Socrates Decision Live Or Die Philosophy Essay

Socrates Decision Live Or Die Philosophy Essay Socrates was a Greek philosopher, whose teachings marks are a shift in philosophy from dealing with nature and the world to consider the person.  Socrates was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth and because of the disrespect of the Gods.  His work is the turning point of ancient philosophy.  His method of analysis of concepts and the identification of virtue and knowledge, he sent the attention of philosophers to the unconditional value of human personality. Socrates received a broad education.  He was married to a woman named Xanthippe.  He also took an active part in public life of Athens. As well, he participated in the Peloponnesian War.  Socrates also was a teacher and older friend of the Athenian politician and military leader Alcibiades.  In 399 BC.,  he was charged that he does not honor the Gods, which the city honors, and introduces a new deity, and responsible for the fact that he corrupts the youth.  As a free Athenian citizen, was not subjected to punishment, and he took poison (the widespread legend, the infusion of hemlock, but judging by the symptoms hemlock was spotted). Socrates was the first public Greek philosopher: his studies he spent on the streets, crowds filled diversified: traders, soldiers, artisans, aristocrats and the homeless.  He quickly gained popularity among the Athenians, although the eccentricity of the philosopher became the subject of ridicule, even among educated people.   Simultaneously Socrates corrupts the youth by offering reliable ways to avoid punishment for infractions, including adultery.  Thus he reflected the two vices: disrespect for the gods and corrupting youth. It is also said that Socrates did not simply deny the power of the Gods, but also has his own god, whose voice is being heard, but under the circumstances, only the priest has the right to communicate with the Gods.  It was believed that Socrates is guilty of disbelief in the Gods recognized by the state, and that the policy is introduced in the new god.  He is also guilty of corrupting youth.  Proposed penalty: death. Accusations of atheism were not something new in Athens  Socrates did not wanted to do give up his point of view, and he wished not to leave Athens.  The centerpiece was the molestation of accusation of youth.  Athenian law required to defend a person who was accused.  Considering that Socrates spoke without prepared speeches.  The speech was a conversation with judges and he did not try to convince them. The jury stopped the indignant cries of speech and voted this way: Socrates is guilty. Nevertheless, this decision became final sentence; he could pay the fine or still leave the city.  Socrates refused to reappear as otherwise agreed with a prosecution.  It is known that the disciples of Socrates prepared his escape from prison, but Socrates did not respond to the offer of his sincere friends.  Moreover, he said a long monologue about what a citizen, even wrongfully convicted, I cannot respond to evil with evil. Socrates was punished by society.  People like Socrates, could not escape punishment because they were loners and nobody can impose his will.  Socrates was given poison.  He was lying in bed, and beside him, a man was preparing a poisonous mixture. The sun was setting.  The court appointed the exact time of execution of punishment, but the man somehow delayed.  In the end, Socrates could not resist: Time passes; the sun goes down, why you wait?   It seemed incredible that a man condemned to death could stop worrying so much about that his execution took place in a timely manner.  On the contrary, the poor should be grateful for the delay.  Executioner loved Socrates.  He had heard his statement in court and felt deep sympathy for the thinker.  Socrates, was the wisest of all the inhabitants of Athens.  Delay in preparing the penalty would allow the philosopher to live a little longer. However, Socrates said urging: Hurry. Bring the poison. Feeding poison to Socrates, the man asked: Why are you so impatient? I can see how your face glows, I see your eyes burn. Do not you understand whats going on? You will die now! Socrates responded: I am interested in death. I have known life. It was beautiful, despite all the turmoil and suffering, I got pleasure from it. Just breathe and have fun. Ive lived, Ive loved, I did what I wanted to do, I said everything  I wanted to say. Now I want to taste death and the sooner t he better. There are only two options: either my soul will live on in other forms, as they say Oriental mysticism, and this is an exciting event to continue the journey without the gravity of the body.  Body is a close cell, it is very restricted in his movements.  And the second option is if the materialists are right, then after the death, there would be nothing left.  It is also exciting not to exist!  I know what it means to be, and now the time has come to find out what it means not to be.  And if I do not exist, then there is nothing to worry about! These things can only be said by the person who loves himself.  