Organizational Development Essay Example for Free

Organizational Development Essay John F. Kennedy was quoted as saying â€Å"Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.† The world is in a constant state of motion. No one should expect things to always stay the same. Organizations require technologies and human resources in order to operate. A business needs to operate by learning from the past and planning for the future. Since, the economic collapse of 2008, the idea that any company is ‘too big to fail’ has been thrown out the proverbial ‘business window’. Business is now practiced in a global market and technologies have made the world a smaller place. â€Å"Managers and their organizations must anticipate the future and become proactive players.† (Brown, D.R., 2011, part 1.) Consider companies like Blockbuster Video. The demise of Blockbuster proves that leadership did not look to the future. This company considered itself to be the standard. Where is Blockbuster now? Instead of being an industry leader, it is trying to regain its footing in a marketplace it once dominated. Why? Blockbuster failed to take its competitors seriously. It did not consider technology surpassing the company’s own perception of practicing business. â€Å"In 2002 (Blockbuster) had 8,000 stores and a market value of $3 billion. Today, movie-by-mail Netflix is worth nearly three times that much. And Blockbuster is broke.† (Gandell, S., 2010, paragraph 19.) Successful companies are looking to the future as they learn from the past and present. Organizations that are successful will operate without ego, effectively communicate throughout the organization, and constantly reinvent themselves. Organizations need to be in constant development in order to move forward with any success. In this paper, I intend to define the importance of organizational development as it relates to my own company’s recent sale to a new group of owners. I intend to define organizational development as it relates to organizational trust, a strong practitioner-client relationship, the imperative nature of the diagnostic phase, effective communication between ownership and employees, and the importance of strategy as it relates to a successful transfer of ownership and culture to an organization. Organizations need to know when organizational development is necessary. I am a Managing Partner in the restaurant business. I currently have about 50 employees that I am responsible for. Recently, the restaurant I am running was sold to a South African group of owners. The owners actually bought two restaurants from the local restaurant group I was working for. After studying the Charlotte market and other markets throughout this great country of ours, the South African owners decided that Charlotte, NC would give them the best opportunity to grow a restaurant chain. The owners currently have over 150 restaurants in South Africa and this is their first venture into the United States. Once the sale became final, the owners began to evaluate all the current systems and business practices of the restaurants. The new owners began to re-develop the organization by defining its existing and future organizational identity. The owners sat down with staff and management to get an understanding of what the restaurants meant to each staff member. â€Å"The identity will provide an advantage if it is well aligned with the organizational strategy and well suited to the market niche, because identities tend to be socially complex and path dependent, and therefore difficult to imitate.† (Salgado, S.R., 2003, page 65.) The owners became the practitioners of change by purchasing the restaurants. After the sale became final, it was time to develop a sense of trust from the existing staff and management. One way of gaining that trust is to value the opinions of the current members of the organization. The new owners showed that they valued staff opinion of organizational identity. This process helped to develop the fundamental need to build a positive practitioner-client relationship. The new owners need an employee landscape that is friendly, not hostile. There is no way the new organization can move forward with a negative culture. Once trust was established, the new owners were able to begin to identify issues, problems, and opportunities each restaurant was having. The five fundamental stages of organizational development are: â€Å"anticipate the need for change, develop the practitioner-client relationship, the diagnostic phase, action plans, strategies, and techniques, and self-renewal, monitor, and stabilize.† (Brown, D.R., 2011, page 18). Ownership has followed the principles of organizational change and development in a very smart way. The new owners worked on building a strong practitioner-client relationship while gathering information about the businesses. They remained very approachable and worked hard to assist with the agreed upon change lists. Ownership made everyone feel as though they were not there to change what was not broken. Employees were made to feel proud about the restaurants they worked in. By developing such a good and trusting relationship, change has come easier. Once trust was established, new ownership quickly moved to the third fundamental of organizational development, the diagnostic phase. â€Å"Organizational diagnostic models and surveys have often been demonstrated by practitioners to be very effective in supporting organizational development   programs.† (Goldstein, L. and Burke, W. (1991), Vol. 19, page 5.) Diagnostic models are designed to help organizational development practitioners to â€Å"categorize data about the organization, enhance understanding about organizational problems, interpret data systematically, (and) provide appropriate change strategies.† (Lok, P., Crawford, J., 2000, page 108.) The practitioners have been reviewing every facet of the restaurant’s business practices. Ownership is constantly evaluating the effectiveness of each system. Technologies, equipment, and managerial functions are all reviewed and measured to the new standards and goals set forth by the owners. The ownership designed a â€Å"team approach to setting and reviewing targets, real participation by subordinates in setting goals, with an emphasis on mutually agreed upon goals, mutual trust between subordinate and manager, and a real concern for personal career goals as well as for organizational goals.