Feminism, By Debra Baker Beck Essay - 1660 Words

â€Å"Feminist: adjective, advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women - equal to those of men† (Dictionary.com). It is no secret that the true definition of a â€Å"feminist† has been tossed around and distorted throughout the years. There are several existing views on who feminists are today. Some think that feminists have devolved since the days of the women’s suffrage movements and that they are now simply â€Å"men-haters† that want to attain higher social and economic statuses than men. Others believe that women are still supporting and fighting for their rights and equality. The article, â€Å"The â€Å"F† Word: How the Media Frame Feminism† by Debra Baker Beck, takes the stance that through the years, the term â€Å"feminism† has been wrongly consumed by negative connotations because of people who misunderstand the intent of feminism. She strives to establish a more placid perspective of feminists in the media. In Cathy Young’s article â€Å"Feminists Treat Men Badly. It’s Bad For Feminism† the blame for the skewed definition of feminists is placed on modern feminists and their tendency to â€Å"mock and berate men† (Young, N.p.). The debate is over whether or not modern feminists are faithfully supporting their roots of fighting for equality or if they have strayed to shaming or hating men instead. The author of â€Å"The â€Å"F† Word: How the Media Frame Feminism†, Debra Baker Beck, has experience with governing bodies up to the national level and has written article surrounding the idea

Southeast Asia Free Essays

2. What are some of the ways in which power manifests itself in Southeast Asia? Illustrate your answer with at least 3 examples. The concept of power is one that has existed in Southeast Asia for a long period of time. We will write a custom essay sample on Southeast Asia or any similar topic only for you Order Now Unlike that of the Western regions, where power is more of a concept and is intangible, power in Southeast Asia is more concrete and real. Power is defined as the possession of control or command over others (Dictionary. com, n. d. In the context of Southeast Asia, power is gained through control of powerful items or valuable resources, as this would usually translate to wealth, a higher position within the social hierarchy, and hence more command over other people. In Southeast Asia, the focus is on accumulating more command and control, instead of just exercising it. Due to the long history of trade and migration within Southeast Asia itself, these concepts have inevitably become a coherent and homogenous one. My essay will seek to show the various ways that power is manifested, particularly in three different levels within a nation state. Firstly, power exists on a national level via certain nation state political models. Secondly, within a nation state, power manifests in different groups of religions, as religious beliefs have influenced how they attempt to both acquire and accumulate power. Thirdly, power exists among individuals, in the idea of merit and social mobility throughout one’s social hierarchy. Firstly, the most evident way that power is manifested in Southeast Asia is on a national level, through nation states’ political systems. One such political system is the mandala system, where power is centralized and drawn towards the sacred core. One might imagine this visually as a series of concentric ever widening circles, with state authority fading as the circles widen. What mattered was the sacred centre, not the borders (Tambiah, 1970). This political system was typically found in Pre-colonial nation states in Southeast Asia. For example, in the 13th Century, King Suryavarman II spread its Mandala polity throughout the state of Angkor by building the renowned ‘Angkor Wat’ among many monasteries and temples in the centre of the state (Dellios, 2003). Thereafter, advantaged by its location on the northwest shore, Angkor relied successfully on trade of its wet-rice agriculture to produce great amounts of wealth, enough to support a population of a million people (Dellios, 2003) In this aspect, power is recognised in the form of wealth, as many people saw ‘Angkor Wat’ and its surrounding temples as the sacred centre that drew the wealth towards the core of its nation. Because Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II, many people also acknowledged him as a manifestation of god, someone with immense power. In a mandala polity where power diffuses further away from the centre, these people tried to get closer to the centre, hence giving King Suryavarman II even more command and power over them. A more recent example of a region following the mandala system can be found along the Thai-Burmese border, where the Akha, a tribal upland ethnic minority, reside (Tooker, 1996). Under Thai law, the lands which the Akha and other upland groups occupy are owned by instead owned by the state. This insinuates that power is directed towards the centre, in the lowlands where the state resides. On the other hand, the Akha, who reside by the highlands and are thus further away from the centre, have much lesser power. For instance, the Akhas suffered from occasional forced labour, extortion by government officials and forced migration (Tooker, 1996) by the state. In this context, the state has command over the Akha tribe and this allowed them to control the Arkas’ resources, such as human labour, and wealth in the form of money. This is thus consistent with the mandala model, whereby the centre is most crucial and the borders are less important because power is drawn to the core. Furthermore, villages surrounding this state tend to be aligned such that their hierarchically highest individual, the ‘founder-chief’ is centrally located within their village (Tooker, 1996) . They believed this would usher in prosperity because it was aligned with that of the cosmos, which in this case was associated to the central core of the state itself. This reinforces another characteristic of the mandala political model, the patchwork construction; where smaller centres surrounding the core could preserve a greater deal of autonomy for acknowledging the potency of the central state. Secondly, looking within a state