Socrates took responsibility even for his death: the court could not blame him for anything, it was only a social bias, prejudice, mediocre people who were not able to understand the great insights of the mind of Socrates, but there was a majority and they voted for the death penalty. They could not fend off any of his argument.  I guess they did not even realize what he was saying, the responses could not be considered.  He refuted all their arguments. However, in decisions that were taken collectively, Athens was a democratic city, so the situation was considered a general meeting, which was recognized and reduced the risk of a person deserving death. The judges were a little wiser; they offered the choice to Socrates: If you leave the city and vowed that you would never come back, youll be able to avoid death. If you want to stay in Athens, then stop talking and lapse into silence. In this case we also  would be able to persuade people to save your life. Either tomorrow at sunset you drink poison. Choose what you prefer. Socrates replied: I am ready to take the poison tomorrow or today when it will be ready. But I cannot stop telling the truth. If I live, I will continue to tell the truth till my last breath. But I cannot leave Athens in the name of  own salvation, or else Ill always feel like a coward, who escaped death, and not taking responsibility for what happens. I have lived in harmony with my thoughts, feelings and heart and want to die peacefully. And do not feel guilty.  No one is responsible for my death, except myself.  I knew it would happen, for speaking the truth in a society based on lies, deception, illu sion, is like to seek your own death.  Do not blame these poor people, who decided on my death.  If someone is responsible, then it is only me.  I want you all to know that I lived, taking responsibility for my life, and I die, taking responsibility for my death.  I was a maverick in my life.  And I remain a maverick in the face of death.  No one took me for solutions, and I myself have made my choice. Many friends tried to persuade Socrates to escape, but he was adamant to perform absurd decision of the Athenian court, in order to remain faithful to the laws of his native city. I think that Confucius would condemn Socrates decision. Confucius supported life, truth, rituals, traditions, wisdom and sincerity. The ideal of Confucianism is to create a harmonious society in the ancient pattern, in which every person has its function.  Harmonious society is built on the idea of loyalty loyalty to the relationship between bosses and subordinates, aimed at preserving the harmony and most of this society.  Confucius formulated the golden rule of ethics: Do not make the man what you do not wish for yourself. That is why, in my opinion, Confucius would approve if Socrates admitted some mistakes and changes his mind and continued to bring harmony in the community, as he was a very wise person. The city needed him and many people needed him too, but they were afraid to admit it. Moral obligation, as they materialize in the ritual, becomes a matter of upbringing, education and culture.  These concepts Confucius has not divided.  All of them are included in the content category wen (originally the word meant a person with painted body, tattoos).  Wen can be interpreted as the cultural meaning of human existence, like education.  This is not a secondary artificial creation of a man and not his primary natural layer, not book-learning and not natural, but their organic blend. Confucius also supported any activity that was useful for the community, its development, its traditions and prosperity. Kind intentions and justice are one of the constancies of a righteous man, supported by Confucius. Many people judge the decision of Socrates, saying he had a choice, he did it wrong and he had to live if he could choose it. Others think that if he has chosen this decision, then it meant a lot to him, he did not suffer because of it and he was very interested in w hat would happen after death. If Socrates acted this way, then he knew what he exactly wanted, it was his own decision and he did not blame anyone in that. Although Socrates had power to change the Law of Athens, he decided to obey this unjust law, may be to show people how ridiculous it is, to show them the real injustice and to show how miserably these people lived obeying everything, and not choosing their way of life. The most important thing is that Socrates had a choice, he was a very wise man and he perfectly understood the options he had. He has been thinking a lot and he has chosen his way himself, choosing to take the poison and to find out what the death was like. Probably Socrates acted in this situation by obeying the state laws, and also choosing this way himself, with a choice to die this way or later. May be it was important to Socrates to have choice and to choose himself his death, not blaming anyone and at the same time, not committing a suicide, just obeying the states law. In this case an unjust law of Athens. The thing that is obvious is that Socrates did not want to preserve his life, he had intentions to find out more and more, and maybe he already knew too much about life, about the limits we have in life and about the rules we invent and obey, that he was interested in other things. He may have considered new experience interesting, outrageous and useful for him, which will not have the boundaries and limits and could open new ways of existence or even the better life after death. All in all, I think that Socrates was not right to obey the orders of the state of Athens to take poison. He should he have acted to preserve his own life by choosing exile or escaping, as it was more important to save his own life, than to obey the orders. But, it was his decision and he did not blame anyone and the important fact is that Socrates had a choice and he considered to take poison as a right decision for himself.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 15

