Hnrs. Renaissance History Chapter 17 & 18 Study Guide Essay

1. The two most important influences on Enlightenment thought were who? John Locke and Isaac Newton 2. After 1688, Great Britain permitted religious toleration to which groups? Lutherans, Jews, and Muslims 3. This nation was significantly freer than any other European nation at the beginning of the Enlightenment. What nation is this? Great Britain 4. An expanding, literate public and the growing influence of secular printed materials created a new and increasing influential social force called what? public opinion 5. Written by Voltaire in English and later translated to French, this book praised the virtues of the English, especially their religious liberty, and implicitly criticized the abuses of French society. What is this book’s title? Letters on the English 6. Philosophies criticized the Christian church for many things, but not for what? Taking too limited a role in national politics. 7. The two major points in the Deists’ creed were what? The belief in an afterlife dependent upon one’s earthly actions and the existence of a rational God. 8. Which of the following figures came closest to atheism in their religious thinking? Baron d’Holbach 9. According to Ethics, the most famous of his works, this man closely identified God and nature, an idea for which his contemporaries condemned him. Who was this? Spinoza 10. This 18th century philosopher was known as the â€Å"Jewish Socrates†. Who is this man? Mendelssohn 11. Pascal and other critics saw this as an exceptionally carnal or sexually promiscuous religion because of its teaching that heaven was a place of sensuous delights. What is this religion? Islam 12. The Encyclopedia did what? secularized learning and spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe 13. He published On Crimes and Punishments, in which he applied critical analysis to the problem of making punishments both effective an d just. Who is this? Marquis Cesare Beccaria 14. Adam Smith advocated what? The ending of England’s mercantile system. 15. According to Smith, government should provide what? Schools, armies, navies and roads. 16. According to Smith’s four-stage theory, human societies moved from where to where? Barbarism to Civilization 17. The most important political thought of the Enlightenment occurred in what country? France 18. He contended that the process of civilization and the Enlightenment had corrupted human nature. Who is he? Rousseau 19. Based on his ideas and traditions, most 18th-century political thinkers regarded human beings as individuals and society as a collection of individuals pursing personal, selfish goals. Who is this? John Locke 20. Most European thinkers associated with the Enlightenment favored what? the extension of European empires across the world 21. Herder is famous for his early views concerning what? cultural relativism 22. The philosophies generally were not what? avid feminists 23. He maintained that women were not naturally inferior to men and that women should have a wider role in society. He was also sympathetic in his observations concerning the value placed on women’s appearance and the prejudice women met as they aged. Who was he? Montesquieu 24. Which of the following styles of art utilizes lavish, often lighthearted decoration with an emphasis on pastel colors and the play of light? Rococo 25. Which of the following styles of art embodies a return to figurative and architectural modes drawn from the Renaissance and the ancient world? Neoclassicism 26. Neoclassical paintings were didactic rather than emotional and their subject matter usually concerned what? Public life or public morals. 27. He was a strong monarchist who in 1759 published a History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great, which declared, â€Å"Peter was born, and Russia was formed!† Who said this? Voltair e 28. Monarchs such as Joseph II and Catharine II made â€Å"enlightened† reforms as part of their drive to do what? Increase revenues and gain political support. 29. This monarch embodies enlightened absolutism more than any other. He/she forged a state that commanded the loyalty of the military, the junker nobility, the Lutheran clergy, and a growing bureaucracy? Frederick the Great 30. Monarchs associated with enlightened absolutism included all of the following rulers: Maria Theresa, Joseph II, Frederick the Great, Catherine II 31. Of all the rising states of the 18th century, this state was the most diverse in its people and problems. What is this state? Austria 32. Maria Theresa of Austria did all of the following: limited the amount of labor the nobility could demand from peasants; established a very efficient tax system; expanded primary education; created central councils to deal with political problems 33. Joseph II of Austria: sought to improve the productivity and social conditions of the peasantry 34. Catherine the Great of Russia did what? built a strong alliance with the nobility 35. As part of her territorial aspirations, Catherine the Great painlessly annexed what newly independent state in 1783? Crimea 36. King Louis XVI convened the Estates General in order to do what? raise tax revenues 37. The French parlements spoke for the interests of what group? The Aristocracy 38. He was responsible for the introduction of the revolutionary land tax that all landowners would have to pay regardless of their social status. Who is he? Charles Alexandre de Calonne 39. The parliament of Paris declared that only the_______________ could establish new taxes. Estates General 40. The Second Estate of the Estates General was made up of what group? The Nobility 41. By the following way the aristocracy attempted to limit the influence of the Third Estate. What is this attempt? They demanded that each estate have an equal number of representatives 42. The cahiers de doleances presented to the king included all of the following grievances: Government waste, corruption, indirect taxes, and the hunting rights of the aristocracy. 43. The Tennis Court Oath refers to an oath taken by what party? National Assembly to give France a constitution 44. Throughout the winter and spring of 1789, the high prices for what commodity produced many riots? Bread 45. â€Å"The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen† was proclaimed by what group? the National Constituent Assembly 46. During the Great Fear what happened? Peasants reclaimed rights and property they had lost to aristocratic resurgence. 47. Which of the following best describes the form of government pursued by the National Constituent Assembly? constitutional monarchy 48. According to the suffrage stipulations of the Constitution of 1791, approximately how many of France’s 25 million citizens were qualified to vote? 50,000 49. The Chapelier Law did what? forbade workers’ associations 50. The Roman Catholic Church condemned the _________________________. French Revolution 51. The following statement about the Jacobins are not true: they were the most conservative political group in the National Constituent Assembly 52. The term â€Å"sans culottes† was used in revolutionary France to refer to what? Workers 53. The sans culottes wanted what above all else? Democracy 54. Louis XVI was condemned to death on the charge of what? Conspiring against the liberty of the people. 55. As Prime Minister of England, William Pitt the Younger did what? Suppressed reform AND popular movements 56. The following best summarizes Edmund Burke’s view of the French Revolution: He believed it was shortsighted and politically ignorant 57. By April 1793, the following countries were at war with France: Spain, Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia 58. Issued in August of 1793, the là ©vee en masse was a what? military requisition on the entire population 59. By late 1794, the French army was the _______________________ in European history. Largest army 60. The core value of the republic of virtue created by the revolution was what? Public good over private good 61. The following was not part of the ideology embraced by Maximilien de Robespierre? Embrace Christianity 62. Many victims of the Reign of Terror were subject to what â€Å"humane† form of execution? Guillotine 63. The Law of 22 Prairial, passed on June 10 of 1794, permitted the _________ __________________________ without substantial evidence. conviction of counterrevolutionaries 64. The Thermidorian reaction resulted in all of the following: a pull back from the radical revolution; a new constitution; the closing of the Paris Jacobin Club; the reduction of the political power of the sans culottes 65. The â€Å"Bands of Jesus† did what? murdered suspected Jacobins 66. The following best summarizes the comparison of freedoms exercised by women before 1789 versus after 1795? Women had more freedom before 1789 67. The French Revolution has often been considered a victory of what group? Bourgeoisie 68. The Treaties of Basel in March and June 1795 concluded peace with whom? Spain and Prussia