itself, power is also manifested among different religions in Southeast Asia, as religious beliefs have continually influenced the way southeast Asians try to both acquire and accumulate command and control. One way is through the acquisition of sacred or mythical objects, which they believed were associated with power. An example of such an object is the kris, a unique ancestral dagger with a wavy blade, which was considered the paramount prestige weapon across many religions in pre-independence Indonesia, particularly in the Binamese culture (Hitchcock, 1987). Here, the kris was seen to contain magical and sacred powers, believed to be bestowed by the gods, making it a sacred object that is coveted because of its devine connection. Hitchcock also noted that it was crucial for the personality of the kris to mesh positively with the personality of its owner, which i feel is important because of their aim to accumulate more power from the kris. Furthermore, in the Binamese culture, where imperial status was often inherited, the royal kris was a prized heirloom that visually depicted a genetic relationship to the former ruler (Hitchcock, 1987). In this aspect, the kris can be seen as a symbol of a ruler’s mandate to the rule. Hence, the kris can be considered as a powerful object because possessing it granted a ruler with overwhelming command and control over the people. The power of the kris is further exemplified when you consider the social status of its manufacturer, usually known as a smith, in traditional times. For instance, let us examine Java, where in the past, a smith had a very high social status, considered to be just below the government of princes and having an honoured position in court (Wrassers, 1940). Wrassers (1940) even goes a step further to examine the ancient times, where the roles of a smith and prince more or less coincided, to the point that their relationship was sometimes likened to that of brothers. Hence, we can see that a kris was considered so sacred and powerful in Java that the manufacturers association with it vaulted his social status to the very top of the hierarchy, indirectly giving him more power in the Javanese society. Another way in which religious beliefs have influenced the acquisition and accumulation of power is through certain religious practices, such as those of the Mien people of Thailand. For example, in their Mien wedding ceremonies, a medium, together with the groom and his father, are required to offer spirit-money to the ancestors by kneeling in front of a bed of corn and burning the spirit-money on it (Jonsson, 2004). These spirit-money, often made of paper, is burned and thus considered transformed into the realms of spirits. In this case, power is manifested in the form of money and wealth, as these exchanges with ancestor spirits brought honour and wealth into the spirit world and in return, urged blessings and wealth for the Mien household. The idea being that having more money and wealth would vault one higher up the social hierarchy, hence giving them more authority and control over those of a lower social status in the hierarchy. I feel that this depicts a patron-client relationship between the spiritual ancestors and the descendants of the Mien household. The spiritual ancestors, who reside in the spiritual realm, are the patrons as they possess spiritual and divine power because of their ability to bestow a household with wealth. The descendents are then the clients who benefit from this wealth bestowed upon their household, but the amount of benefits received will depend on how much resources, in this case the spirit money, they can offer these ancestors. Thirdly, power is also evident when we focus on individuals within a state itself. It exists in the idea of merit and social mobility, because merit traditionally denotes the position and degree of mobility one has within the social hierarchy (Adams Gillogy, 2011, p. 5) One is in a disadvantageous social position if he or she lacks merit, but the more merit one accumulated, the greater ability he had to move up the social hierarchy and gain power and control over those below this social hierarchy. In Thailand, merit is directly linked to the amount of resources that one owns. Thus the two ways to move up the social hierarchy is either through accumulating more resources independently, or forming a patron-client relationship with another possessing greater resources than yourself (Adams Gillogy, 2011, p. 2). It is a patron-client relationship because the leader has to reciprocate the benefits he accepted from the client. Forming this patron-client relationship is usually preferred as it is much easier. When many such relationships are formed with the same patron, the resources of the group increase and they grow in size and stability, hence denoting more merit and power within the social hierarchy. Adams and Gillogy (2001) also noted that the resources are first distributed to those close to the leader, and diminishes down the scale. Hence, we can see that social mobility is prevalent as individuals can ascend from the bottom of the Thai social hierarchy as long as he could find the correct patron and accumulate sufficient merit in the form of resources. This idea of merit and social mobility also exists in Laos, where merit is linked directly to wealth, and the most effective way of obtaining merit is through doing virtuous and moral deeds. This is because Laotians believe that wealth can beget to wealth via the mechanism of merit. One example would be religious offerings, such as daily offering of food to the monks or grand donations to sponsor temple buildings (Adams Gillogy, 2011, p. 41) . They hope that their donations will increase their merit, thus bringing them wealth and other positive outcomes, in this and the next life. This possibly explains why large donations are rarely anonymous, as the donor wants to be recognised for his contribution and eventually accumulate as much merit as possible. Hence, we can see that in this context, obtaining merit is important for Laotians because it increases their wealth and ultimately gives them an opportunity to move up the social hierarchy, thus gaining control over those now below them. This is also consistent with the idea of