Interest Groups Essays (Examples)

Interest Groups in 2012 Presidential Election

President Barak Obama was elected in 2008. This was an historic occasion in American history, given that Obama was the first African-American ever to assume the nation's highest office. His victory was also remarkable because of the overwhelmingly 'young' demographic composition of the voters who elected him. Voting turnout has been on the decline for many years in the United States, but has been particularly low amongst young voters. But Obama's younger 'base' electorate has grown increasingly disenchanted with their prospects for the future. "The so-called millennial generation, voters 18 to 30, still like President Obama more than any other age group. But just half say they approve of the job he is doing, down 24 points from when he took office" (Will a Generational Divide Define 2012 Election, 2011, PBS News Hour).

Young people have been especially hard-hit by the recession. Older workers,…

While this group does ask for donations through a donation button, donations are not emphasized and nothing is stated about a reward for donating. Located in Alexandria, Virginia, the group is very close to Washington, D.C., although they also state they have been active in Minneapolis.

Feminists for Life (http://www.feministsforlife.org/)

he premise of this organization is that members do not believe women should be forced to choose between their goals and their children. Feminists for Life advocate both feminist and pro-life topics, such as equality, father's responsibilities, and an opposition to abortion. Specifically, they focus on "the root causes that lead women to abortion" (Feminists for Life). he group offers visitors a chance to get involved through campus outreach, where the group is most prevalent. Membership, for a donation of $25, or $15 for students, allows access to the group and its publications. he group is involved mainly in campus…

Schlesinger defines a political party as a "group organized to gain control of government in the name of the group by winning election to public office" (1153). This is different to an interest group who wishes to influence public policy. A political party wants to control the government and therefore create policy. Additionally, the members of the political party are focused on winning an "election to public office" as the mechanism to getting power. The political party will present members of the party as candidates for election.

Political parties perform many functions and the most dominant will be briefly discussed. Political parties provide a mechanism through which individuals can participate in a myriad of activities that are political in nature. They bring together persons with similar concerns and ideologies to duel against others, for control of political power. This organizing of the political conflict is an important function of a…

Interest groups are generally collections of people that share the same belief that is at the heart of the interest group. For example, people who are concerned about the safety and welfare of animals may join the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) special interest group, while those who are interested in guns may join the National ifle Association (NA). The goal of the interest group is to further a specific agenda, which is related to the nature of the group. However, joining together for a mutual goal is not always enough to convince people to join interest groups. Therefore, some interest groups offer incentives to people to join them. These can be broken down into three types of incentives: solidary incentives, material incentives, and purposive incentives (Course-Notes, 2013). "Solidary incentives are the sense of pleasure, status, or companionship that arises out of meeting in small…

Interest Groups

he primary differences between economic and citizen groups exist due to their behavior, outcomes and spending. Economic groups are prevalent to spend in order for maintaining and preserving their status quo. On the other hand promoting change is a primary purpose for spending in case of citizen groups. In cases of economic groups, only few resources and devoted towards supporting initiatives and these have a low success rates in terms of promoting their support. Citizen groups on the other hand are considered to pass almost 60% of the primary initiatives they tend to support. he percent ratio for economic groups is only 22%. he initiatives of economic as well as citizen groups are both moderately considered as successful in terms of defeating the initiatives. Even though there are vast monitory resources, economic interests are severely limited in their ability towards passing new and influential laws with the help…

Money in the Bank

You deposit money in the bank. It earns interest. At the end of the year, you look at your statement, and you feel confident that you made a worthwhile investment. It's the same thing wit political investments. An interest group spends a great deal of money to publicize its views, and come election time, if its candidate wins, it has made an excellent investment. Of course, the views of a special interest group may not be the views of the majority of voters. In fact, this is quite often the case. Millions of Americans favor gun control, or support a woman's right to choose, but few of these individuals have the kinds of resources at the their disposal as say a group like the National Rifle Association or the many pro-life religious organizations. Such influence peddling poses many questions regarding the nature of American democracy. If…

Democracy is recognized by most ordinary citizens in the free world as one of the most important components of modern Western society. Indeed, many of the issues around which politics today revolves concern matters of democracy such as equality in the workplace, the right to control one's reproductive rights, the right to carry arms, and so on. All of these rights are connected to the fundamental principle of freedom, which is an important pillar of democracy in today's world. However, as Hudson (2013) rightfully notes, there are those who are opposed to basic democratic principles, not only in foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia, where women are denied many basic rights that an average American woman would take for granted, but also in the United States itself. Despite the principle of promoting democracy via the hands of interest group leaders, some have become so powerful that they are able to…

African ildlife Federation:

Function, Purpose, and Methods

hen most people think of "special interest groups," they immediately call to mind their negative connotations -- sneaky, manipulative, perhaps "buying off" politicians I order to further their shady agendas. However, in truth many special interest groups are quite useful. According to the dictionary definition, a special interest is "a person, group, or organization attempting to influence legislators or other public officials in favor of one particular interest or issue (TheFreeDictionary, 2004). Of course, whether these interests are valid and useful to the community or world at large is often up for debate. In the case of the African ildlife Federation, however, their function, purpose and methods do much to insure the continued survival of much of the wildlife and natural habitat in Africa -- arguably, for the benefit of the entire planet.

