The Black Hawk War - Deception and Demise essays

The Black Hawk War - Deception and Demise essays The systematic slaughter of the Native Americans from the time of Columbus to the time of Roosevelt has often been compared to the holocaust of Jews in nazi Germany. Millions of Native Americans were brutally tortured and murdered by an invasion of foreign forces so as to steal their land and recourses (Churchill,126). Those who were not exterminated were forcefully removed from their land (either at gunpoint, the point of a bayonet or by forged treaties) and driven off to federal prison camps called reservations (source). In the early nineteenth century, whites started moving into what is now the state of Illinois. This movement precipitated numerous clashes with the Indians, including Black Hawks war. The defeat of Black Hawk removed a large obstacle to white settlement in the Old Northwest. In 1803, an exploratory push by Lt. Zebulon Pike, an American explorer, into the upper Mississippi valley signified the end of an era for the Sauks and their allies, the Foxes. The Indians debated whether to accommodate or resist the advance of the whites frontier. One group, headed by Keokuk, a Sauk, argued for accommodation, but Black Hawk, another Sauk leader, fiercely opposed such a policy. Black Hawks convictions were confirmed in 1804, when white settlers convinced the Sauk and Fox Indians to sign a treaty decreeing that they move west of the Mississippi. The treaty had no real claim to validity and was hardly understood by the Native Americans. Some refused, however, and soon after the War of 1812, Black Hawk denounced the treaty and proclaimed the Indians determination to retain their land. The next decade witnessed a steady decline in the fortunes of the Sauks and the Foxes. White population pressures forced the Indians to adhere to the treaty of 1804 and abandon their old territory. By the end of the 1820s, all had been forcibly removed and the lands sold by the state at public auction. Despite th...

Specific Gravity - Definition of Specific Gravity

Specific Gravity - Definition of Specific Gravity The specific gravity of a substance is the ratio of its density to a specified reference substance. This ratio is a pure number, containing no units. If the specific gravity ratio for a given substance is less than 1, that means the material will float in the reference substance. When the specific gravity ratio for a given material is greater than 1, that means the material will sink in the reference substance. This is related to the concept of buoyancy. The iceberg floats in the ocean (as in the picture) because its specific gravity in reference to the water is less than 1. This rising vs. sinking phenomenon is the reason that the term specific gravity is applied, although gravity itself plays no significant role in this process. Even in a substantially different gravitational field, the density relationships would be unchanged. For this reason, it would be far better to apply the term relative density between two substances, but for historical reasons, the term specific gravity has stuck around. Specific Gravity for Fluids For fluids, the reference substance is usually the water, with a density of  1.00 x 103 kg/m3  at 4 degrees Celsius (waters densest temperature), used to determine whether or not the fluid will sink or float in water. In homework, this is usually assumed to be the reference substance when working with liquids. Specific Gravity for Gases For gases, the reference substance is usually normal air at room temperature, which has a density of approximately 1.20 kg/m3. In homework, if the reference substance is not specified for a specific gravity problem, it is usually safe to assume that you are using this as your reference substance. Equations for Specific Gravity The specific gravity (SG) is a ratio of the density of the substance of interest (Ï i) to the density of the reference substance (Ï r). (Note: The Greek symbol rho, Ï , is commonly used to represent density.) That can be determined using the following formula: SG Ï i à · Ï r Ï i / Ï r Now, considering that the density is calculated from mass and volume through the equation Ï  m/V, this means that if you took two substances of the same volume, the SG could be rewritten as a ratio of their individual masses: SG Ï i / Ï rSG mi/V / mr/VSG mi / mr And, since the weight W mg, that leads to a formula written as a ratio of weights: SG mi / mrSG mig / mrgSG Wi / Wr It is important to remember that this equation only works with our earlier assumption that the volume of the two substances is equal, so when we talk about the weights of the two substances in this last equation, it is the weight of equal volumes of the two substances. So if we wanted to find out the specific gravity of ethanol to water, and we know the weight of one gallon of water, then we would need to know the weight of one gallon of ethanol to complete the calculation. Or, alternately, if we knew the specific gravity of ethanol to water, and knew the weight of one gallon of water, we could use this last formula to find the weight of one gallon of ethanol. (And, knowing that, we could use it to find the weight of another volume of ethanol by converting. These are the sorts of tricks that you may well find among homework problems that incorporate these concepts.) Applications of Specific Gravity Specific gravity is a concept that shows up in a variety of industrial applications, particularly as it relates to fluid dynamics. For example, if youve ever taken your car in for service and the mechanic showed you how small plastic balls floated in your transmission fluid, youve seen specific gravity in action. Depending on the specific application in question, those industries may use the concept with a different reference substance than water or air. The earlier assumptions applied only to homework. When you are working on a real project, you should know for sure what your specific gravity is in reference to, and shouldnt have to make assumptions about it.

