Caryl Churchill’s play Far Away and Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Com

Caryl Churchill’s play Far Away and Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Commission Caryl Churchill’s play Far Away and Jane Taylor’s Ubu and the Truth Commission are two plays that both concern violent, corrupt political systems, but each playwright goes about confronting these issues in a quite different style. Jane Taylor structures her work with an omniscient perspective that allows the audience to see the reality of what is happening at all times, while Churchill utilizes a limited perspective that leaves the audience as unaware of the truth as her characters. These approaches result in two plays that are very different in character, but at the same time, both of the works successfully create a similar uneasy, frightening atmosphere that is effective in impressing upon the audience the dangers and injustices of such violent governments Ubu, the main character of Ubu and the Truth Commission, is a corrupt dictator faced with the ramifications of the cruel and violent actions of his government. Throughout the play he grapples with truth; during the course of the action he hesitates about telling the truth about his involvement in the affairs, tries to cover up the evidence, and ultimately gives false testimony, claiming innocence. In the end his dishonesty prevails, and the truth commission fails. The political head and the military leader head of Brutus escape punishment while the army head is done away with, and Ubu himself is let off his charges. The final scene closes on Ubu, his wife, and Niles, the crocodile representing the rich white population, sailing away free directly in the face of an eye symbolizing truth. Despite the failure of truth in this play, the facts are not hidden from the audience – Taylor lea... ...hes its purpose in a different manner. Taylor’s blunt symbolism displays the truth openly to the audience in order to place emphasis on the injustice of the outcome of such government. The bitter irony and sinister characters combined with the horrifying tales of the witness puppets create a truly uneasy atmosphere that serves her purpose well. In contrast to this omniscient viewpoint, Churchill produces a world in which the truth is hidden from the audience as well as the characters. This choice puts the audience in a position of great anxiety as well and just as effectively communicates the potential dangers of such an environment. Both Caryl Churchill and Jane Taylor explore the horrors of corrupt government with dramatically different methods, but both successfully construct worlds that force the audience to deal with these issues involving truth and corruption.

Englishtasks

Task 1) Summarize briefly why Mr Ramirez came to Los Angeles and why he has to leave. â€Å"Obviously† enough Mr Ramirez came to Los Angeles in the search for a better job and life. Well job, he had a job during the war at an airplane factory making parts, and he kept this job after the war. The reason he had to leave was because he wasn’t allowed to stay there any longer, because his temporary visa was no longer valid. He was there six months too long as well, so the police came and picked him up, to send him back to Mexico. Task2)A There is a famous saying that is nothing more American than Mom and apple pie.This story’s â€Å"mom† just happens to be baking a pie. She looks at her pie and compares it to Mr Ramirez. What attitude toward Mr Ramirez does this comparison encourage? I think our writer; Ray Bradbury wanted to show that illegal immigrants also are human beings. Ray wanted to show that these illegal immigrants can have a positive influence on ot hers. I even think that Mrs O’Brien likes Mr Ramirez more than just a friend; I think she likes him even more. The way she said â€Å"I just realized, I’ll never see Mr Ramirez again† made me think that.She says in a very sad way, like if she lost something very valuable to her. In all those American movies, the moms are very happy for their pies, and they let the pie’s stand in the window frame, and then someone comes and steals it. And now, someone came and took her pie, which is Mr Ramirez. Task 2) B We are given a detailed description of what Mr Ramirez likes about his room, what he spends his money on and what he likes to do in Los Angeles. What do these details reveal to us about why Mexicans like living in the USA? These descriptions start right after â€Å"Soon after Mr Ramirez had arrived.. † just like it wasn’t possible for him to do before he came. Pleasures that are harder to achieve in countries like Mexico are more easily attai nable in USA, which is the land where your dreams come true, isn’t it? USA makes it easier for good, hard-working people to be something, and live more greatly. â€Å"Walked silent streets and seen the bright clothes in the