Part II Nesting Chapter 15 Learning the Licks They took their shoes off and did it again. The second time was less urgent and they tried to impress each other with their respective repertoires of mattress tricks. Jody was careful not to appear too experienced and Tommy pulled on everything he had ever read, from Penthouse to National Geographic, trying not to appear too naive, while fighting the urge to shout â€Å"Gee whiz† with her every move. There was entirely too much thinking involved on both their parts and they finished thinking, Well, that was pretty okay. Jody's fangs stayed safely sheathed behind her canines. She said, â€Å"What was that you shouted at the end?† â€Å"It was a Bantu love cry. I think it translates, ‘Oh baby, polish my lip saucer.  » â€Å"Interesting,† Jody said. They lay there for a while, not talking, feeling uncomfortable and a little embarrassed. Whatever intimacy they shared physically was not echoed emotionally. They were strangers. Tommy felt that he should confess something personal, something to match the outrageous trust she had put in him by telling him her secret. At the same time he was curious, and a little bit afraid. It wasn't as if she had shown him a hidden tattoo. She was a vampire. How do you match that? How do you file that? Under â€Å"Adventure,† he thought. I wanted adventure, and here it is. â€Å"Tommy,† she said, not looking at him, talking more or less to the ceiling, â€Å"I'll understand if you don't want to stay, but I'd like you to.† â€Å"I've never lived with anyone before. This is all new to me. I mean, you probably have a lot more experience than I do at this.† â€Å"Well, not exactly like this. I've lived with a few guys.† â€Å"A few?† â€Å"Ten, I think. But not under these circumstances.† â€Å"Ten? You must be ancient. No offense. I mean, I knew that you were older, but I thought it was just a few years. Not centuries.† She rolled over and looked him in the eye. â€Å"I'm twenty-six.† â€Å"Sure, you look twenty-six. But you've probably looked this way for years. You probably have pictures of yourself with Abraham Lincoln and stuff, right?† â€Å"No, I'm twenty-six. I've been twenty-six for about six months.† â€Å"But how long†¦ I mean†¦ Were you born like†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I've been a vampire for four days.† â€Å"So you're twenty-six.† â€Å"That's what I've been telling you.† â€Å"And you've lived with ten guys?† She got out of bed and started gathering her clothes. â€Å"Look, I don't use the best judgment when it comes to relationships. Okay?† He turned away from her. â€Å"Well, thanks a lot.† â€Å"I didn't mean you. I meant in the past.† He sat on the edge of the bed and hung his head. â€Å"I feel so used.† â€Å"Used?† She leaped over the bed and stood in front of him. â€Å"Used?† She put her finger under his chin and lifted it until he was looking at her. â€Å"I've trusted you with the biggest secret I have. I've offered to share my life with you.† â€Å"Oh, like that's an exclusive privilege.† He pulled away from her and resumed pouting. Jody snatched a shoe off the floor and prepared to whack him with it, then remembered what she had done to Kurt and dropped it. â€Å"Why are you being such an asshole?† â€Å"You drank my blood!† â€Å"Yeah, well, I'm sorry about that.† â€Å"You didn't even ask.† â€Å"And you didn't protest, either.† â€Å"I thought it was a sex thing.† â€Å"It was.† â€Å"It was?† He stopped pouting and looked up at her. â€Å"Does that turn you on?† Jody thought, Why are men never prepared for the toxic radiation of afterglow? Why can't they ride it through without becoming detached whiners or aggressive jerks? They don't get it, that cuddling afterward has nothing to do with warm, fuzzy feelings; it's just the most intelligent way to ride the wave of post-coital depression. â€Å"Tommy, I came so hard, my toes curled. No man has ever made me feel like that before.† How many times have I said that? she thought. â€Å"Yeah?† She nodded. He smiled, feeling proud of himself. â€Å"Let's do it again.† â€Å"No, we need to talk.† â€Å"Okay. But then†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Put on your clothes.