by Herman Bailey | Feb 24, 2023 | Essays |
Introduction
In Barbara Ehrenreich’s History of Collective Joy, humans used to partake in various celebrations, events, and rituals. The occasions were either festive such as Brazilian carnival or somber like if funerals (Ehrenreich 5). It comprised individuals escorted by pipes, drums, masks, and costumes, dancing and singing along the streets. These celebrations were regular and officially sanctioned among various communities. The author gives clear information on the reasons for the occurrence of these special events among communities. She explains the development stages, which the ceremonies passed through until the 21st century, and the role played by the events to participants (Ehrenreich 57). The main basis of this essay is to provide detailed information about the rituals, clear evaluation and analysis of the history of collective joy by Barbara Ehrenreich.
The rituals began with cave drawing and developed to celebrations of religious rites, weddings, preparations for war, healings, and sports events today. Ehrenreich suggests the application of harmonizing individual activities to a group occasions. The events occurrence required special components including beverages, food, costumes, body painting, masks, headgear, and music and dancing. They happened along streets in a parade, procession, cycle, or athletic contests. The main reasons were celebrations such as the rite of passage, weddings or harvest bounties, and consolation in situations of funerals. However, with little knowledge of the rituals in the Western culture, they consider the celebrations as primeval distractions. The western culture triggered the ban of traditional rituals among Naive Americans and slaves from Africa. Apart from the European cultures, others also perceive dance celebrations as spiritual and social revolutionary.
According to Ehrenreich (2007), expressing joy through ceremonies are as distinctive as the pursuit of shelter and meeting the consumer needs. In the case of the café, the consumers often need to eat, fresh and tastefully prepared food. The group excitement during the movement and signings created an involvement of shared pleasure that was both pleasant and therapeutic. The celebrations made a big difference compared to communicating verbally. The participants perceived the overjoyed feelings as an uninterrupted experience of their gods, non-interceded by clerics and translators. The attempt of the early churches to stop the entertaining services such as singing, dancing, and speaking in tongue, discouraged free childhood experience especially on their relationship with the fathers. Roethke contributes to an expression by the congregation. People got the motive to make collective gatherings, where they could celebrate their achievements with minimal or no restrictions.
Similar symbolism and rituals continued to exist until today in spite of encountering various challenges. Individuals celebrate the outcome and result of sports, examination results, political favors, and other life success. For instance, people appreciate the Olympic Game results by taking their best drinks and putting on relevant costumes to the team their supportive teams. According to the routine, players from various teams wear team costumes before the game begin. The parade and waving of national flag during the opening of the ceremonies especially in the Olympic Games and public holidays are major symbols of the celebrations. Besides, there is torch lighting at the beginning of the game, and the national anthem played during the medal ceremonials, which entertains the guests and spectators hence creating a sense of belonging.
The ancient Greek practiced dances and cave drawing in masks and costumes as the major part of their art. They had groundbreaking anniversaries like uplifting marches, military parades, and officers in uniforms (Ehrenreich 15). Missionaries never got pleased with the strange rituals they witnessed among Africans. However, the dancing, fire-lighting, outfits, African music, chanting and drumming drew the close and motivated their participation in such events. Similarly, today sports fans have their caps, jerseys, and t-shirts outfits decorated with the logo of their favorite teams. Some supporters endorse face and body painting depending on the team colors. They enjoy the music, songs, group movements, the screaming, and sway.
Today, public events such as holidays, ground openings, and congregations recognize and appreciate the existence of the traditional rituals. These ceremonies always begin with music and dances from different cultures with participants costumed in their special outfits. They have similar reasons for their occurrence such as the celebration of success by the nation or an individual achievement, just like the traditional rituals. For instance, the clan elders announced an occasion and a day set for it, where all came together to celebrate the outcome might be from wars, harvest or natural resource benefits. People attended with animals for slaughtering, food that nourishes love enhancing its growth and development. The comparison of music to food, and drinks accompanied by drumming, dances, and wise sayings.
The communal nature of humans, the motive to civilization cannot fully eradicate the compulsion for collective festivities. In spite of the strength and comfort, people get from strong family ties, religions, and institutions, the creation of opportunities for group experience and expression of joy is very important. The freedom of expression, especially where people are together with their friends and relatives, creates an opportunity to understand and appreciate one another. Most people prefer an individualist model of a lifestyle without realizing that it only adds boredom and loneliness in life. Traditional rituals, events, and ceremonies should not fade away as people try to accommodate civilization in the modern world.
