Nike and International Labor Practice Essay Example for Free

Nike and International Labor Practice Essay Problem Identification Established in the early 70s Nike, Inc., based in Beaverton, Oregon, USA faced a severe stream of criticism and experienced growing problems concerning their plants and employee treatment, mainly in Indonesia and Vietnam in 1988. Rising demand for Nike products, which almost doubled within a short period of time, led the company and its 350+ subcontractors to raise the production level. Series of labor problems and abuse such as cheap labor wages, poor working conditions, health and safety issues and underage workers exploitation, were the main issues Nike had to deal with. Furthermore, Nike, Inc. had to deal with managing the diversity of cultures and language barriers had to be overcome, while still be able to produce the high-quality product Nike is famous for. Throughout the 1990s Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, Inc. and the company itself lost their superb corporate image in the eye of the world and it became an international incident. Causes of Problem After establishing a name in the world, Phil Knight, decided to manufacture Nikes apparel in South Korea and Taiwan, and by 1982 already 86% of Nikes sneakers came from these two countries. Realizing that Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and China provide cheaper labor cost, better government support and higher profit, Nike moved their production lines there, with Indonesia becoming an important location. In 1991, the daily minimum wage was barely $1 in Indonesia, compared to a typical daily wage of $24.40 in South Korea and a US hourly wage of about $8 in athletic shoe manufacturing. Even that the Indonesian government raised the minimum wage from 2,100 Rupiah ($1.00/day) to 2,500 Rupiah ($1.25/day), the new wage was still underneath the workers living expenses. In 1992, these issues went outside of Indonesia and even hit Washington D.C., when President Clinton introduced the task force Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) to develop and control labor standards for foreign fact ories. Although Nike was the first one to join, they had trouble convincing people that everything went right in their plants in Asia. Ernst Young was being hired to control and audit the factories, but soon voices became loud, that there was not a really  objective view at the problems, since Nike was paying them. It hit the peak in 1997/ 1998, when TV shows, newspapers and even a movie (The Big One) were talking about the bad conditions within Nikes factories in Asia and publicly challenged Phil Knight to change the way workers were treated, compensated and how underage workers were employed. Adidas, Reebok and New Balance took advantage of Nikes down slope and gained in competitive advantage. This led to diminishing sales number, earnings fell 69%, and for the first time in 13 years Nike, Inc. had a loss at the end of the year 1998. Alternatives 1.Government regulation of Nike Advantages: a)Local Government would have a closer look onto what is happening in its own country and with their people b)US Government could also have a closer look onto what Nike is doing abroad and would be able to intervene any illegal activity from the motherland c)Both governments would work closer together and it would open doors for other US companies to invest in the foreign country Disadvantages: a)As indicated in the case, some governments just see the money that is brought into the country, regardless what is happening within the company, or better said to its people. b)Ties between the US government and the foreign country might not be the best, due to political tensions, and makes it therefore tougher to work together. 2.Improve employees working and living standards Advantages: a)A happy employee is a better worker improve the employees living standard by raising his wage, giving him more benefits (health insurance, vacation time), lessen his working hours, etc. b)Equal Opportunity give chances to workers to move up the company ladder, and not only bring outside people in. Furthermore, adjust workers compensation, working hours and labor conditions to human standards. c)Extensive training and development for managers All managers should learn foreign countrys language, living habits and adapt to culture. Training the workers on the job will also help to overcome workforce diversity and make the workplace a better place to be. Disadvantages: a)The changes will take time and will be cost effective. b)Adapt to western working habits, might be a huge change for Asian workforce and might not be adapted well 3.Documentation and Inspection Advantages: a)Factories will be supervised, by either the local government or organizations b)Inspections will lead to better working conditions c)Workers will have someone to talk to and will not be left alone Disadvantages: a)Again, organizations might be paid by Nike and not report the whole truth b)Reports from workers might be left alone and not brought up to people in charge Best Alternative The best alternative for Nike, Inc. is to undertake all three alternatives simultaneously. In order to gain back the market share and competitive advantage, their global view has to strengthen. They started off very well by implementing some of the above-mentioned ideas. These alternatives will just help them to become a stronger player in this fast growing and very competitive business world. Implementation Steps The actions, that Nike, Inc. should take are as followed: First they should work on getting their name back into the right spotlight, by implementing the alternatives. The governments will be more than willing to help them and since Nike is recognized all over the world, even the local governments/ countries are keen on keeping them in their country and employ their citizens. This might even bring countries like the USA and Indonesia closer together and more companies from the US will be ready to go to Indonesia and produce there. Secondly, the workers benefits, life standard and work habits are the most important of all of the alternatives. Nike, Inc. should invest most of their research and development in this field, since the wages are still not as they should be. An idea would be to start raising the wages to at least the countrys standard, so that people can live off their earnings a normal life. Nike started successfully the implementation of programs that involved increasing the workers living standard in the developing world, but still the compensation of the worker is the main problem that needs to be taken on right away. Secure working places, no lay-offs and safe working environments should be steps that must be taken immediately, only then we can see the difference and make a worker a happy  and productive employee. Last but not least, Nike should be watched, inspected and documented upon. It will not only help the factories in Vietnam or Indonesia, but also the company itself. Once outside organizations tell Nike where they need to improve on and do it after being told, then the company will also get into the positive spotlight, which will resume in higher sales and more profit. Nike will then be again the strongest contender in supporting and sponsoring universities, pro athletes and teams and most important a company that everybody wants to work for, regardless where.

Similarities and differences of a leader and a manager

Similarities and differences of a leader and a manager The terms leadership and management are seen very differently by diverse people. Some individuals see these terms as synonyms and frequently use them interchangeably throughout phrases and sentences. Others approach them as extreme opposites; so extreme, in fact, they would argue that you cannot be a good manager and a good leader at the same time. Still other people reside somewhere in the middle and realize that while there is a difference between leadership and management, with the right knowledge an individual can successfully navigate both from the same position. The field of leadership has been a fast-growing part of management knowledge since the beginning of the 20th century. in most conceptions of management and organization, leadership has given a central place in enforcing principles, motivating employees and communicating future goals and visions to strive for. . Management and leadership have been partners in the successes and failures of countries and companies before the start of recorded history. The basic concept of both are well understood but despite a large amount of information available, there is still confusion and disagreement on the implementation of management skills vs. leadership principles. Successful creation of professional development program is dependent on the recognition that technical/management skills are learned abilities .they are the backbone of the companies core capabilities. These capabilities must b augmented with leadership attributes that allow the team to move forward in implementation of the core business (Ukko, J. Tenhunen, J . Rantanen, H., 2007). (Ballinger,G Schoorman, F Lehman, D, 2006) The terms management and leadership are often interchanged. In fact, many people view them as basically the same thing. Yet management is as distinct from leadership as day is from night. Both are necessary, however, for a high-performance organization. By contrasting them and understanding their differences, we can better balance and improve these essential roles. Therefore, both are two distinctive and complementary systems of action and necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment. Each has its own function and characteristic activitiesstrong leadership with weak management are no better, and are sometimes actually worse, than the reverse. the real challenge is to combine strong leadership and strong management and use each to balance the other. One key distinction between management and leadership is that we manage things and lead people. Things include physical assets, processes, and systems. People include customers, external partners, and people throughout our team or organization (or internal partners).when dealing with things, we talk about a way of doing. In the people realm, we are talking about a way of being. (Jovanovic, Z Sajfert ,D, 2009) There are differences between leadership and management. Leadership is influence and challenging future actions enterprises and it deals with effectiveness and manager efficiency. Managerial skills are prerequisite for leadership. it is possible to be an excellent manager, and to never become a leader. Good managerial skills not only provide the basis for good leadership, but also enough time to conduct, because it is not possible to become a good leader and the management of the operations do not happen successfully. Often indicates the following differences between the management and leadership. The leadership based on the relative impact and management in relation authority. The secondly, leadership and leaders engage followers, and the management of managers and perpetrators They are both complete action systems neither is simply one aspect of the other. Each has its own distinctive purpose and characteristic activities. People who think of management as being only the implementation part of leadership ignore the fact that leadership has its own implementation processes. Literature Review: 2.1 Concept of management (Haslam, 2004) Management is basically the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people and it tends to involve direction of day-to-day operational tasks, management and maintenance of budgets and deadline oriented, directing teams to achieve goals by establishing objectives. (Ukko, J. Tenhunen, J . Rantanen, H., 2007) management the term which can be defined functionally as the action in measuring a quantity on a regular basis and adjusting an initial plan and the actions taken to reach ones intended goal . 2.2 Concept of leadership (Haslam, 2004) Leadership is quite possibly the most-researched aspect of social and organizational psychology. As a result, a lot has been written on the topic. have a look at the business section of your local bookshop and see just how many books are devoted to an attempt to explain leadership. It is fascinating to both academics and practitioners. (Ukko, J. Tenhunen, J . Rantanen, H., 2007) The term leadership as a process or action that affects the actions of an organized group when it is heading for goal setting and goals. The main qualities of leadership are abilities for long-term strategic thinking, communication skills, integrity and ambition. in popular language, leadership usually refers to motivating and committing people- in short, leading people. leadership comes from personality. Companies spend a lot of time, money, and effort on the selection of their high-level leaders. Yet consistent leadership traits have been very difficult to identify. Two things that are clear are: (1) Leadership is a relationship between people. (2) An effective leader is different in different situations. Based on (Jovanovic, Z Sajfert ,D, 2009) leadership can be defined as the process by which members of a group activity directed toward the achievement of objectives. Here it can have several meanings:  · Leadership involves other people-the employees or followers that means not equal distribution of power between leaders and group members .  · Leadership is the ability to be in different ways using various forms of power to impact on the behavior of followers. 2.3 What is a manager? (Haslam, 2004)in many organizations, Manager is a formally conferred title. you can even go to college and learn to be a manager. Managers are possibly part of but often separate to the group they manage. Offices rarely have more than one office Manager. Being a good manager is about using the authority attached to your role well and appropriately. Managers focus on day to day tasks to make sure work is completed. They use rules and processes, tactical direction and control, to manage others activities. 2.4 What is a leader? (Kent, 2005) Leaders achieve change. They use ideas and dialogue to influence, inspire, help, and encourage change in peoples attitudes leading to changes in behavior. it is often said: management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things. leadership involves the risk of following new ideas to create opportunities, while management diligence produces tangible results. Being a good leader is very much about developing relationships. Sometimes they are personal, other times they are idealogical. Either way followers connect with the leader on a personal level. 2.5 Leading and managing (Haslam, 2004) Perhaps it is true that we must be able to see things separately before we can understand how they can  ¬Ã‚ t together. while it is recognized that the two processes, managing and leading, must work together and reside within the same individual, it is useful in order to understand each process more completely to comprehend them separately. It is argued then that the two processes, while distinct, cannot effectively work without each other working in tandem. From the standpoint of the purposes of the two processes, how effective is it for a leader to develop a vision for the organization and to muster support and motivation to pursue it if the manager in him/her does not procure and efficiently allocate the resources to accomplish the vision? Or, the manager can effectively select and allocate resources, but if he/she has no vision or sense of direction what is that allocation based on, and where is it taking the organization. Leading Managing purpose: To create direction will to pursue it through the development of peoples thinking and valuing. Products: The establishment of thrust toward a purpose or end the creation of social orderliness to carry out that thrust higher states of behavior and thinking in terms of principles, values, morality, and ethics. Processes : Creating vision, aligning people within a team, managing their Self, recognizing and rewarding, communicating meaning and importance of the vision. Purpose: To determine and compare alternative uses and allocations of resources and to select that alternative which is most energy effective toward accomplishing or producing a product, end or goal. Products : Resources, organized effort, and awareness of performance and progress toward goals the creation of a desired mode of working among people and other resources The creation of the most energy effective way of dealing with the causes of events and situations in accomplishing a purpose tied to a particular situation Processes : Planning, organizing, controlling, and coordinating. There must be a constant hand off, or changing of hats, within a single leader/manager to be effective. The leader part of the leader/manager develops the vision and sense of direction and the manager  ¬Ã‚ gures out how to get there in terms of the right alternative path, acquiring and allocating the resources that are needed. Wearing his/her leader hat he/she works the people issues and engenders commitment, and motivation while advancing the organizations ethics and values. Handing off to the manager in him/herself she insures that goals are set and helps determines the most effective way of accomplishing those goals. The mission is carried out through this constant handing off (within the same person) from leader to manager and back to leader. 2.6 Leading or managing (Kent, 2005) The leader/manager must act in the manner appropriate to the given context. If the vision is clear and well communicated, it is probably time to get working on its execution. That would include establishing goals, making assignments, following up and other managing functions. It is probably safe to say that most would agree that there are (at least) two signi ¬Ã‚ cant functions that are important to the success of any organization leading and managing. The two functions are, practically speaking, inseparable. Theoretically and conceptually, they can be differentiated. They can be studied, to some extent, separately. But in reality, they reside within, and are practiced by single individuals. Organizations need both functions in order to thrive. It is probably an acceptable proposition that most positions in modern day organizations that require some degree of leadership also require some degree of managing (using those words as de ¬Ã‚ ned above). but one might ask what is the degree of leadership and of managing that is required by a given position? Would it not be possible, given the argument to this point, that we could calibrate the leadership requirements of any position and the managing requirements of that position as well? We can imagine jobs that require a high degree of managing and a low degree of leading perhaps a manufacturing engineer who is responsible for installing a new section in a manufacturing line. this does not suggest that the job does not require any leadership. We might see that the engineer must gain the commitment of the line workers, enlist their cooperation, recognize their assistance and contributions, etc. but for the most part, the job requires managing many details and resources. yet a different job, say a team leader for a self-directed work team might be described as demanding a great deal of leadership and only some managing. again, the team leader must manage some things it is not that they have nothing to manage; but the greatest demand of the team leader is on her leadership. a third job, such as a project manager for a new product introduction, may require a great deal of both managing and leading. a fourth job, perhaps a receptionist in a law  ¬Ã‚ rm, requires little managing or leading.  ¬Ã‚ nally, some supervisory positions require the incumbent to perform the hands-on work itself, coordinate and problem solve the work, and to lead a number of others who are also performing the work. 2.7 How management and leadership can work together (Haslam, 2004) the difference between a manager and a leader is that a manager says, Go, while a leader says, Lets go. Management researchers concede that leadership is an integral part of a managers job, but how much depends on the circumstances. although some companies use job titles like team leader, a leader fulfils a role rather than a position. anyone in an organization could be a leader, given the right situation. This principle is sometimes used politically, where each person takes on the role as leader at different times. one well-known example is the rotating Presidency of the European Union, where each EU country gets a six-month turn at being the leader. The Presidential country is not the manager of the European Union. management tasks are dealt with in Brussels. during its term, the EU President takes care of diplomacy, both within and outside of the EU: a relationship issue. 2.8 Can a Manager be a Leader and a Leader be a Manager? (Ukko, J. Tenhunen, J . Rantanen, H., 2007) the answer to the question is yes. The skills to be a leader or a manager are not exclusive in nature. A leader who only displays leadership skills will be ineffective when it comes to checking time cards, completing employee reviews, and scheduling employee vacation time; things that employers require their managers to do on timely bases. Similarly, a manager who spends all his/her time completing paperwork and reading reports; only creates more problems for him or her because they lack a developing relationship with their employees. If you are a manager who has spent too much time managing and not leading his/her employees, start spending 10% of your time each week leading until you can establish 25% of your time in leadership practices. If you are a leader who only likes to lead, either become a politician, hire an assistant to be the manager, or start spending 50% of your time getting the paperwork done. 2.9 Differences between leadership and management (Lightfoot, W Kehal ,M, 2005) management and leadership are often considered interchangeable. Yet relatively recent evidence argues in favor of the two becoming separate disciplines related, but clearly different. Regarding leadership, there are set of fundamental truths about all leaders as follow : 1. Leaders always create (and need) change 2. Leaders always create (and need) followers 3. Leaders have a rock-solid value system, which is congruent with their followers. (Gill, 2005) the differences between management and leadership simply.Managers plan, allocate resources, administer and control, whereas leaders innovate, communicate and motivate. vision is one of the key differences between a manager and a leader. Other differences can be illustrated as follow: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Management is about path following; leadership is path finding. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Management is about doing things right; leadership is about doing the right things. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Management is about planning and budgeting; leadership is about establishing direction. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Management is about controlling and problem solving; leadership is about motivating and inspiring In addition , leadership represents one of the oldest, most natural and most effective of all human relationships. Management is a later product, with neither so romantic nor so inspiring a history. leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision; its practice is an art. Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation of statistics, of methods, timetables, and routine; its practice is a science. managers are necessary; leaders are essential. (Crevani,L. Lindgren, M. Packendorff, J., 2010) the biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate the people who work or follow them, and this sets the tone for most other aspects of what they do. Many people, by the way, are both. They have management jobs, but they realize that you Cannot buy hearts, especially to follow them down a difficult path, and so act as leaders too. leaders manage and managers lead but the two activities are not synonymous. management functions can potentially provide leadership; leadership activities can contribute to managing. Nevertheless, some managers do not lead, and some leaders do not manage. There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. to manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. (Kent, 2005) one way to understand something is to identify how it is different from something else. Since the 1980s most scholars trying to understand transformational leadership have attempted to differentiate between leading and managing and to understand leading as something distinct and separate from managing. Some characterizations of these differences include the ideas of: managers do things right; leaders do the right things; managing is an authority relationship; leading is an in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence relationship; and managing creates stability; leading creates change. While these ideas are provocative and stimulating, they do not provide a basis for study and deep understanding of the dynamics behind the two processes of leading and managing. We can de ¬Ã‚ ne both the leading function and the managing function in three terms. Each term or perspective is distinctly different from the other two. the  ¬Ã‚ rst term provides the perspective of the purpose of each function. this answers the question why does each function exist? the second term describes the products or outcomes or results of each function. this answer the question what does each function result in or create? the third term has to do with the processes involved in each respective function and it answers the question how does each function come about, or how is each manifested? 3- Discussion Leaders have followers. Managers have subordinates. The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they inspire the people who work with. There are some key differences. Managers usually have people whose output they are responsible for. They have a positional authority over their follower and their output. Alternately, following a leader is always a voluntary activity. Leadership is often situational rather than positional the right person in the right place at the right time to lead the troops forward. It is clear that manager and leader both may know the business well. But the leader must know it better and in a different way. He must grasp the essential facts and the underlying forces that determine the past and present trends in the business, so that he can generate a vision and a strategy to bring about its future. One telling sign of a good leader is an honest attitude towards the facts, towards objective truth. Subjective leader obscures the facts for the sake of narrow self-interest, partisan interest or prejudice. Effective leaders continually ask questions, probing all levels of the organization for information, testing their own perceptions, and rechecking the facts. They talk to their constituents. They want to know what is working and what is not. They keep an open mind for serendipity to bring them the knowledge they need to know what is true. An important source of information for this sort of leader is knowledge of the failures and mistakes that are being made in their organization. Leaders investigate reality, taking in the pertinent factors and analyzing them carefully. On this basis they produce visions, concepts, plans, and programs. Managers adopt the truth from others and implement it without probing for the facts that reveal reality. . Leaders base their vision, their appeal to others, and their integrity on reality, on the facts, on a careful estimate of the forces at play, and on the trends and contradictions. They develop the means for changing the original balance of forces so that their vision can be realized.. The most dramatic differences between leaders and managers are found at the extremes: poor leaders are despots, while poor managers are bureaucrats in the worst sense of the word. Whilst leadership is a human process and management is a process of resource allocation, both have their place and managers must also perform as leaders. All first-class managers turn out to have quite a lot of leadership ability. We can sum up the key differences between manager and leader as follow: The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager is a copy; the leader is an original. The manager maintains; the leader develops. The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people. The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust. The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager imitates; the leader originates. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person. To summarize, leadership and management are certainly different but are essentially complementary to each other. Manager uses a formal, rational method whilst the leader uses passion and stirs emotions If you want to lead employees to very high performance, treat them with great respect and not like robots, thus leading them to treat their work, their customers, each other and their bosses with great respect. Its vital for senior individuals in positions of great responsibility to be able to play both roles: the boss who cannot manage will kill an organization just as fast as one who cannot lead. But the person who can do both, they are on the path to success. 4- Conclusion Although there are clear differences between management and leadership or manager and leader, there is also a considerable amount of overlap . when managers are involved in planning, organizing , staffing and controlling , they are involved in management . Both processes involve influencing a group of individuals toward goal attainment.

Slavery Fight For Freedom Essay -- Slavery Essays

Slavery Fight for Freedom During the course of the slave trade millions of Africans became involuntary immigrants to the New World. Some African captives resisted enslavement by fleeing from slave forts on the coast of West African. Others mutinied on board slave trading vessels, or cast themselves into the ocean, rather facing death than enslavement. In the New World there were those who ran away from their owners, ran away among the Indians, formed maroon societies, revolted, feigned sickness, or participated in work slow downs. Some sought and succeeded in gaining liberty through various legal means such as "good service" to their masters, self-purchase, or military service. Still others seemingly acquiesced and learned to survive in servitude. The European, American, and African slave traders engaged in the large amounts of trade in humans. The politicians and businessmen who supported them, did not intend to put into motion a chain of events that would motivate the captives and their descendants to fight for full citizenship in the United States of America. But they did. When Thomas Jefferson penned the words, "All men are created equal," he could not possibly have envisioned how literally his own slaves and others would take his words. African Americans repeatedly questioned how their owners could consider themselves â€Å"noble† in their own fight for independence from England while at the same time believing that it was wrong for slaves to do the same...

Why is Dracula such a great horror story? Essay -- English Literature

Why is Dracula such a great horror story? In my opinion 'Dracula' is a great horror story because it is highly entertaining in its idea of vampirism, its atmospheric descriptions, powerful characterisation and the horrific death of Lucy. The novel is also interesting because of the religious perspectives, such as the use of garlic, holy water and the crucifix as weapons against evil. Jonathan Harker's journey to Count Dracula's home is described in great detail. The atmosphere not only adds to the dangerous ride to Dracula's Castle, but also comes alive as we're reading it. The atmosphere surrounding Harker is incredibly frightening but the detail and descriptions used are so astounding that we can feel the 'strange chills'. I felt like I was sitting beside Jonathan Harker. I 'shared' his 'fear'. Harker is travelling in a Caleche, a small, open, horse drawn carriage which is obviously dangerous. It adds suspense to the story, which makes the reader automatically think something terrible is going to occur. The 'long, agonized wailing' of the dogs seem to go on forever. As the journey takes longer it becomes more fearsome. Harker feels 'lonely'. Harker's driver is a strange, mysterious character, with his 'gleaming smile' as he steers the Caleche without revealing his face to Harker, or talking much. At this point the reader is thrilled and excited, feeling like a character in the story. The historical detail of the journey is also what makes this novel brilliant. Harker is very uncomfortable, 'caught my arm in a grip of steel.' I didn't realise how dangerous and uncomfortable the Caleches were back a hundred years ago until I read Harker's account of his journey. As the 'horses began to strain' and... ...hough to find out what people used to believe in. Stoker has used imaginative and gruesome details, which interested me a lot. I think this novel is wonderful mainly because of Lucy's death and how her fiancà © killed her. It shows how much Arthur loved Lucy. He killed her vampire form and bought back Lucy's soul so it could go to heaven. This dreadful part of the story is brilliant. I found it heartbreaking but I was amazed at Arthur's strong character. I think the novel was fascinating but it dragged and became boring in places. The journey to Transylvania, for example, was very well described and extremely spooky. However, this section could be shortened to maintain tension. I also think some of the character's diary entries could have been more focused on moving the story forward rather than offering lots of information, which we didn't really need.

Immaturity of Holden in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Essay

Immaturity of Holden in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood. Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. â€Å"All of a sudden I started to cry. I’d give anything if I hadn’t, but I did† (p. 103). This occurs when Maurice argues with Holden about money that Holden owes to a prostitute. The situation becomes too much for Holden to handle, and he breaks down like a child. Holden also tries to have immature conversations with people who have become adults. Another example of imma...