† Tommy scampered naked out of the bedroom to get a fresh pair of jeans from his suitcase. As he dressed, the infinite possibilities of life swam through his head. Only a week ago he had been staring down the barrel of a life spent in a factory town – of a union job, of a series of financed Fords, a mortgage, too many kids, and a wife who'd go to fat. Sure, there was a certain nobility in being responsible and raising a family – seeing that they never did without. But when his father told him on his eighteenth birthday that he needed to start planning his retirement, he felt his future tighten on him like an anaconda. His father had made it clear that the money for college wasn't there – so after he went to the City and starved, he could come home and get a job down at the factory and get down to the business of being an adult. But not now. He was a City guy now, part of the world; he was involved with a vampire, and the danger of living a normal, boring life had passed completely. He knew he should be afraid, but he was too elated to think about it. He slid into his jeans and ran back to the bedroom, where Jody was getting dressed. â€Å"I'm hungry,† he said. â€Å"Let's go out and get something to eat.† â€Å"I can't eat,† she said. â€Å"Not at all?† â€Å"Not as far as I know. I can't even keep a glass of water down.† â€Å"Wow. Do you have to have blood every day?† â€Å"I don't think so.† â€Å"Does it have to be – I mean, can you use animals, or does it have to be people?† Jody thought about the moth she had eaten and felt as if she'd just downed a cocktail mixed of two parts shame and five parts disgust, with a twist of nausea. â€Å"I don't know, Tommy. I didn't exactly get an instruction book.† He was bouncing around the room like a hyperactive child. â€Å"How did it happen? Did you sell your soul to Satan? Am I going to turn into a vampire? Are you in a coven or something?† She wheeled on him. â€Å"Look, I don't know. I don't know anything. Let me get dressed and we'll go get something for you to eat. I'll explain then, okay?† â€Å"Well, you don't have to bite my head off.† â€Å"Maybe I do,† she snarled, surprised at the acid in her voice. Tommy backed away from her, his eyes wide with fear. She felt horrible. Why did I say that? This was happening too often, this loss of control – showing her burned hand to the bum on the bus, knocking Kurt out, eating the moth, and now threatening Tommy; none of it seemed to be by choice. It was as if vampirism carried with it a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS. â€Å"I'm sorry, Tommy. This has been hard.† â€Å"It's okay.† He picked up the jeans she had destroyed and began emptying the pockets. â€Å"I guess these are done for.† He pulled out the business card that the motel manager had given him. â€Å"Hey, I forgot to tell you. This cop wants to talk to you.† Jody stopped in the middle of tying her shoes. â€Å"Cop?† â€Å"Yeah, an old lady was killed at the motel last night. There were a zillion cops around when I got there this morning. They wanted to talk to everyone that was staying in the motel.† â€Å"How was she killed, Tommy? Do you know?† â€Å"Somebody broke her neck and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He stopped and stared at her, backing away again toward the bathroom. â€Å"What?† she demanded. â€Å"Her neck was broken and what?† â€Å"She'd lost a lot of blood,† he whispered. â€Å"But there weren't any wounds.† He bolted into the bathroom and shut the door. Jody could hear him throw the lock. â€Å"I didn't kill her, Tommy.† â€Å"That's fine,† he said. â€Å"Open the door. Please.† â€Å"I can't, I'm peeing.† He turned on the water. â€Å"Tommy, come out, I'm not going to hurt you. Let's go get you something to eat and I'll explain.† â€Å"You go ahead,† he said. â€Å"I'll catch up to you. Wow, I really had to go. Must have been all that coffee I drank today.† â€Å"Tommy, I swear I didn't know anything about this until you told me.† â€Å"Look at this,† he said through the door, â€Å"I found that crucifix I lost last week. And what's this? My lucky vial of holy water.† â€Å"Tommy, stop it. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody.† â€Å"Oh, my garlic wreath. I wondered where I'd put that.† Jody grabbed the door knob and yanked. The doorjamb splintered and the door came away in her hand. Tommy dived into the tub and peeked over the edge at her. She said, â€Å"Let's go get you something to eat. We need to talk.† He pulled himself up slowly, ready to dive down the drain if she made a move. She backed away. He looked at the ruined doorjamb. â€Å"We're going to lose our deposit now; you know that, right?† Jody threw the door aside and offered her hand to help him out of the tub. â€Å"Can I buy you some fries? I'd really like to watch you eat some French fries.† â€Å"That's weird, Jody.† â€Å"Compared to what?† They walked to Market Street where, even at ten o'clock, the sidewalks were crowded with bums and hustlers and teams of podiatrists who had escaped the Moscone Convention Center to seek out burgers, pizzas, and beer in the heart of the City. Jody watched the heat ghosts trailing the street people while Tommy handed out coins like a meter-maid angel trying to atone for a lifetime of giving chickenshit tickets. He dropped a quarter into the palm of a half-fingered glove worn by a woman who was pretending to be a robot, but who looked more like a golem newly shaped from gutter filth. Jody noticed a black aura around the woman, as she had seen around the old man on the bus; she could smell disease and the rawness of open lesions and she almost pulled Tommy away. A few steps away she said, â€Å"You don't have to give them all money just because they ask, you know.