Work cited:
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. London: Granta Books, 2007. Print.
With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
by Herman Bailey | Feb 24, 2023 | Essays |
Introduction
Knowledge has a wide range of definition, to others knowledge is wisdom and the ability to think and solve difficult situations. Locke one of the famously known philosophers defines knowledge as having connection, agreement or disagreement of ideas. Locke’s definition is tied to the objective of knowledge. In the doctrine of recollection, knowledge is said to exist within every human being (Hill, 2006). Plato equates knowledge to perception. Aristotle, on the other hand, is of the view that knowledge are the ideas and opinions a person has and people gain knowledge with the help of educators (Aristotle, 1976). Additionally the doctrine states that this knowledge is brought to life by recollection. According to Plato and Aristotle, knowledge is recollection. They also emphasize the need to distinguish real knowing from the knowing of the professors’ and experts that sell information to the highest bidder. In this paper, we shall discuss beliefs of these two philosophers and the reasons for their belief. We shall also explain why people may have access to information but have little understanding of the knowledge they possess.
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The Phaedo theory of recollection is a theory of learning; it explains that for one to understand any subject they must be able to tell the kind of learning. On the other hand, Socrates is of the opinion that recollection is only possible if we have the form in mind through our senses and perceptions. Socrates therefore, is of the view that all human beings are capable of recollection Phaedo divides the theory of recollection into ordinary interpretations or learning and the complicated interpretations. The complicated interpretation is only possible for philosophers while the ordinary one is applicable to all human beings. In the complicated interpretation, there is philosophical in nature and supports the understanding and reflection of an argument.
Plato recognizes in the doctrine of recollection that learning requires common sense and that recollection is achievable by all. Through the discussion between Cebes and Simmias on the theory of forms. In this discussion, Socrates makes it clear that he is interested in the origin of knowledge claiming that he and Simmias have equality. The doctrine of recollection supports Cebes claim that knowledge is achieved from previous experiences. Plato explains that when people are faced with problems and trying to find solutions to the problems, they always recall on previous experiences to determine what the right way of solving that problem is. Plato draws this theory from the Learners paradox. In the learners, paradox explains how someone can learn something even when the concept is new to them. The theory of recollection solves the learner’s paradox. The paradox is an inquiry of when does someone know something they cannot learn; it means; therefore, a person cannot know what they do not know, and they can neither look for it or find a way to learn it. Looking at the paradox one notices the challenges it introduces to learning. Learning involves inquiry of knowledge of something we are not aware of, and when such a person lacks the ability to learn then, they are likely not to learn anything at all (Franklin, 2005).
On the other hand, Aristotle believes that when only stops the efforts of learning if they realize their potential. He called the process of realization of potential to actualizing it as causation. According to Aristotle, human beings are always in search of good things in life such as happiness to realize their potential. Happiness can only be achieved through the decision-making process. It is for this reason that a person attends school in their childhood to realize their potential as an adult. Aristotle believed in the human soul emphasizing on the life experiences. He was of the view that experience guarantees knowledge about different aspects of life. In his paper, Nicomachean Ethics presents the ability of one living a rational life. It is easy to tell people of good character by their previous encounters and associations (Aristotle, 1976). Through the incorporation of psychological notions Aristotle came up with distinct ideas, the first idea explains the rations thinker, and the other promotes reasonable emotions. Aristotle theory of recollection of knowledge is more advanced, in the sense that it emphasizes a balance between emotions and intelligence. Intelligence or Knowledge is acquired through experiences and the right or wrong choices we have to make. In his theory, Aristotle believes that knowledge is a recollection of the experience.
In my opinion, the theory of recollection supports learning and acquisition of speech. Consequently, I agree that the complicated or sophisticated interpretation and learning is achievable by philosophers. It is important to compare ordinary learning to the complicated learning for the purpose of recollection of knowledge. To understand best the theory of recollection, I would recommend that we distinguish between the philosophical arguments in the theory from the ordinary argument of learning. Plato’s theory of recollection is more focused on the acquisition of speech, and how we think. Learning is important because it provides us with resources for philosophical learning and reflection. From the theory of recollection, we can conclude that there exist two kinds of learning the ordinary and complicated learning. We, therefore, need to distinguish real knowing from the knowing exhibited of professionals.