Health Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health Benefits - Essay Example In addition, this paper outlines a design of an outcomes measurement strategy and a plan for my organization to use to assess the quality of care and reduce risk. According to Beattie (2014), one of the ways to evaluate quality of care offered to my employees by my health benefits contractor involves assessing health care processes. In essence, there are rules, guidelines, and standards that ought to be followed in provision of care. For instance, a physician or health care provided should treat a patients medical records with utmost confidentiality. Subsequently, a physician ought to consider the feelings of patient and as well respect his or her decision in regard to care (Kleinman and Dougherty, 2013). Therefore, I would ask my employees to appraise whether all these factors were considered in the care provided by the health care benefits contractor. Secondly, I would evaluate the quality of care by investigating whether the intended outcomes or results were achieved (Beattie, 2014). All health care services are intended to improve the overall health status of a patient. Achievement of predicted results in relation to care denotes the fact that the services provided were of high quality. Poor services are very unlikely to achieve the intended outcomes. For attainment of predicted or expected outcomes, it is of significance to design an outcomes measurement strategy or a plan to use to assess the quality of care. In elucidation, the design would include implementation of action plans to compare and contrast outcomes of medical processes within my organization with other analogous organizations (Nash and Goldfarb, 2006). Such comparison would help identify areas of weaknesses and ultimately lead to improvement of services. It is however worth noting that health outcomes are impacted by a number of factors. Patients can be divided into clusters, for instance, in terms of the diseases they are suffering from and age groups. This would

What Factors Affect the Gender Pay Gap in the UK Industries Essay

What Factors Affect the Gender Pay Gap in the UK Industries - Essay Example This research will take both a mixed method approach where both qualitative and quantitative methods will be applied. The incorporation of a mixed method approach will help increase reliability while increasing both internal and external validity. The qualitative method will be used in order to explain the beliefs and the behaviors that surrounds gender pay gap. This method will involve interviews with various individuals that will shed light on the disparity in pay between men and women. The interviews will involve corporate managers; ten shall be interviewed where at least four should be of the opposite gender. In addition, employees drawn from various sectors will be interviewed. Ten companies that are involved in manufacturing of various products and provision of diverse services will be chosen, for every organization, one individual shall be interviewed. In this case, at least 40% of the interviewees should be of the opposite gender. For the quantitative research, a survey of th e payments of individuals across various industries will be done. This data shall be provided under the consent of the management of the respective organizations. Payment data from twenty-five organizations shall be collected. This will help create an understanding of the disparities in gender across occupations as pointed out by Farrell. Both research methods will adhere to ethical standards of research. Firstly, there will be informed consent for both the interviewees as well as the management shall be aware of the use of the payment data. Another aspect is confidentiality; both the interviewee’s information as well as their individuality will be kept confidential, the same will apply to the payment data that is meant for survey purposes. The variables under considerations are two; gender (dependent) and the independent variable will be payment. A relationship will be drawn between the two from the quantitative data obtained through the surveys.

Cultural diversity and innovation

Cultural diversity and innovation CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INNOVATION 1. Preface This paper is written as an assignment for the course: Societal Developments and Institutions. This paper contains a literature study for the workgroup cultural diversity, by a first year master student organization studies at the University of Tilburg. This paper is written with the help and suggestions of my teacher, mister Mutsaers, who provided some helpful articles to start this paper. 3. Introduction 3.1 Research problem In the Netherlands we live in a multicultural society. In this society there are a lot of members with lots of different cultural backgrounds. These members of the multicultural society will have to work together in organizations. Groups in organizations have become more diverse in terms of their demographic composition over the years and will continue to become more diverse in years to come (Jackson, 1992; Triandis, Kurowski, Gelfand, 1994; Williams OReilly, 1998). Also the process of globalization leads to organizations with members with different cultural backgrounds. According to Cox and Blake (1991) the recent business trends of globalization and increasing ethnic diversity are turning managers attention to the management of cultural differences. Numerous companies have discovered that increasing the diversity of their workforce pays off in improved performances (Curseu, 2007). According to Cox and Blake (1991) a well managed, diverse workforce holds potential competitive adva ntages for organizations. However not all scientific research comes to the same conclusions. Research on the relationship between workgroup diversity and performance has yielded inconsistent results (van Knippenberg, 2004). This inconsistency in results on the relationship between cultural diversity and organizational performances provides a great opportunity for further research. This literature study will focus on one specific part of organizational performance, namely innovative performance. Innovative performance is important for organizations because innovativeness stimulates economic development by fueling the engines of corporate growth (Schumpeter 1934, Penrose 1959). Without it, firms eventually wither and die. Advocates of the value-in diversity hypothesis suggest that work team heterogeneity promotes creativity and innovation (Cox Blake, 1991). Since cultural diversity is one aspect of work team heterogeneity, this would mean that cultural diversity also has a positive effect on organizational innovative performance. This study will examine the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity on organizational innovative performance, in order to find out what the effects of cultural diversity are on an organizations innovative performance. 