The main goal of the AF is to insure "continued…

In the U.S.A., one of the world's richest countries, a high proportion of children working in agriculture come from immigrant or ethnic minority families.

The numbers are estimates but even if they were to be accurate, the truth is horrifying. Almost, no corner of the world, from the poorest back street of Latin America to the ritziest European can claim to be immune. There are 70,000 child prostitutes in Zambia, 200,000 in Thailand and 50,000 in India.

As delegates from 122 countries gathered in Stockholm for the first world congress on the commercial sexual exploitation of children, the research they brought with them revealed the staggering scale of child sex abuse.

The commercial sexual exploitation of children has become a global multi-million dollar industry. The effects of sexual exploitation on children are profound and often permanent. Normal development is compromised; self-esteem and confidence are undermined. The vast majority of sexually…

Special Interest Groups and Politics

Interest Groups and Politics

Special interest groups are organizations whose members are organized, mobilized and share specific agendas and objectives (Dincer, 2012). They work to gain favor with politicians and legislative officials in order to influence governmental policy. Interest groups are very common in the United States (Thurber, 2010). They operate very differently from political parties that ultimately try to gain control of the government (Naoi & Krauss, 2009). They use a variety of tactics, including employing lobbyists, to push their interests.

Special interest groups tend to be an outgrowth of periods of transformation in the country (Ben-Bassat, 2011). For instance, in the 1770s special interest groups were basically independence groups who advocated fiercely for liberation from the British. In the 1830s and 1840s, there were many religious and anti-slavery interest groups such as the Quakers. The 1860s saw the rise of craft unions, with…

Political Interest Groups and Presidential Elections

ithin the United States and other democratic nations political interest groups are among "the most important institutions that define the character of the political system" (Thomas & Lynne, 3). Political interest groups are among other things a liaison between the public and government officials. Political interest groups often invest heavily in Presidential elections. hy? Ultimately political interest groups are interested in having their agenda pushed through during a given session. This means most political groups will do anything and everything necessary to get a candidate elected that sides with their interests. The electoral process as it stands now is set up to ensure a candidate is elected that will represent the interests and needs of the people. Because political interest groups represent the needs of certain groups of people within the U.S., they are an important aspect of most presidential campaigns.

The Influence Of…

As the author and activist Michael Pollan has noted: "The only way you can keep a cow alive getting this much corn [necessary to fatten the animal] would be with antibiotics. And they get large quantities of antibiotics with their feed every day. They get rumensin, which is technically an ionophore. it's a kind of antibiotic that helps with the bloat and the acidosis. And then they get tylosin, which is in the erythromycin family. And that antibiotic cuts down on the incidence of liver disease, and without that, they would all have liver disease probably" because of the effects of corn on cattle (Gross 2003). The CBA is so committed to the use of chemicals in agriculture it even promises to new members that they may receive a free bottle of Cydectin® Pour-on for joining, and if they recruit ten new members, a Swiss Army Watch (Join now, 2010,…

eporters often get important information by interviewing sources who wish to remain anonymous. Some of the information that they receive, however, is classified, and "the leaking of classified information is a federal crime, although their reporting of it ordinarily is not" (292). But there are some who say that reporters should be arrested if they refuse to reveal their sources regarding classified information. These people believe that it is crucial for the administration or law enforcement officials to speak to the person leaking the information to insure the safety of the nation. The thinking behind this is that the leak may have more information important for competent national security decisions to be made. On the other side of the argument, some are convinced that journalists should not have to reveal their sources, as this would limit the journalist's ability to expose wrongdoing. In a debate on the BBC website, one…

Washington v. Glucksberg (1997), the Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide. This ruling presented ethical challenges for the criminal justice system, especially with the high-profile trial of Jack Kevorkian, who was tried for assisting in a patient's suicide. Kevorkian was found guilty in 1999, but since then, social issues and mores have changed, and there is new discussion about what should be viewed as legal, ethical and allowed in the 21st century. For example, if a person wants to die, should he or she not have the right to commit suicide? According to the Supreme Court, there is no historical precedent for approving or condoning the purposeful taking of one's life and physicians are supposed to help save life not end it. However, if the definition of what it means to be a physician and provide care changes over time, then the case for…

The best that they can hope for is to influence a political party to get behind their cause and vote to have it adopted. Political parties on the other hand, have the power and ability to change laws and mandates by their voting clout.

eferences

Democratic Party (accessed 5-1-07)

http://www.democrats.org/a/party/history.html

Interest Groups (accessed 5-1-07)

http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0216125-00&templatename=/article/article.html

epublican Party (accessed 5-1-07)

http://www.mcgop.net/History.htm

Walker, Jack L., Jr., Mobilizing Interest Groups in America (Univ. Of Mich. Press 1991).