windows and bought some of them† Is one of the things he likes to do. He likes to do it, and he does it, the recipe for success. I guess that in Mexico, these things are harder. Task 2) CMrs O’Brien has been to Mexico. What did she notice? Why do you think all the negative sides of Mexico are in the thoughts of Mrs O’Brian and not Mr Ramirez? Mrs O’Brian remembers the hot days, the endless crickets leaping and falling or lying dead and brittle like the small cigars in the shop windows. She remembers the canals taking river water out to the farms, the dirt roads, and the scorched landscape. She remembers the silent towns, the warm beer, and the hot, thick food every day. She remembers the slow, dragging horses and the parched jac k rabbits on the road.She remembers the Iron Mountains and the dusty valleys and the ocean beaches that spread hundreds of miles with no sound but the waves – no cars, no buildings. I believe that the reason Mrs O’Brien think of all the negative sides, and Mr Ramirez doesn’t is because he is used to them. These conditions, this land she came across during her visit is much more of a shock to her, than to Mr Ramirez. Task 2) D Both Mr Ramirez and Mrs O’Brian are suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of loss at his leaving. Why did the writer not just have Mr Ramirez being sad about never seeing Mrs O’Brian again?I think our writer; Ray Bradbury wanted to show that illegal immigrants are also human beings. Ray wanted to show that these illegal immigrants can have a positive influence on others. As well, I think that the whole story may last in just a couple of minutes, so the author focuses more on detailed description of the character’s story and experience to give us readers a bigger picture, if not the text could be meaningless and quite short. Task 3) A Is this a story that tries to create sympathy for illegal Mexican workers? Does it succeed? I think it tries to create sympathy for those who illegally enter the USA.It does show that Mexican workers have bad living standards where they come from, so it does create sympathy in some ways. I think it’s more that they want a change considering the rules, because those Mexican workers are people too, and they are probably just as good and hard-working as any other American. A story about Mexican workers just trying to live their life to the fullest by doing solid work, and the story confirms this and tries to open up some thoughts surrounding the theme. I think it succeeds; at least I get sympathy for them, so I guess it works. Task 3) B Can literature play a major role in bringing about social change?Is it as effective as documentary films and television programs, or non-fictional books and articles about social problems? Yes, literature can play a great role, but it’s various. A great, well know text can make a difference if it really makes an impression, but I do not think it’s the best way these days to make social problems more known. I believe a movie is the best way, because it reaches out to more people, and gets greater publicity than books. For example the new movie â€Å"The Impossible† about the Tsunami, gives very strong impressions because we can see what happens, and we know it happend in real life.Books don’t reach out to that many people. Task 6) A * How long is the Mexican-American border in miles and kilometres? The Mexican-American border total length is 1,969 miles or 3,141 km long * The 2006 Secure Fence Act says there is going to be a fence along the border. How long will the fence be in miles, and in kilometres? The 2006 Secure Fence Act goal was/is to help and secure America’s borders to decrease the amount of illegal entries, drug trafficking and security threats. A 700 miles (1,100 km) fence of physical barriers alongside the Mexico-United States border.Kilde: ( http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006 ) * Approximately how many illegals get across the border every year? Of course, it’s impossible to give an exact number, but the number is somewhere around 375,000 people every year. About 65% of these illegal immigrants come from Mexico and the other 35% come from Southern America. At least according to (http://www. strategicstudiesinstitute. army. mil/pdffiles/ksil499. pdf) * Use the internet to find out how you could legally enter the USA. Is there any way you could enter the USA to work and live there permanently?Start your search by going to the United States Embassy websites. If you are going to live permanently in the USA, you are going to have to get a green card. This means you have to become a permanent resident. The first way to qu alify for a green card is by having close family members who lives in the US. The second way of getting green card, is trough employment. Your chances for making this work increase the more skilled you are. In most cases you must show that an employer has offered you a job. The employer must also be able to show that no American was available to do the job.The last option for green card, would be through the diversity lottery. A program encouraging immigration for countries that don’t send many immigrants to the U. S. A small number of green cards will be available to people from these countries. All the qualified applicants will enter a lottery and the winners get the green card and gets allowed to move to USA. https://www. usimmigrationsupport. org/greencard. html * Use the internet to find reliable information about the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 or, in its full name, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.This act wit h a very long name was a proposition that would allow illegal immigrants to be able living and working legally in the U. S, with something called work authorization card, after paying some fines. Also, it would create temporary work programs, so workers would have to return to their homeland every two years, and stay there for a year or so before they could come back. But this act got voted down and died in the Senate after failing to get the 60 votes it needed to end debate. Kilde : http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Comprehensive_Immigration_Reform_Act_of_2007 http://immigration. about. om/od/usimmigrationhistory/f/What-S-In-The-Comprehensive-Immigration-Reform-Bill. htm http://www. nytimes. com/2011/12/09/us/illegal-border-crossings-dip-sharply. html? _r=0 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States Last raindrops Little Noah wakes up by the sound of rain thundering down on his window. He looks up, but he doesn’t move, he just stares at the window, looking at the rain. He doesn’t really think of anything special, he just observes how the rain splashes on the railings. Despite his confusion of what he should be thinking, he has a bad feeling. He knows that today is the day.He can feel it. They told him it was going to happen this week, but not sure which day. He stands up and puts his pyjamas pants on, the new one that he bought just some days ago. He stretches out like he always does, making this weird noise because he’s so sleepy. He stands in front of the window, looking out again. He has always been inspired by the rain; it makes him feel comfortable, but not today. Today it just makes him confused. Why would they want to take him? A 10 year old boy, who has done no harm towards anyone. Even though it was raining, the sun was rising in distance, hopefully making a rainbow.Maybe that would cheer him up. Anyhow, he knows that today is the day to leave this reality. Not just all the things in present time, also t he future in this place will go away for ever. The government has decided to send Noah and his dad back home, where they once lived, Kurdistan. He can hear his dad walking around downstairs. Not looking for something, just walking around. Probably confused, just like Noah. It has been 4 days since they said they would show within a week, but this had to be the day. Despite Noah’s young age, he was quite aware of what was going on.Noah’s dad has told him that the war in his native land isn’t critical anymore, even safe according to authorities, but Noah knows better. Noah remembers things from when he had to leave the country, he gets flashbacks. He remembers people screaming, and he just stood there crying. He remembers the last time he ever saw his mother and sister, before they were killed by a car-bomb. Noah was only 4 years old at the time, but the memories are stuck in him. He tries to stay positive, but he’s afraid. Afraid of leaving this safe place . Afraid of the memories that are printed in his head.Afraid that he and his dad will share the same faith as his sister and mother, losing everything again. Maybe he won’t have any place to sleep, anything to eat. He is glad he got his dad, but he misses his mother’s comforting words. He doesn’t recall much of her, but enough to know that he misses her. Noah fells a tear down his cheek, just like the ones falling down on his window. Noah’s father didn’t take the loss of his wife well either, he struggled a lot. Noah remembers how he heard his father crying late nights, and he remembers when they got the letter which said they had to go back.Noah looks out the window again, he sees people running around, hiding from the rain under their jackets. He remembers one time, long ago, when his mother, father and himself had to run across town because the rain surprisingly showed up. But Noah didn’t mind, he loved the rain. He hopes it will rain a l ot where he is going, it’s his only hope at the moment. Doorbell. Doorbell again. Every sound makes Noah’s heart beat a little faster. He looks outside again, observing the rain, sliding down synchronized with his tears. They were here, it’s time.