† â€Å"I know, but if I give them money I don't see their faces when I'm about to fall asleep.† â€Å"It doesn't really help. She'll just spend it on booze or drugs.† â€Å"If I was her, so would I.† â€Å"Good point,† Jody said. She took his arm and led him into a burger joint named No Guilt: orange Formica tables over industrial-gray carpet, giant backlit transparencies of food glistening with grease, and families gleefully clogging their arteries together. â€Å"Is this okay?† â€Å"Perfect,† Tommy said. They took a table by the window and Jody trembled while Tommy ordered a brace of burgers and a basket of fries. She said, â€Å"Tell me about the woman who was killed.† â€Å"She had a dog, a little gray dog. They found them both in the dumpster at the motel. She was old. Now she'll always be old.† â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"People always stay the age that they died at. My big brother died of leukemia when I was six. He was eight. Now when I think of him, he's always eight, and he's still my big brother. He never changes, and the part of me that remembers him never changes. See. What about you?† â€Å"I don't have any brothers or sisters.† â€Å"No, I mean, are you going to stay the same? Will you always look like this now?† â€Å"I haven't thought about it. I guess it could be true. I know I heal really fast since it happened.† The waitress brought Tommy's food. He squirted ketchup on the fries and attacked. â€Å"Tell me,† he said around a mouthful of burger. Jody started slowly as she watched his every bite with envy, telling him first about her life before the attack, of growing up in Monterey and dropping out of community college when her life didn't seem to be moving fast enough. Then of moving to San Francisco, of her jobs and her loves and the few life lessons she had learned. She told him about that night of the attack in too much detail, and in the telling she realized how little she understood about what had happened to her. She told him about waking up, and of how her strength and senses had changed, and it was here that words began to fail her – there were no words to describe some of the things she had seen and felt. She told him about the call at the motel and about being followed by the other vampire. When she had finished she felt more confused than when she had started. Tommy said, â€Å"So you're not immortal. He said that you could be killed.† â€Å"I guess; I don't seem to change. All my childhood scars are gone, the lines on my face. My body seems to have lifted a little.† Tommy grinned. â€Å"You do have a great body.† â€Å"I could lose five pounds,† Jody said. She inhaled sharply and her eyes went wide, as if she'd just remembered some explosives she'd left in the oven. â€Å"Oh my God!† â€Å"What?† Tommy looked around, thinking she had seen something frightening, something dangerous. â€Å"This is horrible.† â€Å"What is it?† Tommy insisted. â€Å"I just realized – I'm always going to be a pudgette. I have jeans I'll never get into. I'm always going to need to lose five pounds.† â€Å"So what, every woman I've ever known thought she needed to lose five pounds.† â€Å"But they have a chance, they have hope. I'm doomed.† â€Å"You could go on a liquid diet,† Tommy said. â€Å"Very funny.† She pinched her hip to confirm her observation. â€Å"Five pounds. If he'd only waited another week to attack. I was on the yogurt-and-grapefruit diet. I would have made it. I'd be thin forever.† She realized that she was obsessing and turned her attention to Tommy. â€Å"How's your neck, by the way?† He rubbed the spot where she had bitten him. â€Å"It's fine. I can't even feel a mark.† â€Å"You don't feel weak?† â€Å"No more than usual.† Jody smiled. â€Å"I don't know how much I†¦ I mean, I don't have any way of measuring or anything.† â€Å"No, I'm fine. It was kind of sexy. I just wonder how I healed so fast.† â€Å"It seems to work that way.† â€Å"Let's try something.† He held his hand by her face. â€Å"Lick my finger.† She pushed his hand away. â€Å"Tommy, just finish eating and we can go home and do this.† â€Å"No, it's an experiment. My cuticles get split from cutting boxes at the store. I want to see if you can heal them.† He touched her lower lip. â€Å"Go ahead, lick.† She snaked out a tentative tongue and licked the tip of his finger, then took his finger in her mouth and ran her tongue around it. â€Å"Wow,† Tommy said. He pulled his finger out and looked at it. His cuticle, which had been split and torn, had healed. â€Å"This is great. Look.† Jody studied his cuticle. â€Å"It worked.† â€Å"Do another.† He thrust another finger in her mouth. She spit it out. â€Å"Stop that.† â€Å"Come on.† He pushed at her lips. â€Å"Pleeeeze.† A big guy in a Forty-Niners sweatshirt leaned over from the table next to them and said, â€Å"Buddy, do you mind? I've got my kids here.† â€Å"Sorry,† Tommy said, wiping vampire spit on his shirt. â€Å"We were just experimenting.† â€Å"Yeah, well, this isn't the place for it, okay?† â€Å"Right,† Tommy said. â€Å"See?† Jody whispered. â€Å"I told you.† â€Å"Let's go home,† Tommy said. â€Å"I've got a blister on my big toe.† â€Å"No fucking way, writer-boy.† â€Å"It's low in calories,† Tommy coaxed, prodding her foot with his sneaker. â€Å"Good, and good for you.† â€Å"Not a chance.† Tommy sighed in defeat. â€Å"Well, I guess we've got more to worry about than my toe or your weight problem.† â€Å"Like what?† â€Å"Like the fact that last night I saw a guy in the store parking lot that I think was the other vampire.†