This section shall discuss the importance of distinguishing ‘real knowing’ from the knowing professed by experts who sell useful information as a commodity to the highest bidder. Plato explains real knowing as the understanding of ideas. Real knowing is achieved through soul searching. Plato adds that real knowing is only achievable by philosophers and, for this reason, can transform themselves into gods unique from normal human beings. Plato quickly points out that it is possible for the common human being to attain knowledge even if he has a deficiency in the platonic ideal. To explain this concept he uses an example of a prisoner who takes photographs of the real world. This clouds his mind, has to free from the illusions, and brought to light. The problem is that the prisoner is so trapped in the fake world that they cannot help themselves and, therefore, have to be assisted. A teacher is then brought to ask the prisoner questions jolting them to reality (Goldberg 2009). Consequently, human beings have emotions and desires that cloud their judgment. The work of the teacher is to guide the prisoner and prepare him to make and accept rational arguments. In this way, he will realize the right from wrong.
In his Socratic works, Plato explains that true knowledge only exists with those that are capable of realizing the actual reality of the experiences of life. He adds that to understand the world; people must go through a difficult education. For leaders he says, they must perceive the world forms of goodness to be well informed. Learners must be taught the need to recall the knowledge they acquire in school in all forms. This kind of interpretation is important and applicable to the day-to-day life. For example is one wants to be a good surgeon, they must master all forms surgery and understand the important tools in surgery. Another example would be for an individual intending to study architecture; they must be able to recall knowledge of all forms of building designs, road designs, and the kinds of brick to use. It means, therefore, recalling of the necessary knowledge in the field one is interested in is important and if one has no such knowledge, then it is only appropriate if they do not study that particular course. We are all different; some are good in mathematics while others are best in languages.
In this regard, Plato emphasizes that only certain people are fit to be leaders. This he says are the people who understand the complicated interpretation in the theory of recollection of knowledge. Since Philosophers are the only people he places in this category, he explains that they are the only ones capable of being leaders. Philosophers have the capability of separating their emotions in decision-making situations and have the ability to differentiate the forms of knowledge.
It is, therefore, imperative to make a distinction between real knowledge and the knowledge of experts. Onora O’Neill in his paper titled Experts, Practitioners, and Practical Judgment recognizes the need for this distinction stating that experts have the capability of failing to give the correct decision (O’Neill, 2007). Experts are prone to incompetence judgments in principle and rule situations. For example, he says that a jurist and physicians, who have done well in school, have the capability of not giving practical solutions. This means that they have only mastered the body of theory but have little or no practice knowledge.
Conclusion
The Platonic theory explains that knowledge is acquired at birth and is developed through learning experiences. Plato explains that sometimes when faced with difficult situations we have to make the right decision but we do not know if w have the knowledge to so. The Aristotle theory is of the views that knowledge is obtained from life experiences. When one is faced with a difficult situation, they draw from their previous experiences through a comparison mechanism. It is important to distinguish real knowing from the kind of knowledge by experts. This is because real knowledge as per Plato’s definition has ideas. We are only capable of achieving real knowing through soul searching. The theory of recollection has both the philosophical and the ordinary learning theories. The Philosophical interpretation explains the ability to separate emotions from ideas and opinions and is only achievable by philosophers. The ordinary interpretation, on the other hand, is achievable by all human beings. In this paper, I have defined knowledge from the perspective of Plato and Aristotle. I have also explained the meaning of the theory of knowledge recollection from the perspective of both Philosophers. In the paper, I have also discussed the importance of differentiating real knowledge from the knowledge of experts.
References
Aristotle (1976) The Nicomachean Ethics (‘Ethics’), Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Franklin, L. (2005). Recollection and Philosophical Reflection in Plato’s Phaedo. Phronesis, 50(4), 289-314. doi:10.1163/156852805774481379
Goldberg, S. (2009). Experts, Semantic and Epistemic. Nous, 43(4), 581-598. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0068.2009.00720.
Hill, B. (2006). Reconciling Locke’s Definition of Knowledge with Knowing Reality. Southern Journal Of Philosophy, 44(1), 91-105.