Media s Influence On Society - 1475 Words

Mass media has affected our view as a society on social class and what defines one’s social class. Throughout this article called â€Å"Making Class Invisible† by Gregory Mantsios, we evaluate the influence media has on our society and as Mr. Mantsios states how â€Å"media plays a key role in defining our cultural tastes, helping us locate ourselves in history, establishing our national identity, and ascertaining the range of national and social possibilities† (para. 1). Our social class determines what labor and or job title we will uphold, the quantity and quality of education and knowledge, and our well being in society along the lines of our health and safety. Media has forced the image on society of the poor and poverty as those who lack†¦show more content†¦As for those who are wealthy, they will live very differently compared to those who are living â€Å"paycheck to paycheck.† The wealthy will more than likely be able to obtain all of th eir wants and needs versus the poor who will only seek to obtain their needs because the poor are more focused on survival rather than thriving. The upper class has the ability to afford better quality items to include food, clothes, and housing, therefore increasing their standard of living. This infers that the wealthy’s average happiness is higher based on the fact that they can afford to buy these exceptional quality items and the capability to do expensive activities that the lower class people simply cannot afford to purchase or experience. Those who are privileged are believed to be superior, in which they endure authority because of their seniority. The superiority is depicted based on their social class. As seen in our society we often assume the upper class is superior based off of their advanced education and knowledge, their wealth, and success. Based on Karl Marx perspective on the conflict theory for every empowering leader there must be followers, meaning for o ur society to function and maintain order, we are compelled to cultivate sovereignty. Most of our government officials and social media celebrities are part of the upper class. The upper class’ authority within our society forces our perspective toShow MoreRelatedThe Media s Influence On Society1462 Words   |  6 PagesThe media s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that s power. Because they control the minds of the masses† (Ruddy, 2002). 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Because the majority of media outlets are owned by corporations dominated by white heterosexual men, many minorities are portrayed in waysRead MoreThe Media s Influence On Society1560 Words   |  7 Pagesare. How many times have we heard this, yet we live in a society that appears to contradict this very idea. If looks don’t matter then why do women and girls live in a society where their bodies define who they are? If looks don t matter then why is airbrushing used by the media to hide any flaws a person has? What exactly is causing this, why do we feel like we are just not beautiful the way we are? Its the media. It’s because the media promotes a certain body image as being beautiful, and it’sR ead MoreThe Media s Influence On Society1416 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"The media s the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that s power. Because they control the minds of the [people]† (Malcolm X). The message of this Malcolm X quote is that society can control the mind of the individual. This is true. For many years, society has influenced everyone worldwide both negatively and positively. That is because society has the ability to control the individual’s decisions. They can controlRead MoreThe Media s Influence On Society2776 Words   |  12 Pagessee many images in the media and they suggest what we should be like. While the media says how we should act or look, these suggestions invade people’s thoughts. The images the media portrays make it hard to break out of socially constructed stereotypes in our lives. The media reflects dominate and social values of people’s liv es. The media also portrays gender by creating stereotypes and gender roles showing how men, women, and transgenders are seen as deviant. In the media, men are portrayed to

Women s Civil Rights Of Saudi Arabia And Consultative...

Key Stakeholders: The main stakeholders who have the purview as well as ability to act upon Women s civil rights challenges in Saudi Arabia are: The king of Saudi Arabia, Consultative Council (Majlis Alshura), The Council of Senior Scholars, The National Society for Human Rights, Human Rights Advocates, The Media, Saudi Ultra-Conservatives and the Saudi women themselves. See the matrix below to get more information about it: Policy Analysis Current Situation: As the researcher mentioned above some of Saudi Arabian citizens still look down upon women and they still believe that home is the best place for women. On the contrary, Saudi government seeks the change and has taken many steps forward. One of the most important changes that influenced Saudi women in the previous decade has been the empowerment of women to participate in political process. In the recent years, Saudi human rights advocates have been advocating women s right to vote and to participate in municipal elections. Among those advocates is Saudi s Academic and human rights activist Dr.Hatoon Alfassi. Dr Alfassi confirmed to the Monte Carlo International Radio that the demands for women s participation in municipal elections as candidates and voters began to demand in 2004, is the same year that marked the beginning of the establishment of the municipal elections in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, allowing women to participate in the municipal elections is not enough to promote their rights.† (Saudi Arabia:Show MoreRelatedSaudi Women s Participation For Public Atmosphere1281 Words   |  6 Pages Saudi Women s Participation in Public Atmosphere Introduction The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most influential countries in The Middle East. It is also a key member of the Gulf Countries Cooperation, amalgamation of monarchies in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is currently ruled by King Salman Al-Saud was crowned as the King on January 23, 2015. Saudi Arabia is also the cofounder of The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which plays a significant rule in the

Capitalism And Feminism A Form Of An Economic And Social...