Scholarship notes that these five groups are critical in managing the electoral politics of the U.N., and in the manner resolutions are adopted by group. Complications arise, for instance, because the Arab world is split between Africa and Asia, and the former Soviet Republics are split between Asia and Eastern Europe, which also includes Russia. [12: Ibid.]

The importance of understanding these groupings is that they play a strategic role in controlling issues surrounding leadership, membership, responsibilities, and structure. The success or failure of a number of campaigns and issues follows the ability to find consensus with the groups, and the individual group's ability to exercise negotiation techniques to sway other blocs. Ironically, analysis of voting records over the past few decades show that despite the importance of electoral groups, 10% of written commitments between groups and 20% of oral commitments are discounted based on misleading information or intention. [13:…

Designing a Group

A Group for Individuals Concerned about School ullying Incidents

What population is the group designed to serve?

The group is ultimately designed to serve students of a school where bullying has occurred, and the entire school students, staff, and administrators. Local community members, such as physicians and health professionals would also be welcome; individuals who are professional counselors may have useful contributions. As well, it will serve the students' families, friends, and the community. Each of these individuals has something to contribute in a group dialogue about bullying, from a different perspective. The largest issue to be faced at the onset is empowering individuals, such as students, to speak frankly in the presence of not only their peers, but also in the presence of perceived authority figures.

Parental involvement is important so that the parent can assist with issues that their child may have had concerning bullying;…

Group Motivation Inventory

Motivation can be defined as the various ways used to make people or a group of people to become more interested and committed to their work. Scholars' termed motivation to be more of sociological and psychological concept as it is relying on human behavior and how they relate to one another. Group motivation is an important aspect in group dynamics since most groups purely rely on motivation to be able to work together efficiently Xiangli, Solmon, Tao, & Ping, 2011.

Motivation can be derived from various things and because of that, each and every group member derive his/her motivation from different sources, which without their, existence results in differences in attitude and contribution levels to the group's projects or tasks. In the recent group motivation assessment, we carried out, I got to discover how I view group participation and some of the issues that affect both mine…

Group Social Work: Nurturing Father's Program

The group investigated for this paper is the Nurturing Father's Program. I encountered the Nurturing Fathers Program while working for my state's child protective services division (DCFS). The NFP is an evidence-based, 13-week training course designed to teach parenting and nurturing skills to men. Each 2 1/2-hour class provides proven, effective skills for healthy family relationships and child development" (Nurturing Fathers, 2012). The goal of the program is to help men transform themselves into nurturing fathers by enabling cognitive, behavioral, and affective changes in the group participants. The NFP program has been used successfully in a wide variety of contexts, including, but not limited to schools, preschools, churches, government child-safety programs, and the military.

This particular NFP group meets at First Presbyterian Church, 270 Franklin Street, Quincy, MA on Tuesday evenings from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. There is no charge for participation, and group participants…

It is critical to remember that the jury is composed of 12 white men and that the defendant is a member of a minority. As a result, the groupthink is revealed in alarmingly prejudiced ways, with one of the jurors dismissing the defendant as a "slum kid," a sentiment that appears to be shared by many of the other jurors. It becomes clear that one of the reasons that they are willing to believe in the defendant's guilt is that he is different from them. This is an example of devindividuation. First, rather than acting as individuals, the eleven jurors are acting as a group. This causes them to lose some of their social constraints and act in ways that are considered deviant. Although racism was more acceptable during that time period, there was still some social taboo against suggesting that the defendant was guilty simply because he was Hispanic…

Group Motivation and Evaluation

Group Motivation Inventory

I work very hard in my group.

I work harder in this group than I do in most other groups.

Other members work very hard in this group.2

I am willing to spend extra time on group projects.

I try to attend all group meetings.4

Other members regularly attend group meetings.

I often lose track of time when I'm working in this group.

Group members don't seem to mind working long hours on our project.2

hen I am working with this group, I am focused on our work.

10.I look forward to working with the members of my group.2

I enjoy working with group members.

Group members enjoy working with one another.3

I am doing an excellent job in my group.

I am doing better work in this group than I have done in other groups.4

The other members are making excellent contributions…

Next, the facilitator will pose an introductory question that will stimulate brainstorming by engaging students in the "why" of their involvement in the group (Bouassida et al., 2006). Next a transitory question will lead to examination of the problem at hand, where the members of the group attempt to answer key questions including (1) what is the foundation of the problem (2) what tools are available to solve the problem (3) what are the most probable outcomes of a problem given the information provided (Bouassida, et al., 2006).

ational/Outcome

Bouassida et al. (2006) provide the rationale for this protocol, suggesting it enables group members to participate in a manner that allows greater collaboration and verification of the results. This form of focus group enables each member to participate on an equivalent basis. The outcome will result in rapid resolution of complex problems including those presented in the future to students…

GOUP LEADESHIP SKILLS refer to the ability of a leader to manage a group in a manner that ensures maximum cooperation between group members and helps each make significant contribution for the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. ecent studies in the field suggest that group leadership skills may differ from individual leadership but the essential core competencies probably remain the same. For this reason, let us first understand what leadership means and how crucial a role in plays in organizations today.