O’Neill, O. (2007). Experts, Practitioners, and Practical Judgement. Journal Of Moral Philosophy, 4(2), 154-166. doi:10.1177/1740468107079246
With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
by Herman Bailey | Feb 24, 2023 | Essays |
Rosalind Krauss in “Sculpture in the Expanded Field” discuss the transformation in the field of art particularly sculpture. She explores the diversification that has led to the broadening of sculpture definition and structure that was evident in the second half of the twentieth century. Sculpture widened to include medium such as photography, mirrors and books. Krauss was an art critic and through her ideas expressed in the Sculpture in the extended field contributed greatly to the transition from contemporary art (sculpture). Krauss attempted to redefine sculpture arguing that it should include real societal issues advocating for artist to be able to freely and fully express themselves in their work.
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Krauss ideas criticize the authenticity and uniqueness of sculpture being based on defined specific predetermine structures. Her ideas are associated with structuralism since they attempt to define the structure of postmodernism sculpture as neither landscape nor architecture. For instance, she suggests the use of landscape and architecture in bringing about the changes required to transform the sculpture field that she felt was not entirely serving its purpose as implied by Krauss[1]. Hal[2] claims that Krauss believed modernism is limiting as it is dominated by specific forms and structures that are used to define sculpture; art such as sculpture is categorized based on particular assumptions and prejudice that limits the extent of artists’ creativity. On the other hand, she beliefs postmodernism allows artists to overcome the constraints of post modernism enabling them to absorb and explore a wide range of ideas in their work. Krauss beliefs the shift to postmodernism began in the nineteenth century when the site of sculpture was abandoned and artists began to express themselves in their work. She cites the work of She of Rodin’s, Gates of Hell and his statute of Balzac as examples of works that expressed personality.
Krauss suggests that sculpture ought to be defined by logical operations as well implying that sculpture should attempt to bring out reality. Krauss beliefs that sculpture should express societal issues affecting human life like culture and politics. Traditionally, sculpture has been based on landscape and architecture thus creating a rift between them and human beings. She therefore, assumes that diversifying would bring the sculptures closer to the human world while retaining their aesthetic value and originality as implied by Krauss[3].
Hal[4] says that Krauss’ theory is associated with Greenberg’s theories as she is believed to have continued with his work. Just like Greenberg, she believed that traditional definition of art (sculpture) overlooked factors that affected human existence such as culture and politics completely ignoring the society and every major thing associated with it as she advocates for logical operations inclusion in the description of sculpture.
Krauss evaluation of the transformation as well as expansion of sculpture is intriguing and exclusive. Her critics of areas in the sculpture field that needed redefinition are realist and reasonable especially her advocacy of the inclusion of societal issues in the description of sculpture. Art is not supposed to sideline human beings as they are the center of the universe thus I second her idea of integrating sculpture into human life by communicating factors that affects humans as affirmed Hal[5].
In conclusion, Krauss looks into the broadening of the sculpture field that saw its transformation during the nineteenth century when its site was abandoned. On her opinion, the definition of sculpture widened to an extent it included wide range of medium such as books, photography, lines on walls and mirrors. Postmodernism saw sculptors’ aiming to express themselves in their work freely incorporating their ideas and perception of society. She seems to second the notion of basing sculpture on real life issues instead of distancing it from humanity.
References
Foster, Hal. Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
Rosalind, Krauss. Sculpture in the Expanded Field. MIT, 1979.
.
Krauss, Rosalind. Sculpture in the Expanded Field. (MIT, 1979), 10 ↑
Hal Foster, Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011), 23 ↑
Ibid., 14 ↑
Ibid., 24 ↑
Ibid,30 ↑
With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
by Herman Bailey | Feb 24, 2023 | Essays |
Most people wonder how successful people managed to accomplish their achievements. Steven Jobs gives insights into his journey to success and achievements and valuable lessons he learnt along the way. This paper analyzes Steven Jobs’ commentary address at Stanford University in regard to the ideas and message the speech conveyed together with his application of rhetoric techniques in speech delivery.