Capitalism is a form of an economic and social organisation characterised by the profit motive and the control of the means of production, distribution and the exchange of goods by private ownership Knox, P. and Marston, S. (2014). Capitalisation creates opportunity to build global trading relationships and financial institutions that have an impact on national and regional economies. Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that share a common goal to create change by establishing the equality of genders to ensure that women are treated fairly in the social, political and economical environments. The purpose of this essay is to establish the problems and potentials that arise from Capitalism and Feminism that have emerged as a result of globalisation and how feminism is helping to overcome issues of inequality that have emerged in the everyday living of women in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country located in South Asia it is bordered by the country of India (Figure 1.1) . The capital city of Bangladesh Is Dhaka, As of 2013 Bangladesh has a population of 162 077 360 people, of which 4,237,592 are woman. (World Bank) Feminism ensures that women are treated equally within the capitalist workforce. In developing countries there is an evident negative effect of capitalisation as seen in countries such as Bangladesh for the country has limited protections available for women in the workforce. However capitalism has increased the standard of living in BangladeshShow MoreRelatedOutline and Assess the Five Main Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology2024 Words   |  9 Pagespolitical practice or theory that is based on an interpretation of the works of Marx and Engels may be called Marxism. Under capitalism, the proletariat, the working class own only their capacity to work meaning they have the ability only to sell their own labour. According to Marx a class is defined by the relations of its members to the means of production. 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Reflective Report on Group Work Free Essays

string(244) " time at a particular place was a whole other project in itself as of course each member had other work pieces to deal with at the same time, which needed the same amount of due care and attention as the ‘Lush’ event presentation required\." Reflection on group work Project Content |Page | |Content |2 | |Introduction |3 | |The Group |3 | |My role in the Group |4 | |Difficult encountered during the group work |5 | |The Presentation |7 | |Conclusion |8 | |References |9 | Introduction When effective group management and high organisation skills are applied, group work can bring students a wide range of skills and abilities related to people and problem solving. Group work demonstrates student’s capacity to communicate effectively, share and consider opinions, establish trust, analyse the group process, resolve conflicts and also develop their creativity. However, the constructive learning and beneficial results does not always come as a result of group work. We will write a custom essay sample on Reflective Report on Group Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now For instance, if the students can not perceive the objective of the group work in order to achieve a common goal, or to lay back or believe that the work load can be relied on other members of the group making the individual work less and still get an equal grade, the educational benefits can result in frustration and arguments as well as leading the whole group to a state of stress and anxiety. This essay reflects on my own participation towards ‘Lush Project’ as a project director, also how I contributed in interpreting  and  researching  the  Lush  Brief,  as  well  as my participation with the  final  presentation. It also discusses the difficulties that emerged throughout the group work; things that went well regards to the preparation and the areas that could have been improved upon. The Group A group can be defined in various ways, for instance; Charles Handy (1993, p. 150) identified a group as â€Å"any collection of people who perceive themselves to be a group† in order to interact with one another. The group then is likely to go through a number of structures which cover forming the group, the group passing from an undeveloped concept to a mature conception then going through a â€Å"variety of stages from mutual acceptance and membership to control and organisation† (Culliname, J. , 2007, p. 628)). My group went though the ‘Tuckman’ structure which is defined as ‘forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning’. Forming – initially the group was formed of seven students from the same class. There was no deliberation as to who would be in what group. There were only seven in the class and we were given the assignment to research the company ‘Lush’ and from our findings we were to stage and run a successful and unique event on behalf of the company. In this stage, the individuals start to know the other members of the group and the group is uncertain of the prospective tasks and there are no rules for the group work leading to a lack of focus and interest. At the norming stage a clearer guideline was given, individuals had the chance to choose the roles in the group and procedures were taken from there. The group consisted of a Project Director, two Logistics Managers, an Account Director, a Finance director and two Creative Directors where all had to come across to an agreement of a name for the group ‘Essence Events’ and where each individual group member would pitch an idea to the rest of the group. At this stage emotion was shown and excitement expressed towards the work we had to do. A timetable for regular meetings was given to each individual of the