3.2 Research goal. The goal of this research is to find out what the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity within organizations are with respect to the innovative performance of the organization. 3.3 Research Question The research question of this paper is: What are the effects of racial diversity in organizations on the innovative team performance? 3.4 Research relevance Social relevance The social relevance of this paper is probably very low. This paper only examines the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity in organizations on innovative performance of organizations. There wont be any solutions provided that will have an impact on society. Practical relevance The practical relevance of this paper is that when managers of organizations want to find out what the effects of cultural diversity are for the innovative performance of their organization they could study this paper and use the results to decide how cultural diverse they want their work teams to be, that is working on innovations, so they could come to a high organizational innovative performance. Scientific relevance Unfortunately, research on the positive and negative effects of work-group diversity has largely developed in separate research traditions, and an integrative theoretical framework from which to understand the effects of diversity on team performance is missing (Guzzo Dickson, 1996; Kozlowski Bell, 2003; Williams OReilly, 1998). This paper will not research the positive and negative effects of all kinds of diversity within organizations on all kinds of group performances, but it will integrate the positive and negative effects of cultural diversity within organizations on the innovative performance of the teams in the organization. So this research could be seen as a start of integrating separate research traditions. So further research could build on this paper. 4. Theoretical background. In this paper literature is researched and analyzed, in order to answer the question: What are the effects of racial diversity in workgroups on the innovative team performance? To answer this question a few important concepts will be used. The first concept used in this thesis is diversity. The term diversity often provokes intense emotional reactions from people who, perhaps, have come to associate the word with ideas as â€Å"affirmative action† and â€Å"hiring quotas† ; yet it is a word that simply means â€Å"variety† or a â€Å"point of respect in with things differ† (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1993; Websters Dictionary of the English Language, 1992). Diversity refers to differences between individuals on any attribute that may lead to the perception that another person is different from self (e.g., Jackson, 1992; Triandis et al., 1994; Williams OReilly, 1998). This first concept is a very general one. For the sake of this paper this definition has to be narrowed down. In this paper we will study team diversity. Team diversity is a group characteristic that reflects the degree to which there are objective or subjective differences between people within the team (van Knippenberg Schippers, 2007). These may be differences in demographic characteristics such as age, gender, or ethnicity, in job-related characteristics such as functional background or organizational tenure, in more deep-level (Harrison, Price, Bell, 1998) psychological characteristics such as personality, attitudes, and values, or on yet other dimensions of differentiation ( Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009). In an effort to organize thinking about different types of diversity some researchers (Cummings, Zhou Oldham, 1993; Jackson, 1992; Jackson, May Whitney, 1995; Maznevski, 1994; Tsui, Egan OReilly, 1992) have suggested ways of categorizing different types of diversity (Milliken Martins, 1996). One common distinction is between diversity on observable or readily detectable attributes such as race or ethnic background, age or gender, and diversity with respect to less visible or underlying attributes such as education, technical abilities, functional background, tenure in the organization or socio-economic background, personality characteristics, or values (Cummings et al., 1993; Jackson et al., 1995; Tsui et al., 1992) In this paper the focus is on one of the observable attributes of diversity, namely: racial diversity. Racial diversity is the diversity within teams in race. The second important concept of this paper is a team. Teams can be defined as a set of two or more actors who interact dynamically, adaptively and interdependently who share common goals or purposes; and who have specific roles or functions to perform (Salas et al., 1992). This paper studies teams, because organizations are increasingly relying on teams for innovation (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, Jundt, 2005). Different articles use different names for teams. In a lot of articles the auteur refer to work groups. When the term work group is use in another article, it will be changed into teams so that this paper will be more consistent. The third important concept in this paper is radical innovation. Radical innovations are fundamentally different from things invented before and they represent revolutionary changes in technology. They lie at the core of entrepreneurial activity and wealth creation (Schumpeter, 1975). 5. Methodology 5.1 Research approach This research could be described as explorative, because it combines literature of cultural diversity with literature on organizational performance and innovative performance in a way that results in a clear overview of advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity on innovative performance. This overview is still missing in the literature so far. So this paper really explores the effects of cultural diversity on innovative performance in a way that hasnt been done before. 