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Steven Jobs in his Stanford Commencement Speech in 2005 explored factors that contributes to success and makes life meaningful drawing illustrations from his own life experiences as indicated by Shanaberger ( para 1). He argued that success is a product of passion just as much as hard work; identifying one’s interests and pursuing them is important. He uses his college drop- out story to emphasize the uniqueness in people in terms of talents, abilities and desires pointing out that discovering and exploiting them is very is important. Jobs beliefs that career choices should be made based on passion. Jobs believes that life is not smooth instead is filled with ups and downs asserting that setbacks, losses and failure are extremely crucial in a person’s life and maintain achievements takes a lot more than just academic education. Jobs beliefs that failures teachers us valuable life lessons that makes us better stronger, equipped to deal with challenges of life even those concerning one’s career and jobs as implied by Shanaberger ( para 6).
Steven Jobs was also for the opinion that everything we do at any point in life is important. The likelihood of needing to apply past knowledge in the present context is high urging that we ought to learn to connect the dots by giving an example of how his calligraphy cause contributed to his inventions at Apple as stated by Shanaberger ( para 5). Moreover, Jobs beliefs that life ought to be an adventure of self- discovery into elements that makes us happy and give life meaning. Being independent minded is key to happiness as he says life is too short to live someone else’s life; he beliefs in trusting one’s own intrusion as well as guts in making personal decisions regarding what is appropriate and what not even in career choices.
Steven Jobs advices individuals to concentrate on living happily by deriving motivation to move forward in life every day from activities they are passionate about and not engage in activities for the sake. He urges therefore urges to focus on discovering their talents and interest and to pursue them. However, he emphasizes that life is not a bed roses but the key is remaining optimistic regardless of the circumstance since perceiving failures, loses and hardships positively may lead to even greater success As he acknowledges how getting fired from the company he created was devastating but fruitful in the end as he embarked on a discovery that later saved Apple from bankruptcy as indicated by Shanaberger (para 6). Jobs further urges people to be independent minded. Individuals ought to be brave in making their own choices and not rely on other people’s opinion stressing that life is too short to live other people’s lives by always having to worry about what others make of their life choices. Pointing out the power of self-believe in our abilities to succeed by following our intrusion and guts. Besides, Job urges individuals not to shun from making mistakes since great life lessons and achievements are derived from those mistakes stressing that perfectionism is unachievable and lastly, to avoid ignoring our past knowledge instead integrate the past into their present life as implied by Shanaberger (para 5).
Shanaberger (para 1) suggests that Jobs Stanford Commencement speech targeted young people. The young generation, high school students, college students, college graduates and drop-outs, have a long way to go and a lot of challenges to encounter in their attempts to lead happy productive lives thus requires advice and proper guidance. The young people have long been known to cling to misplaced goals in life most of the time ending up hopeless in unsuitable professions. This is because they are often unsure of their capabilities and requires reassurance which Job attempted to offer when he said we should believe in our guts and intrusion claiming that we are always right. Their tendency to base their life choices on pleasing others other than themselves, making unrealistic goals while shunning away from passionate activities and low self-esteem driven by ignorance are the factors Job is attempting to address since they largely contribute to their failure. Therefore, Job aimed to inspire the young to take charge and define their own lives based on interest as stated by Isaacson (para 2).
Jobs organized his ideas in three categories and accompanied them with stories to emphasize his point and make them memorable. His application of real life experiences to convey and emphasize ideas makes the speech realist and achievable as he illustrates the ideas with stories of love, loss, hardship, discovery and death. The rhetoric devices he employed lightened the audiences’ mood since the device makes the speech more interesting. His use of rhetoric questions also makes the speech simple and, easier to comprehend and remember thus made it successful as explained by Shanaberger (para 5).
Jobs argument on being independent minded is based on social perspective since people’s tendency to seek second opinions regarding their choices is driven social forces that creates fear of embarrassment resulting from failure. His notion of connecting the dots reflects a historical background of an individual’s life. Identifying and pursuing one’s dreams on the other hand is a personal decision influenced by inward desires. Moreover, Jobs’ idea of rising based on failures and hardships can be perceived a cultural development since it is a habit that can be adopted and employed in all life situations as implied by Isaacson (para 4).
Jobs’ employment of different rhetorical techniques like anaphora and epistrophe make the story more meaningful and enables the audience to infer meaningful application. His use of rhetoric question when he asked what his purpose for dropping out of college aided in attracting and holding the audiences’ attention as the audience listen waiting eagerly to hear his reasons, and helped him link appropriately with his audiences consequently as indicated by Shanaberger (para 10)
Works Cited
Darby Shanaberger. “Text of Steven Jobs’ Commencement Address (2005).” Stanford University. N.p., n,d. Web.