Fenton (1990) explains who a leader is: "Leaders stand out by being different. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. They seek out the truth and make decisions based on fact, not prejudice. They have a preference for innovation."

Leadership is therefore "an interactive process that influences, motivates, and elicits human potentialities in the pursuit of group goals or interests" (Sogunro, 1996, p. 31). The most damaging…

Groups, Networks, And Organizations

In daily situations and quite spontaneously, people formulate reference scales to which they attach sources and concepts or hierarchical preferences of individuals. Latitude of acceptance and latitude of rejection imply that an individual's attitude is determined by a margin in regards to either positions that individuals consider acceptable or those which are unacceptable to them. This is to say that people either accept or reject certain positions in a varying degree which depends on the source transmitting the information and what that information implies. It is considered that the more attached an individual is toward his/hers attitude, the wider the latitude of rejection becomes and the limited the latitude of acceptance is.

For example, suppose a family is struggling with their child's weight problem. Suppose as well their belief is that current food trends favor child obesity. As an issue of national concern, the latitude of…

Other than this, I would try to establish my own personal goals and objectives that are subordinated to group objectives. For example, I would try to establish very tight deadlines for the tasks assigned to me, because I work very well under pressure.

I would also try to establish a career path that I would follow in the future, determining medium term objectives for me to reach. Knowing where I want to be in my career would motivate me to achieve my full potential, and even to develop new skills and abilities that would help me advance in my career.

e. In large corporations, where there are hundreds or thousands of employees, many of them covering similar positions, it is difficult for the H department and top managers to establish a motivational system analyzing each individual in particular. As a consequence, H managers develop a motivational system that is generally…

Individuals trust that agreement speaks something relating to the fact. Complying with the group norms hence fulfils our requirement relating to mastery. When individuals privately, show their compliance since they trust group norms represent fact, the group has the impact of information. At the time when the chances are high, individuals are more inspired to take correct decisions, and hence correspond even strongly. Going away from the agreement weaken the impact of the group. Additionally, it weakens confidence, and hence we could feel perplexed, apprehensive and ambiguous. (Smith; Mackie 315-319).

Norms accord us the feelings of linkage since compliance to group principles lead to achieving a positive as well as principled social identity and getting respect from the members of the other group. Compliance as such gives rise to encountering a view of belonging, and it indicates assurance to members of other groups. A group has positive impact at the…

Group Process

Social workers deal with many different types of people in many different situations, but probably the most common interaction is with some type of group. The job of a social worker is to be an advocate for whomever the individual is working with and to find resources that the individual or group did not know existed. This work can either be difficult because the worker in question does not understand the dynamics involved in the work, or it can be made easy by focusing on the objectives of the particular assignment. When working with a group of people it is essential to remember what type of group it is, know the roles the different participants can take, and have the training required to adequately facilitate the group.

Understanding the type of group is the first step. The study guide (Maidment, 2010) lists the different types of groups that…

Group Contract Memo

COLLABORATION

Emily Eldridge's View on Collaboration

In her presentation, "Why Collaboration is an Individual Effort," Emily Eldridge is of the view that though individuals may not be naturally inclined to want to collaborate with others, they must make an individual concerted effort to learn to collaborate as collaboration is a powerful tool in our professional and academic careers. Emily uses her own experiences to explain how her views about collaboration have changed over time. When she was in elementary school, she hated working with other kidspeers. Driven by her introversive and perfectionist character, she always wanted to work alone. For her, it was faster as well as more productive and constructive. According to Emily, collaboration is not necessarily a natural ability as often assumed. Some individuals prefer working alone as they usually perceive other people to be slow, or to have nothing to contribute in a group.…

Group Dynamics and Teams
Introduction
This paper examines an experience I had in a group dynamic that did not go well. The group was tasked with a rush project and the members of the group were not prepared professionally or personally to meet the demand. The result was a complete failure, but looking back on it I can see why it failed. This paper will describe the experience, discuss it from multiple points of view, and show what could be done to turn a similar situation into a success the next time around.
Concrete Experience
We were a team of five: Paul was the group leader; Bishop was from sales; I was heading the social media team; Carlos was from product development; Dodd was from HR; and Michelle was from PR. Each of us had worked together in the past, so we were familiar with one another; however, on this…

Organizational Behavior

The relevance of understanding group behavior as well as group properties cannot be overstated. This is more so the case for those keen on becoming effective managers and/or members of various groups. Managers who happen to be familiar with group behavior within organizations are more likely to fast track the accomplishment of the various goals and objectives of their respective organizations by amongst other things using groups more effectively.

Nature of Groups and Group Behavior within Organizations

Key Definitions

A group according to Griffin and Moorhead (2011, p.240) "is two or more people who interact with one another such that each person influences and is influenced by each other person." It is however important to note that apart from this definition, several other definitions of a group have been proposed by various authors.

Types of Groups

In basic terms, groups can be divided into two. On one hand…

Triumph of Hope over Self-Interest, by David rooks. Specifically, it will identify the central point of the article and respond to the idea in some way. Americans are eternally hopeful, and much of that hope is based on increasing their wealth and moving up the rungs of the income ladder. This is why so many Americans seem to vote according to their hopes, rather than their economic realities.

THE TRIUMPH OF HOPE

The central point of this article revolves around the belief that Americans will always hope to be better off than they are, and so, they tend to identify with those who have more money, rather than those who have less. As the author notes, "Many Americans admire the rich," and he continues, "Americans resent social inequity more than income inequality" (rooks). rooks goes on to say that Americans do not see each other as rich or poor, they…

At the same time there are also many areas of contention and criticism of these groups. In order to put this debate into perspective one has to take into account that the concept of democracy is complex and that there are many views of what true democracy is and how it should function. As suggested above, the pluralist notion of democracy is different in many respects to the more formal or 'elitist' views of democracy. One's assessments of pressure groups will therefore depend to a great extent on one's concept and understanding of democracy.

On the one hand the pluralistic view that pressure groups expand involvement in the democratic process and bring important issues to the attention of both the public and the state is a view that many pundits tend to accept. But there are many other arguments against these groups; such as the view that they can in…

57). Although both teams and work groups are similar, there are some instances in which one is better suited than the other, and these issues are discussed further below.

6.

elative effectiveness of work groups compared to teams.

While some authorities suggest that team and work groups share a sufficient number of commonalities to make them indistinguishable, there are some situations in which work groups may be more effective if they are defined within certain categories (Biech, 2001). In this regard, Lewis (2001) reports that a useful definition of team is "a group of people who work together to achieve a common goal. Unless they collaborate and cooperate with each other, they cannot achieve the goal because it is too big for any one of them to accomplish individually" (p. 410). Although this general definition could well fit most work groups as well, there are some distinguishing characteristics involved. According…

group MGN42 ( 300 words section) critically analyse incident models theories levels organisational behaviour ( individual, group organisation) show understandings gained group experience draw conclusions recommendations manage future recommend manage work occurrence future.

Group Incident Analysis

The following pages focus on analyzing an incident in a company. This incident is represented by a conflict between the sales manager and the account managers in the company. The conflict is analyzed on individual level based on the hierarchy of needs model, and on organizational level based on the diversity theory.

The workplace environment and its characteristics are very important in determining employee satisfaction. The level of satisfaction of companies' employees significantly influences their performance, which affects the performance of these companies. It is important that managers understand these issues and focus on analyzing the organization behavior in their companies in order to develop workplace environment that are in accordance with employees' needs…

This should be done firstly from an outsider perspective reading accounts form other anthropologists and people who have visited their community in order to gain a knowledge of their overall philosophy from a Western perspective and the challenges as well as growth lessons that outsiders have experience.

More important, however, is reading insider reports and narratives. This include reading their core newspapers (they don't have TV, Internet or radio) and magazines. An education in Yiddish and secondarily Hebrew would be beneficial. Yiddish is their prime language; they believe it to be the only and true 'Jewish' language and even though many may grow up in America, many of their children may never know or speak English.

A knowledge of Hebrew and Yiddish would be invaluable to reading their texts and absorbing oneself in their culture.

Attending their schools, and preferably enrolling in their schools for at least a year, would…

If only one person had tried to do most of the work, it does not seem as though that person would have had the needed skills to do everything just right. When a group is made up of people who have all kinds of different skills, it is easy to see how that would be beneficial to the group. It makes everything go more quickly and smoothly, and it also brings a lot of value to the finished product that is created by the group. There is more to it than just that, however, because having an effective work group means that each person in that group was able to communicate with others properly about what he or she could contribute. By working together, it became much easier to create a group process in which everyone was able to play to their strengths.

Each group member contributed, but some were…

groups in this study are independent. Despite the fact that they were not randomly assigned to groups but were assigned based on physical sex/gender is immaterial; inclusion or exclusion in one group did not influence inclusion or exclusion in the other group in any way. As there was no matching/pairing and no influence on the inclusion/exclusion or group assignment of any participant based on the status of another participant, the groups are independent.

is the t-statistic for the Mental Health (MH) questionnaire completed by the participants. This corresponds with a p-value of 0.002. According to the Bonferroni principle, significance in this study would be indicated by a p-value of 0.0033 or lower given the alpha level of 0.05 and the fact that 15 individual measures were taken/t-tests performed (0.05/15=0.0033). As 0.002 < 0.0033, this result is significant -- the groups can be said to have a significant difference in Mental…

interest, an identification of the problem that you have selected, and an explanation of the significance of this problem for nursing practice

My research question: Among acute patients on medical surgical units does hourly rounding as opposed to only setting the bed alarm help decrease patients falls by 75%.

Falls are a major problem amongst acute patients, particularly amongst the 65+ population and can lead to so many related problems, occasionally to fatal results, that this essay considers it a crucial topic for nurses and caregivers to look into and investigate.

The fall is traumatic aside from which consequences of falling can also include post-fall anxiety, fractures, head injuries and loss of independence through falling, each of which has far wider ramifications impacting physical, social, mental, emotional, and behavioral spheres of the patient's life. The ramification of falling, therefore, for the patient has a wider and far-reaching impact that touches…

Social Work Groups

Definition of Three Types of Groups

Most of us have participated in a task group at one point, and indeed many of us participate in tasks groups on a regular basis. A task group is any group of individuals who come together (or who are brought together) to produce a particular outcome, either a particular product or a specific action. Such groups exist in every aspect of life. Such groups can be found in business, such as a group formed to assess whether a company should shift to a new software system. Such a group might do research on different types of software, interview managers at other companies to determine how well different software systems work in similar situations, and survey the staff on their needs.

Task groups also exist in the political realm. Many communities across the country have recently been hosts to such groups as…

The family clearly regarded it as important and meaningful, as reflected in the careful attention to detail expressed in the layout of the table, but not as an extraordinary, anticipated event like Passover or Christmas for Christians. The family's good dishes and napkins were used, and everyone was dressed to denote the fact that this was a formal occasion. However, the very 'best' china was not used, as it would be for a High Holy Day in Judaism. On one hand, this sense of formality combined with informality made me feel more at ease. On the other hand, I was aware that I was intruding into a private family ritual, albeit one connected to a larger cultural tradition.

My preconceived notions about the observation of the Jewish Shabbos were that it was or should be a profoundly religious experience, and one that was very different from my own observance of…

group and the nature of the study population. Both may present limitations to the researcher that will be reflective in the study design. In a quasi-experimental study, for instance, the study design lacks a fundamental component of a customary experimental design, namely randomization of the participants into study groups. Geographic limitations or the specificity of the participation qualifications may hinder the researcher from randomizing the subjects. An ex post facto study investigates possible cause-and-effect relationships by observing an existing condition and looking back into the past for valid causal factors. A certain study bias, however, is inherent in this type of study design because the variables are separated by time. Meanwhile, a correlational study compares two or more variables concurrently in detailed bivariate regression analyses. A common objective of this type of study is to determine the correlation between certain defining characteristics of the subjects and the effectiveness of some…

KAPesources Consulting Firm

Case Overview

KAPesources Consulting Firm, a Human esources consulting company, has recently made the decision to expand its operations internationally. This expansion has been identified to require twenty-five families to relocate from the domestic headquarters to offices in Spain and Hong Kong. The plan is to also hire an additional fifty employees from the local international regions to support the company's growth plan. It has been identified that the transition for the families to the overseas locations could be a critical success factor and it is commonly known that many families have trouble during an extended overseas assignment.

Not only will the new cultures require significant amounts of adaptation from the employees and their families, but the employees' new roles in the international markets will also require new skills and new perspectives. This analysis will focus on the company's task force who has been asked to make…

Group

Case Study-Group

In what way do you consider that cultural differences between the Japanese and Australians have impacted on how this trading relationship was developed?

History teaches the people on how Australia was a country made up of immigrants who were mostly from Britain. The unwanted moved to Australia and tried developing it. The low class Asians also flooded Australia and it became more of a cosmopolitan country due to the mixed race. The Australians are known for not holding on to their past (Les 2012). With the population of Japan being over three times that of Australia, more food stuff is required in Japan. Japan is known for its advanced technology which has raised the lifestyles of its people. This means they demand for better food and not genetically modified foods. Having received a consignment from America which contained genetically modified soya meant for the animals, the Japanese…

With workplace tasks becoming increasingly complex, the significance of teamwork cannot be overemphasized. Teamwork often facilitates faster and more effective execution of tasks. Nonetheless, managing a group or team of people can be a challenging endeavor in large part due to conflicts and communication issues. Indeed, conflict, misunderstanding, and miscommunication can greatly affect team success and productivity (Bateman, Snell & Konopaske, 2016). With reference to Kolb's learning model, this paper describes my own experience with a team. Following a description of the experience, I reflect on the experience, interpret the experience at a deeper level and identify ways to respond to a similar experience in the future.

Concrete Experience

At my place of work, I was recently appointed as one of the members of a team aimed at investigating the potential of a certain product the organization wanted to venture into. More specifically, the responsibility of the team was to…

China announced on Oct. 28, 2004 the first interest rate rise in nine years. In this manner, Beijing is showing its willingness to adopt additional market-oriented reforms in order to have a tighter macro-economic control on the already overheated economy. Although the news regarding the evolution of the Chinese interest rate were contradictory, it would appear that North American economists are welcoming this interest rate increase.

The Chinese economy is rapidly becoming one of the most important in the world, with an annual 8% growth-rate, constant expansion in the preceding years and a history of twenty years of economic reforms. The global economy and especially neighboring countries such Taiwan and Hong Kong are feeling the pressure of the Chinese machine. Investors have made public their fears, since April 2004, that the economy will overheat and are now expecting the austerity measures by the Government to slow the growth and provide…

Right Group

A Brochure

What is your age?

What is your race or ethnicity origin?

What is your level of education?

What is your marital status?

What is your gender?

Are you currently a student?

Where do you live?

What is your opinion when it comes to learning?

How do you keep up-to-date in regards to current events?

Are you a cat or dog person?

What is worse? War or Disease?

Tell me about your pet peeves.

Do you have any talent in the arts?

Do you prefer being alone or in groups?

Can you dance and/or sing?

Do you prefer to take lead or to follow?

Do you communicate well?

Criteria for choosing appropriate members of a group vary. However, the focus is on finding individuals that like being in groups, work well in groups, and have some degree of artistic talent and/or interest in the arts. Although leaders…

Conflict at Bimbo's

Conflict resolution is part of our daily lives whether we like it or not. From the United Nations to the street, conflict is an omnipresent event, and it takes skill, understanding and patience to resolve a conflict. According to Phillys Bottome, "There are two ways of meeting difficulties: You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them," and this is true almost always. This is especially the case in the project presented below, which is a conflict that has to do with a very usual, yet complex and interesting topic. This paper will examine this small conflict and will ponder on the lessons learned from this exercise. [1: Bottome, Phyllis. "Conflict resolution quotations." Tammy Lenski, LLC. 2011. Retrieved from .]

In the story presented in this particular exercise, the conflict arose in a bar. Essentially, according to the case study, the person narrating was the bartender…

born participator. That's why I've been involved with organized team sports since I was nine years old. My family and I were both surprised when my coaches decided to place me in a league two years higher than the one for my age group; I was playing with teenagers before I was ten. This early introduction to competition and teamwork remained with me throughout junior high and high school, for not a year has gone by that I have not been a member of a team. Basketball sparked my interest more than any other sport during my middle school years, and when I entered high school I was able to play for both junior and senior varsity teams. But even that wasn't enough; I was also the school football team's tight end. For many of my friends, it was either sports or schoolwork, and I know that some of them…

Marketing E-Reader

Segmentation Worksheet

MBA 5220 Marketing Management

Indiana Tech

Using the form below, identify the segments of the market in which you plan to market your product. You will first want to review the completed sample of this form. Complete the below form for all of the segments in your market, identifying the segments, their size, customer needs, customer behavior, and key demographics. Finally, for each segment, draft a one sentence profile of the typical customer in the given segment.

SEGMENTATION OF THE ____e-reader____ MARKET

Segment

Size

Key Customer Needs

Customer Behavior

Key Demographics

Hobby groups

Convenience, service. Good price.

Bound by common interest

Usually older -- empty nesters (50+), female more important

Students

40%

Can use to distribute materials for a class.

Buying because they need it for a course. The school can load a text + all info onto the reader for less cost than a paper…

Luke Associates is an up-and-coming service-based firm with a bright future. Like all emerging firms it is striving to find a way to ensure that its work teams are serving the organization in a functional and effective manner. "Whether in the workplace, professional sports, or your local community, team building requires a keen understanding of people, their strengths and what gets them excited to work with others. Team building requires the management of egos and their constant demands for attention and recognition -- not always warranted. Team building is both an art and a science and the leader who can consistently build high performance teams is worth their weight in gold" (Llopis 2013). Luke's strong service-based ethos speaks well of its ability to ensure that teams will be an important part of its organizational structure but teamwork is not something that happens organically and naturally, no matter how forward-thinking or…

Mona Chalabi points to several generalizations about height between men and women. It is true that men "tend to be taller than women" and that women "tend to prefer taller men." As to the breakdown of how many men are taller than their partners, in the United Kingdom, according to Chalabi's research, in 92.5% of couples the man is taller than the woman. In fact the man is an average of 5.6 inches taller than the women in heterosexual relationships according to that survey of 12,502. But it turns out the survey was biased because these couples were parents; there is no data provided for couples that do not have children in the household (Chalabi, 2014).

The research conducted in the United States shows a similar percentage of height differences between men and women in heterosexual couples: 92.2% of the couples had men taller than their spouses (that was 2009).…

Group Development in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat

The development of groups is divided into five stages. These stages are used to describe the evolutionary process of a group from its formation to its dissolution. These stages represent milestones in this process, such as establishment of leadership or authority or determination of the group's goals. The five stages, in order, are the group formation stage, the intra-group conflict stage, the group cohesion stage, the task orientation stage, and the termination stage. These stages are also identified by a series of easily remembered descriptive names that are indicative of the stage's characteristics. The respective names of the stages are Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.

Lifeboat was a movie produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1944. It is an adaptation of a John Steinbeck novel. The movie opens with a view of a sinking ship, a lifeboat with a lone woman comes into view.…

Group Dynamics

In the lifetime of an individual student in any learning institution, he is bound to work within a setting that brings him together with other students with a common goal to be achieved collectively. Group work seems inevitable in many aspects of a student's life and our group discussed herein was one of the several groups that I have found myself in the course of my academic pursuit.

The group here was out to set a vacation for the group that had been working together on several assignments and it was agreed that it was in order to end the year by having a weekend vacation together. This was interesting since it presented a unique and somehow queer situation since the group had been working together on school and academic based assignments for quite sometime, but since it has never worked on the arrangement of a vacation, it…

Group Intervention

Using Mediation to Achieve Productivity

Anyone who has ever spent time overseeing small children - or business work teams - knows that such groups can function perfectly well for long periods of time - and then collapse for no apparent reason into chaos and disfunctionality. Knowing how - and even more importantly when - to intervene in a usually highly functioning group is one of the most important skills that a consultant can bring to the group intervention process. A consultant both must understand the nature of the process in particular (and so must have what are essentially anthropological skills to allow the consultant to determine how the "natives" think) as well as a general, in some sense idealized sense of how work processes should work in the abstract. Such a knowledge of how work processes can be their most effective allows consultants to diagnose what the problem…

Group Influence:

Groups or teams in a workplace play a crucial role in promoting and enhancing the ability of an organization or company to accomplish its desired objectives. In most cases, the groups are usually structured in different ways depending on various factors such as the number of people in the team, the established objectives, and the duration for the accomplishment of these objectives. Moreover, the structure and purpose of the team is influenced by the type of organization where they are formed i.e. either profit or non-profit organizations. An example of a departmental meeting at a workplace is the marketing team meeting at The TYPO3 Universe Company. The firm provides highly flexible, customizable, and scalable products for Web Content Management. The marketing team or group meeting is vital because of the significance of this department in promoting the firm's productivity.

Observation of the Marketing Team Meeting:

As previously mentioned,…

Group Coaching Program

You must know your niche. Beginning with the business value proposition, develop a clear idea of what the business has to offer that is unique and solves a problem for the customers. Identify the target market through market research. The business value proposition is to provide means for the social workers to maintain high levels of motivation during the course of their daily work. Market research will be accomplished by conducting email surveys of members of the Association of Social Workers.

Once the social workers have completed their preparation and acquired positions, they do not have access to a professional group on a weekly or monthly basis. The work is grindingly difficult and it is extremely easy for social workers to become jaded and overwhelmed -- feeling like they are bailing out a sinking boat with a sieve.

Have a system and adapt that system for this…

Canadian Forces, small group military relationships

Within the Canadian Forces, how are small group military relationships on operational deployments in Kabul, Afghanistan?

A group is mostly defined to be two or more people interacting together so they can achieve a common specific goal. The main purpose of the group would be towards a shared and desired outcome. With this in mind, Military groupings are formed to achieve a common interest like defeating a common foe, or lobbying for a specific cause. The group will have some form of leadership structure to ensure it is not mistaken for a crowd. The leadership for military groups is formal. Military groups report to one leader, and follow the orders or instructions given by their leader. For the effectiveness of the military groups, the group members should work together. Working closely together, and for long periods, the group members will form certain bonds, and…

Working in groups can be a very contentious issue given the underlying circumstances prevailing at a particular firm. Groups offer much strength when activities are conducted in a manner that allows for a collaboration and innovation. Groups often provide varying perspective and corresponding's solutions to problems. Groups also help increase employee buy in for very contentious and often difficult corporate initiatives. Furthermore, group activities help facilitate a mutual exchange of ideas that otherwise may not have been though of through individual assignments. However, as will be indicated in this document, groups can also pose significant threats to the efficient operations of a business entity. For one, groups could be cumbersome and inexperienced. They also may create conflict rather than harmony within the work environment. In addition, cultural aspects must be considered when group activities are formulated. These aspects become even more profound in the context of a global company with…

Hispanics Groups in the United States

While many people speak of the Hispanic population, there really is not a single Hispanic population in the United States. The term Hispanic generically refers to Spanish-speakers. Therefore, there is a wide variety in the Hispanic people one may find in the United States. Therefore, this paper will examine four different Hispanic groups, Mexican-Americans, Puerto icans, Cuban Americans, and South Americans. It will do so by looking at the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious, and familial conventions of these different cultures.

When many people think of Hispanics in the United States, they think of Mexican-Americans. This is because Mexican-Americans are the largest U.S. Hispanic group; in fact, the U.S. has the second-largest population of Mexicans, second only to Mexico. Mexican-Americans tend to be Spanish speakers, though they may actually speak a variety of Native American languages, depending on where in Mexico the person originated.…

Financial and law enforcers, military and reporting of intelligence are carried out by respective agencies drawn on limited coordination efforts (Whitmore, 2002). While agencies can pull and push intelligence data, these structures lack a centralized system for collecting intelligence. This limits the ability to conduct a meta-analysis of data across inter-agencies systems. Lack of proper coordination efforts reduces the usefulness of financial intelligence thus making it difficult to link the financial intelligence with other useful information. Critics claim that financial evidence is useful in supporting a case; it does not lead to prevention of terrorism attacks (Linden, 2007).

However, a centralized system of coordination may be an effective way of exploring financial data through linking it with other useful information. This can be made useful if the agencies improve their overall understanding of the financial networks of terrorists. The new homeland security departments are signals that there are efforts for…