5.2 Data collection To find literature for this thesis the website www.webofscience.com will be used. The articles you can find on this website conform to the ISI-norms. These norms make sure that the article are from a high quality.. The methodology used in the articles to come to results have to be convincing so that the results are valid. When the article is considered useful for this thesis the whole article will be analyzed carefully. Also the website Google scholar and the online library of the University of Tilburg will be used to find literature about the main concepts of this thesis. To search for literature key words will be typed in at the search functions of the sites. The key words that will be used are:, cultural diversity, innovation, radical, team, organization, performance, work groups. These key words will be used in different combinations. The literature used in this thesis will be analyzed by first reading the abstract and discussion/conclusion parts of the articles. The articles are considered relevant when the topics of the articles have a connection to the topic of this thesis. When this is the case the articles will be selected. By doing this time will be saved by not reading a lot of irrelevant literature. Ones articles are selected the snowball function that the web of science offers will be used to find more literature. Snowballing can happen forwards (who cites the article) and backwards (who are cited in the article) by looking at the reference list of the articles. Both kinds of snowballing will be used in this thesis. Of course there will also be searched for more articles of the same writer, to find out if this writer has written more relevant articles for this thesis. 5.3 data analyses The articles will be systematically analyzed. The articles will be read to see what they are about exactly. The articles that are about the effects of racial diversity on team performance will get a number. Author Article number The key ideas of the article will be summarized so that it will be easy to find back which articles are about which topic. A distinction will be made between positive and negative effects on team performance. So the effects of racial diversity on team performance that have been found in articles will be easy to find back in the table. Article number Negative effects Positive effects 6. results Effects of racial diversity on innovative team performance Diversity is a characteristic of a group of two or more people and typically refers to demographic differences in one sort or another among group members (McGrath, Berdahl, Arrow, 1995). Researchers predictions about any one diversity variable differ depending on which of the dimensions they see as critical to determining its impact (Ely Thomas, 2001). Pelled (1996) predicted that racial diversity, as a source of visible differences, would incite intergroup bias and lead to negative outcomes for teams. But racial diversity could also have positive outcomes when you look at it from a different perspective. Cox, Lobel and McLeod (1991) predicted that racial diversity, as a source of cultural differences, would enhance creative problem solving and lead to positive outcomes for teams. In another study , McLeod and Lobel (1992) found that teams that are heterogeneous with respect to the ethnic backgrounds produced higher quality ideas on a brainstorming task than more homogeneous teams d id (Milliken Martins, 1996). Other researchers have found results that suggest that racial diversity could both have positive and negative effects on teams in organizations. More specifically, diversity in a team can produce lower cohesion and miscommunication among group members, which can lead to team conflict (Jehn, 1995). Some of this conflict may be productive—if, for example, it avoids â€Å"groupthink† and brings additional points of view into the discussion—whereas other forms may worsen team performance (Kochan et.al., 2003). Findings on the effects of racial diversity on team performance have been inconsistent in the literature so far. In some teams, diversity may improve performance, while in other teams, diversity may be detrimental to performance (Jackson, 1992; Jehn et al., 1999; OReilly Flatt, 1989; Richard, 2001; Steiner, 1972).. For example, the effects of diversity on team performance might be more favorable if group leaders and members build on team members creativity and information (Kochan et.al., 2003). In this paper the effects of racial diversity are studied on one particular kind of team performance, namely the innovative performance of teams. The type of innovation that is discussed in this paper is radical innovation. Racial diversity will be more positively related to performance, the more performance is contingent on the in-depth processing and integration of task-relevant information and perspectives (van Knippenberg et al., 2004). That is, if diversitys potential benefits derive fro m a process of exchanging and integrating diverse information, knowledge, and perspectives, diversitys benefits should be more evident the more task performance can be expected to benefit from information elaboration (Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009).This is the case much more for complex, knowledge-intensive tasks requiring the generation of non-routine solutions to complex problems and complex decisions than for more simple and routine task with lower information-processing requirements (Jehn et al., 1999). In line with this argument, a small meta-analysis of 13 studies by Bowers et al. (2000) confirmed this prediction, showing that diversity was positively related to team performance for complex tasks but negatively related to performance for simple tasks (Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009). Since the creation of radical innovations can be considered as one of these complex tasks, it can be assumed that racial diversity has a positive effect on the team ´s innovative performance. Innovation requires a creative spark and out-of-the-box thinking (Zhou Shalley, 2008). Diversity may be particularly conducive to such out-of-the-box thinking, because the exchange and integration of diverse perspectives may stimulate new ways of looking at the issues at hand and the need to integrate divergent perspectives may give rise to more creative solutions to problems and more innovative products (Paulus Nijstad, 2003; van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Thats why according to van Dijk, Engen, van Knippenberg, innovation teams may have more to gain from diversity than other teams. A very important factor to improve an team ´s innovative performance is the creation of ideas. The insights, skills, and experiences employees have developed as members of various cultural identity groups (racial diversity) are potentially valuable resources that the work group can use to rethink its primary tasks and redefine its markets, products, strategies, and business practices in ways that will advance its mission (Ely Thomas, 2001). The greater the informational resources available to the team, the more the team should be able to reach an in-depth understanding of the task, solve problems encountered in the course of task performance, and reach high-quality outcomes in terms of the creativity, innovation, and overall quality of the teams products, ideas, or decisions (Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009) .The differences in information and viewpoints may also give rise to task conflict and dissent; faced with