Psychology at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Psychology at Work - Essay Example The value of well-being programmes as an organisational investment is explored in this study. Reference is made, as an example, to the case of BGL Group. The specific firm is well established in the UK market, being involved in the provision of insurance and legal services. The firm has emphasized on the well-being of its employees so that their motivation and commitment to the organisation are secured. The review of the elements and the effects of this programme can hep to understand whether such programmes could be a good investment for organisations in the modern market. The well-being programme of BGL Group will be checked and evaluated using the concepts of work psychology as included in relevant literature, with particular reference to the work of Anna Sutton. As a theoretical framework work psychology is rather wide, being able to incorporate different themes, such as ‘psychopathology and organisational development’ (Sutton, 2014: 6-7). Various approaches have been used for describing work psychology. According to one of these views, the work psychology ‘facilitates change towards improved work and working conditions’ (Milward, 2005: 1). From another point of view, work psychology aims to provide to managers necessary information in regard to ‘the application of psychological principles to running a business’ (Hodson, 2014: 6). In any case, work psychology has to support organisational development. This fact indicates the close relationship between work psychology and organisational change (Sutton, 2014). I t should be noted that work psychology can be related to different priorities, depending on the geographical area involved: in USA the limitation of costs is of primary importance while for firms based in UK work psychology would be most related to the increase of firms’ profitability (Sutton, 2014: 10). The second approach will be

Gender and Religion in South East Asia Term Paper

Gender and Religion in South East Asia - Term Paper Example Various religious beliefs predominated over the places for centuries and the recent forms of religions like Christianity, Buddhism and Islam came to these lands. The advent of the new religions shifted the position of the females too. Earlier the position of female in these places was held high and they enjoyed a prominent role in the society. As time passed by, there witnessed change in these two aspects. The present essay plunges an anthropological study into the matter of gender and religion at the Southeast Asian regions. Throughout the ages, religions and gender of South East Asia have got some kind of significance. Both these play a vital role in the anthropological development of the places. The article, ‘Transgenderisn and Gender Pluralism in Southeast Asia since Early Modern Times’ by Michael G. Peletx takes the words of Reid (1988,146) that â€Å"in the South East Asia the history tells that women predominated in a good many ritual contexts associated with agriculture, spiritual, and other religious powers that men could not match† (Peletz, 2006, 312). The women folk had a close association with the control of the society. The transgendered individuals (male bodied but dressed in female dress) too had taken a key position in the rituals of the people. High levels of sexuality and erotic attributes were associated with such transgendered individuals.... â€Å"The lowlanders occupy the plains and valleys and cultivate wet rice; they are organized into stratified societies and states traditionally headed by divine kings† (Winzeler, 2008, p.271). Among the major lowlanders include Thai of Thailand, Lao of Laos, Khemer of Kambodia, Shan of northeastern Burma, Vietnamese of Vietnam and Burmese of Burma. Owing to the influence of India and Hindu- Buddhist traditions the lowlanders were turned to be ‘Theravada Buddhists’ (Theravada being the southern tradition, or the â€Å"smaller vehicle† of Buddhism) (Winzeler, 2008, p.271). The highlanders live at the mountains and â€Å"were traditionally organized at the village level as tribal societies rather than states, are generally egalitarian, and migrate frequently† (Winzeler, 2008, p.271). These highlanders are more influenced by China and so they stick on to their own native beliefs which usually included shamanism (Winzeler, 2008, p.271). The entry of the Western world had its effect in the land. Some of the ethnic religious beliefs gave way for Christianity. The dominance of the Christianity has paved way the change of religion in some of the places. The post colonial aspects of gender have played a crucial role in the socio political milieu of the countries which are commonly called as Southeast Asia. As most of the south eastern countries have embraced Theravada Buddhism which gave a new outlook for the women folk of the religion. The female ascetics were honored well in the society. In comparison with the female monks of the other nations like Japan, China, and India the feminine gender of the Southeast Asian countries enjoyed supremacy in their total procedures as women. The

Theory of human motivation

Theory of human motivation Abraham Maslow Abraham Maslow is considered one of the most influential psychologists of 19th century, and one of the leading authorities in humanistic psychology. Humanistic Psychology is a branch of psychology with focus on human behavior. Besides the Theory of Human Motivation work that put him in limelight, he had authored other famous work in the field of psychology. Some of his other writings are, Eupsychian Management, psychology of science and Motivation and Personality (Hoffman, 1990). In 1967 due to the influence that his work on theory of human motivation had in the field of psychology he was awarded the title Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association (Hoffman, 1990). At the height of his career Abraham Maslow served in various professional capacities. He was a senior lecturer at Brooklyn College in the faculty of psychology. He was a professor and the chairman at Brandeis University in the department of psychology for almost two decades since 1951. At the time of his death in 1970 he was a fellow at the Laughlin Institute (Hoffman, 1990). But the legacy that Abraham Maslow left behind will certainly outlive him. Today his work on Hierarchy of Needs as contained in theory of human motivation is taught worldwide in classrooms and his name is synonymous with Hierarchy of Needs. Indeed the concepts on Theory of Human Motivation and hierarchy of needs as he defined them are no longer limited to the field of psychology but are increasingly being included in many other varied disciplines. During the time that he was a lecturer at Brooklyn College Abraham Maslow ideas on human behaviors were influenced by fellow psychologist in the same college (Hoffman, 1990). But it was not until when he become the professor at Brandeis University that Abraham Maslow finally was able to draft the idea behind theory of human motivation. It was while at Brandeis University that Abraham Maslow met Kurt Goldstein. Kurt Goldstein had advanced the concept of self actualization which he had earlier published in a book called Organism (Hoffman, 1990). It is this concept that had formed the framework of theory of motivation that Abraham Maslow was researching on (Hoffman, 1990). In 1943 Theory of Human Motivation was first published in the Psychological review journal. Later he would write several other books based on the theory such as, Towards a Psychological of Being and the Further Reaches of Human Nature (Hoffman, 1990).. Abraham Maslows Theory of Motivation provided a valuable insight to human needs requirement level that had previously not been studied. More importantly his research work was on psychology field of human behavior that over the years had not generated new ideas. The Theory of Human Motivation presented a fresh approach on which human behavior was studied. The power of Maslows Theory of Human Motivation was its simplicity and relevance. Maslow used a diagram to demonstrate the various levels of human needs that was explained in his theory which he referred as hierarchy of needs (Hoffman, 1990). The result was a concise framework that outlined a persons need and importance at each stage of life. These needs are defined as, Physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization (Hoffman, 1990). Physiological needs are the first and the most important that a person requires such as food, shelter and clothes but are not limited to this. They are those needs that must be met for life to be bearable. Safety needs are those that come after physiological needs. They include such requirements such as job satisfaction, security and financial freedom. The safety needs are in two parts that which satisfy the physical and which satisfy emotional needs (Hoffman, 1990). After safety needs comes social needs which are entirely emotional. In this category a person needs are friendships, love among others, and for some reason at this level these needs are important to a person. Then esteem needs comes thereafter, they are the likes of social status, self respect, recognition, and accomplishment, this category too serves to fulfill the emotional requirements. The last level in hierarchy of need is self-actualization which comes after all the other needs have been met. In this level a person seeks to have wisdom instead of knowledge, questions the meaning of life and values such as truth and justice are central to his life. This is the highest and the last category of emotional needs (Hoffman, 1990). That is all there is to it to the theory of motivation as researched and advanced by Abraham Maslow in summary. However the impact and implications of Maslows theory of human motivation were far and wide. Today theory of Human motivations is applied in so many sectors and disciplines worldwide to influence human behavior (Deckers, 2009). Not to mention that it is now a major discipline and an area of study used by teachers to impart skills to future professionals so that they can use the same theory in order to better manage people. The beauty behind theory of human motivation is in its ability to clearly articulate the various level of human need with key specific needs at each level. This way the ability to influence behavior, through motivation for instance has been simplified to a great deal Motivational speakers use this concept to change organizational behavior in a work place. A motivational talk is a profession that has recently come up to address the challenges faced by modern day organizations. The purpose of a motivation speaker in an organization is to motivate positive behavior change among the employees. The need to motivate and positively change employee behavior has increasingly becoming an issue of interest to the organizational leaders for two important reasons. Foremost employee motivation will increase work productivity and therefore overall organization productivity, besides a motivated employee achieves job satisfaction and is likely to stay on the job for long time. This is important for the organization since it reduces the recruitment and training costs that are usually associated with high rate of employee turnover. Number two, motivation talks is important in changing the organization culture. In order to change organizational culture employee behavior must be influenced positively. Maslow theory of motivation has enabled these requirements to be met in a work place (Deckers, 2009). This is because a motivational speaker is able to use the hierarchy of needs to determine which needs are key to influencing positive behavior change. Since motivation is rooted to a person requirement change in personal needs will also result in change of motivation levels. Therefore an organization is able to achieve it needs and the need of employee at the same time. Another area that Maslows theory of human motivation is applied is in leadership management. An organizational leader needs to be able to effectively motivate employees at work place beside directing and managing the employee. Indeed employee motivation is now central to organization success and leadership roles. The need of having motivated employee at work place is one of paramount importance. In modern day organization setup employee motivation is an achievement that organization actively supports for it to remain competitive and productive. Managers are aware of this and use the Maslow theory of human motivation, indeed numerous management books has been written on motivation at workplace. The organizational motivation publications authors interpret Maslows human motivation theory in context of work place environment (Deckers, 2009). But Maslows theory for human motivation is not only limited in organizations employees motivation. In psychology the idea of human motivation has been advanced by several other psychologists using the theory as a baseline to their studies. One such study was done by Carl Rogers, a psychologist who developed a therapeutic psychological process of treating mentally disturbed persons. The ideology behind the Client-centered Therapy was borrowed from the human motivation concept (Hoffman, 1990). Treatment is enabled through a process that guides the patients to identify important personal requirement by removing mental obstacles that prevent this achievement. Hierarchy of needs is an important tool that a person can use to assess the point at which a persons life has reached. This is important in guiding an individual to the path of happiness and satisfaction since a person will be able to assess the needs that are most important at each level (Valdez, 1998). Maslows other works on field of humanistic psychology actually touches on personal happiness. In his description of Peak Experiences Maslow explains that for this to occur a person must achieve the self-actualization stage of life (Valdez, 1998). Peak Experiences refers to particular moments of time when a person experiences extraordinary sense of happiness, peace, fulfillment and satisfaction in life. For years basic needs have been defined in three levels only but now after Maslows hierarchy of needs the correct context in which a person needs occurs have finally been discovered. Other new publications and research on human motivations have improved upon the concepts on which Maslow based his publications. As years go by Maslow theory of human Motivation will continue to be widely read and adopted in a range of other new upcoming disciplines. Maslow theory of human motivations like other scientific research inventions did not escape criticism from fellow scholars. Indeed it is more likely that theory of human motivations had it limitations, as Abraham Maslow once concurred that the theory was only meant to form a framework for which other studies should be done to improve upon it (Hoffman, 1990). Among the criticism that is had been directed to this theory is its inability to explain and define hierarchy of needs for particular religious believers. They have no material wealth, no sense of security and esteem needs, or social needs yet they are able to attain the self-conceptualization level (Hoffman, 1990). Maslows theory is certainly not able to address this concern. Another criticism also directed towards the theory is one that concerned the research procedure that Maslow used to arrive at the ideology. Most scientists agree that Maslow used a proportionally small case numbers to generate the research model that he later applied to a whole race of people worldwide. Having said that for the most part Maslows theory is effective and certainly relates to most people and there are very few instances that are exceptional References Deckers, L. (2009). Motivation. Washington, DC: Lambert Deckers Publishers. Hoffman, E. (1990). The Right to be Human: a Biography of Abraham Maslow. Florida: John Wiley Sons Inc Valdez, J. (1998). Self Actualization Through Humanistic Theories. Virginia: Penguin Publishers.

College Application Essay -- Sample Application Essay

â€Å"If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability† – Henry Ford. I define myself as a student with high spirits of enthusiasm to learn and lead. I never had a satisfaction that can halt my education, since one goes keep on learning things, the need to learn more pop’s out. A person like me with high aim’s and aspirations always fetches to find a perfect platform to grab as much of knowledge as I can. In that process, I came across through a set of universities among which State University just caught my attention with its utmost emerging research and eminent faculty from across the globe. In the very beginning of my academic pursuit, I realized that I am highly interested in the aspects of theoretical learning followed by a practical application and my exposure to the real world applications; reflected in my resume at my various projects with different applications servers is evident that my thirst of knowledge is not a little tiny one. With the intervention of computer, things turned out very simple to the common public on one hand and on the other hand, it is complex to the manufacturers and providers. I started my education at my hometown and been one among the brilliant and impulsive students in my class. Graduate my tenth grade at Nehru Niketan English Medium High School in my hometown. My interest towards the computers and their mechanism’s kept on increasing with my age, that drove me opt Mathematics, physics and chemistry in my intermediate and stood one among the talented students in my batch. Then it’s time to decide on what am going to build m y career, and then my ever lasting interest on computers... ...cal Health). In the project of patient portal I worked on Microsoft SQL server 2008, using ASP. Net, C#, HTML, and Microsoft visual studio 2010. Also worked among the coding team. I got good enough skills to develop more such kind of technologies, which are really necessary, and those can satisfy the needs of consumers. My deep interest in your esteemed university is with a hope of getting the perfect platform to enhance my skills and develop the models, which improve the applications with human interface with the research-oriented techniques. State University would be the right place to quench my thirst for knowledge. Hope to see a positive reply from you all. I explained my pro’s and con’s where now it’s my turn to wait for the opportunity. â€Å" Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door† – keyle Chandler. Thank you,

A country boy Essay

Not just my family members and I, every Cambodian citizen is the victim of genocide, the act which took the lives of around two million Cambodian citizens. One can say that this is the curse that all Cambodians were to experience while the others might say that it is our sin or karma. The war ended, and my family had to start from the scratch all over again. I did not really know how hard my grandparents had to go through to raise four children, but I experienced growing up living in a one-storey flat which was the shelter of at least ten family members. Unlike the other kids, I rarely saw my parents since my father had to work far away from home, and my mother was still pursuing her Bachelor Degree in Biology. I spent most of my childhood with my grandparents. My grandmother would always tie me behind her back to the hospital where she is still working as a retired doctor while my grandfather is a retired administrative staff of the same hospital, and was a former Lon Nol’s air force. I can still remember how I envied some of my childhood friends whom I called â€Å"Rich Kids†. During my very first day at school, my classmates were showing off their new bags, yet I only had a black plastic bag to store my books and pencils. The other kids were mocking that I did not even have a bag to carry my books to school. I was a quiet kid, and I chose to remain silent. I came back home, and told my grandmother that I wanted a bag. It took her around a week or two to buy me a yellow used bag which cost around 1000 Riels or less. Though it was a used bag, I hugged my bag with joy. I was a kid from the province, and I did not have a chance to go to expensive language schools like some other kids. Due to financial constraint, my parents had to send me to the language schools nearby. I never did well in English class. I was the worst student in my English class. Luckily, my parents were better-off, and they sent me to an international school. It is the place that changed my life. From a language student who never did well in class, I have now become a teacher of English. From a student who copied the whole reading text to submit to the teacher as a writing assignment, and got zero for plagiarizing, I have now won four national writing awards. Again, March and April this year have marked another turning point of the life of this country kid. I was slapping my face to see whether it was a dream or reality. I used to be rejected by the 26th ranking university in Asia, yet I got admitted and have been given a full scholarship to do a Master Degree at the second- best university in Asia which is one among the top universities in the world, and at the same time, I was also among the citizens of five Southeast Asian nations to be offered a full scholarship to pursue a Master Degree at one of the wealthiest universities in Europe. I failed once or twice, and it does not mean that I would always fail. I believe that life is full of possibilities. Life tests us to see how patient and how determined we are. Life does not kill us, but it teaches us. With hope and commitment, I believe that a person can make positive change to his or herself and to the society. â€Å"I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars.† ― Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

Wearable Computer

Ever since the development of the ENIGMA (the first digital computer), computers have inspired our imagination. In this period came the World War II code breaking machine designed by Alan Turing, and Von Neuman’s ENIAC which can be called dinosaurs compared to present day PCs. In the earlier days, computers were so huge that it took an entire building, or at least a floor to occupy one. Computers of that era were very slow by today’s standards.In the non-ending struggle to increase computing speed, it was found out that speed of electricity might become a limiting factor in the speed of computation, and so it was a need to lessen the distance that electricity had to travel in order to increase the computing speed. This idea still holds true in modern computing. By the 1970s, computers grew fast enough to process an average user’s applications. But, they continued to occupy considerable amount of space as they were made of solid blocks of iron.The input was done b y means of punch cards, and later came the keyboard, which revolutionalized the market. In 1971 came the 4004, a computer that was finally small in size. The programmability of these systems were quite less. Still, computers had to be plugged directly in to AC outlets, and input and output done by punch cards. These computers were not built keeping users in mind. In fact, the user had to adjust himself with the computer. This was the time when wearable computer (wearcomp) was born.In the 1970s, wearcomp challenged the other PCs with its capability to run on batteries. Wearcomps were a new vision of how computing should be done. Wearable computing showed that man and machine were no more separate concepts, but rather a symbiosis. The wearcomps could become a true extension of one’s mind and body. 1. 1. Definition of â€Å"Wearable Computer† Wearable computing facilitates a new form of human-computer interaction comprising a small body-worn computer that is always on and always ready and accessible.In this regard, the new computational framework differs from that of hand held devices, laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The â€Å"always ready† capability leads to a new form of synergy between human and computer, characterized by long-term adaptation through constancy of user-interface. 1. 2. What is a Wearable Computer? A wearable computer is a computer that is engulfed into the personal space of a user, controlled by the user, and has both operational and interact ional constancy.Most notably, it is a device that is always with the user, and into which the user can always enter commands, and execute a set of such entered commands, and in which the user can do so while walking around or doing other activities. i. e. The wearcomp is a intertwined computer. Unlike wristwatches, regular eyeglasses, wearable radios, etc. the wearcomps are reconfigurable as the regular desktop PCs. Wearable computing can be defined in terms o f its three basic modes of operation and its six fundamental attributes.