Personal and Team Effectiveness

Personal and Team Effectiveness Introduction: In every organization particularly in the Health and Social Care Industry which involves individual employees and the entire workforce to where they are the company’s backbone of its existence it all rely on the importance of personal and team effectiveness to achieve the organization’s mission statement and service to their customers. In the influence of the management and organisational factors on the effectiveness of the people involved in the care particularly through developing their ability to work effectively in teams and developing their knowledge and skills so that they can contribute to the delivery of a quality service. All organizations require their people, at times, to work in groups. The most successful organizations find ways to realize the full potential and capability of groups. They understand the important contribution that groups can make effective groups usually outperform individuals. Organizations are comfortable establishing, empowering and promoting the participation of people in groups, value change and adaptation as key to improving productivity, quality and customer service and are constantly looking for creative ways to use groups to drive performance improvements. In looking at strategies for personal and professional development which refine behaviours, improve capability and give individuals the confidence and competence to excel not only for themselves but as part of the entire Health Care team as shown in high-performing organizations, the most successful groups function as â€Å"teams†. Teams flourish in organizations which create a climate where people want to work together giving their best efforts. Definition: Personal effectiveness is a branch of the self help movement dealing with success, goals, and related concepts. Personal effectiveness integrates some ideas from â€Å"the power of positive thinking† and Positive Psychology but in general it is distinct from the New Thought Movement. Team effectiveness refers to the system of getting people in a company or institution to work together effectively. The idea behind team effectiveness is that a group of people working together can achieve much more than if the individuals of the team were working on their own. Content: According to Carl Jung’s premise that all change and development starts from within and its principle underpins to the approach and it all start with personal effectiveness. The middle and senior managers in Health and Social Care should develop their skills and competencies in leading and managing the team. It is where the management of each organization would find how to enlighten and have each of them to explore and examining the facets that each of the employees are unique and valuable individual in the organization for the better good of the entire workforce. By exploring the preferences of others to understand why they behave as they do particularly and inspire those that are into the team and show them how to adapt and collaborate for improved interactions. The team leader and managers should see through it that the individuals and the entire team should focus on the implications and evaluating the by using management for the people for improving the organizational performance. In every individual, each has their own personality, style and personal interactions for effectively doing the job. By achieving this personal development and individual effectiveness comes with training, career development, staff development plans and the management will implement the development programs by in-house training, using supervision and appraisal, external courses, action-centred learning, lifelong learning, coaching and mentoring, assessing competence. The monitoring performance of individuals through observation, appraisal, periodic review, and achievement of successful outcomes as well as the use of targets, benchmarks, feedback from others is one key factor in measuring personal effectiveness. By Identifying individual training and evelopment needs: monitoring of performance, career development planning, changing personal circumstances. Strategies for promoting continuous development: achieving competence, training versus education, partnerships, staff development plans, compliance with external requirements, dedicated allocation of resources, use of external kite marks for exampl e Investors in People. In assessing the individual effectiveness is by describing different ways in which the performance of individuals working in health and social care may be monitored and by describing how individual training and development needs may be identified. Analyse different strategies for promoting the continuing development of individuals in the health and social care workplace. The effective staff development programme may be implemented and