the need to solve these conflicts and reconcile opposing views, team members may engage in more elaborate processing of task-relevant information and search for more creative problem solutions than would be the case in the absence of conflict and dissent (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). As a result, task conflict and dissent may be associated with better and more creative team performance (e.g., De Dreu, Harinck, van Vianen, 1999; Tjosvold, 1998). There is some literature suggesting that task conflict is negatively related to team performance (De Dreu Weingart, 2003b), and others state that it is not so much the presence or absence of conflict but instead the way conflicts are managed that helps or hinders teams to perform effectively (De Dreu Weingart, 2003a; Lovelace, Shapiro, Weingart, 2001; Simons Peterson, 2000; Tjosvold, 1998). Third, and perhaps most important, performance does not benefit from conflict and dissent per se but from the process that conflict and dissent is assumed to promote: the deep-level and creative processing of diverse information and viewpoints (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). However, the exchange of diverse information, ideas, and viewpoints may also stimulate such in-depth processing without conflict or dissent (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). This is why racial diverse teams can outperform, more homogeneous teams. The proposition that diverse teams may outperform more homogeneous teams follows from the reasoning that the exposure to more diverse information and perspectives may promote elaboration of task relevant information (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004).This, in turn, would be expected to lead to more thorough and creative information processing, problem solving, and decision making. Such expected outcomes, then, give rise to the proposition that diversity may benefit performance to the extent that performance requires information processing, creative and innovative idea generation and problem solving, and/or high quality decision making (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homa n, 2004), such as innovative performances. So whether racial diversity stimulates task-conflict or not, the fact that racial diversity promotes differences in information and viewpoints remains. These differences in information and viewpoints are beneficial for creativity, which results in improved innovative team performance. So as a result this papers states that, racial diversity has a positive effect on innovative performance through the enhanced creativity of the team, because of the differences in information and viewpoints that racial diversity provides. Organizations may increase their number of racial minorities, to better match the demographic characteristics of their significant customers in order to achieve a competitive edge in the market (Cox, 1994). As racioethnic populations (minorities), increase as a ratio of the whole population, it behoves organizations to adjust their human resource mix to reflect the target market they are attempting to reach (Richard, 2000). As firms reach out to a broader customer base, they need employees who understand particular customer preferences and requirements (Morrison, 1992). According to Cox Blake (1991), the insights and cultural sensitivity, that racial diversity, brings to a marketing effort improve an organizations ability to reach different market segments. These insights and cultural sensitivity can be of great important to the organization for the creation of new business ideas and the creation of innovations. It means that the organization has to compose racial diverse teams in o rder find out new market opportunities and business ideas. So from this perspective racial diversity has an positive effect on innovative team performance. Racial diversity also has a positive effect on innovative performance from a resource-based point of view. Human resources, particularly diverse resources, are protected by knowledge barriers and appear socially complex because they involve a mix of talents that are elusive and hard to understand (Lippman Rumelt, 1982). Knowledge-based resources depend upon large numbers of people of teams engaged in coordinated, creative action providing a firm competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Hart, 1995). Therefore, an team with a diversity of perspectives should have more resources to draw on and should be more creative and innovative (Richard, 2000). Maznevski (1994), suggested that racial diversity, as a source of inherent and immutable differences, would provide teams with different kinds of information from which they could potentially benefit, but such differences would often be difficult for parties to understand and accept. These different kinds of information are especially valuable for the innovative performance of team. The different kinds of information are important for the creation of new ideas that could evolve in successful innovations. The fact that different parties could have problems with understanding the information and accepting it, seems very relevant for innovation projects, since innovative performance is depending on the creation of new ideas. So from this perspective racial diversity could have a positive, as well as a negative, effect on innovative team performance depending on how the problems with understanding the information and accepting it, are managed. Another important variable when looking at the influence of racial diversity on team performance is power differences. There is much theoretical and empirical support for the notion that paying attention to differences in power and status is critical for understanding diversity in organizations (Ely Thomas, 2001). According to Aldefer (1987) the distribution of power among cultural identity groups, both inside the organization and in the larger society, is key to how people think, feel and behave at work. Ely and Thomas (2001) state that different racial groups holds different status and power. In organizations, status differentials are reinforced when higher-status identity groups are disproportionately represented in positions of organizational authority and are challenged when they are not (Alderfer, 1987; Lau Murnighan, 1998). The distribution of power within could than have a negative as well as a positive effect on team ´s innovative performance. For racial diversity to hav e a positive impact on team performance, different identity groups should be equally distributed throughout the hierarchical position within the organization, so that there is not one overruling way of thinking within the organization. Another negative effect from racial diversity is, that differences in race could lead to the formation