Religious Health Care Essay

The engagement of spiritual dimension within the healthcare system has shaped the way through which patients recover and show more positive results within the health organizations. Over the past years, the goal of religion in medicine and spirituality encompass diverse medical practices like pastoral counseling, use of prayer and meditation in healing, evoking compassion and forgiveness and also health professional who work with them. Therefore, it is seen that Religious Health Care gives much emphasis on importance of bringing spirituality into the healing process. This paper identifies and discusses matters from the reaction that must be put into further consideration by the consultant team and the discussion made by governing board and the CEO. 2.0 Description of important element of the governing board’s agenda for areas of improvement in core functions Nurses, as the core professionals in Religious Health Care should have the following job skills and carry out the following duties as it was discussed by the board’s governing agenda (Optimizing Performance and Quality, 2012). The assumptions made was that: i. The resident/patient population complex in nature, frail and experiences many dysfunctions and illness. ii. It is imperative when it comes to identification of essential mix of management/administrative skills, decision making skills, ethical principles and fiscal management knowledge that nurses must have in order to manage and administer long-term care facility. The following five agenda’s was discussed about the tasks and the responsibilities of Nursing Home Administrators who will be ensuring that nurses work effectively at Religious Healthcare (Quality of care, 2006): (a) Quality of Life and Resident Care Ensure that all the nursing services are thoroughly evaluated, planned and  implemented so that it could maximize both quality of care and resident quality of life. Ensure that programs related to social services are thoroughly evaluated, planned and subsequently implemented so as to meet social and psychological preferences and the needs of residents with the aim of maximizing quality of care and quality of life. Macke sure that programs related to food services is thoroughly evaluated, planned and implemented to meet nutritional needs of the patients within health organization for the sake of maximizing both quality of care and quality of life. Ensure that programs related to therapeutic activities are thoroughly evaluated, planed and implemented so as to meet the interests of the patients so as to maximize the quality of care amid the quality of life. The nurse in leadership will be responsible for ensuring that information management programs is evaluated, planned and implemented so as to arrive at documentation requirements. Make sure that Residential Rights are integrated with every aspect of resident care. Always ensure that the facilities within the health organization comply with local, state, as well as federal regulations and stipulated standards. Monitor, identify and ensure that the quality indicators are utilized with the aim of maximizing effectiveness in services delivery to patients. Ensure review, development and implementation of the resident procedures and policies. Make sure that the health facilities within the organization are in par with local state and federal regulations and standards (Long Term Care, 2010). (b) Human Resources Nursing Home Administrators within Religious healthcare shall facilitate the process of communication between the staff and management through counseling and coaching. Shall be ensuring that all the programs pertaining human resources are evaluated, planned and implemented to meet cultural diversity of the patients. Responsible in monitoring of programs, development and implementation of programs with the sole aim of benefitting the staff. Carry out investigations to make sure that human resource management programs and policies are planned and implemented in accordance with the federal laws regulations and entities. Developing and implementing of employee safety and health programs so as to provide good working environment Developing, monitoring and implementing, recruitment, evaluation, development, provision of resident services to the nurses within the health organization so as to  ensure job satisfaction. (c) Finance Utilizes f fiscal resources through effective management and development of annual operation and development of capital budgets. Extensive implementation and development of financial system, procedures and policies to monitor and evaluate financial performance for instance resident trust and account payable. Implement, interpret and with financial aspects of any contractual agreement such as consultative services, vendor, managed care and organized labor. Management of reporting systems and financial audit such as information systems, charitability and cooperate compliance. Ensure that all the facilities records are highly protected for instance risk management and insurance coverage. Facilitate the education and training of staff in areas related to the financial management. (d) Atmosphere and Physical Environment Shall be ensuring hat systems for improving and maintaining buildings, equipment and grounds are evaluated, planed and implemented accordingly. Provision of attractive and clean facilities and conducive environment for patients and the staff. Monitoring the environment to ensure that safety programs are implemented for safety, welfare and health for visitors’ staff and patients who attend health organization. Residents right integration with much emphasis on facility environment. Ensuring that the policies, implementation and developments comply with the environmental procedures and policies. Making sure that the facilities within the health organization complies with the local, state, as well as federal regulations and standards such as the Life Safety Code, CMS, OSHA and ADA. Implementation and development of comprehensive preventative maintenance programs. (e) Management and Leadership Ensuring that all the policies and procedures are developed in compliance with the governing entities and directives. Ensuring that all the policies and procedures are in compliance with the local, state, as well as federal rules and regulations. Evaluate, monitor and observe the impacts of the entire facility’s programs, procedures and policies so as to fulfill administrative responsibility such as license and professional  responsibility. Carry out administrative review of survey impacts so as to come up with appropriate impacts such as Informal Dispute Resolution documentation, plan for correction and no response. Carry out education of nursing home board in respect to their responsibilities and roles and pay attention to their daily actions to ensure that they adhere to the regulations and by-laws. Carry out the administrative oversight of the entire survey process. Be a team leader in professional development activities. Provide leadership skills for key staff and management team. Manage the resources and ensure that they are adequate so as to promote quality of life and comprehensive marketing. 3.0 Performance dimension that Religious Health Care could use to improve overall institutional performance The major goal of improving individual or institutional performance in the healthcare organization is to provide sustainable and quality services for the clients. Health system in this regard is a large umbrella, which covers people, organizations and the measures, which is strived for maintaining, restoring, or promoting health. Therefore, improving of the performance of such general elements of the health system will ultimately contribute to positive health outcomes. Performance dimension is the process within the health organization through which the performance of system, organizations and workers are set up with the aim of improving quality and performance or success and strength of the healthcare system. It is the continuous and systematic process through which the outside stakeholders judge the performance of a given health institution. The stakeholders (external environment, health workers, organization, community and clients) identify strengths and gaps so as to identify root causes using tools for exploration of factors, which in essence determine performance. There are various strategies through which the Religious Healthcare could do to improve the overall institutional performance (Everybody’s business, 2007): Consider context- clients, health workers, organization, and community and external environment The management team of Religious Healthcare must understand that the community and external environment plays a vital role towards the success of the organization. This includes the perspective of health workers or employees, the community, the clients and the organizational structure  served by the organization. As the managers get familiar with such external and community factor, the desired performance will be contributed. Research shows that there are many variables, which determine the ability of health organization individual employees and teams to perform within an organization. While some of the factors are beyond control, the positive steps by the healthcare groups or organizations however can improve most of them. Some of the factors include the following: Social norms such as the ethnicity, religion, class culture and gender Accreditation or Licensing processes or requirement. Local and national infrastructure such as sanitation, water, telecom, energy and transportation. Unpredicted change in political in local and national government. National standards, regulation, policies and the scope of work. Identification of strengths and gaps This involves the process through which the Religious Healthcare can possibly improve the performance by defining the desired performance, assessment of quality and performance and comparison of the various levels with the intention of establishing the strengths and weaknesses. Successful organization usually uses international or national standards and guidelines for setting up the desired standards. Such cooperative work for definition of performance is necessary especially when it comes to building consensus amongst stakeholders and the achievement of the desired goals. It also acts as an initial stage of the evaluation plan that determines lies out to be rated before and after interventions (Everybody’s business, 2007). Identifying performance of the health care organization will adequately become simpler when compared using different levels of performance. Evaluation and monitoring of the progress The Religious Healthcare can steadily monitor the progress of the performance through evaluation and monitoring so as to spot any changes in the performance gap. It is however necessary to spot changes at each and every step of the process so that any adjustment can be made in the course of the progress. For example, if a certain employee does not perform, as she/he is required, appropriate measures can be taken to rectify the situation. To  achieve such, the management should develop an evaluation plan which will then be integrated into the workplace process to act as a continuous feedback tool used to measure changes and quality within the Religious Health Education. Final judgment should measure against the level performance amongst the workers and specifically determine the gaps in gender equality have been strengthen and closed due to intervention. It should also delineate the broader outcomes like increased productivity or improved health outcomes (Competing Values of Emergen cy Department Performance, 2004). 4.0 Performance Measures Religious Healthcare could use to Evaluate Nursing Staff Performance in its Emergency Room The effectiveness of emergency department to responds to critical needs of the patients is very important. To respond to the current dynamic environmental changes in the healthcare system, emergency departments should be very flexible and ready to adapt flexible changing models of health care delivery. Cross-sectional survey methods can be used to analyze and describe the performance of the nurses in the Religious Healthcare. Two groups (of stakeholders) will be necessary during the evaluation: community stakeholders (paramedics and homecare) and hospital stakeholders (managers, nurses and physicians). Estimates of the design effect and sample size will be used in determining the realistic number of the prospective sampling units. Descriptive statistics will then be used to analyze characteristics and to make the comparisons of the outcomes in each section. 5.0 Strategies Religious Health Care could implement to enhance its public image and increase market share To increase its performance and win the market share, there are number of steps, which the Religious Healthcare could use. Foremost is the strategic planning. Strategic planning provides the basis of good foundation to the entire health program. Effective planning will ultimately help the Religious Health organization to improve performance. (Making Health Communication Programs Work, 2010): Become aware of the critical health issues, which need to be addressed. Set priorities which will be the foundation of the progress of the organization Derive communication programs which is crucial for the smooth running of the organization Establish the role, which the communication plays in the health communication. 6.0 Critical management  issues, purpose, functions, and performance measures of different departments within healthcare organizations The recent changes in the nature of the healthcare organizations like meeting strict guidelines, improving the quality of care and pressures to reduce cost has forced many health organizations to reconsider how they evaluate their performance. The most effective systems in the organization align organizational resources and units as well as integrate the initiatives. Therefore, three areas that needed to be addressed in the organization’s needs (Casta,1999): To guide a given health organization to a particular direction To effectively manage all the resources needed to travel in such direction To operate all the processes which make the particular health organization work. References Casta, K. (1999). Performance Measurement in Healthcare. Retrieved on November 29, 2013, from http://www.qualitydigest.com/may99/html/body_health.html Competing Values of Emergency Department Performance: Balancing Multiple StakeholderPerspectives. (2004). Retrieved on November 29, 2013, fromhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361037/ Everybody’s business: strengthening health systems to improve health outcomes: WHO’sframework for action. (2007). Retrieved on November 29, 2013, fromhttp://www.who.int/healthsystems/strategy/everybodys_business.pdf White, K. R., & Griffith, J. R. (n.d.). The Well-Managed Healthcare Organization Seventh Edition. Chicago, Illinois: Health Administration Press. Etheridge, L. (n.d.). Long Term Care. (2010). Retrieved on November 29, 2013, fromwww.achca.org/content/pdf/LTCPLC_Core_Func-R_6-07lw.pdf Making Health Communication Programs Work. (2010) Retrieved on November 29, 2013, fromhttp://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/cancerlibrary/pinkbook/page5 Martin, J. (2001). Team Performance in the emergency room: assessment of inter-disciplinaryattitudes. Retrieved on November 29, 2013 fromhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11334690 Optimizing Performance and Quality. (2012). Retrieved on November 29, 2013, fromwww.intrahealth.org/ files/ media/ optimizing-performance-and-quality/OPQ_FINAL.pdf Quality of care: a process for making strategic choices in health systems. (2006). Retrieved onNovember 29, 2013 from http://www.who.int/management/quality/assurance/QualityCare_B