evaluate the effectiveness of a specific staff development programme with which the management is familiar. Team effectiveness is determined by several factors: †¢ The right mix of skills. Team effectiveness depends in part on bringing together people who have different skills that somehow complement each other. This can mean different technical abilities or communication skills. In fact, teaming up people who share the exact same characteristics is often a recipe for disaster. Team effectiveness depends on people taking on different roles in a group setting. If there is no agreement on who does what in the group, it is unlikely that the team will prosper. †¢ The right motivation. Team effectiveness is directly linked to the interest that the group has on the project. If the job is too easy or too difficult, or if the rewards for achieving the end result do not seem worth the effort, the team may end up working half-heartedly in the project. The task should also have a clear outcome. Working towards a specific goal enhances team effectiveness significantly. †¢ The ability to solve conflicts without compromising the quality of the project. Team work has one major downfall. Sometimes groups end up making decisions they know are not in the best interest of the project, just so they can keep the process moving. Conflict is innate to any work done in groups, and should be taken as part of the challenge rather than as something to be avoided by compromising. Team effectiveness should be increased, not compromised, through conflict. The model of team development as developed by Bruce Tuckman that teams evolve through four main stages. †¢ Forming is when the members are first brought together. It is a period of exploration, testing and orientation. †¢ Storming is a difficult but inevitable stage, where members may compete and conflict. †¢ Norming is the stage where the team starts to pull together, and noticeable progress begins to be made. †¢ Performing is characterized by a high level of task focus, and the team producing consistent and excellent results. Discussion: It is important as well for a team leader to create a climate in which people can develop and contribute to their full potential. The climate must be one of cooperation, commitment, and team focus. A good leader must also be a good coach. Different members are used as resource leaders because of their knowledge or experience. The focus is on how to get the job done, not on who controls the team. Team members are empowered to do the job they must do. Everyone is involved in the functioning of the team. In light of the discussion, the following points summarize the conditions required to create an effective team environment, each of these factors is important, and they are also highly interdependent. All of these factors are critical to achieving an effective and high performing team. Leaders can help create these conditions through the following behaviours. 1. Trust, Respect and Support †¢ Encourage and protect team member diversity in views, backgrounds, and experiences. †¢ Inspire teamwork and mutual support through example. Keep your commitments and expect the same from all team members. 2. Commitment to the Team †¢ Support and positively represent the team to senior management, peers and other employees. †¢ Ensure that individual member and team accomplishments are recognized and celebrated appropriately 3. Shared Vision †¢ Clarify the tasks to be accomplished. †¢ Establish and communicate a vision about what the members can achieve as a team. â₠¬ ¢ Encourage team members to participate in creating their vision of what the team can accomplish. 4. Open and Honest Communications Communicate fully and openly; welcome questions; avoid the â€Å"need to know† limitations. †¢ When seeking solutions, encourage members to suspend assumptions, reflect on their own thoughts and feelings, clearly voice these, inquire about and listen to opinions of others, and be less reactive. 5. Empowerment and Involvement of all Members †¢ Encourage members to participate. †¢ Make it easy for others to see opportunities to work together. †¢ Clarify that problem-solving is a responsibility of all team members. †¢ Mediate conflicts before they become destructive. 6. A Learning Environment †¢ Guide team members to determine where they actually are relative to their goals, and to clarify why the gaps exist and how to bridge them. †¢ Surface and treat conflicts as learning situations. Peter Senge, in his book â€Å"The Fifth Discipline† says, â€Å"One of the most reliable indicators of a team that is continually learning is the visible conflict of ideas. In great teams, conflict becomes productive. Conclusion: In every Health and Social Care organization they must be People Investors to which people or the staffs are a company’s most valuable resource. Human beings have unlimited potential to grow, develop and learn and in that sense constant training and improvement of personal and team development is needed for the organization to be successful and create a greater impact to the service user and the people involved in the care and service. The leader’s role is to help each team member achieve his or her potential and they