group by the project director and at each meeting’s ‘minutes’ were taken by one member of the group in order to keep track of the work that had been done. Then comes the performing where the team knew each other and structure and guideline were clear and cohesive. The team now focused on a common goal of developing the ideas for the ‘Lush’ event. At the beginning of this stage, all members of the group were getting together regularly and were constructing and expanding ideas for the project as well as for the presentation. However, unfortunately the group did not stay this way for very long. Distraction and lack of interest emerged bringing the whole group down to anxiety and disagreement. I as group leader was rather unsuccessful in putting the team together and in demanding more of a serious commitment from them. At this stage, the group should have been able to have delivered a successful project in the form of a presentation. Instead, all the hard work that had been done was diverted into a lack of interest and commitment resulting in a negative consequence. The final stage is the adjourning, where ‘Essence Events’ group disbanded. The idea should be that the group dispersing should get together again and reflect on the group work and see what went well and what did not go well and what should we have done differently. In this case, each member of the group was asked to reflect on the group work on their own which might bring more benefit as an individual. My Role in the Group According to Culliname, J. (2007, p. 566), a leader â€Å"aim to influence and guide others into pursuing particular objectives or visions of the future and to stimulate them into waiting to follow†. A project director has the same principle of leader in the sense of being able to conduct tasks successfully, maintaining teamwork and have a democratic participation leadership on the project. At the outset, as the project director I felt that I would fit into the role easily and would be able to distribute different roles to each member of the group. However, I was on a steep learning curve where I would find out that as group leader not only are you expected to have your own ideas to pitch to the group, but you are expected to salvage the group when an idea goes horribly wrong and the group then turns to you for guidance and a solution of how to rectify such problems. Not only was the actual academic side of the group a shock, but the outside organisation of the group proved to be tough as well. Trying to pin down each member of the group to turn up at a particular time at a particular place was a whole other project in itself as of course each member had other work pieces to deal with at the same time, which needed the same amount of due care and attention as the ‘Lush’ event presentation required. You read "Reflective Report on Group Work" in category "Papers" When separating responsibilities and separate individual projects to each member of the group I was well aware that not only did the writing and research need to be done but we needed to go to ‘Lush’ stores themselves in order to gather further research information to then take back to the group and compile our findings together to make a firm research file from which we could then discuss and sort what was considered to be primary information and what was secondary information. What we did was with each visit to the ‘Lush’ stores we would divide up the responsibilities and each person was responsible for gathering the respective information. The branches of research were mainly creativity, marketing, pricing, PH, promotion and target market. For instance, the marketing section one observation that the group made is that the door to the shop was always open. This was so that the smell of the products would reach the public outside and therefore attract their attention and ultimately attract consumers into the store to purchase the ‘Lush’ products. When we pitched our ideas to the group, one of the group members suggested that we should run the ‘Lush’ event based on the four seasons (winter, summer, autumn and spring). Each section included the right smell of the particular season, the right colour, such as darker heavier colours for the winter seasons and brighter colours for spring and summer. We emphasised the fact that ‘Lush’ does not carry out any tests on animals and that all their products are environmentally friendly and are also all natural products. Difficult encountered during the group work As with any group or team project it is inevitable that at some point throughout the time together there will be a minor or a major hurdle. This being that either one of the group members does not agree with a particular pitch or strongly disagrees with another person’s idea(s). They may even simply not get along with another member of the group. In the ‘Lush’ situation all group members seemed to get along at the beginning, however, soon disagreement and arguments started to emerge on the event’s topic and meetings. As a general rule the ideas for the project were usually chosen by the majority vote of the group. The problems that we as a group faced were ones that we would generally expect to encounter. We as a group suffered from people not attending meetings. This could be down to lack of organisation, however, it is unlikely that this was the case as all members of the group were aware of the time, date and location of the meeting. Some members simply did not turn up and failed to let the rest of the group who had turned up know that they would not be coming. This ultimately could be said down to the group leader, however, the leader can only do so much as the leader cannot be expected to force other members to turn up. As leader I could only send messages, emails and give phone calls and state