A needs assess Gap Analysis on Kaiser Permanente Essay

Kaiser Permanente refers to healthcare consortium that offers prepaid Medicare services. Rising from humble beginnings in 1945, the non profit has flourished from a privately centered medical care to accommodate even the public. It was founded by physician R. Garfied and industrialist Henry Kaiser (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). The hospital has ridden over a hostile environment to become a leading non profit health institution providing services to over 9.1 million members. The institution has its headquarters in Oakland, California in the United States. Kaiser Permanente constitutes a trio of the Permanente Medical Groups, the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals as well as subsidiaries and the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Incorporation. Overall, the Kaiser Permanente Health Foundation had 7654 beds as at 31st December 2012 scattered over the District of Columbia and nine states in the U.S.A. The health plan membership totals to over 8.3 million. Still, the hospital maintains a sizeable labor force of about 11,000 physicians scattered in 415 medical offices and 30 medical centers. As at last year, the hospital’s operating revenues grossed $22.5 billion. The Kaiser Permanente Foundation operates on four major premises, namely: A physician team practice to realize maximum abilities to nurse and care for patients Prepaid health plans structured along spreading of costs to ensure affordability across the social classes Concentration on prevention of illness relative to caring for the patients A formally structured delivery system to hold as many services as it can hold under one roof (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). The following tabulation presents the membership of the foundation by region as at 31st December 2012 (Abelson, 2013). Region Membership Southern California 3,594,848 Northern California 3,403,871 Colorado 540,442 Northwest (Oregon /Washington) 484,349 Mid Atlantic States (MD, VA, DC) 481,755 Hawaii 224,591 The following tabulation showcases Kaiser Permanente Foundation local markets by each of eight regions (Abelson, 2013). Northern California Southern California Georgia Hawaii Mid Atlantic States Oregon/ Washington Central Valley Coachella Valley Atlanta Oahu Washington D.C Portland Diablo Kern Valley Athens Kauai Northern Virginia Salem East Bay Orange Valley Hawaii Suburban Maryland Vancouver, Wash Fresno Inland Empire Maui Baltimore Longview/ Kelso, Wash Greater Southern Alameda Metro Los Angeles/ West Los Angeles Marin/ Sonoma San Diego County Napa/ Solano Tri-Central Area Colorado Roseville Denver Sacramento Colorado Springs San Francisco Boulder San Jose Pueblo San Mateo Santa Clara South Sacramento It is evident from the above tabulation that Kaiser Permanente has a stronger presence in the urban areas in each of the nine states as compared to rural presence. Nonetheless, it is commendable on the foundation’s expansion to cover regions outside its core geographic markets (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). However, it is evident that the expansion trajectory seeks to serve the proximate markets. The Foundation has 38 hospitals, 611 medical offices and outpatient facilities, 16,942 physicians compri9sing of a blend of different specialties and 48,701 differently blended mixes of specialist nurses. Therefore, the foundation employs a total of 174,259 employees comprising of administrative, technical and clerical care givers and laborers as at 31st December 2013 (Abelson, 2013). The hospital maintains an online presence with a platform in which clients and employers manage their accounts. Online customer account services are offered freely meaning that the foundation does not charge. Member terminations as well as demographic changes are updated immediately. This gives the institution a competitive advantage over its rivals. Part II Needs Assessment/ Gap Analysis on Kaiser Permanente                      At present, Kaiser Permanente is criticized for failing to have facilities, resources or policies to conduct a number of services. Additionally, where critical services are offered, the facility features as lazy to act exposing the patients to delay in diagnosis. The hospital is often accused of prolonged diagnosis period preferring available formal diagnosis rather than recommending specialized and expensive diagnosis so as to contain costs. Furthermore, the institution prefers cheaper dispute resolution mechanism such as arbitration. This process may take prolonged time and has often sparkled criticism. For instance, Wilfredo Engalla succumbed to lung cancer five months after submitting an arbitration demand. Consequently, the Supreme Court of California awarded his spouse $500,000 as damages from Kaiser Permanente (Abelson, 2013). Still, The Huffington Post accuses the institution of overburdening its staff resulting to sloppy work (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). This occurs even when the company rackets billions of dollars in profits. Sadly, mental health patients contend with a prolonged wait for appointment at the institution’s California facility. Upon meeting the doctor, the meeting lasts briefly, therefore, receiving brief consultations. Finally, the patient ends up in a group therapy set up comprising of 20 members under the astute of a single clinician, in spite of a one on one clinician session (Eichler, 2011). The report concluded by showing the cuts in mental health funding. California led the pack by cutting the mental health budget by $177.4 million out of the $1.7 billion mental health budget cuts. Moreover, Kaiser is accused of understaffing its various departments in spite of an inflationary membership. For instance, mental health patients are sloppily rushed through the treatment and rehabilitation process resulting to dire implications. Rushing is necessary in order to serve the over 6.6 million members (Eichler, 2011). Cases of misdiagnosis as well as wrong diagnosis and treatment cases have been reported in which some were catastrophic resulting to deaths. Kaiser’s violations of rules and regulations in kidney transplant regulations led to closure of the program (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). An investigative report by the Los Angeles Times revealed Kaiser Permanente’s mismanagement across the board on 3rd May 2006 (Eichler, 2011). Apparently, the facility had operated 56 transplants the previous with an alarming death of 112 patients while waiting for the operation. Kaiser Permanente realized financial savings through the delays in transplants. Consequently, the institution announced discontinuation of the practice on 13th May 2006 (Eichler, 2011). Most of the employees at Kaiser Permanente are members of various labor unions although the Medicine Doctors as well as the Osteopathic Medicine Doctors share in the for profit profits of the institution (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). Surprisingly, the California facilities witnessed 4 major strikes between 2011 and 2012. There were over 20,000 participants drawn from the institution’s mental health providers, nurses and other specialists (Eichler, 2011). Labor Unions constantly accused Kaiser Permanente for stalling negations deliberately in spite of the huge profits and a hefty pay to the C.E.O. The workers grievances included delayed care, poor staffing, and loss of medical insurance, pensions as well as other benefits. Based on the above criticism, it is indeed true that a gap subsists between Kaiser’s current performance and the projected. This part addresses solutions to the criticism based on social, legal and culture. Firstly, the modern world is fast paced and Kaiser must accommodate fast pacing in service delivery (Lawler, Boudreau, Mohrman, Mark, Neilson, & Osganian, 2006). Employee staffing, training, recruitment, retention, job function redesign will help address friction with labor unions (Kochan, 2009). Besides, competitive and equitably pegged remuneration will motivate employees to offer quality services. Recruiting more employees will help address the ballooning membership. Besides, training of employees on cultural accommodations of different patients will enhance positive reviews to Kaiser Permanente. Finally, Kaiser must embrace a law abiding organizational culture. This will reduce arbitrative litigations. Moreover, taking up a less materialistic approach to delivering serv ices is a crucial social factor that will enhance closing of the performance gap. Implementation of these policies involves three pertinent stakeholders in Kaiser Permanente. These include the patient, the caregiver and the ownership of Kaiser. The patient is the key stakeholder as s/he identifies helps identifies areas of improvement. For instance, the patient directs services to be offered based on the common illnesses and ailments. The caregiver professional is a crucial link in implementing the services and building on a solid reputation of Kaiser Permanente. The motivation and remuneration of caregivers determine their delivery of medical services to the client. Adequate staffing ensures that clients do not feel rushed, delayed or misdiagnosed (Kochan, 2009). Finally, the ownership of the institution is crucial because it will spearhead implementation of the policies. It is pivotal because it will approve, reject or hold implementation of these recommendations. Besides, the ownership will provide resources to steer through the implementation process. Communic ation will be crucial to achieving the set objectives. Besides, it will fine tune synergy and course of direction. Communication to the stakeholders will involve internal and external communication channels. Periodic meetings will appraise the owners and caregivers on the progress of the implementation. Brochures will be distributed from time to time to the patients sensitizing and informing them of the progress. An evaluation process will then follow to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Questionnaires will be administered to each of the three groups of stakeholders. The questionnaires will be structured to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention as well as requesting proposal for achieving further progresses. The intervention will deemed successful through satisfied and happy patient positive reviews from happily served, satisfied and recovered patients (Kochan, 2009). Besides, motivated, inspired and friendly caregiver labor force will signify a successful intervention. Higher earnings, more trophies and recognition of the institution in the public glare will foster a successful intervention to the owners. References Abelson, R. (2013, March 20). The Face of Future Health Care. Kaiser Permanente is seen as the future of healthcare. Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/kaiser-permanente-is-seen-as-face-of-future-health-care.html?_r=0 Eichler, A. (2011, November 14). Kaiser Permanente Makes Billions In Profits While Overburdening Staff: Report. The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/kaiser-permanente-overburden_n_1092694.html Kochan, T. A. (2009). Healing together the labor-management partnership at Kaiser Permanente. Ithaca: ILR Press/Cornell University Press. Lawler, E. E., Boudreau, J. W., Mohrman, S. A., Mark, A. Y., Neilson, B., & Osganian, N. (2006). Achieving strategic excellence: an assessment of human resource organizations. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Business Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press. Source document

Marketing Communications in McDonalds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Marketing Communications in McDonalds - Essay Example The company that is the subject of this research is McDonald’s as a global retailer in the food services category that operates based on 35,000 different retail outlets spanning across different international regions, A large number of outlets of the company contributes in serving the needs of around 70 million consumers spanning across 100 nations. The company aims at generating a place where consumers can effectively visit for eating and drinking activities. McDonald’s aims to entice the customers through the provision of quality foods and services such that the same help in meeting the parameters of quality, cleanliness and value addition to the customers. The meeting of the above parameters is taken to rightly contribute to generating effective customer experiences such that the same encourages in making the customers to gain frequent visits to the stores. McDonald’s aims to expand along different countries through the development of franchisees in that the s ame contribute to helping the company to effectively blend its corporate culture with the national culture of the region. The company operates based on serving the needs of both its internal and external stakeholders like employees and customers respectively through working based on needed integrity and ethics. It also works in the meeting of sustainable objectives pertaining to taking care of natural and social environment where it tends to conduct its business operations. Marketing Communication activities are conducted by the business organizations with its targeted customers, both existent and of potential nature along different stages relating to pre-sales, sales and finally relating to the post-sales stage. Marketing Communication activities are conducted by a company in an integrated fashion such that different types of promotional and communication tools are utilized to rightly communicate with targeted individuals, and other potential groups and interested communities. Diff erent types of marketing and promotional tools like the use of advertising through the use of print, broadcasting and online mediums, direct marketing activities, sales promotion, personal selling and also through the use of publicity campaigning can be effectively integrated to generate considerable awareness among the targeted consumers relating to the products and services marketed.

Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 22

Memo - Essay Example Among the seven stories, the fourth story was subjected to some element of distortion. The key topics under study included: poverty, unemployment, and terrorism. Four conditions under these topics were subject to manipulation. These conditions could either be systemic whereby the government takes full responsibility or they could be dispositional where the individual takes full responsibility. The explanations could either be systemic or dispositional depending on the condition. For instance, when the topic covered poverty, the participants were shown a clip of homeless persons rather than the one that one that discussed the rate of unemployment, this rendered the explanation more dispositional than systemic. Moreover, it was observed that when the explanations were more systemic, President Reagan’s approval rating was lower since any blame to the government was linked to him even though he might not have had direct influence over the matter. This paper shows how easily our vi ews and opinions on certain topics can be influenced by the way they are presented. As a result of this, human beings tend to make casual relationships even when there are no links between them. The reason for the use of this technique is because it’s an easy technique to arrive at hasty conclusions. The paper, â€Å"How Large and Long-lasting Are the Persuasive Effects of Televised Campaign Ads? Results from a Randomized Field Experiment†, examines paid political advertising. In this paper, 1000 voters were interviewed with the sole purpose of finding out how effective campaign advertisements are. The experiment was conducted during the reelection campaign of Texas governor Rick Perry. Based on the research above, this paper concludes that there is a strong correlation between television ads and a voter’s decision though it may be short-lived. Kollman’s book portrays the media

Reflective journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Reflective journal - Essay Example Through Sainsbury’s 2014 Christmas Advert, I got to understand the conflicting messages which can be through previous messages. From the role of History as a resource of the citizens, I was able to comprehend the role of history before and after both national and international events. The above can be applied in my future academic as well as real life pursuit while visiting new places and understanding how their present culture is influenced by history. I met the objectives of the lecture through understanding the significance of History and its various meanings to modern life1. Dr Andrea Mammone lectured the second Lecture, and its primary objective was to teach on the historical creation of Identities with the major focus being on totalitarianism. I was able to meet the objectives of the lecture.In the lecture, I was able to grow by understanding identities related to fascism across different social aspects. The lecturer exhibited the relative historical characters from politics to sport and how they are used and revised to legitimise modern political and local situations. Through the integration of memory and history, the different vectors of memory such as historical studies, mass media, commemorations and museums amongst others are established. This leads to various types of memories such as collective and individual memory, personal and public amongst others. Mussolini is with fascism and after his fall images even in sports were used to signify his fall. Fascism is from other countries such as Austria and France. From the class, I was able to underst and how the identities directly challenged the acceptance of diversification, as well as democracies around the world. I was thus able to achieve the lecture’s goal through understanding how past historical activities had led to the creation of identities on almost all social aspects2. The third lecture on creating identities with reference to

Module 2 SLP Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Module 2 SLP - Coursework Example MWPVL is an awesome website that contains financial data for industries across Europe and America. It offers insights of the forces of demand and supply in various industries in these regions by reviewing how each of these entities influences supply of commodities to the market and price determination strategies employed respectively. The food industry is among the few industries that are reviewed in the website thus the significance of this particular reference. This source is vital for this analysis as it contains consumer related information ranging from consumer behavior to buying patterns in the food industry and specifically with Kraft foods as the case firm. It formulates data of the current patterns in consumer demand and preferences and how buyers influence the prices. It is basically a financial analysis of Kraft food that refines all information within the business environment of this firm. In the internal report, the section of substitute products in the market is covered thus proving information that will be handy to assist us in our review. That notwithstanding, it has a pool of information about competition that the firm is facing from rival business organizations that are offering substitute products. However, it fails to provide a conclusive analysis of the level of threat that substitute products pose to Kraft foods. YouGov SixthSense is an insider report that refines the market position of Kraft foods in the industry. It provides information on market segmentation among the major players together with the strength of each firm in controlling major decisions that affect the entire food industry. The issue of competition in the food market in America has been analyzed in detail thus making it a worthy source. Carnegie Research Inc. (2009). Kraft Foods Inc.: A Guide for Selling and Increasing Sales at Kraft Foods Inc. Legal and Regulatory Issues. Retrieved from

Hiring and Recruiting Salespeople Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hiring and Recruiting Salespeople - Essay Example For instance, the hiring of right and dedicated employees increases organizational productivity, internal efficiency, effectiveness and performance. One of the most important jobs of HR managers, who also serve as employee advocates, is to hire right marketing and sales personnel. It is worthwhile to mention that sales’ people play their vital role in success and prosperity of an organisation because they are responsible for push marketing, direct selling, advertising and smooth distribution of goods and services. For instance, the capable, well – trained, educated and professional sales personnel with strong marketing skills could convince and persuade distribution channel members (such as dealers, partners, whole sellers and retailers) and end-users about the scope and profitability of business products. Therefore, the employment of dedicated, motivated, confident, enthusiastic and hard-working salesmen enable the company to increase short and long run sales, build cordial relationships with all distribution channel members, improve sales network and operations management, resolve customer issues and complaints, e nhance customer satisfaction level and perceived loyalty. In short, all manufacturing and trading firms solely depend upon the performance and contribution of sales staff because they produce and sell want – satisfying goods in the market. However, today service organizations such as insurance firms, mutual firms and other financial businesses have also become reliant on contributions from sales people, because they persuade potential customers to benefit from goods and services of their respective business enterprise.

Visual Arts - Peeping Tom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visual Arts - Peeping Tom - Essay Example The reason behind such a huge criticism was the extreme of voyeurism related to private moments of people. The film included pictorial records of women, which were recorded right at the time of their deaths. The main character of the film, Mark, who was shown as a killer in the film used to capture the moments of fear while murdering young women. This was one of the main factors, which gave rise to such a huge level of criticism against the film, which eventually ended Powell’s career as a director. The critics used to give disgraceful comments about the film because of its absurd nature. Some critics even said that the whole film should be flushed down the sewer. The theme of the film revealed the psychological behaviors of different people involved in the people. The film also revealed that the nature of a person becomes stronger by time and what a person observes in the childhood never gets out of his/her mind. The film involves the audience in the shameful act of stalking and murdering young women, which was also one of the major reasons behind criticism about the film. The critics also believed that the film was a show of frustration and violence instead of a pure entertainment. The film did not give any sort of lesson to the audience rather it just made them feel involved in the shameful act of stalking women and murdering them. This aspect of the film was the most disastrous one because it tried to break the unspoken rules of the English cinema. Some critics believed that the film was portraying the elements of violence, aggression, and voyeurism by involving the audience into the acts of the killer. This was not acceptable for the critics as it was totally against the social and moral ethics. Critics believed that the role of cinema was to make people aware of social and moral ethics of the society instead of involving them into voyeur acts. The director of the film, Powell, broke the rules of the cinema by making such film but he never thought o f consequences of doing such act. â€Å"With this film, he succeeded in breaking through all boundaries and disregarding all unspoken rules of cinema† (Jacobson, n.d.). The consequences of making such a movie were very bad for the director of the movie. The director not only faced heavy loss due to failure of the film but also his career as a director ended. â€Å"It’s fifty years since Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom was released to notorious critical umbrage, a Caesar-like mass stabbing which essentially killed his career† (Robey, 2010). Today, some people consider this movie as the first modern horror movie of the century, which included the elements of sex and horror. Although the lightening and genre of the film was very outstanding, yet the story and style of the film did not come up to the expectations of the audience and the critics. The film was very unsettling in nature as the director portrayed the main role of the film as a mentally ill person. T he murdered used to trap the girls and murder them in order to fulfill his psychological frustration. The way the film was made and the way it showed the actions of Mark, who was the hero of the film, was not expected by the audience, which gave rise to such a great criticism against the film. Powell, the director of the film, was very much aware of the dark aspects of the film but even then, he went on to make this film. The film just remained in the cinemas for one

Life of John Milton Essay Example for Free

Life of John Milton Essay Milton continued to write poetry during this period of study: his Arcades and Comus were both commissioned for masques composed for noble patrons, connections of the Egerton family, and performed in 1632 and 1634 respectively. Comus argues for the virtuousness of temperance and chastity. He contributed his pastoral elegy Lycidas to a memorial collection for one of his Cambridge classmates. Drafts of these poems are preserved in Milton’s poetry notebook, known as the Trinity Manuscript because it is now kept at Trinity College, Cambridge. Family Milton and his first wife, Mary Powell (1625–1652) had four children: * Anne (born 7 July 1646) * Mary (born 25 October 1648) * John (16 March 1651 – June 1652) * Deborah (2 May 1652 – ?) Mary Powell died on 5 May 1652 from complications following Deborahs birth. Miltons daughters survived to adulthood, but he had always a strained relationship with them. On 12 November 1656, Milton was married again, to Katherine Woodcock. She died on 3 February 1658, less than four months after giving birth to a daughter, Katherine, who also died. Milton married for a third time on 24 February 1662, to Elizabeth Mynshull (1638–1728), the niece of Thomas Mynshull, a wealthy apothecary and philanthropist in Manchester. Despite a 31-year age gap, the marriage seemed happy, according to John Aubrey, and was to last more than 11 years until Miltons death. (A plaque on the wall of Mynshulls House in Manchester describes Elizabeth as Miltons 3rd and Best wife.) Two nephews, John Phillips and Edward Phillips, were well known as writers. They were sons of Miltons sister Anne. John acted as a secretary, and Edward was Miltons first biographer. Blindness But in the course of his work for the government, his eyesight had begun to fail, and by 1651 (43) he was completely blind. Death He ended his days in a small house near Bunhill Fields, alone with his wife and a maid. He died in ++1674 (66) without pain or emotion, according to testimony at the time no one in the room noticing his passing. - Published poetry Milton is the author of dramas such as Samson Agonistes (1671) as well as lyrical sonnets, of which the finest were in fact inspired the the death of his second wife. Altogether John Milton would write twenty- three sonnets. In a very real sense therefore these can be considered as exceptions. He uses such moments to express his thoughts and feelings on specific events, historical or personal. In his lifetime, moreover, he was mainly known for his political pamphlets. As a poet during the age of Shakespeare, he was born less than a decade after the death of this one. Milton might have been less appealing than such a master of the English language but he was nonetheless destined to become one of the best writers England would ever know. Having sided with the parliamentarians against the monarchists, Milton would begin a political career with responsibilities comparable to that today of an undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. However the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 will mean that he is both fined and imprisoned in the famous still standing today Tower of London. Eventually pardoned, Milton would from then on lead a rather retired life devoted entirely to writing until his death in 1674. Miltons poetry was slow to see the light of day, at least under his name. His first published poem was On Shakespear (1630), anonymously included in the Second Folio edition of Shakespeare. In the midst of the excitement attending the possibility of establishing a new English government, Milton collected his work in 1645 Poems. The anonymous edition of Comus was published in 1637, and the publication of Lycidas in 1638 in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago was signed J. M. Otherwise the 1645 collection was the only poetry of his to see print, until Paradise Lost appeared in 1667. Paradise Lost Main article: Paradise Lost Milton’s magnum opus, the blank-verse epic poem Paradise Lost, was composed by the blind and impoverished Milton from 1658 to 1664 (first edition) with small but significant revisions published in 1674 (second edition). As a blind poet, Milton dictated his verse to a series of aides in his employ. It reflects his personal despair at the failure of the Revolution, yet affirms an ultimate optimism in human potential. Milton encoded many references to his unyielding support for the Good Old Cause.[31] Milton followed up Paradise Lost with its sequel, Paradise Regained, published alongside the tragedy Samson Agonistes, in 1671. Both these works also resonate with Milton’s post-Restoration political situation. Just before his death in 1674, Milton supervised a second edition of Paradise Lost, accompanied by an explanation of why the poem rhymes not and prefatory verses by Marvell. Milton republished his 1645 Poems in 1673, as well a collection of his letters and the Latin pr olusions from his Cambridge days. A 1668 edition of Paradise Lost, reported to have been Miltons personal copy, is now housed in the archives of theUniversity of Western Ontario. Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, changed into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgils Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification.[1] The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eveby the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Miltons purpose, stated in Book I, is to justify the ways of God to men.[2] Paradise Lost is widely considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language.[3] The poem begins strong as follows: Of Mans first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe (with loss of Eden, till one greater Man restore us, and regain the blissful seat) Some of the famous verses from Paradise Lost include: The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n. The context of this passage is that of Satan not yet really considering revenge. At that point he is instead deciding to make the most of the situation. This is confirmed only a few lines later when he makes the very famous utterance: Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav’n. The following quote is from a point in the work when God is talking with his son and angels about the fact that since angels and man were given free will, it would have been meant changing their nature to have intervened and prevented their sin: The first sort by their own suggestions fell, Self-tempted, self-depraved: man falls deceived By the other first: man therefore shall find grace, The other none Finally, let us consider the following quote where Milton tells us about Eve having been deceived: Greedily she engorged without restraint, And knew not eating death; It interesting to note that even though Paradise Lost was to become considered as a major influential work, it did not meet immediate success when it was first published in 1667. It was not until 1688, a little over ten years after Milton’s death that the poem would start to be widely recognized. Perhaps such late recognition has partly to do with the fact that by the time of his death Milton was not only broke, but he had been alienated out of intellectual life in his own country. In 1670 he would publish his controversial The History of Britain, and in 1671 Paradise Regained, dealing with the temptation of Christ. Milton would die in London on November 8 1674. The same year would appear the second edition of Paradise Lost. - Characters Satan Satan is the first major character introduced in the poem. Formerly the most beautiful of all angels in Heaven, hes a tragic figure who describes himself with the now-famous quote Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. He is introduced to Hell after he leads a failed rebellion to wrestle control of Heaven from God. Satans desire to rebel against his creator stems from his unwillingness to be subjugated by God and his Son, claiming that angels are self-begot, self-raised,[4] thereby denying Gods authority over them as their creator. Adam Adam is the first human created by God. Though initially alone, Adam demands a mate from God. Considered Gods prized creation, Adam, along with his wife, rules over all the creatures of the world and reside in the Garden of Eden. He is more intelligent and curious about external ideas than Eve. He is completely infatuated with Eve, which while pure in and of itself, eventually contributes to his reasons for joining Eve in disobedience to God. Eve Eve is the second human created by God, taken from one of Adams ribs and shaped into a female form of Adam. In her innocence, she is the model of a good wife, graceful and submissive to Adam. Though happy, she longs for knowledge and, more specifically, self-knowledge. Her first act in existence is to turn away from Adam and look at and ponder her own reflection. Eve is extremely beautiful and thoroughly in love with Adam, though may feel suffocated by his constant presence. One day, she convinces Adam that it would be good for them to split up and work different parts of the Garden. In her solitude, she is tempted by Satan to sin against God. Adam shortly follows along with her. The Son of God The Son of God is the spirit that will become Jesus Christ, though he is never named explicitly, since he has not yet entered human form. The Son of God shares total union with God, and indeed is understood to be a person of the Godhead, along with the Father and the Spirit. He is the ultimate hero of the epic and infinitely powerful, singlehandedly defeating Satan and his followers when they violently rebel against God and driving them into Hell. The Son of God tells Adam and Eve about Gods judgment after their sin. However, he sacrificially volunteers to eventually journey to the World, become a man himself, and redeem the Fall of Man through his own death and resurrection. In the final scene, a vision of Salvation through the Son of God is revealed to Adam by Michael. Still, the name, Jesus of Nazareth, and the details of Jesus story are not depicted in the poem.[7] God the Father God the Father is the creator of Heaven, Hell, the World, and of everyone and everything there is. He desires glory and praise from all his creations. He is an all-powerful, all-knowing, infinitely good being who cannot be overthrown by even the great army of angels Satan incites against him. The poem begins with the purpose of justifying the ways of God to men, so God often converses with the Son of God concerning his plans and reveals his motives regarding his actions. The poem portrays God’s process of creation in the way that Milton believed it was done, that God created Heaven, Earth, Hell, and all the creatures that inhabit these separate planes from part of Himself, not out of nothing.[8] Thus, according to Milton, the ultimate authority of God derives from his being the author of creation. Satan tries to justify his rebellion by denying this aspect of God and claiming self-creation, but he admits to himself this is not the case, and that God deserved no such return/ Fr om me, whom He created what I was.[9][10] Raphael Raphael is an angel who is sent by God to warn Adam about Satans infiltration of Eden and to warn him that Satan is going to try to curse Adam and Eve. He also has a lengthy discussion with the curious Adam regarding creation and events which transpired in Heaven. Michael Michael is a mighty archangel who fought for God in the Angelic War. In the first battle, he wounds Satan terribly with a powerful sword that God designed to even cut through the substance of angels. After Adam and Eve disobey God by eating from the Tree of Knowledge, God sends the angel Michael to visit Adam and Eve. His duty is to escort Adam and Eve out of Paradise. But before this happens, Michael shows Adam visions of the future which cover an outline of the Bible, from the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, up through the story of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Interpretation and criticism The Creation of Man, engraving from the 1688 edition, by John Baptist Medina The writer and critic Samuel Johnson wrote that Paradise Lost shows off [Miltons] peculiar power to astonish and that [Milton] seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to know what it was that Nature had bestowed upon him more bountifully than upon others: the power of displaying the vast, illuminating the splendid, enforcing the awful, darkening the gloomy, and aggravating the dreadful.

