sought to form second language â€Å"habits† through drilling, repetition, and error correction. Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known asphonics, which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer 1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25), the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli of the printed words, where â€Å"little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recesses of the mind that allowed the human to make sense of the printed page†. In other words, textual comprehension involves adding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected to the visual  stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling. Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make up words. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends, words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. The bottom-up model describes information flow as a series of stages that transforms the input and passes it to the next stage without any feedback or possibility of later stages of the process influencing earlier stages (Stanovich, 1980). In other words, language is viewed as a code and the reader’s main task is to identify graphemes and convert them into phonemes. Consequently, readers are regarded as passive recipients of information in the text. Meaning resides in the text and the reader has to reproduce it. The ESL and EFL textbooks influenced by this perspective include exercises that focus on literal comprehension and give little or no importance to the reader’s knowledge or experience with the subject matter, and the only interaction is with the basic building blocks of sounds and words. Most activities are based on recognition and recall of lexical and grammatical forms with an emphasis on the perceptual and decoding dimension. This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that it relies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure. Although it is possible to accept this rejection for the fact that there is over-reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for comprehension to take place. To counteract over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading, the cognitive view was introduced 2. The Cognitive View (top-down processing) In the 1960s a paradigm shift occurred in the cognitive sciences. Behaviorism became somewhat discredited as the new cognitive theory represented the mind’s innate capacity for learning, which gave new explanatory power to how humans acquired their first language; this also had a tremendous impact on the field of ESL/EFL as psycholinguists explained â€Å"how such internal representations of the foreign language develop within the learner’s mind† (Omaggio, 1993: 57). Ausubel (cited in Omaggio, 1993: 58), made an important distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning. An example of rote learning is simply memorizing lists of isolated words or rules in a new language, where the information becomes temporary and subject to loss. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, occurs when new information is presented in a relevant context and is related to what the learner already knows, so that it can be easily integrated into one’s existing cognitive structure. A learning that is not meaningful will not become permanent. This emphasis on meaning eventually informed the top-down approach to L2 learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosion of teaching methods and activities that strongly considered the experience and knowledge of the learner. These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the conception of the way students learn to read (Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. In this sense, reading is a dialogue between the reader and the text which involves an active cognitive process in which the reader’s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Reading is not a passive mechanical activity but purposeful and rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the reader. It is not merely a matter of decoding print to sound but also a matter of making sense of written language (Smith, 1994: 2). In short, reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth. Schema Theory Another theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on reading instruction. It describes in detail how the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in one’s trial to comprehend a text. Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a reader make sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) callsschemes the â€Å"extensive representations of more general patterns or regularities that occur in our experience†. For instance one’s generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make sense of airplane he has not previously flied with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, which may include the knowledge of â€Å"objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving, organizing and interpreting information† (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall of information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and explains that â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Comprehension is the process of â€Å"activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentioned in a discourse† (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between old and new information. They emphasize: â€Å"To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental ‘home’ for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate that new information†. Therefore, a learner’s schemata will restructure itself to accommodate new information as that information is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993) Content and formal schemata Schema theorists differentiate formal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text) from content schemata (knowledge about the subject matter of a text), and a reader’s prior knowledge of both schemata enables him to predict events and meaning as well as to infer meaning from a wider context. Formal schemata refers to the way that texts differ from one another; for example, a reading text could be a fictional work, a letter to the editor, or a scientific essay, and each genre will have a different structural organization. Knowledge of these genre structures can aid reading comprehension, as it gives readers a basis for predicting what a text will be like (Smith 1994). For example, if a reader knows that the typical format of a research article consists of sections subtitled Introduction, Theoretical Basis, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, that knowledge will facilitate their interaction with the article and boost  comprehension. On the other hand, if he is not familiar with this formal schema, teaching it to him could lead to improved reading ability with lasting and beneficial effects. Content schemata refers to the message of the text. One’s familiarity with the content will make more productive and efficient. As Anderson (1994: 