Walter Isaacson. Harvard Business Review-Ideas and Advice for Leaders. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct.2015
With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
by Herman Bailey | Feb 24, 2023 | Essays |
Mobile phones have literally taken over life as we know it today. To many people, the mobile phone has improved communication and provided a simple and easy avenue through which business can be transacted. Whereas, this is acceptable there is little to be seen or shown with regard to evidence on how the mobile money transfer services have impacted on the growth of the events management industry. This study aims at understanding some of the benefits accruing to events managers from mobile money transfers. In addition to this, the study will also seek to understand the challenges encountered in using mobile money transfer for events management.
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Objectives
Broad objective
To understand the overall contribution of mobile money transfer services to the events management businesses.
Specific objectives
determine the benefits accrued to events management companies through mobile money transfer services
explore the challenges encountered by events managers in making use of mobile money transfer services
Analyze the perception of event managers with regard to the effect of mobile money transfer services in the industry.
Rationale of the Study
With the mobile phone growing in popularity, there is need to understand the exact effect it will have on the vents management business. Events managers need to be made aware of the services available to them through mobile transfers, how they can make use of them and the exact benefits or challenges that their businesses will encounter when using mobile money transfers.
Today, majority of the events management companies make use of the mobile phone to record details and communicate to clients. With the accessibility of the mobile phone, businesses need to be aware of mobile money transfer and its benefits. Mobile phones are fast becoming part and parcel of the growth of a business and not just a business but also the industry. Events can actually be planned, completed and paid for without ever meeting the client. The study seeks to understand whether such convenience and speedy assessment is beneficial to the industry.
Each industry is undergoing changes and events management is no different. However, before fully throwing the entire industry into mobile money transfer, there is need to critically examine the services and ensure that they are worth the effort in change.
Methodology
Sampling: the study will make use of 50 respondents in the events management industry. Each of the respondents will either be the CEO, manager or integrated events planner. Therefore, the study sample will be selected using purposive sampling in order to allow for collection of rich information. The sample will be further categorized using the different events that companies specialize in such as corporate events and weddings. This will allow for collection of diverse information further enriching the results.
Data collection: data will be collected using interview schedules administered by the researcher. The interview schedules have been chosen in place of questionnaires because they allow for follow up questions and exploration of new avenues as questions are being answered. The study seeks both quantitative and qualitative data, each supporting and exemplifying the other.
Data analysis: the data will be coded and analyzed using the SPSS version 20 software. This software has the benefit of allowing manipulation of variables using various statistical methods. In addition, the software has proven quite helpful in identifying trends and changes in industries.
REFERENCES
Adams, C., & Privacy Commissioner of Canada,. (2014). Have money, will travel: A brief survey of the mobile payments landscape.
Ahonen, T. T. (2002). M-profits: Making money from 3G services. Chichester: Wiley.
Bowdin, G. A. J. (2001). Events management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Chatain, P.-L., Christen, B., & World Bank. (2011). Protecting mobile money against financial crimes: Global policy challenges and solutions. Washington, D.C: World Bank.
Ferdinand, N., & Kitchin, P. (2012). Events management: An international approach. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Pitroda, S., & Desai, M. (2010). The march of mobile money: The future of lifestyle management. Noida: Collins Business.
Raj, R., Walters, P., & Rashid, T. (2009). Events management: An integrated and practical approach. Los Angeles: SAGE
Robinson, P., Wale, D., & Dickson, G. (2010). Events management. Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI.
Silvers, J. R. (2008). Risk management for meetings and events. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Singh, S. (2013). Globalization and Money: A Global South Perspective. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
by Herman Bailey | Feb 24, 2023 | Essays |
Introduction
Currently, the economic pressures and changing political priorities allow the need for organisational change in the public and private bodies (Bauer, 2008). However, carrying out changes in an organisation is a complex process that can lead to negative and positive outcomes, thus it is important to concentrate on accessible evidence that would make the process effective and efficient. Change is considered a multi-level phenomenon. There is a gap on the literature regarding to management change in administration perceptive. Management literatures provide a number of cases of sectoral and organisational in the public sector (Sminia and Van, 2006). This indicates the relevance of exploring a number of literatures to determine the nature and range of evidence that is based on the change within public sector. This paper establishes an exclusive literature review that will provide evidence related to organisational management change (Fernandez and Rainey, 2006). This paper will explore some examples of organisational change, factors that leads to resistance to change before looking at the psychological contract concept of change. The paper will also set out research on sustainability of change and psychological change theories before concluding by exploring a number of literatures to determine in detail information on management change.