High Compensation Pay Will Influence Employee Motivation

High Compensation Pay Will Influence Employee Motivation This article shows the relationship between high compensation pay and employees motivation in organization. Besides training, job satisfaction, and work environment, compensation pay is one of the factors that can influence employee motivation. Motivation has many theories that support employee will perform better in their job. Compensation pay aspects such as pay or reward package and promotion will lead or boost up employee motivation in order to perform in their work that contributes to organization. There are many theories that explain compensation effect on employee motivation. Many researchers had mentioned about the relationship between compensation pay aspects, pay or reward package and promotion and employee motivation in organization. Higher the compensation pay, employee motivation in organization will increase. Introduction Compensation is the total amount of the monetary and non-monetary pay provided by employer to an employee in return for work performed as required. Wayne. F. Cascio had stated that compensation which includes indirect cash payment and direct payments in the form of employee benefits and incentives that provide by employer in order to motivate employees to perform well for higher levels of productivity is an important component of the employment relationship between employer and employee. According to Milkovich, Newman Gerhart (2011), compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits that give by employer to employee as part of an employment relationship. For monetary pay, it as the return for employee that work or contribute in organization, while for non-monetary pay is provided by employer to an employee in order to motivate employee to perform in their work. Every stakeholder such as employer, manager, shareholder and others have their own perceptive regarding compensation and how compensation affects how they behave. Employee may define compensation as an exchange of service employee contribution or as a reward for a job well done. Employee see compensation as to some reflects the value for their personal skills and abilities, or the return for the education training they have learned or acquired. The pay individual receives for the work they perform in their work is usually the major source of personal income and financial security in their life and so it is very important determinants of an individual economic and social well being. For manager, compensation pay directly influences their success in two ways. Firstly, it is a major expense competitive pressure both internationally and domestically, forces employer to consider whether their compensation decisions is affordable or not. Other studies show that many organization labor cost s account for more than 50% of total costs. And for industries such as public employment or service, this figure is even higher. Compensation is one of the factors that influence employee motivation in organization. The good compensation pay is a good motivator for employee. Employee motivation and behavior influence by compensation by two ways (Milkovich, Newman Gerhart 2011). High compensation pay will lead employee to motivate in doing their job or perform well in their work and performance. If employee did not get compensation pay much as they should get, employee tend to not perform well and motivate to do their job. Compensation pay desired behavior which is motivated employee for better performance. This study would like to investigate the relationship between compensation pay aspects which are pay or reward package and promotion towards employee motivation in organization. The problem After bonuses are distributed, management teams may often be frustrated by the lack of employee motivation. If the employee does not see a direct correlation between performance and bonus, this may lead to a lack of motivation because employees see no reason to perform better. Shun Linda Wang, 2003 Nowadays organization whether small or large, people pay much more attention to their life style and the money they earn from the work than their senior. However, it still remains unclear whether many of employees would continue working if it were not for the money that they earn. Employee will expects their employer give a compensation plan are that it is fair and equitable, that it provides them with tangible rewards matched with their skills and, further, that it provides recognition and employee feel their employer appreciate them. Employer will face big challenge in order to motivate employees in organization. Motivation of employee is an important key to an organization that can lead to overall effectiveness of organization. Basically, employee will do or perform well in their work if their employer provides compensation pay to them. In other word, employee is not motivated in order give full commitment in their work because of compensation pay that they receive from employer is not enough or dissatisfied. Employee will perform better if they see the relationship between compensation pay and performance. Employee tends to motivate and perform better in their job if employer provides high compensation pay. Are wages attached to jobs and do promotions play an important role as a wage determinant? Do expected promotions affect motivation and, once the promotion has been realized, will this make the motivation disappear completely? These questions is the famous question that employer will ask in order perform well towards increase productivity or efficiency of organization. As Herzberg (1968) has argued, just because too little money can affect and demotivate employee, does not mean that more and more money will lead about increased satisfaction, much less increased motivation. But it is reasonable to assume that if employees take-home pay or salary was cut in half, employee morale would suffer enough to not perform well and undermine performance. It doesnt necessarily follow that doubling that employees pay would result in better work or employee will motivate to perform well. According to Schuler and MacMillan (1984), they stressed that Human resource management practices (including com pensation) may give a competitive advantages to one corporation over its rivals in order to retain and motivate their employee in organization. Literature review Motivation is the desire to achieve beyond expectations, being driven by internal rather than external factors, and to be involved in a continuous striving for improvement. (Torrington, Hall, Taylor Atkinson, 2009, p. 276) Motivation, in the context of work, is a psychological process that results from the interaction or relationship between an employee and the work environment and it is characterized by a certain level of willingness to do something. Motivation also defined as the employees are willing to increase their work effort in order to desire that they hold or obtain a specific need (Beardwell Claydon, 2007). According to Arnold (1991), motivation consists of three components: Â · Direction what a person is trying to do? Â · Effort how hard a person is trying to do? Â · Persistence how long a person keeps on trying to do? Motivation of employee was set as the dependent variable in this study. Although the construct of motivation can be operationally defined with the help of similar to variables such as motives, dispositions, needs, and values (Hogan and Hogan, 1990), the field of psychology has not observed a single, crucial measure of employee motivation. Therefore, there is the study that measures motivation by a single straightforward item: How has the level of your work motivation level changed in the last three years? The responses of the study had range from decreased (1) to increased (5). (Takahashi, 2005) Moreover, in a way of accomplishment expected work productivity and job satisfaction motivation is the outmost element to be taken into account (Schultz Schultz, 1998). Mainly, the impacts of motivation on the work performance and productivity will attract attention towards employee motivation in the work environment (Huddleston Good, 1999). Employee with high level of motivation tends to work hard and perform better in their work as compared to the employees with low level of motivation. The understanding of the employees expectations and needs of employees at work signifies the base for their motivation. In order to increase employee satisfaction and motivation with their work, it is important to arrange employees work and the level of satisfaction with work. Motivational models are usually divided in to two between and those, which are process theories that focus on the individuals interactions with their environment and those content theories that which focus on an individuals internal attributes. Expectancy theory is one of the process motivation theory describes motivation as a function of individual or employees perception that they have about their surroundings and they will form the expectation based on these perceptions. The organizational psychology literature includes a number or many motivational theories, but based on Ghazanfar, Chuanim, Khan Bashir (2011) they have selected expectancy theory as their implementation mechanism for some reasons. Firstly, the theory has been subjected to rigorous academic testing that each of its components has been experiment and the result is there is a positive influence or relationship on employee motivation. Other researcher such as Klein (1991), Pritchard and Sanders (1973), and Arvy (1972) give support for the link or relationship between effort and E-P expectancy. Hope and Pate (1988) established that the link between instrumentality and effort is one of be the best supported of the components and measured by Lawler and Porter (1967), Snead and Harrell (1994), Klein (1991), Harrell and Stahl (1984). Pritchard and Sanders (1973) have confirmed the motivational link between effort and valence. Secondly, the theory is easily to understand and very straightforw ard. Developed by Vroom (1964), expectancy theory determines three factors that play an interactive role in motivation. Effort-performance expectancy refers to E-P expectancy that concerns the employees perception which effort is positively linked with level of performance in organization. Maslows theory shows that human needs as a role of the capacity in which the human needs have already been fulfilled. It means that human needs that are fulfilled have a low motivation value. Other than that, Herzberg explains that work satisfaction is based on the presence of intrinsic motivation, while the presence of extrinsic factors will lead to dissatisfaction of work. If there is hygienic factors, workers will be happy with their current work situation. In order to have motivated workforce in organization, the hygienic factors must be satisfied and when motivations are in place. This model is in the same type as the theories of Lewin and Vroom that it is concern with the influence of perception and expectancy on motivation. However, this model is a more comprehensive theory than the other theories. The model is based on the following propositions: The motivational force of an individual is based on how individual see the value of the goal, the power required achieving the goal and the probability that the goal will be achieved. Because of individuals past experience is similar of situation, it will enable to a better self-assessment of the required effort, ability perform well and achieve the goal Performance achievement can be achieved by individual efforts which mean individual understand the task requirement and know their self-assessment of ability. Individual sees performance as lead to both rewards which is extrinsic and intrinsic can give satisfaction if individual feel the rewards are fair. This model is most complete and has enough description of the process of motivation. Performance of employee is usually described as a joint function between both ability and motivation, and one of the primary tasks that employer have to face is motivating employee to perform to the best of their own skill or ability (Moorhead Griffin, 1998). Basically, when economists talk about incentives and motivation, it refers to type of motivation which is extrinsic motivation (Frey, 1997, Benabou and Tirole, 2003). Extrinsic motivation is a type of behavior influence by external interventions, examples your boss give reward in term of money, praise your work, or status (Frey, 1997). This type of incentives works same as quid pro quo: employee has the implicit contract that after perform well in a performance they will receive an external reward. This means that the view of monetary rewards, either in the form of incentive compensation or promotions automatically will increase employee motivation. According to Minner, Ebrahimi, and Watchel (1995), they explain that motivation consists of these three interdependent and interacting elements which are drives, needs, and incentives. As long as organizations have been operated, compensation had recognized as one of major