of subgroups. The social categorization perspective holds that similarities and differences are used as a basis for categorizing self and others into groups, with ensuing categorizations distinguishing between ones own in-group and one or more out-groups (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). Racial diversity, as part of the social categorization perspective, is one of these factors that lead to the categorizations. People tend to like and trust in-group members more than out-group members and thus generally tend to favor in-groups over out-groups (Brewer, 1979; Tajfel Turner, 1986; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, Wetherell, 1987). Consistent with research on similarity/attraction (Williams OReilly, 1998), this signifies that team members are more positively inclined toward their team and the people within it if fellow group members are similar rather than dissimilar to the self. Mo reover, categorization processes may produce subgroups within the team (i.e., â€Å"us† and â€Å"them†), and give rise to problematic inter-subgroup relations (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). As a result, the more homogeneous the team, the fewer relational conflicts will occur (Jehn et al., 1999; Pelled, Eisenhardt, Xin, 1999). Since racial diversity increases the heterogeneity of the team, the assumption is that racial diversity, as a source of visible differences, would incite intergroup bias and lead to negative outcomes for teams. These negative outcomes also occur in innovative workgroups. When organization are trying to innovate, they often put members of different teams (or organizations) together to come up with these innovations. This would mean that the intergroup relations of members of these different teams (or organizations) should be good. But categorization processes may produce subgroups within the team and give rise to problematic inter-subgroup relations (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). When this is the case the team ´s innovative performance will decrease, because the problematic inter-subgroup relationships increase emotional conflict. In contrast to the earlier mentioned task conflict, emotional conflict tends to diminish performance (Pelled, Eisenhardt, Xin, 1999). Racial diversity can also have an impact on commitment. Findings suggest that individuals who are different from their team in racial background tend to be less psychological committed to their organizations (Tsui et al., 1992). Another result from this same research has indicated that absents takes places more often in racial diverse teams, than in teams that or more homogeneous when it comes to racial backgrounds. Tsui et al., (1992), also state that racial diverse members are less inclined to stay with the organizations, which implicates a higher amount of turnovers in racial diverse work teams. Although these effects are more on a individual level they could impact the whole organization. When the dissatisfied members leave the organization, the organization will then become more homogeneous and the positive effects of racial diversity could than possibly disappear. 7. Conclusion As a conclusion it is fair to say that racial diversity both has negative as well as positive effects on team performance. The negative effects of racial diversity on team performance are: Lower cohesion Intergroup bias Miscommunication Group conflict (can also be positive) Difficult to understand and accept information Relational conflict Decreased commitment More turnover. Even though racial diversity can have negative effects on the performance on teams, this paper has shown that there are also a lot of positive effects from racial diversity on team performance. These positive effects are: Out of the box thinking Higher quality ideas Creative problem solving Task conflict Creation of new ideas Deep-level and creative processing of diverse information and viewpoints Better match the demographic characteristics of their significant customers The insights and cultural sensitivity, that racial diversity, brings to a marketing effort improve an organizations ability to reach different market segments Different kinds of information This paper has shown that especially these positive effects are very relevant when looking at the radical innovation performance of teams. The creation of radical innovations is a complex task, that requires creative thinking, diverse information and multiple perspectives, since all innovation starts with creative ideas (Amabile, 1996). So it are the positive effects that are extremely relevant in the case of radical innovation. This is why racial diversity increases a team ´s radical innovation performance. 8. Discussion Theoretical implications The goal of this research was to find out what the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity within a team are with respect to the innovative performance of the a team. By studying literature on racial diversity this paper has come to a clear overview of positive and negative effects. The practical relevance of this study is that the results have shown that especially the positive effects of racial diversity are beneficial for the creation of radical innovations in teams. This could be usefully for managers of organization, trying to increase the innovative performance of the organization. They should try to increase the diversity of the teams in their organizations. The scientific relevance of this paper is that it has separated racial diversity from other types of diversity. A lot of literature mixes different types of diversity in their studies, which makes it unclear what the effects of different types of diversity are on team performance. This paper has provided a clear overview of the effects of one type of diversity, namely racial diversity, on one type of team performance, namely innovative performance. As stated before, the social relevance of this study will be low, since it is not likely that this paper will have an impact on society. Managerial implications This research could be very useful for managers as innovation is a key factor in organizations ability to create a sustainable competitive advantage (cf. Zhou Shalley, 2008) and organizations are increasingly relying on teams for innovation (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, Jundt, 2005). This makes it important for managers to compose the right teams to work on innovation project. This paper has shown that it is best for managers, to compose a team that is racial diverse, since racial diversity has positive effects on the innovative outcomes of teams. Limitations and recommendations One of the limitations of this paper is that there are only a limited amount of articles studied. There are so many articles about different types