469) explains, â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Activating and building schemata  Since the reader plays a fundamental role in the construction of meaning, his age, gender, experience, and culture are important considerations for teachers who want to select readings that will motivate their students. Anderson (1994) notes that when readers cannot locate a schema that fits a text, they may find it incomprehensible. In some cases readers may not have a schema that is significant to the text, or they may need help to activate the pertinent schema to be able to comprehend the text. In such cases it may not be possible for the reader to understand the text, and the teacher must be ready to engage in â€Å"building new background knowledge as well as activating existing background knowledge† (Carrell, 1988: 248). In parallel with this, Bransford (1994) points out that difficulties in comprehension may be caused by the lack of background knowledge presumed by the text, and he sees the responsibility of instructors as being twofold: to activate preexisting schemata and to help students to integrate isolated â€Å"parcels† of knowledge into a schema or to build a new one. If the texts to be read contain a cultural context that is different from the student’s, the issues of formal and content schemata become even more important. McDonough (1995), explains that, to a higher extent, this is the reason why ESL and EFL students find it difficult to read in a second language with texts that contain cultural assumptions of the target culture. They may lack the culture-specific background knowledge necessary to process the text in a top-down manner. His reports on several studies demonstrate how people outside a given culture may misunderstand events with unfamiliar cultural connotations. (Students from different cultural backgrounds taking standardized tests which assume common schemata for will also face the same problem. ) Applying schema theory to L2 reading Based on the aforementioned ideas, it is obvious that in order to teach reading effectively, the teacher’s role to activate and build schemata is paramount. To achieve it, he should in advance select texts that are relevant to the students’ needs, preferences, individual differences, and cultures in order to provide meaningful texts so the students understand the message, which entails activating existing schemata and helping build new schemata. Then, after selecting the text, he needs to do the following three stages of activities to activate and build the students’ schemata. (1) Pre-reading activities, in which the teacher have students think, write, and discuss everything they know about the topic, employing techniques such as prediction, semantic mapping, and reconciled reading. The objective is to make sure that students have the relevant schema for understanding the text. (2)During-reading activities, in which the teacher guide and monitor the interaction between the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allows students to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and record their reactions and opinions. (3)Post-reading activities which facilitate the chance to evaluate students’ adequacy of interpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that â€Å"readership† must be respected as long as the writer’s intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questions that allow for different interpretations. While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the pre-reading stage deserves special attention since it is here, during the students’ initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated. Pre-reading activities Pre-reading activities is aimed to activate existing schemata, build new schemata, and provide information to the teacher about what the students know. In their report on the positive effect various pre-reading activities had on reading comprehension, Chen and Graves (1995, 664), define them as â€Å"devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’s schemata†. Various activities and materials can help the teacher introduce key vocabulary and reinforce concept association to activate both formal and content schemata. Formal schemata will be activated by employing devices such as advance organizers and overviews to draw attention to the structure of a text. The content schemata will be activated by using various pre-reading activities to help learners brainstorm and predict how the information fits in with their previous knowledge. One of the most important pre-reading activities proposed by schematic theorists isprediction. According to Goodman (1988: 16), prediction is important because â€Å"the brain is always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and significance in sensory inputs†. Smith (1994, 19–20) defines prediction as â€Å"the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives†. According to him, predictions are questions the readers ask the world and comprehension is receiving the answers. He emphasizes that it is prediction that makes skilled readers effective when reading texts that contain familiar subject matter. â€Å"Prediction brings potential meaning to texts, reducing ambiguity and eliminating in advance irrelevant alternatives. Thus, we are able to generate comprehensible experience from inert pages of print† (Smith 1994, 18). Another pre-reading activity is previewing, where students look at titles, headings, andpictures, and read the first few paragraphs and the last paragraph; these activities can then help students understand what the text is about by activating their formal and content schemata and making them familiar with the topic before they begin reading in earnest. Semantic mapping is another pre-reading activity that Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto (1989: 651) describe as a useful way to pre-teach vocabulary and to â€Å"provide the teacher with an assessment of the students’ prior knowledge or schema availability on the topic†. This activity asks students to brainstorm about the reading topic as the information is displayed on a graphic â€Å"map. † As students make associations, the map becomes a thorough summary of the concepts and vocabulary that they will encounter in the reading. It can also help build schemata and vocabulary that students do not yet possess. Again, it is important to know something about the students so the selected texts contain the type of material that is likely to be familiar and interesting to them. Reutzel (1985) proposes another type of pre-reading activity called reconciled readinglesson, which reverses the sequence presented by many textbooks where the text is followed by questions. Instead, the teacher develops pre-reading questions from the questions that appear at the end of the reading. Smith (1994) criticizes comprehension exercises presented at the end of a reading because they are like memory tests. He argues that using prior knowledge efficiently contributes to fluent readers, and he believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between visual and non-visual (prior knowledge) information; the more the readers have of the latter, the less they need of the former. Although not all the post-reading questions can be easily turned into pre-reading ones, this strategy can be invaluable to activate schemata. 