motivator of employees in order to perform better as well as an important tool for organizations. To construct compensation systems, organization must have mutual understanding so that it can be to the organizations structure, strategies, and employees that has been an important area. To use compensation as a motivator to employee motivation, personnel employer must look at four major components of a pay structures in an organization (Popoola Ayeni 2007). These four major components are job rate, which is the importance the organization attaches to each job, payment, which employer give reward to encourage employee based on to their performance, personal or special allowances, like transport allowance and fringe b enefits such as holidays with pay and pensions. According to Akintoye (2000), he highlight that money is still be the most important motivational strategy. Early year 1911, Frederick Taylor and his scientific management associate defined money as the most important factor to motivate employee in order to achieve and improve better productivity. Taylor also defined compensation and performance based pay as one of the major tools management had to motivate employees and to improve their productivity hence reduce turnover. Money sees as an important motivating power in as much as it symbolizes intangible goals like security, prestige, power, and a feeling of accomplishment and success. Sinclair (2005) explained that the motivational power of money with the process of job choice. Sinclair explains that money has the power to attract, retain, and motivate employee in order to increase and improve performance. As example, if an employee gets another job offer, which offers best financial rewards and has same job characteristics with his current job, that employee would be motivated to leave current job and accept the new job offer. Banjoko (1996) states that employers which want to reward or punish their employees, they usually use money. This is can be done through the process of rewarding employees for increase productivity by give recognition to employee so that employee will feel fear of loss of job or other related issues such as no promotion because of not perform well in performance. The eagerness to be promoted and earn improved pay also will motivate employees. Compensation research is more focus on stressing the internal orientation to an individuals reaction to pay. This research orientation is always led by industrial organizational psychologists and has contributed to human resource management practice. The main force for this research has been the suggestion that pay will affects level of job satisfaction of employee and work behaviors or employee motivation (Oshagbemi, 2000). Generally, organizations offer their employees three types of opportunities which are (Ospina, 1996): Promotion. Pay. Challenges at work. According to Kwon (2004) there are two ways promotion provided incentives. First, wage increase upon promotion or promotion premium can be fixing by principal, and let the promotion probability depend on performance. Second, a principal also can fix the promotion probability and let the promotion premium depend on performance. Hence, both promotion probability and promotion premium will base on performance. However, the literature has only focused on the former, and mostly will ignore the final. Remind that when use for performance-based wages, in most previous models of promotion-based incentives, the principal do not have any reason to provide huge incentives, and sometimes promote employees without any reason. Our model highlights the final. Because employees in the model is same and usually makes an investment along the equilibrium path, the principal promotes them based on term unless they realized performance or wages. This is consistent based on seniority-rule in promote emplo yees. But, a wage increase with promotion based on performance in order to provide incentives for investments on job-specific human capital that does not for a new job level. In the extreme case, controlling for term, the promotion probability based whether on performance or on wages. According on a survey amongst all individual employees, Herpen, Cools Praag (2004) found a positive link that effect of promotions on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which leads to the effectiveness of promotion. They show that promotion will affect positively on extrinsic motivation that constant with one of the basic assumptions in the tournament model. Motivation is high in this type when employees think that they will get promotion in the future. Intrinsic motivation is not so much affected by an expected promotion but rather by a recently realized promotion. Without a realized or expected promotion in long period will lead to a decrease of intrinsic motivation (Herpen, Cools Praag, 2004). Promotions should elaborate motivation in many ways. Moreover, there often does not seem to be strong pay for performance within jobs, which only increases the clear importance of promotions for organizational incentives (Hedstrom, 1987). But for internal labor markets, the status of higher positions is more important rather than higher pay because employees tend to perform well to win the competition. Promotion defines an incentive mechanism that gives value to employees that in higher position (Takahashi, 2005). For organizations that want to motivate their employees, they must fully the incentive effects of promotion. Lazear Rosen (1981) stated that promotions have contributed a great deal in theoretical interest, especially in the tournament models. A promotion can be an indication of trust and lead to empowerment, which is correlated positively with intrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan, 1985). In order to find out the full incentive that effect promotion, organization will analyze the relationship between perceived promotion opportunities and intrinsic motivation. Reward is the benefits that workers can get from perform well in a task, representation a service or discharging a responsibility. (Colin Pitts, 1995, p. 11.) Pay can be as the most important factor that will motivate employees and also can be motivating reward that is received when employees can perform better in a task and service. Individuals will motivate to go out and find a work in order to get pay. Pay is also can be seen as a way in order to value employees work that contributed to organization. Organization will face a problem such as hard to retain good employees in organization if employees feel reward package that they get is unfair and not satisfied. It is because pay can be a powerful demotivator towards employees (Colin Pitts, 1995). It shows that rewards absolutely can influence employee motivation. Inequity in the management of compensation such as performance that measure unfair may give negative impact to the objectives of the company, as employees will not work ha rd but want to get reward so it will lead to expense of contribution. But if the compensation pay is perceived as fair, satisfied and competitive, hence good employees are likely to stay in the organization (Schuler, 1998). Many employees think that reward package is only wages and salaries that employer give as a return of their contribution to organization. Actually the reward package is include bonuses, health insurance, pension schemes, car allowance, beneficial loans, meal allowance, profit sharing, share options and others. (Pitts, 1995, p.13). Efficient reward system can be a good motivator but an inefficient reward system can lead to demotivation of the employees. Reio and Callahon (2004) concludes that both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards motivates the employee resulted in higher productivity. Carraher et al (2006) stresses that there should be an effective reward system in organization in order to retain the quality employees and reward should provide based on their productivity. There many works has been done in order to evaluate the link between rewards and employee motivation and there are many researchers investigated and agreed that reward can give impact on employee motivation. Organization must make sure that policies and procedures to form reward system will increase employee motivation and satisfaction in order to maximize the performance of the employees. Performance-based pay (PBP) is one of the compensation schemes that have link between employee performances with pay. It can be defined as a system of remuneration in which an individuals increase in salary is solely or mainly dependent on his/her appraisal or merit rating (Swabe, 1989). Armstrong (2005) defines it more comprehensively as the process of providing a financial reward to an individual which is linked directly to individual, group or organizational performance. But Schuler (1998) maintains that PBP is not limited to financial rewards, and that non-financial rewards, such as recognition, can also constitute pay for performance. The basic reasons for PBP are performance enhancement for competitive advantage and equity (MIlkovich and Newman, 1996). In this regard, Beardwell and Holden (1995) identify several specific reasons for which managers may introduce PBP. These include: Help in recruitment and selection; Facilitate change in organizational culture; Weaken trade union power; increased role of the line manager; Greater financial control and value for money; Ability to reward and recognize performance; and Encouragement to flexibility. Proposition/ Recommendation Each researcher has their own recommendation regarding this study that investigated the relationship between compensation pay and employee motivation. Organization or employer should understand what influences individuals motivation which determines how they behave and why they behave in a certain way. Organization can use theories of motivation in order to determine level of motivation or factors that can influence employee motivation in organization. One of the theories that organization can be use is the basic one, Maslows theory. Maslows theory shows that human needs are a function of the capacity in which the needs have already been fulfilled. This means that a fulfilled need has a low motivation value. Bishop (1987) suggested that pay is directly related with productivity and reward system depends upon the size of an organization. Compensation pay such as pay or reward package and promotion will influence employee motivation in organization. For efficiency of compensation pay, organization can give compensation pay based on their size of organization. If the organization is big, employer should provided compensation pay that suitable to their employee such as high compensation pay in term of give employee high pay so that employee will motivate and tend to perform well. Consequently, it will increase employee motivation in organization and employee. Herzbergs theory explained that if employer give an opportunities for promotions and actual promotions are highly to motivate higher performance than regular pay structures. This is supported by Maslows earlier needs theory, which ranks self-esteem and self-actualization as higher-order needs compared with physiological needs, which would include pay, as lower-order needs. Promotions do usually increase pay, but the motivational influence stems from recognition, increased responsibility, more challenging work and a personal sense of accomplishment all of which are motivating factors, according to Herzberg. Herzberg even notes opportunities for advancement specifically as a motivator. If employer gives opportunity or promotion to employee, motivation of employee will increase towards to perform better in work because employee feels that employer appreciate their contribution to organization and get recognition from organization. Conclusion and Implication Human resources Compensation pay is one of the most important factors that influence employee motivation in organization. The findings of the present study adds a new perspective on the basis of a new environmental settings to the existing evidence signifying that the work motivation in the organizations is influenced by the satisfaction of the employees with their compensation, which is offered by the organization. The further analysis of the data pertaining to the satisfaction with compensation and work motivation suggest that benefits had a positive but weak relationship with the work motivation. Benefits include allowances and reimbursements for miscellaneous expenses, company housing and company conveyance. The previous researches in this regard refer benefits as not an ingredient, which motivates employees, Jacques and Roussel, (1999). Our findings relate with these findings because of the weaker relationship of benefits with work motivation. We might also find an explanation f or the inefficiency of benefits, in research by Hills, Bergmann and Scarpello (1994). Referring to surveys concerning employees, they formulate the proposition that benefits are generally perceived as a right in United States society, so they have no incentive character.