social mobility, in that it is not difficult to move up the social hierarchy in Laos as long as one accumulates sufficient merit. In retrospect, looking at modern Southeast Asia, while some new ideas of power have been introduced, such as those in the form of nuclear weapons and fear, some of these traditional ideas are still very relevant today. For example, elements of a sacred centre and religious beliefs exist till this day in Thailand. Sitting in the middle of the grand palace of Bangkok is the Emerald Buddha of Thailand. This key relic was captured from a Lao king by a Thai king in the 18th century and has since served as a marker of the Thai monarchy (Adams Gillogy, 2011). It is a sacred relic with a history that both represents and embodies the king of Thailand’s power because the Buddha is seen as divine and sacred in Buddhism, Thailand’s main religion. In conclusion, power manifests differently across the three different levels of a nation state. Firstly through political models of a nation state itself, secondly through religious influences of a religion within the nation state, and lastly in the idea of merit and social mobility among individuals of the nation state. However, even though they manifest in different ways, ultimately the aim of accumulating more command and control is still unanimous throughout Southeast Asia. Total Word Count: 1996 Words ? Bibliography Adams, Gillogy. (2011). Everyday life in Southeast Asia. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Dellios, R. (2003). Mandala: From Sacred Origins to Soereign affairs in traditional Southeast Asia. Gold Coast, Australia: Bond University : School of Humanities and Social Sciences : Centre for East-West Cultural and Economic Studies. Dictionary. com. (n. d. ). Power. Retrieved Retrieved September 13 2012, from http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/power Hitchcock, M. (1987). The Binamese Kris: Aesthetics and Social Value. Bijdragen tot de Taal-,Land-en Volkenkunde , 125-140. Jonsson, H. (2004). Mien Alter-Natives in Thai Modernity. Anthropological Quaterly Vol 77, No. 4 , 673-704. Tambiah, S. (1970). Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tooker, D. E. (1996). Putting the Mandala in its Place: A Practice-based Approach to the Spatialization of Power on the Southeast Asian ‘Periphery’ — The Case of Akha. The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 55, No. 2 , 328-358. Wrassers, W. H. (1940). On the Javanese Kris. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie Deel 99, 4de Afl , 501-582. How to cite Southeast Asia, Essay examples

Training Strategies for Small and Medium Sized Businesses free essay sample

Training Strategies for Small and Medium Sized Businesses: One Size Doesnt Fit All. Abstract The prerequisites for training vary in different businesses, with size being a significant factor. The smaller firms tend to conduct their training for their employees on a superficial level, having their entire focus on learning informal skills. Whereas in comparatively larger SMEs, there is a broader spectrum for the learning perspective. These companies want to obtain a more formal training with an objective of achieving standard skills. Thus, different firms have different training strategies regardless of the size. This paper analyzes these differences and identifies the challenges that may inhibit certain training strategies. Introduction A survey conducted by W. Paul and J. Storey (1997) among 6000 randomly selected SMEs in Great Britain showed that there are huge differences in the attitudes of the manager and the ways of fulfilling the training needs of either family or non family employees in their business. The family members need for training is viewed in terms of explicit development, whereas the case is entirely different for non family employees; it is only to foster their career building needs. It also indicated that the owners are in avour of training but do not consider it as an essential part of their business strategy. These managers also stated that often they are pressured by the government agencies and external trainers to spend a part of their profits into human resource development and in most cases, the decision for either allowing employee training or not was made by the manager or the owner of the organization. Only the rest of the 7% hired a professional human resource for training, but even in those firms, the final decision was in the hands of the owner or the manager (Paul Storey, 1997). Through this paper, the researcher aims to identify the tate-of-the-art training strategies that are used by different small and medium sized organization, the implications of dif ferent literature on these training strategies, and loop-holes between the distresses that owners of different SMEs have about the After looking at an overview of small business, M. Harry (2002) gave a pragmatic statement which says that the managers or the owners of approximately 63% of small businesses continues to be involved in the issues related to the development and training of the employees, regardless of the increase in the intense of complexity and formality in these firms. Only 26% of the organizations actually hired HR professionals and gave them the lead of the training program and developmental decisions. However, all of the respondents claimed to be using properly scheduled training plans and budgets, and recognized that there is a strong relation between their firmss training requirements and a growing competitive advantage. Despite of all these facts, the owners of the firms still did not view training as an essential part of their entire business strategy. According to these firms, the training of non family workforce is an expense to the organization (Harry, 2002). On the contrary, the training for family members was perceived as a crucial part for the long term business benefits and succession planning. The owners of these business entities were also dissatisfied with the array of training which the external parties were providing. Usually, the owners accounted that they face a lot of sill shortages because of unavailability of appropriate training needed for both present as well as future business necessities. All the respondents in this survey claimed