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Due to the technological development witnessed today, change is becoming an acceptable work practise in organisational life. Although a good number of organisations appreciate the need to change, most of the changes made do not achieve the intended purpose (Battaglio and Condrey2009). With the need for organisational change, various body of literature are exploring the concept of management of organisational change and the factors that may contribute to its success. One of the most sorts out perspectives of managing organisational change is called ‘planned approaches’ to change developed by Lewin. In the literature, the Lewin argues that change should involve three stages: doing away with current behaviour, making a decision to move to a new behaviour and adapting to anew behaviour. These three steps have been used for years to understand the concept of organisational change.
Over the years, the theory has been reviewed and changes made to divide the stages into more specific processes. For instance, a four stage process incorporating assessment, planning, action and incorporation was developed from the three stage processes by Bullock and Batten. However, the three stage processes for understanding organisational change by Lewin was criticised for being grounded on small samples and its assumptions that organisations make decision under perpetual conditions that can be changed and planned for. Due to the many criticisms, the theory was replaced by another concept of organisational change called ‘emergent approach’. The emergent approach to organisation change considers change as a rapid and unpredictable outcome that cannot be controlled from the top down. The approach also considers change as an alerting process where businesses respond to environmental changes. The emergent approach is focused on facilitating for change than giving planned steps for initiatives.
A number of proponents of the emergent approach suggest a layout of actions organisations should follow in maximizing the possibility of change being successful (Rusaw, 2007). Such actions include, empowering employees, developing visions, establishing strong leadership etc. (Fernandez and Rainey, 2006). An assumption developed for the emergent approach is that, for an organisation to respond to a change, the managers must critically understand the structure of the organisation, its strategies, culture etc. Understanding all this enables the managers to select the best approach to change and factors that may create barriers in the process. However, the emergent theory has faced a number of critics. Critics question the usefulness of action sequences, and their bids to inimitable organisational contexts (Holbeche, 2009). Some theorists suggest the implementation of amore ‘contingency’ and ‘situational’ approach, disputing that the productivity of an organisation depends heavily on situational variables. However, these theories have been criticised for exaggerating the role of situational variables and establishing that there lack a role for managers of business organisations.
The Psychological Contract
The psychological contract was established by a theorist called Rousseau as a belief based on the terms of a relationship between parties. Within the environment of work, psychological contract refers to the assumed balance between how a worker is treated by the leader, and what he or she puts in to the work. In addition to provision of remuneration by employers, worker’s concept of psychological contract include the provision of factors such as training, job security, and work-life balance in exchange for their hard work, loyalty and innovation from them. Research evident has discovered a positive relationship between an assumption of an equilibrium psychological contract and workers’ commitment to the business organisation. However a negative relationship was discovered with the abandonment of job duties and turnover intensions. Psychological contract has an advantage of being twofold. To begin with, the information of the contract is unwritten and informal. Therefore, both the employer and employee may have different views on the information of the contract and the level to which a task has to be fulfilled by the two parties.
For instance, a study conducted by Kessler showed that managers hard positive attitudes towards the assessment of the employer’s accomplishment of their task more than the employees. Creating an open environment and open communication channel, the manager is able to clarify the expectations of the employees and employers (Hill and Hupe. 2009). The openness based on the psychological contracts is important in the duration of change, especially when employees worry that psychological contract change may be negative. Another way that shows the usefulness of psychological contract in organisational change is the fact that managers are able to consider the equilibrium of the contract. Thus, if an employer implements a change that is expected to affect the obligations of the employee, for instance change increasing working hours, they should contemplate on changing what they give to the employees to maintain an exclusive balance, for instance increased flexibility.
Types of Change
Every change needs a unique strategy to be implemented in order to provide effective functionality. Three major types of changes include, developmental change, transformational change and transitional a change.
Development Change
This type of change takes place when an organisation makes some improvement to the existing business strategies and structure. Organisations implement developmental changes in their business system in order to remain competitive (Kickert, 2010). This change affects the employees and thereby it lead to their re-education and re-training. Major changes in the organisation such as closing division negatively affect the employees. The employees could perceive that the organisation tried other options before considering closing the division.