Study On The Life Of Hijras In India Sociology Essay

Study On The Life Of Hijras In India Sociology Essay This dissertation explores the lives of eunuchs, the third gender, in contemporary India. It aims to bring out the several misconceptions harboured about this community and suggest measures to improve their living conditions. One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings. Anonymous Over the years, the hijra or eunuch community has occupied an extremely marginalized position in Indian society. By and large, their presence has provoked mixed feelings of fear, awe and contempt from the general public. Over the last two decades, the community has captured the western scholarly imagination as an idyllic case in the transnational system of alternative gender sexuality. When it comes to these type of analyses, as Rosalind Morris states, the hijra becomes either, an interstitial gender occupying a liminal pace between male and female or a drag queen who is a hero(ine) in a global sexual resistance Yet there exists a very different reality from that suggested by these theorists a reality based on rejection by family, cultural and societal isolation as well as neglect. Their identification as a uniquely positioned third sex becomes a lot more complicated when the hijra lifestyle is discussed with respect to this contemporary reality, instead of historical or mythical representation. The community has been subjected to vicious abuse or a lack of empathy, on a mental or physical level from different sections of society at various levels. These sections include the lay person, law enforcers and worse, their own biological parents and relatives. Lying at stake is the fundamental human right to be different, the right to recognition and choice of different pathways of sexuality, in other words a right to sexual orientation, a right to immunity from the oppressive and repressive derogatory labelling of despised sexuality. Expressed in the form of narratives that were penned down after listening to a number of Hijras, this piece of work, at a very primary level, captures the lives of a few of the people from the community that we all choose to shun, despise or simply not bother about. It brings out and analyzes the many stereotypes and superstitions associated with this community. The testimonials of the Hijras and Kothis with whom I interacted bring alive the unimaginable and gruesome violence they are subjected to, especially, at the hands of the police. This dissertation also aims to bring out and deride the atrocities the hijras are subjected to, the injustice that has been meted out to them in various spheres of life and suggest developmental measures in this regard. Above all, this piece of work is dedicated towards creating a little more sensitivity and empathy for this community, that so far does not enjoy most of the basic human rights that we, the normal people, take for granted. THE HIJRAS: WHO WE ARE The hijras are generally considered to constitute a third gender, neither male nor female. Even in their own narratives, the hijras view themselves not simply as neither man nor woman, as the title of Nandas(1990) ethnography on the hijras suggests, but also as deficient in terms of masculinity and not completely feminine. Instead of taking a place outside the female-male binary, the Hijras have created a life somewhere in between, one that is restricted by deep-rooted cultural constructions of femininity and masculinity. Largely, the community expresses a feminine gender identity, coming closest experientially to what would be referred to in the West as a transsexual, that is, a female trapped in a male body. It is a socio-religious construct marked by extreme gender nonconformity in the sense that there is no correlation between their anatomical sex and gender identity. In India, there is a widespread belief that hijras often pick up or kidnap infants and castrate them in order to increase the population of the community, but there are no statistics or factual evidences to support the same. Most hijras in India live in groups that are organised into seven houses, known as gharanas, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad being the more populous centres. Each house is headed by a nayak. This persons job is to appoint spiritual leaders or gurus who train their chelas ( wards who are lower in rank) in badhai- the well known singing, dancing and blessing ritual. The gurus responsibility is furthered to act as a protector of his chelas, both from within as well as outside the community. Any quarrels amongst hijras are decided within the community by the nayak and senior gurus acting as law makers, the punishment ranging from imposing fines and expulsion from the community, if the offences were of a higher degree. According to popular religious practice, they are believed to be endowed with special powers to confer fertility on newlyweds or new born children. According to tradition, they are expected to sing and dance at weddings as well as childbirth functions, and in lieu of their services they are rewarded with money, clothes, jewellery etc. Singing and dancing has a respectable status in the Hijra community; it gives them a sense of power as it reaffirms the fact that the people who asked them to sing and dance during the childbirth or any other functions, believe in their powers. The custom of hijras being called for dancing in weddings and childbirth is more prominent in the north, and therefore, sadly, the number of Hijras in the south who take to prostitution to earn money are much more than those in the northern parts of the country. One of the more common Hijra complaints in the form of public appeals to the government is the non availability of decent jobs for them, hence they do not have any choice but to take to prostitution to earn their livelihood. The Kothis Kothis like hijras are transgender persons who identify themselves with the feminine gender. The kep difference lies in the fact that hijras usually settle into a fixed gender role after the castration process, whereas kothis display an ambiguous dual gender identity that swings between the masculine role of the husband demanded in the marriage relationship and the feminine role in the same-sex relationship outside. In simpler words, a kothi can be described as a male homosexual who takes a feminine role in sex with other men. They, largely and essentially belong to a non-English speaking lower middle-class background and feel marginalized in all contexts, whether in terms of economic status, language, education, or sexuality. Due to the pressure extended by family as well as society to conform to normal norms like marriage and reproducing, many kothis marry and raise families , but continue to have same-sex relationships outside, often under hidden and covert circumstances. Economic problems within families as well as non acceptance of this abnormal member within the family drives many other kothis to sex work. Sadly, even when they do make an effort to seek employment in more decent professions, both hijras and kothis are very often subject to sexual harassment at the workplace which makes it impossible for them to continue working there. There exists a visible, symbiotic relationship between hijras and kothis that is strengthened in the face of oppression, due to the lack of support systems for kothis in cities and towns. This has led kothis to depend upon hijra subcultures for both assistance and support emotional as well as otherwise. Hence due to the existence of such a relationship, there is a constant, perpetual exchange of languages, behaviour, mythologies between the hijra and the other homosexual subcultures. The early years, the young transgender confused; and the attitude of parents: Typically, when they are young and born into so called normal families, initially the parents humour the boy child if he behaves like a girl. But as he grows up, once he turns eleven or twelve, the parents start getting irritated at the childs behaviour. By the time he is in his teens, the father typically starts abusing and beating the child. Such an attitude displayed by the parent is more pronounced in villages and small towns since here awareness is less. The transgender child himself does not realize the reasons behind his behaviour; he cannot understand why he feels like a female inside, and gets more frustrated with the constant chastising by the parents. Soon he runs away, usually with the aid of a sympathetic elder in the village, who directs him to a hijra community in some other village. The hijra community and the first signs of awareness by the individual about his own biology: When he reaches there, the hijra community welcomes him and explains to him the reasons behind his so called queer behaviour. They give him the option of becoming a part of their community after the conversion process into a transsexual, castration followed by surgical regeneration of the vagina, or to remain as he is and explore the world by himself. In most instances, the individual at that moment decides to stay as he is, and goes into the village to seek employment opportunities. As most hijras testify, very soon the transgender individual is then raped, in most cases by policemen who arrest them on the supposed grounds that they are homosexual. It is tragic to know that the law enforcers are usually the ones who sexually violate these individuals first. After being abused multiple times, sexually as well as physically, the broken individual returns to the hijra community and asks for acceptance into their family. The castration process is never smooth in nature, usually carried out without the aid of modern anaesthesia or antibiotics. The operation costs for the surgical reconstruction of the female biological organs (such as the vagina) range from a minimum of seven thousand rupees (no anaesthesia) to a high of fifty thousand rupees. Since most of these individuals are poor, they settle for the operation that requires lesser costs. Depending upon the money, the expertise, and the success of the operation, the surgical reconstruction varies from being partially to fully complete. In many cases, if the surgery goes wrong, it might lead to blockage in the urinary passage and this could be terribly painful for the individual. The hijra family: A hijra family comprises daughters, sisters and mothers no males. After being rejected by their own biological families, the hijra family becomes the first and only source of emotional support. They are strong, close knit and provide safety and security for the abandoned people. However, due to poverty, discrimination, lack of education and skills, many of them have no means of earning money. So, they engage in commercial sex work and begging. Most hijras do not think twice about joining the sex trade, what with being abused physically and mentally multiple times. Transgender, Transsexual and Intersexual: At the most basic level, we take a look at the meanings of terms, transgender, transsexual, intersexual and androgyne. A Transgender is a person who is assigned a gender at birth based on his/her genitals, but feels that the assigned gender is a false representation of himself/ herself. Such a persons identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender roles, but combines or moves between these roles. Gender-queer, third gender are also names given to transgender individuals. According to The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health (ICD), Trans-sexuality is a need that certain individuals have to live and be acknowledged as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by a sense of discomfort with ones ones current sex, and a desire to have hormonal and surgical treatment to make ones body conform as much as possible with ones preferred sex. On the removal of the sexual organs he/she was born with, a transgender becomes a transsexual. In simpler words, Transsexual men and women desire to establish themselves permanently as a member of the gender with which they identify, often using medical help for the same. One out of every two thousand births is an intersex child, and usually the birth leaves the parents of the child frustrated, confused and depressed. It also leaves them with a dilemma as to which gender the child belongs. Intersexed individuals do not have all the regular combinations of physical features; they have some chromosomal, genital anomalies. In simpler terms, such individuals may have biological characteristics of both males and females, i.e, these individuals have some parts of males and some of females. In some cases, an intersex person might look unambiguous sexually, but internally the sex anatomy is mixed, i.e he may have AIS complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome and therefore, even though he has a Y chromosome and testes, the individual is otherwise completely female on the outside. Thus the fundamental difference between an intersex individual and a transgender is that unlike an intersex individual, a transgendered person is born with the conventional male or fe male anatomy. All the same, unlike other normal humans, he feels himself/herself to be a gender different from the one he/she born as. Discrimination against hijras: Education, health, employment The highly populated country that India is, with several different castes, religions, languages, the hijra community becomes an almost invisible minority. Biases against hijras are prevalent in our society in all walks of life. They are not granted education in schools, colleges or universities. Over ninety percent of the hijras have not even completed their secondary education. Hence, they do not get jobs, and in the rare occurrence that they do get employed, the salaries they receive are minimal. Due to the harsh economic conditions, they resort to sex work and begging. Hygienic activities are not practiced by those who are in the flesh trade. Even though the usage of condoms is insisted by them to protect themselves as well as their clients from HIV/STD, the people involved in this trade are still prone to getting other diseases like skin diseases due to lack of hygienic and safe practices. Even in hospitals and clinics, many transgender and transsexual people are discriminated ag ainst, and not given the respect or dignity that every human being deserves. Most of the transgender and transsexual people live in slums. Even if they have the monetary power to rent a house, due to the misconceptions about their lifestyle, most people refuse to give them a house on rent. Contempt, hatred and fear form a major part of the general impression about this unfortunate third gender. Even in public places like bus stations, railways stations, theatres, temples, offices, malls, even in public toilets, hijras are abused. A LOOK THROUGH HISTORY: Most hijras believe their origins to date back to the period of the Mahabharata. In it, Arjuna has to hide himself for a year. He decides to dress up as a woman as this is completely opposite to his till then great warrior status. During this period when he is a drag, he is a dancer in the kings court, and also a wedding singer. Then later, during the Kaurava Pandava war, the pandavas want to make a human sacrifice, believing that it would ensure victory in the war. No one is ready to volunteer, till finally, Aravan, the son of Arjun comes forward and offers himself for sacrifice. He has only one condition, that, he should enjoy one night of marital bliss before the sacrifice. This proves to be a difficult situation since no king is willing to marry his daughter to Aravan, knowing fully well that she would be