that they have searched for relevant training programs with economical prices at local, regional, and national levels. But after finding a suitable program, the managers were still hesitant to ensue because the costs were very high and there was no appropriate support available. As a result, the training packages were having more economically low prices and guaranteed general rather than ideal support. R. Hill and J. Stewart (2000) utilized a number of case studies in order to clarify the Human Resource practices of SMEs operating in the US. They found that a variety of companies in different industries have the tendency of short term and impulsive Human Resource Development. Training in such firms was informal, imprudent and ad the objective of solving the workplace problems immediately, instead of the long- term employee development. They also found that these firms have a propensity to justify the active promotion of a developmental strategy in the absence of training. Nevertheless, the philosophy of owners and managers towards the business and their perception about the relationship between Human Resource Development and the performance reflected through their attitudes and their motivation levels. According to research conducted by R. Rova and P. Chris (2006) on Canadian small and medium sized organization; the difference between the amounts assigned to raining are not very noticeable. Small firms reserved only 20% of their operating expenses for training, whereas medium and large firms allocated 26% and 22% respectively, for training from their budgets. These results slightly differ from other findings; nevertheless, this population was segmented into trainers and non-trainers. The current studies that measure intensity of training are concerned with only those firms that actively participate in training their employees. On the other hand, the studies which were done previously included those firms as well which were never involved in employee training and development. Because of this, there is a significant difference between the results of previous and current researches. But, it is clear lower than that of in medium and large organizations. According to W. Cecili and A. Neil, (1997) in order to classify and clarify the gaps between an entrepreneurs concern regarding the matters of human resource management in new SMEs and the topics which were pointed out from the review of literature on the practices of human resource management in SMEs, a qualitative evaluation was used. The survey statistics from 1 56 entrepreneurs, focus group data which was btained from 173 founders of emerging capitalist firms, and 129 research articles were assessed. It was revealed that there are certain omissions as well as gaps in the literature. Among those omissions is the significance of creating highly efficient employees. These employees can perform various functions under a variety of phases of organizational development and the people familiar to the organizatio nal culture (Cecili Neil, 1997). One can easily identify that a positive relationship in most of the small businesses is found between the significance of quality improvement, training, human resources-based strategies, nnovation and expansion. It is also a sign that if some organizations pay attention to these three strategies, it is most likely to invest in employee training. Besides, the significance of innovation and market expansion strategy is more in smaller businesses that have 9-10 employees in particular. Organizations that view this strategy as important are likely to allow training for their employees than those firms which consider quality improvement and the human resources-based strategy more significant (Cecili Neil, 2007). The table given below is adopted from the research of R. Rova and P. Chris (2006). This table contains a detailed description about the percentage of businesses that support proper training programs, based on their organizational strategy and the size of the business. One more important factor on which the organization decides whether to train the employees or not is the availability of a flexible work schedule. One probable explanation is that employees having flexible tasks and schedules are more independent and can organize time off more efficiently, making it easy for the employers to send these employees on training (Rova Chris, 2006). Nowadays the concept of blended learning is equally popular in both academic and corporate circles. In 2003, the American Society for Training and Development recognized blended learning as one of the top ten trends to appear in the knowledge delivery industry (Cecili Neil, 2007). Organizations adopt this strategy in order to get hold on the new trends of the market and to absorb new knowledge at any point of time so that they can respond to the changes in the economic environment. Organizations engage in such training programs so as to polish the management skills of their executives and managers. These lectures also help in enhancing the management capacity. Professional Human Resource personnel are hired to conduct the training. This training program aims to address the trainings need of corporate managers in their respective discipline of work. This may include introduction to modern technology and new trends in management on a global scale. Implications of the Literature The implications from the entire literature review are as follows: * When their training needs must be clearly identified. The aim of training must be need and demand oriented, and the employee should not expect any material gains from the training program. For instance, cash allowances or inducement by access to credit should not be in the employees mind as results of the training program. * Training should be designed in a manner that it is easier for the employee to understand and should be on the principle of learning by doing. On the Job training, turns out to be more fruitful for employees, as it allows them to work more effectively on their own problem situations. * Training must take place closer to the employees place of work and should be appropriately scheduled, such as, on weekends or evening. In this way, the employee will be able to continue his office work and training imultaneously.