the importance of the meeting but, could not make the individual turn up. Another problem we faced was as mentioned earlier; there was a lack of interest from certain members, and this pushed its way through the group and affected others as they began to become irritated with the members of the group who, when they would turn up, not doing any work. This issue I addressed as I took the respective group members aside and both explained the situation that they were putting the group in and asked what it was in particular they were not interested in. It became apparent that it was not the idea that they were not interested in, more the fact they simply did not want to share the workload, as they would not turn up to the meetings and hence cause the other members who did turn up to take on their work that they had not done as well as their own part of the project. Being anxious of not being able to complete the project in time for the presentation a few of the group members decided to starting putting the project together even though it seemed to be a lot of work to do for just a few members of the team. Just three days before the presentation all group members seemed to be interested about the work again and a vast improvement was made and the members who previously had failed to turn up, turned up to what was supposed to be the last meeting and the work was again shared â€Å"equally† and finished . This although seemingly positive in the short term for the group project, was relatively short lived as it had come too late and there was a lot of ground to cover in order to deliver our presentation. This created the problem that there was not as much time as we had hoped for. The Presentation The last minute work reflected in our final presentation because as a result there was a distinct lack of practice for the final presentation. The problems during the actual presentation were that due to the lack of practice there was no real deliverance of each member’s part as they had not pre-read their material beforehand and in effect, the actual presentation was more of a reading practice than of the finished article. Our first main practice was about a few hours before the final presentation was due and this was where I as group leader had to explain that I had told the members that this was the situation that we would be in if we carried on the way we were going three weeks prior to the presentation date. This led to a select few of us being able to deliver our part in a professional way, however, rendering the remainder of the project unfinished. We started late as one member who was responsible for the budgeting aspect of our project had failed to complete final checks on their display and as a result during the presentation their part failed to initialise causing a major delay whilst they left and went to go and print off their part to present. Upon reflection, the above situations were somewhat out of my control as group leader as I could not force the members of the group to turn up and do their part, also being unable to reach the other members due to them not answering my messages or simply not answering phone calls left the rest of the group in a hard situation as we were unaware as to whether they were doing their part of the project. These issues as aforementioned were out of my control somewhat, however, I feel that my role as project director was not fully satisfied as I did not quite deliberate responsibilities as much as I might possibly have wanted to if given the same opportunity again. There were many ideas from the group at the outset of the project, however, there was no real development of these ideas and this may have been what caused the lack of guidance from the project leader. Also as group leader it is a challenging situation to be in as it is easy to be forceful and blunt at the beginning of the project, however, I chose perhaps too soft an approach for too long a period and this is what perhaps led to some of the group members failing to keep up to date. Upon reflection, we as a group did deliver our presentation; however, it was not as good as what we originally thought when compiling our ideas. There was a lot of potential for the group and the idea of the ‘Four Seasons’ was something that we felt as a group would enable us to succeed in our endeavours as a group. However, if I am to perform my role correctly, must shoulder the responsibility as it was up to me to have directed the ideas much more thoroughly, and if given the opportunity again, I would most definitely do so, as good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. For the final presentation, I gave the idea and it was accepted by the group that we should use a flip chart as this mirrored the fact that ‘Lush’ also used natural products. We used a lot of visual representation as we felt that this would be a much more observer friendly method of communicating our ideas across. The pictures that we used were all from magazine cut-outs. At the presentation, we did not have just one sole speaker, each member of the group spoke on their respective areas of responsibility. Myself and another member of the group gave the main introduction to the presentation and a small introduction to each speaker. Due to the lack of practice I was very anxious and tense resulting in a bad opening and followed by the other member of the group. The timing was very accurate and the presentation ended with a simple but effective conclusion followed by answering all direct questions made by the panel. In order to have delivered a better presentation the group should have had better commitment to what the original aim of the group was at the outset of the project. Critically, the leader should have relayed a better understanding of what was expected in order to