Transitional Change
This type of change is considered more intrusive than developmental change. It involves replacing current organisational processes with new processes. The phase between changing from existing process to a new process is referred to as translational period. Business merger, new product development, corporate reorganisation and installation of new technology are some of the examples of translational changes. Translational change adds tension between the employees and is difficult to implement than development changes. Translational changes create personal insecurity and therefore employees’ education and training should be carried out immediately.
Transformational Change
This type of change takes place after transition period. It constitutes both development change and transitional change. When an organisation is faced with rampant technological evolutions, important changes involving supply and demand, lack of revenue, increased competition etc., cannot be resolved by developmental or transitional changes. Instead the organisation may be forced to carry out transformational changes.
Resistance to change
The success of an organisational change is attributed to its acceptance by the employees. According to Keebler-Ross, people go through five different stages of ‘grief’ in an event of change or loss. These five stages: “denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance” can apply to the management of organisational changes. After implementation of a change is delivered, workers should be given time to tackle their denial. Once they have received the information about change, they undergo a period of bargaining and dejection and thus require support to get through it all. Other employees take a different approach when it comes to change. According to Shaul Oreg, the resistance to change relies on personality and the situation in which the change takes place (Oreg, 2006). He developed and verified ‘Resistance to Change scale’ that was conceptualized as a firm personality characteristic. In the study, Shaul found that there was a significant relationship between a people’s Resistance to Change Score and behavioural resistance organisational change they experienced. The study also showed that variable factors affected the employees’ resistance to change. Trust in management played significant role in affecting behavioural and cognitive resistance.
Many management organisational change literature mention methods of reducing resistance to change (Klarner, Probst and Soparnot. 2008). One of the strategies mentioned is the involvement of employees in the organisational change. However, employee’s participation in making change alone is not enough since managers should lay a crucial role in motivating and fulfilling innovation and supporting organisational change. Kotter and Schlesinger developed an emergent approach to overcoming the resistance to change. These theorists proposed that the nature and content of the change vary tremendously between organisations and each organisation should come up with appropriate response. Schlesinger and Kotter stated that appropriate factors such as education, negotiation, direct participation and training can reduce resistance to change in any organisation.
Implementing and Sustaining Change
Implementation is described as the internalisation and execution of a change immediately it is accepted by individuals in an organisation and a verdict is made to accept the change and integrate it in the business activities (Chustz and Larson, 2006). Implementation of new practices may bring organisational change (Wiggins, 2009). However sustaining such changes is a hard task. Therefore sustaining change is an important component in organisational management change. There are factors that affect sustainability of organisational change. Such factors include leadership, political power, managerial style, cultural perceptions and project management structures (Lindquist, 2006).
Behavioural Change Literature
Concept of behavioural change approach states that it can prove to be difficult to make people change their everyday behaviour even if the change would bring benefits to the individual. Behavioural change shows that resistance to change can exist even when the leaders in organisations address existing concerns. Behavioural change model developed by Bagozzi shows that there are a number of factors that affects the capabilities of a subject to change that surpass their couscous thought processes (Darnton, 2008). Additionally, other factors like degree to which an individual believe in possibility of a specific change and the degree to which a particular behaviour is desirable, will impact the intention to change regardless of personal feeling.
Conclusion
This paper has reviewed some organisational change literatures. According to the paper, although it is possible to plan and introduce change in an organisation, it is paramount to note that employees sometimes perceive themselves to be operating within a constant environment. However, this does not necessarily mean that change cannot be implemented. It illustrates the importance of having an idea of other changes that occur in the process that can over whelm particular change. According to this literature review, change is a continuous process that incorporates different steps. Therefore, managers are required to choose a strategy based on communication, training, education, etc., that incorporate very well to the different stages of change instead of choosing a single approach for change. In addition, managers should put in mind the nature and content of psychological contract the firm has with the workers and how a specific change might impact its equilibrium. If the balance is changed or altered, managers are responsible for rebalancing it in order to avoid resistance to changes. Other factors also can result to resistance to organisational change and should be taken into account. Managers who consider implementing organisational change are advised to be more aware of organisational change literatures since they would provide in depth information on how to go about it. We have also seen that organisational changes take different forms and are classified as transformational, transitional and developmental.
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