3. The metacognitive view According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on â€Å"whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. † It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readers. Research has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control is what Block has referred to as meta-cognition. In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers do not only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They also involve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i. e.before reading, while reading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the reading, identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character and features of the form or type of the text—such as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion, project the author’s purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous predictions about what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read. Guidelines for Effective Teaching of Reading After discussing the ideas and concepts presented in the three reading theories, we are now on the position of arranging tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help to develop our learner’s abilities. These tips are arranged in three sections which are parallel with the three consecutive reading stages: before reading, during reading, and after reading. Pre-Reading Tips Before the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of reading more comprehensible. First, teachers need to make sure that the texts to read contain words and grammatical structures familiar to the learners. If the texts contain unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can introduce key vocabulary in pre-reading activities that focus on language awareness, such as finding synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, or associated words. Second, teachers should make sure that the topics of texts chosen are in accordance with the age range, interests, sex, and background culture of the students for whom they are intended. If they are not, it is necessary to provide the necessary background information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. This activity could be carried out by letting the class members brainstorm ideas about the meaning of a title or an illustration and discuss what they know. The followings are some activities teacher can use during the pre-reading stage. These activities will not take a very long time to carry out. However, they are very effective in overcoming the common urge to start reading a text closely right away from the beginning. 1. Teacher-directed pre-reading, in which some key vocabulary, ideas in the text, and the type of the text are explained. In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. The text types are also necessary to introduce because texts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. The students’ familiarity with the types of the text they are reading will develop their understanding of the layout of the material. Such familiarity will, in turn, enable them to focus more deeply on the parts that are more densely compacted with information. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader in presuppositions about the text as can glancing at the name of the author. 1. Interactive activities, in which the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and interjects additional information deemed necessary  to an understanding of the text to be read. Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text. 1. Reflective activities, in which students are guided to make themselves aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this strategy can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves,â€Å"Why am I reading this text? What do I want to do or know after finished reading this? Being aware of their purpose and goal to read, later—in during reading activities—they can determine what skill(s) to employ: skimming, scanning, reading for details, or critical reading During-reading tips The activities carried out in during-reading stage consist of taking notes, reacting, predicting, selecting significant information, questioning the writer’s position, evaluating, and placing a text within one’s own experience. These processes may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classes most attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. The followings are tips that encourage active reading. Practicing them will help the students be active readers. 1. Making predictions: The students should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in the text to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come. 2. Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading. 3. Integrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called upon to facilitate comprehension. 4. Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping insignificant pieces. 5. Re-reading: Students should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension. 6. Making use of context or guessing: Students should not be encouraged to define and understand every single unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words. 7. Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers analyze unfamiliar words by break them into their affixes or bases. These parts can help them guess the meaning of a word. 8. Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, students should get used to reading groups of words together. This act will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously. 9. Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being read and sort out information. 10. Paraphrasing: While reading texts, it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts sub-vocally in order to verify what was comprehended. 11. Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting their goals. After-reading tips 12. Post-reading activities basically depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from the text. Barnett (1988) states that post-reading exercises first check students’ comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an author’s point of view or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to engage new information with what one already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or did comprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension or miscomprehension. 13. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of these various activities: (1) discussing the text: written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions: written/oral, (3) answering questions: written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to or reading other related materials, and (7) role-playing. RESEARCHED BY: FARNAIDA L. ABUBACAR, MAT-ENGLISHJULY 01, 2011.