complete our presentation to a high professional standard. Conclusion According to J. F. Benson (1987, p. 1) Group work in practice â€Å" refers to the conscious, disciplined, and systematic use of knowledge about the processes of collective human interaction, in order to intervene in an informed way, or promote some desired objective in a group setting. † In our group’s presentation, the idea of disciplined knowledge was what we as a group failed to achieve as we were unable to have the entire group in one place every time we arranged a time to meet. Although groups generally elect a leader, there are as always exceptions to the general rule. A group is a team, a democracy, not a dictatorship. A group needs to have its own ideas and aims, so that a high level of morale is maintained throughout the group. If there is one person who decides upon everything with no concept of what it is like to function as a team, the team will fail, due to a lack of interest and commitment. A team needs to work together, else it will fall short of what a group is all about, and a team has more than one person within it. References Benson, J. F. (1987), Working more Creatively with Groups, Routledge. Brandler, S. and Roman, P. C. (1999), Group Work: Skills and Strategies for Effective Interventions, 2sd Edition, The Haworth Press Inc. Culliname, J. (2007), Working in Organisations: A Compilation of Resources for the University of Greenwich, 2sd Edition, A Person Custom Publication. Handy, C. (1993), Understanding Organisations, Harmondsworth, Penguin Book. How to cite Reflective Report on Group Work, Essays

The Realities and Challenges of Organizational Behavior free essay sample

A complete understanding of organizational behavior requires both an understanding of human behavior and an understanding of the organizational context within which human behavior is acted out. The fact that human beings make up a vital part of any organization is no secret. Indeed, organizational behavior provides a challenge. Much has been learned, and much more remains to be learned. The future portends even more change, even more challenges, even more complexity. Behavioral study provides performance feedback and insight into why employees behave a certain way and their informal social interactions. Organizations are open systems consisting of people, technology, structure, and purpose, which interact with elements in the organization’s environment. They face innumerable challenges on several fronts in their efforts to remain competitive. The correct application of organizational behavior, besides being interesting and practical, allows managers to identify workers who are extremely productive or especially unproductive and to comprehend why such differences exist and helps managers understand the complexity within organizations, identify problems, and determine the best way to correct them. We will write a custom essay sample on The Realities and Challenges of Organizational Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For a company to be efficient, it needs to do more than just manage its assets and assign tasks to its personnel. Rather, it needs to adopt a holistic approach to organizational behavior which is humanistic. Organizational behavior has manifold implications for various managerial, organizational, and global challenges. It is the study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizational settings which focuses on motivation, leadership, teamwork, and communication. Moreover, it also encompasses contemporary issues in organizations. Managers are concerned with the quantity and quality of the work their employees are performing. They must consider personal and environmental factors to understand fully how people behave in organizations and to help them grow to be all they can be. They should learn as much as possible about psychology in order to understand their employees. Four challenges for managers are the global environment, the workplace, ethical issues at work, and technological innovation. In addition, they must continually upgrade their knowledge about all aspects of their businesses, especially the human side of the organization. Reality reflects what is going on in all types of organizations public and private, large and small, product and service-oriented. It also reflects the themes of globalization, diversity, technology, and ethics. Challenges provide opportunities for us to grow and develop both as individuals and organizations. Challenge and opportunity are watchwords in organizations during these challenging times. Managers and employees alike are challenged to positively and optimistically meet change in how work gets done, change in psychological and legal interactions between individuals and organizations, change in personnel, and change in the basis for organization. As organizational behavior deals with understanding and managing people in the workplace, it is important to note that a successful organization makes use of the various kinds of expertise it possesses in order to enhance performance and pursues goals in a changing environment by adapting its behavior according to its knowledge about itself and the world it operates in. Moreover, it is skilled at creating, acquiring, organizing, and sharing knowledge, and at applying this knowledge to create its workplace culture. In general, most successful managers have a strong combination of technical, interpersonal, conceptual, and diagnostic skills. Managers of the future need to develop special skills to deal with the turbulence of change, and one of these important skills is the ability to promote creativity in organizations. The organization is successful to the extent that it mobilizes its resources effectively in the pursuit of organizational and human goals.