of diversity and their effects on group performance that it is hard to take them all into consideration. Another limitation is that research doesn ´t include moderation effects. Some authors have indicated that since both negative as well as positive effects of racial diversity have been found, it is time to do more research about moderating effects. As van Knippenberg, De Dreu, Homan (2004) say it: `The state of the science thus suggests that in order to advance our understanding of the relationship between diversity and performance, we should look for moderators of the diversity-performance relationship`. This is a recommendation for further research on the topic of the effects of racial diversity on team performance. Another recommendations is that more research, that directly studies the relationship between racial diversity and innovative team performance is needed. This paper has studied effects of racial diversity on group performance, and then made a link to innovative performance, by using the characteristics of radical innovations. A direct research could increase the reliability of the results that were found in this research. 9. references. Aldefer, C.P. (1987). An intergroup perspective on group dynamics. Handbook of organizational behavior. 190-219 Cox, T.H., Blake, S., (1991). Managing cultural diversity: implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executive, 5 (3):45-56 Ely, R.J. Thomas, D.A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2): 229-273. Curseu, P.L. (2007). Complexity in organizations. Pearson Education Ltd. London GB. Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., Jundt, D. 2005. Teams in organizations: from input-pr

How different aspects of development can affect one another Essay

Physical If a child has a physical difficulty, disability or delay, this could cause them to withdraw socially; find difficulty socialising; suffer with depression, stress or anxiety; lead to behavioural difficulties; find difficulty in communicating, regarding both speech and body language; and can affect their educational development. A child with a physical disability can often experience stigma concerning their physical competence and appearance, which may lead to impairment in social interactions, bullying and devaluation of an individual. For example: †¢A child that has a disability affecting their motor function will find difficulty participating in school sports activities. If they are unable to participate and have to be kept out of these activities, they may feel socially withdrawn. Team sports help children to create friendships through team building exercises, which in turn develop their social skills. If the child can’t join in, they may struggle to make friends and will be missing out on this social development. †¢Sports activities help promote a healthy lifestyle. Non-participation of children, particularly those in wheelchairs, can become overweight due to lack of exercise. This affects their body appearance and can lower self-esteem, further affecting social skills and emotional wellbeing. †¢Young children will often socialise during break times by playing games in the playground; these often involve running around. If a child finds difficulty running around, they may feel left out and unable to make friends. These break times also burn the excess energy that children have. If this energy is not burned, a child may focus this energy towards misbehaving/acting out. This can also lead to a child finding it difficult to concentrate in classes, affecting their learning. This can lead to a reduced rate of cognitive development regarding reading, writing and problem  skills. †¢Children with severe visual and hearing impairments can find difficulty in building relationships and develop their social skills in the school environment. Often, these children attend schools designed to cater for similarly impaired children, making it easier for them to build these relationships and avoid bullying. However, an adverse effect of these schools may result in impaired children being unable to socialise with ‘normal’ people in the future. †¢Visual and hearing impairments can also affect a child’s ability to communicate. It is particularly common for children with hearing impairments to have speech problems. Children suffering from deafness may communicate through signing, reducing the number of people with which they may communicate. A large part of communication is through body language, with which a visually impaired child may find great difficulty. Cognitive and Communication A child or young person with a cognitive disability has greater difficulty with one or more types of mental tasks than the average person. Cognitive disabilities can be separated into two classes: functional disability and clinical disability. Clinical disabilities include autism, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and memory loss conditions (e.g. dementia, Alzheimer’s, amnesia and short term memory loss). Those with functional cognitive disabilities may find difficulty with memory; problem-solving; attention; reading, linguistic, and verbal comprehension; math comprehension; and visual comprehension. If a child suffers from a severe clinical cognitive disability they will need assistance with nearly every aspect of daily living. Cognitive disabilities often overlap with communication disorders – for example autism is a developmental disorder that affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills. Other communication disorders include specific language impairment; (mixed receptive-)  expressive language disorder; aphasia; learning difficulties such as dyscalculia, dyslexia and dysgraphia; and speech disorders such as cluttering, dysarthria, lisp, stuttering, and phonological disorder. †¢A common example of a clinical cognitive disability is Down syndrome. Children with Down syndrome can suffer problems affecting their physical development. These may include: obstructive sleep apnoea, which may result in sleepiness and fatigue during the daytime; lower rates of fertility; instability of the atlanto-axial joint, which can lead to spinal cord injury; low thyroid; hip dislocations occurring without trauma; slower growth rate; increased risk of epileptic seizures; and an increased risk for obesity with ageing. †¢Children with Down syndrome often have a better understanding of language than ability to speak, and may suffer from a stutter or rapid and irregular speech. However, usually this does not impair their social skills. Children may also experience emotional and behavioural difficulties, such as an increased tendency for misbehaving and anger outbursts (including violence); and suffering with symptoms of depression and anxiety (often occurring during early adulthood). †¢Children suffering