act as coach which provide more structure, guidance and direction as well as to clarify tasks, goals, management’s expectations, and the way their performance and contributions will be measured. Teams need to be constantly developed for creating an effective approach on how things should be done for the better service to the clients. Members of the team generally have a broader range and depth of skills and experiences. With encouragement and support from the leader and other team members, individual members can enhance their technical, functional, problem-solving, decision-making, interpersonal and teamwork skills by taking some risks and facing some new challenges. Everyone is capable of making decisions that affect them, provided they are given the appropriate information and training. People do not resist changes they have been involved in making for the benefit of the entire team and the effectively managing the entire conflict which will be turned in to an advantage in solving the problem. Gaining true employee involvement is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort it always develop each personal and team effectiveness, If a change is affecting the team, the leader must be a role model of the â€Å"new† way. The leader must be able to â€Å"let go† in order to empower people. The leader must train and coach people first so they will be ready and able to succeed. The leader realizes mistakes are unavoidable, and helps people learn from them. A key factor which differentiates teams from work groups involves the interdependence of people. As Stephen Covey points out in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, â€Å"Interdependence opens up worlds of possibilities for deep, rich, meaningful associations, for geometrically increased productivity, for serving, for contributing, for learning, for growing. Reference: Tuckman, Bruce W. â€Å"Developmental Sequence In Small Groups†. Psychological Bulletin 63, 1965, pp. 382-399 http://gtwebmarque. com/wikis/gtwm/index. php/The_Fifth_Discipline http://www. skillsforcare. org. uk/workforce_strategy/workforce_strategy. aspx http://www. insights. com/LearningSolutions/Expertise/IndividualEffectiveness. aspx http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Team_building http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Personal_effectiveness http:// www. wisegeek. com/what-is-team-effectiveness. htm

The House On Mango Street And The Absolutely True Diary Of...

Authors have a way of creating their characters to have individual virtues, but still making them relatable to the audience. They can recognize the common conflicts within the readers and incorporate them into their main characters in a unique way. The main characters from The House On Mango Street and The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian have common internal and external conflicts throughout the story that are relatable to the expected audience. Their physical differences are factors that cause individual problems, but also help to contribute to the connection between the characters and readers. In both stories, the reader is expected to be closer towards the teenage years. The stories main characters share this relationship†¦show more content†¦He was mistreated by his peers because of his differences. The connection relates to modern teens and the audience because it is common for teenagers to feel out of place or to want to â€Å"fit in† with everyone else. The connection between the reader and character allows the reader to think deeper and be metaphorically put into the character s shoes. Alexie and Cisneros are able to highlight the theme of alienation through these lines to help connect the reader. The characters can connect through a sense of self realization as well. During the teenage years, many feel the restraint and frustration of not being able to reach their full potential. The connection between the ages who struggle with this and the character has many lines of textual support. Esperanza feels that she doesn’t fully understand her name and is unsure if it applies to who she is. Cisneros wrote, â€Å"In English my name means hope(Cisneros 10)† and â€Å"Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don t want to inherit her place by the window(Cisneros 11)† suggesting that she doesn’t feel that her name applied to her Grandmother as she hopes it applies to her. Her grandmother waited and hoped for a savior. Esperanza feels that her fate points in that direction, but her name suggests that she may take another destiny. She doesShow MoreRelatedLiterary Criticism : The Free Encyclopedia 7351 Words   |  30 PagesKà ¼nstlerroman (artist novel) is about the development of an artist and shows a growth of the self.[16] Furthermore, some memoirs and published journals can be regarded as Bildungsroman although being predominantly factual (an example being The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara).[17] The term is also more loosely used to describe coming-of-age films and related works in other genres. Examples[edit] Precursors[edit] Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, by Ibn Tufail (12th century)[18] Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach