Gaining a Sense of Peace in the Novel, Dreaming in Cuban...

Gaining a Sense of Peace In the novel Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia, Cuba had an impact on each character especially to Pilar. Pilar moved to New York when she was just a little girl. She felt like she was unfamiliar with her heritage, which sparked the idea to move back to her homeland. Pilar’s grandmother, Celia and her mother, Lourdes were Pilar’s only connections to Cuba. Throughout the book, Pilar has expressed several changes of heart towards Cuba. Although Pilar wanted to move back to Cuba, she finally realizes that because of the Castro regime, she wouldn’t be able to express herself freely in Cuba. Pilar has a strong connection with her Abuela Celia. Celia is responsible for her desire to move back to Cuba. Pilar hasn’t seen Celia since she left Cuba when she was only two years old. When Lourdes said she was leaving the country, Pilar wouldn’t let go of Celia because she didn’t want to leave her. Pilar states, â€Å"Mom tried to pull me away but I clung to Abuela Celia and screamed at the top of my lungs† (26). Pilar was attached to Celia more than her own mother. Ever since then Pilar hasn’t seen her grandmother which causes her to lose her connection to Celia and to Cuba as well. Pilar states, â€Å" Every day Cuba fades a little more inside me, my grandmother fades a little more inside me. And there’s only imagination where our history should be† (138). Pilar blames losing her connection with Cuba and Celia on Lourdes. Pilar says â€Å"It doesn’t help that MomShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred i n the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesvery often offset by the degradation of the global environment and massive spurts in excessive mortality brought on by warfare, famine, periodic genocidal onslaughts, and worldwide epidemics. In no previous epoch of history was war so vilified and peace so consciously pursued through the establishment of international organizations and diplomatic exchanges. Despite these endeavors, the levels of domestic and international violence within human populations and the ravages visited upon animals and

What Factors Motivate Employees Free Essays

What is the most important thing that can motivate employees With the rapid development of economic globalization, efficiency and quality determine the future of a firm. The fundamental factor, which determines the fortune of a firm, is employee, because if employees perform well and work efficiently, productivity will be considerably improved and large quantities of profits will be made. The increasing number of managers has realized the fact that employees are playing vital roles in development of a firm. We will write a custom essay sample on What Factors Motivate Employees or any similar topic only for you Order Now Consequently, appropriate measures are being taken to enhance the motivation of employees. Some people believe that adequate salary is the most important thing that can motivate employees, while more people hold the different view that other factors such as equal statue, achievable goals and appreciation have more positive influences on enhancing motivation. An abundance of evidence illustrates that job satisfaction, instead of salary, is the most significant thing in motivating employees. This essay will discuss three factors that of vital importance on ensuring job satisfaction, including fulfillment of requirements, closed relationship between employees and managers as well as flexible working schedules. Different people have individual requirements, which lead to different goals of working. As soon as achieving individual working goals and requirements, employees will be satisfied with jobs, and then be motivated. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, individual requirements can be divided into five levels. These levels can be generally divided into two parts: material requirements and psychological requirements. The fulfillment of psychological needs has longstanding effects on employees than meeting material needs. Certainly, conducting proper mental compensation program is beneficial for satisfying employees’ increasing requirements in psychology. For, example, Tesco enable each worker to express suggestions on the working freely, through which not only working conditions will be improved but also employees will feel valued (The Times, 2010). In addition, opportunities of career training are necessary for achieving mental satisfaction. In order to adjust to the society which is full of challenges and competition, employees require adequate training to develop personal skills and then obtain a sense of achievement and advancement. Meanwhile, according to equity theory and expectancy theory, in order to reach the best consequence, the following two principles ought to be taken. One is that mental rewards are determined by individual performance and contributions. Employees who have high performance and tremendous contributions will earn more praise or working condition improvement than those who have poor performance and few contributions. The other principle is that rewards are achievable for the majority. Different employees differ from one another in working ability and potentiality. As a consequence, levels of goals with suitable ranks of mental compensation should be fit for individuals (Madura, 2008). Therefore, fulfillment of individual requirements can exert considerable effects on motivating employees. Some groups of people are fond of making friends. No matter which countries others come from, if they have the same interest to share with or the same topic to discuss with, they will feel close to each other. For these groups of people, relationship between managers and employees is the most important factor that affects motivation. Open-book management, in which employees are capable to play the leading role of the firm by participating in making decisions, is a successful practice of ‘relationship motivation theory ’. Before production decisions are eventually made, decision makers need to consider about almost all aspects of production, such as the cost of raw material, time arrangement, target customers and some possible problems in production process, because each decision is closely related to individual profits(Madura, 2008). Giving employees opportunities of comprehensive consideration will not only create more profits for firms, but also develop an equal relationship between managers and employees. If employees feel being paid attention to, they will be willing to spare no efforts to the firm. In addition to equality, intimated relationship is also necessary. Managers ought to care about employees’ emotional variations, which may result from family problems or mental health, and have more communication with employees, like having lunch together and offering some comfort by simple words. If employees believe that they are working with friends instead of leaders, motivation will be increased. Flexible working schedule has positive association with job motivation. According to Pink’s research, if employees complete tasks ahead of deadline and guarantee high quality, an abundance of free time will be spared for family and self-improvement (Pink, 2009). Furthermore, Hawthorne’s experiment on the relationship between break time and productivity demonstrates that regular break with appropriate length leads to sharp increase in productivity (Madura, 2008). The reason is that flexible schedule which provides employees with large amounts of free time to accompany children produce positive psychological reactions and these reactions contribute directly to motivation. Therefore, variable time arrangement is the top motivator. Some young employees claim that salary which covers daily expenses is the most critical factor that forces them to work for long time, meanwhile, the amounts of salary can directly reflect the consequence of hard working and devotion. However, these groups of people just take their own needs into account instead of considering about various requests of different people. Salary will just satisfy a small part of employees whose goals is making money. Salary, a fixed amount of money that being paid monthly or annually (MacMillan, 2007, p. 1313), is called based pay, which can stimulate employees to some degrees. However, Herzberg’s job satisfaction study demonstrates that sufficient salary can just prevent employees from dissatisfaction, which means increasing salary is not the most efficient method to obtain high satisfaction (Madura, 2008). Personal total income consists of based pay and reward pay, and the initial motivator is the later, as it has vital impacts on employees’ psychological satisfaction with present jobs (Wiley, 1997). Despite the fact that salary is a useful motivator for some groups of employees, the majority of employees will not gain high satisfaction purely through increasing salary. In conclusion, salary is not of the top motivator in contemporary society, as the vital motivating factors are diversified in various social groups. The fulfillment of physiological and psychological requirements through appropriate equal and achievable compensation program, the maintenance of close relationship between managers and employees as well as flexible working schedule, which play critical role in enhance job satisfaction, exert more significant influence on motivating employees than simply increase of salary. If all of these motivational factors work together, a promising future will be exposed to both human beings and the society. Reference: Madura, J. (2008) Introduction to Business. 4th ed. Beijing: Post Telecom Press. Macmillan English Dictionary (2007, p. 1313). Malaysia: Macmillan Publishers. Pink, D. (2009) Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation [online video] Available from: http://www. ted. com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation. html. (Accessed 25 April 2011). The Times 100 (2010) Motivation Theory in Practice at Tesco. Available from: http://www. thetimes100. co. uk/download-tesco-edition-15-full-case-study_132_396_1168 (Accessed 25 April 2011) Wiley, C. (1997) ‘What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation surveys’, International Journal of Manpower, 18(3), pp. 263-280 How to cite What Factors Motivate Employees, Papers

Is Hip-Hop Culture Harming Our Youth free essay sample

Hip-hop culture is everywhere. The culture, which encompasses rapping, decaying, break-dancing and graffiti-writing, has become so popular that it has entered mainstream fashion and modern language. It doesnt stop there. The culture permeates everything from TV commercials to toys to video games. Currently, there is even a hip-hop exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. You name it, and hip hop is there representing.However, hip hops most potent form is its rap musicembraced by urban Blacks and suburban Whites alike. It is raw self-expression that sometimes treasures profane lyrics, misogyny and violence. The music, along with rap videos that often present a disturbing mix of rap, hip-hop dance styles, fashion and language, leave many people asking: Is hip-hop culture harming our youth? . The hip-hop culture is Just like electricity, civil rights leader the Rev. AH Sheraton told JET. It can be used negatively or positively.The same electric current that lights up your house can also electrocute you. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Hip-Hop Culture Harming Our Youth? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is the misuse of hip-hop culture to attack our women and promote violence. We must encourage the proper use of hip-hop culture. We are all influenced by the hip-hop generation. Sheraton, who recently hosted a special summit on social responsibility In the hip-hop Industry, labeled gangs rappers well-paid slaves. Advertisement Dont let some record executive tell you that cursing out your mama Is In style.Anytime you perpetuate a slave mentality that desecrates women and that desecrates our race In the name of a record. I consider you a well-paid slave. Sheraton labeled the fashion of these rappersloose-fluting pants and sneakers without shoelacesprison clothes. Sheraton was Joined at the mitt by some of the Industrys superstars, Including Master P, Sean Puffy Combs, Chuck D and RAZZ. No Limit Records CEO-rapper Master P apologetically admitted that some of his lyrics might be offensive to women. Everything that came from me like that came out of Ignorance. I hope to edit myself In the future, he reportedly said during the event. However, he asserted, l dont believe any form of entertainment Is harming our youth. It Is up to parents to raise their own children and teach them. Blaming entertainment Is a scapegoat. Dry. C. Dolores Tucker, chair of the National Political Congress of Black Women, Inc. Who has been a strong critic of hip-hop culture for more than a decade, continues to cite Its reported negative Influence over our youth. The glorification of pornography, wanton disregard for civil authority, misogynistic disrespect for women and a penchant for violence are the unintended Impact of hip-hop culture on todays youth, the activist revealed. l say unintended, because hip hop was Intended to celebrate the revival of the age-old rhymed recitations of lifes problems and aspirations set to music. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, some unscrupulous elements hijacked this Influential intuit to our youth and loaded It with the evil and debasing, hate-driven messages In the lyrics we now know as gangs rap.Hence the artistry of the rappers In the streets Is used by the gangs In the suites to spread cultural garbage among our youth. Hip-hop music mogul Russell Simmons, who dubs himself the grandfather of hip hop, says the culture has been helpful In allowing others to understand Blacks being censored. It is easy to try to put a lid on what you dont like. But the real test, if you are freedom-loving people, is to protect even that which we dont like from the enshrines by the government, he explained.He points out the positive contributions from the hip-hop culture. The slam poetry settings evolved out of the hip-hop community. Some of it does not have any curse words. Young folks have found a way to express themselves that was really inspired by rap. Kids are writing. They are thinking; brilliant thoughts are coming out in this creative poetry. Concludes Simmons, The hip-hop culture will evolve in ways that will be known as a significant art. The rap artists are not the poets that they are yet to become, but they are indeed poets.