from functional cognitive disabilities can struggle when it comes to learning, which can affect their social and emotional well-being. For example, if a child is behind with their reading and struggles during group reading sessions, they may find difficulty mixing with other children due to a feeling of ‘ineptness’. This can affect their social development and can cause the child to feel down or have low self-esteem (feeling ‘stupid’ or inadequate). †¢If a child suffers from a speech impediment, such as a stutter, other children may find difficulty understanding them. This can result in limited interaction with other children, resulting in feelings of frustration, annoyance and a lack of confidence. This may even affect other areas of development as they can feel as though they can’t achieve, possibly causing low self-esteem. Emotional, Behavioural and Social Difficulties arising with emotional, behavioural and social development often occur from emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD); and social anxiety disorder (otherwise known as social phobia). Children with EBD can exhibit characteristics that adversely affect their education. These include: difficulty learning; difficulty building or maintaining interpersonal relationships with other children and teachers; inappropriate behaviour (e.g. acting out against their self or others) and feelings (e.g. low self-esteem/self worth and self harming); unhappiness or depression; and an increased tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears regarding personal or school problems. †¢If a child suffers from depression can experience a loss of interest in social activities, work and life. They may withdraw socially and can often separate themselves from others, which in turn can have a detrimental effect on their ability to make friends. Withdrawal from lessons can affect cognitive development, with children having difficulties in furthering their skills in reading, writing and problem solving. †¢Children with eating disorders can suffer physical and neurological complications. Often, young children who suffer from eating disorders consisting of malnutrition can have an impaired rate of growth; pubertal delay or arrest; increased risk of heart disease and arrhythmia; and neurological disorders such as seizures or tremors. Compulsive overeating can result in obesity, resulting in high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, type II diabetes and an increased risk of heart disease. †¢Children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) act out their emotions as opposed to internalising them. They often exhibit behaviours such as fighting, bullying, cursing, and other forms of violence. This can have a detrimental effect on their social development if not managed from onset, conditioning them to feel that it is acceptable to act in this manner, and can also find frustration in communicating general information,  thoughts and feelings to others. Children and young people with ADHD that exhibit violent behaviour are often subject to isolation from classes, suspension and exclusion from school, which has an adverse effect on their educational development. This can affect cognitive development, particularly regarding skills such as reading, writing and problem-solving. Children and young people with ADHD often achieve at a lower grade than others. †¢A child with social anxiety disorder may cry a lot, freeze or have tantrums. They often fear the school and classroom environment, and avoid participation in school performances. Social anxiety disorder can result in reduced communicational development, as the sufferer may fear talking in groups, starting conversations, taking to authority figures and speaking on the phone. They may also exhibit physical difficulties due to fears of eating or drinking in front of people, resulting in malnutrition; low self-esteem and insecurity, especially regarding performance and body image, which may lead to the development of eating disorders; and the misuse of drugs or alcohol, which can result in physical complications.

The Atomic Bomb Is It Really Justified - 1627 Words

The Atomic Bomb, was it really justified? On August 6, 1945, after forty-four months of increasingly brutal fighting in the Pacific, an American B-29 bomber loaded with a devastating new weapon flew in the sky over Hiroshima, Japan waiting for a signal. Minutes later the signal was given, that new weapon, the atomic bomb, was released. Its enormous destructive energy detonated in the sky, killing one hundred thousand Japanese civilians instantly. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb over the city of Nagasaki, with similarly devastating results, killing seventy-thousand Japanese citizens. The following week, Japan’s emperor addressed his country over the radio to announce the decision was made to surrender. At that moment World War II had finally come to its dramatic conclusion. Even though some people defend the atomic bombings, because of a weak Japan refusing to give up, the U.S. could’ve chosen a less populated area of Japan to bomb, like the coast to warn the Japanese. Claiming thousands of innocent lives, prove that the U.S. unnecessarily dropped the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed the United States Army, Air Force, and Naval Bases, in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. The next day on December 8th, 1941, the U.S. entered World War II declaring war on Japan as they provoked us to do so with their sneaky aerial attack. Behind the scenes of the extensive fighting, AmericanShow MoreRelatedHarry Trumans Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb1314 Words   |  6 Pagesto drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified? A. Plan of Investigation Research Question: To what extent was Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified? 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Some people considered this act to be â€Å"justified†. Many lives were taken that day in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. â€Å"On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb carried from Tinian Island in the Marianas in a specially equipped B-29 was dropped on HiroshimaRead MoreHiroshima; Right or Wrong? Essay992 Words   |  4 Pages1) Describe the main arguments, reasons, and evidence that support the perspective of Historian A. -Historian A had a lot of reasonable and strong perspectives on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. She views the United States was not justified in dropping the bomb. A huge argument begins with the U.S. knowing that Japan was trying to surrender. This is a great example of unnecessarily kicking someone when they are already down. The Japanese wanted peace and tried to surrender, the only