widowed the next day. Finally, Lord Krishna takes a female form and spends one night of marital bliss with Aravan. Aravan is duly sacrificed the next day. The story has become more and more popular through the ages and now, every year, in the village of Koovagam in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu, there is a temple festival and thousands of hijras travel through the breadth of the country to attend it. Aravan is the temples main deity and thousands of hijras pay homage, or in a mock ceremony get marri ed to his idol, and in the process become Aravanis. One night before the festival ends, the hijras enjoy a night of marital bliss with their lovers and the next day, a massive effigy of Aravan is taken through the streets of Koovagam and then the body is set to flames. There is a passage in Zia Jaffreys book, The Invisibles: a tale of eunuchs in India, that talks about the Ramayana. According to legend, when Rama went to the forest, many people followed him. Rama then asks all the men and women to go back. The hijras, being neither men nor women stay put and wait for Rama to return for fourteen years. On Ramas return, he is touched by their devotion and blesses them for their loyalty by sanctioning them the power to grant blessings on auspicious occasions like childbirth, marriage, and other functions hence the custom of badhai, in which hijras sing, dance and confer blessings. The hijras also worship Bahuchara mata. As legend goes, a woman, Bahuchara was travelling through a forest in Gujarat. She is accosted by some dacoits who threaten to rape her. She cuts off her breast and offers it to them, in exchange asking them not to touch her. She then dies and becomes an earth goddess. During the conversion process, i.e, the castration process, a hijra midwife cuts a coconut to see if the process should continue. If Bahuchara mata agrees, the coconut will slice into two clean halves. The hijra who is undergoing the castration process, mutters mata mata mata until the process is complete. As legend goes, Bahuchara mata appears in front of impotent men and orders them to cut off their genitals and become her slaves. If they do not agree, they would become impotent for the next seven generations. According to another popular legend, a king in Gujarat fell madly in love with Bahucharimatha, a beautiful goddess who rode a peacock. The king wanted to marry her, but she was not ready to have a sexual relationship. When he continued to persist in his endeavours, she relented but told him to first have a bath in a pond. On coming out of the pond, he was aghast to discover that he was emasculated, and would not be able to consummate his union with the goddess. The goddess pacified him by saying that he would soon find a community of people who would voluntarily castrate themselves in his honour. Around the world Eunuchs were a part of the Egyptian court, during the time when the Assyrian empire was ruling the country. In Rome, Emperor Constantine had a number of eunuchs tending to him for haircuts, baths, dressing and other functions. In the Byzantine royal court too, there were a number of eunuchs employed to handle domestic and administrative work. The Ottoman Empire had two categories of eunuchs taking care of the harem. The black eunuchs served the officers with maids of lower ranks, whereas the white eunuchs (those brought from the Balkan states) served those who were recruited in the Palace school. In India, eunuchs were employed by kings to take care of the ladies palaces, serve as guards and messengers for the royal ladies. LITERATURE REVIEW After getting a general understanding of the hijras, the categories, their lives, their history, I would now proceed to examine the literature that has been devoted to them. The Invisibles: A tale of Eunuchs in India is a bold, beautifully written, thought provoking book about the hijras of India by Zia Jaffrey. In the book, Anita, a hermaphrodite is handed over to the hijra community by her parents when she is just four years old because they cannot accept the fact that they do not have a normal child and are crushed by what they see. Another character, Kamal, born as a male, believes herself to be a female and castrates herself, while a third character Jagoman is kidnapped in Delhi, drugged and then castrated against his will. In the book, Jaffrey takes us on a journey throughout the country to find out who the hijras really are, why the subject has not been researched on much and why is it taboo, and why their history was never recorded. The book gives a detailed description of the lives, practices, culture and history of this unfortunate gender; raises pertinent questions about societys attitude and in many ways illuminates not just the grim world of the eunuchs but also that of India, itself. Neither Man, nor Woman: The hijras of India is an astounding piece of writing by Serena Nanda. Initially, it aims at correcting the common misconception that all hijras are men who undergo a ritual castration, thereby removing their genitals and becoming hijras. The book informs us that the hijras might have come from various sexual ambiguous backgrounds some may have been born as intersex, while others would have been born as male or female but failed to develop at puberty, or males who continued living as hijras without ever getting castrated. Nanda goes on to make comparisons of Indian hijras with other alternative gender roles belonging to other cultures, such as the transsexuals living in many Western societies and also with the Berdache of native North America. What is intriguing but all the same extremely interesting to note is that although most societies, especially the Asian, accept the ambiguity of gender by creating a third gender role, Western society seems extremely ad amant on the theory that a person can be either male or female only. In fact, even the homosexuals and transsexuals in these societies are considered to be a member of either of the two above genders. Transgender Rights, as the title suggests, is a book on the transgender rights movement that started in the United States of America thirty years back and is still going strong. The book assesses the victories and failures of the movement, the future challenges as well as opportunities. The movement fought for the rights of transgenders and transsexuals. The book is, in essence, a collection of articles that covered the rights movement, offering new perspectives and it examines important topics like employment opportunities, public health, economics, and grassroots organizing. This path breaking book is an essential resource in the fight for the freedom and equality of those who cross gender boundaries Changing Sex and Bending Gender, edited by Alison Shaw and Shirley Ardener is a compilation of nine essays about the cultural and historical construction and deconstruction of sex and gender. The initial chapters speak about the definitions of sex and gender; and that even though sex is based on biological characteristics and gender on social classifications, the definitions do not stand fixed across cultures. The next two chapters discuss the cultural pressures in the sex classification when a child is born. With 1.6 percent of children all over the world being born with ambiguous genitalia, the book offers several examples of the response to this, across cultures. As expected, the reactions do not vary much across cultures. The final three chapters deal with the lay mans interpretations and misconceptions about other alternative genders. The objective of the book is to bring out the fact that sex and gender are not fixed concepts and what happens when individuals push these two con cepts beyond the point that society has defined as permissible. The book is an excellent read, especially for people who want to pursue anthropology or gender studies. The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer is one of the most popular and widely read books on feminism. Published in 1970, it became an international bestseller and was translated in over ten languages. It is a passionate, almost furious, hard hitting book on the present standing of women as compared to men, in the world. The book, at that time, served as a wakeup call to all women. It contends that sexual freedom is the key to womens liberation. It compares the psychological differences resulting from years of social conditioning, with the biological differences that are present between men and women. A section has been attributed to society, of its origins, its development over the years and where it currently stands. Through this book, Greer exposes the nature of inequalities that exist when it comes to gender rights and issues, and suggests strategies that could help improve the situation, if anyone chose to do so. The Autobiography of a Sex Worker by Nalini Jameela is an extremely personal, honest account of the life of Nalini. The book gives deep insights about the life of sex workers, and the circumstances in which they make their choices. Brought up in an Ezhava family, in her early years, Nalini works in the clay mines. Through the course of the book, we notice the slow yet gradual changes in society. Being extremely poor, and having children to support, she decides to resort to commercial sex work to earn money. The story goes back to the dark days of Emergency, when the police used to routinely arrest and torture innocent people, most of them who were poor and whose voices could not be heard. She recounts her interactions with the police in a chillingly, honest manner. Over the years, with the advent of organizations that worked for social rights, gender rights etc, the situation improved even though there were still innocent people who were jailed. The account is neither cynical, nor do es it have any traces of self pity. Nalini understood that to take care of her children, she would need to sell her body. The love that she displays for her daughter is heart warming. The book is an important read, one that helps us to understand that society can be exploitive, unforgiving and it has multiple layers, many of which are hidden to the naked, believing eye. KNOWLEDGE GAP: At the most basic level, there exists a lack of knowledge amongst the lay man about hijras. The first step, therefore, should be to create basic awareness in the minds of people, to sensitize them, to reach a stage where hijras can also expect a life of dignity. There are too many misconceptions and stereotypes related to hijras. This has led to a lot of social stigma being attached to this gender. Lack of opportunities, be it education, employment, health. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The objective of my research methodology would be to illustrate the social marginalization of eunuchs by pointing out, statistically and otherwise, their absence in social, legal and political organizations. This will be done through, Analysis of secondary data A review of works on the subject by authors, academic as well as non academic literature, news reports, blogs and websites. Primary Research Taking interviews of hijras, first-hand accounts to verify conclusions derived from the secondary data. Also, conducting interviews of individuals working in social organizations, devoted to improving the conditions of hijras. Empirical Observations EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION: My thesis does not claim to have a tangible and substantial measurable contribution but adds to the domains of human sensitivity, sensibility and conscientization. A postmodern condition, such as the one we claim to have arrived at, cannot be complete unless all its participants have equal access to what constitutes a minimum life of dignity However, the objective of my research, studies and thesis, does comprise suggesting measures that, if implemented, would ensure that the hijras can enjoy a life with certain rights that every human being deserves. These would include sustainable and feasible proposals for employment, education and healthcare opportunities. THE CONTEXT OF MARGINALIZATION: Indian society is deeply divided along the lines of gender, caste, religion, class, language, education, all of which intersect with sexuality to create deeper divides and oppressions. While hijras are despised and treated with contempt in most societies, they are supposed to have a sanctioned place in Hindu society (especially in weddings, births and festivals) as a recognized third gender, accommodating gender variation, ambiguity and contradictions. There is an arguement that says that unlike other sexual minorities such as bisexuals, gays and lesbians all that largely remain closeted, the hijras overall are a visible force , and part of an organized community. Despite this supposedly elevated status amongst the sexual minorities, reality is starkly harsh. All over the country, in any part where the Hijras reside, their lives are physically, mentally and emotionally scarred by experiences of shame, dishonour and gruesome violence. In the contemporary scenario, its not just the ambiguous gender but also the class dimension of the hijra and kothi community that has a severe impact on issues which the upper class so conveniently take for granted, such as access to education, employment etc. The violence that they suffer on a daily basis is something that no other community in this country faces. Imagine yourself in a situation where practically the entire world looks down upon you, a mere look at you is met with contempt, imagine a world where you do not even enjoy basic privileges like education, a job, a life. Imagine a world where not even your parents and siblings can accept you for who you are and choose to hate you for no apparent fault of yours. Imagine being beaten up every day by random men. Imagine being penetrated physically, mentally every day by random men. Imagine crying every day. Welcome to the world of Hijras. In most of South India, the hijras do not even have the cultural role that their counterparts have in the northern parts of the country. Most employers are not ready to hire them for available jobs. Often, they resort to hiding their gender identity but if found out, in most cases, they are thrown out from their positions. Therefore sex work becomes, in most cases, the only form of employment. They usually run bath houses, also known as Hamams. The Hamams are generally visited by working class men and the police. Of course, most of these men are married. It is an extremely dangerous profession, as they are often subjected to the sadistic whims, fancies and atrocities of cruel customers. Narrated below are the testimonies given by some of the hijras I had the privilege of meeting and speaking to. As is clear, kothis and hijras take up sex work for a variety of reasons. One reason involves the pragmatic consideration of supporting the family. There is also the pride which comes from being able to support the family. Another reason has to do with the self-acceptance of being a hijra and with the related discovery of a certain kind of freedom that living in the hijra community can provide. Many hijras and kothis fiercely assert that there is nothing disreputable about being a sex worker and it is as legitimate a piece of work as any other. BIBLIOGRAPHY Journals Publications Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka(2000).Human rights violations against sexuality minorities in India report (first edition).PUCL KARNATAKA. Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka(2007).Human rights violations against sexuality minorities in India report (second edition).PUCL KARNATAKA. Bodies That Dont Matter: The Discursive