Cultural Influences in Children Essay

The negative influences for video games: children are always playing it or wanting to play their xbox, wii or playstation, not wanting to go to school. Children will want to be on the game for several hours or all day. Children or adults can have seizures from the movement of all the changing lights and from the lights flashing especially in the dark. Children can have nightmares from playing a game called Call of Duty it has a zombies part. Children can also shoot zombies and people with guns and might act this out in real life even shoot at people. These games are violent, and gory. Children can play Grand Theft Auto they are playing as a gang member and your boss tells you to do crimes and get away with it. The police try to catch him but he can get away with whatever it is he does. When children get old enough they might try to steal cars, run people over, and beat up people and cops for no reason. The children might not know in real life they will get caught. They cannot hide from the cops. Grand Theft Auto can make children more aggressive, more violent at school and at home. Children can also talk on these games to other children or even adults online. They can hear cussing and talk about other things not needed for this game. Video Games can make children socially isolated, doing less homework, less hanging out with friends, can make children obese, less exercise, less going out, and less spending time with family. Interest children in different activities: soccer, football, baseball, tennis, volleyball. These sports would be a good exercise so the children will not be obese, just sitting in front of the television playing games. Encourage your child to get involved in other outdoor activities with other children in the neighborhood such as bike riding, or just childhood games outside can help tag, hid and seek or at a YMCA swimming, basketball. Get the child to play with his toys for a few hours out of the day. Go to the park for a day have a picnic, go hiking and go sightseeing. By telling Child to go outside and playing a sport or get involved in child activities will get them away from the video games. Tell the child to go bike riding around the block and get their mind off of wanting to play Grand Theft Auto would be better than them thinking of steal cars and beating up people. Another negative cultural influence is television. It has television shows children should not be watching, not much learning. Television is not always great it has a few channels that are learning channels but most are not teaching children anything. Some channels like Disney or nickelodeon have some learning shows but that is only in the early morning or way late at night and only for children that are in the younger ages. Cartoon network changes to adult swim after a certain hour. Children should not be watching these shows to name a few Family Guy, American Dad, and Robot Chicken. Family Guy has a talking dog, lots of cussing and is violent and also has sexual content. Robot Chicken is a show that does some parodies of other shows with cussing and violence as well. Children like to always watch television, but it is not educating children and is a waste of time for them when they can be doing other educated activities. Getting children educated is a better idea than watching television they will need to be educated for school. So having them read chapter books or read other books or magazines for a while will get them away from the television. Have children write a story or a few sentences to a paragraph depending on how old they are about what they have read or would want to read or learn about. Have children go outside and start a garden, plant vegetables and fruit. Learn how to grow a garden to pick fruit and vegetables when they are ready to be eaten. Children can always stay inside and play a board game there are a few games to play monopoly, trouble, and cards are really fun games. Boggle and scrabble would be also good to use their brains.

Terminal and Intrumental Values

You hold the key to your own mind and imagination and it's better for people to understand that so they're able to move on in the future. Inner Harmony, Self-Respect and wisdom are definitely the most important to me because they encourage mental and spiritual growth. Know many people aren't religious but spiritual doesn't always have to be put in that context. Mean it in a more â€Å"One with your mind, one with your body' kind of way. I'm not a person who is god with expressing her feelings through speech, I like to analyze privately and observe things.I am more of a reserved person unless I'm in my comfort zone. Being comfortable with yourself could make you feel comfortable any and everywhere. Values like world peace and equality are definitely important, it's just that to me, they're only possible if EVERYONE in the world IS at peace within themselves, and at the rate we're traveling I'm not sure if we'll get there anytime soon. I don't value social recognition at all; it hinde rs a person to do things only to be noticed. It's okay to want to make a change, but don't seek outside opinions for approval. It isn't that important what others think of you.You should focus on your own peppiness and positive contribution to the world. I usually value qualities I don't yet possess, which explains why I'm mostly talking about the Terminal values. I feel like the instrumental values are pretty much qualities everyone possesses whether they know it or not, so I didn't find the need to elaborate on them. I'm hoping to someday reach peace within myself or inner-harmony because I believe that the key to happiness, self-respect because essential to inner harmony, and wisdom because it's necessary for clear understanding.