† (Brown, D.R., 2011, page 327.) Ownership felt that the technologies were not tied in together very well. Ownership felt that the current gathering of data was cumbersome and inaccurate. The practitioners felt that the clients needed to stream-line the ways in which data was collected. By reviewing every program and system of accounting, the new owners were able to determine that updating would be necessary in order to move the two concepts forward. Looking to future growth was not going to happen for the organization until both concepts were able to produce accurate information about the actual business. Ownership also determined that it wanted its managers out in the restaurant more. There was simply too much to do in the office while running the restaurants. The practitioners asked current upper management to clearly define the responsibilities of each manager and chef position. At this point, the culture of the new organization had begun to take shape. Clearly defined roles and a change in managerial philosophies have started to grow. I have witnessed what I believe is a very successful transformation of culture. Responsibilities are clearly communicated. Accountability has improved. By creating clearly defined roles, the effectiveness of each manager is much easier to measure. At times, however, communication has been inconsistent. The massive restructuring of all current systems has taken a toll on some people in the organization. Missed deadlines and unforeseen problems have occurred. The way in which the new ownership has responded to the unforeseen issues has been impressive. I feel that new ownership has shown an unwavering amount of dedication to the new organizational vision it has set in place. Considering the amount of change, the owners have been very clear and approachable throughout the transformation. I respect and support their efforts in remaining approachable and supportive. They exude an understanding of what each existing member or employee is going through.   Ownership has been very aware of the ego state of the organization. â€Å"Every interaction between people involves a transaction between their ego states. When one person converses with a second person, the first person is in a distinct ego state and can direct the message to an y of the three ego states in the second individual.† (Brown, D.R., 2011, page 230.) Ownership has made every effort to have open and complementary transactions with groups and individuals throughout the organization. At the same time, they have also shown that the organization will move forward with or without its current members. Holding people accountable has been extremely important. â€Å"In todays changing environment, organizations that encourage individual ability and hold employees accountable for achieving goals are more likely to succeed.† (Brown, D.R., 2011, page 381.) The practitioners have been able to accentuate individual strengths and weaknesses within its existing employee body. This approach has brought on a spirit of contribution to the cause of the new vision presented to the ‘old guards’ of the organization. This is a very clever approach to affecting change. Also, the new leaders of the organization have discovered some hidden talents within its current team-members. Finding an existing and in-place pool of needed skills has helped the new leaders keep an aggressive time-line for the development of change. New owners did not have to look completely outside the organization for skills that will enable change. Instead, new owners were able to motivate change by looking for solutions internally. Looking for hidden talents helped to reaffirm the positive culture of opportunity and renewed perceptions of the employee skillset. An internal approach to solving or rectifying identified issues has also kept the cost of change down. Existing members already have a sense of where the shared vision of the company is going. Existing staff has a greater stake in the organization’s success. Because of shareholder accountability, ownership is smart to look internally for as many talents as possible. Ownership believed by stream-lining technologies and accounting systems, it could improve the quality of the guest experience and profitability of its organization. Ownership started this process by surveying all existing management to try and determine what each manager actually knew about the existing programs and technologies. A methodical and measured approach to re-designing office systems will enable the organization to become more consistent in gathering data and measuring the performance of both restaurants. Their  vision of the future of the organization has been effectively shared with everyone involved . The deadlines for improvements have been followed-up effectively. A weekly meeting between ownership and upper management takes place. In these meetings, organizational effectiveness is measured by how well goals and objectives are accomplished. At first, goals were very broad and basic. Managers were asked to evaluate their knowledge of existing point of sale programs, invoicing programs, and budgetary knowledge. Once ownership felt it had acquired enough knowledge about existing systems, the project or ‘goal’ chart was updated and tasks became more narrow and specialized in focus. Managers were held accountable to their goals based on their strengths or expertise. For example, one manager is very adept with computers. This has become his area of focus for the remainder of the re-development of the organization. â€Å"The collection of data is an important activity providing the organization and the practitioner with a better understanding of client system problems: the diagnosis.† (Brown, D.R., 2011, page 19.) Ownership has been very diligent about data accuracy. Every number and system has been reviewed for accuracy and consistency. In order for the company to move forward, ownership has to determine what is and what is not vital to the new organizational vision. Ownership has already picked two new sites for additional restaurants. It is important that both restaurants operate in the same way as the business grows. This is why organizational effectiveness has to be optimized and not hap-hazard. â€Å"Organizational practitioners need to assess the influence of variables in diagnostic models on organizational outcomes, and effectiveness has often been used as the primary outcome measurement. (Handy, 1985, p. 85; Burke and Litwin, 1992). The new owners have done an excellent job moving the new organization through a surprising change of ownership. I have enjoyed watching how these new owners have handled the organizational development of the restaurant. Organizational change and development is certainly not easy. Leadership from the owners to the managers has to stay on course with the changes. Total commitment and a positive attitude are necessary. Negativity spreads like wildfire when redeveloping an organization. The owners have worked hard to cope and shape their environments, through the way they organize and operate their organization. The history of organizational development has to be an interesting one. As I watch these new owners re-tool both establishments, I wonder if they are taking the same course in organizational development that I am. The owners have to pass forward their beliefs or values as to what the restaurants should be. Things that worked before might be tossed. New things are   introduced. The style of service and the menu, the technology, are all things the owners have to push forward to current and new employees. All the while, business is ongoing. The doors are open. Customers are hearing of the sale and are passionate about the changes. Some changes are subtle. Some changes are extreme. How does the ownership remain familiar to what the concept once was? The entire process is exhausting. The public’s resistance to change is fierce at times. One very popular item on the menu was discontinued when the new menu was rolled out. Granted, the menu had not changed in four years. Servers and cooks were tired of doing the same thing every day. The item that was discontinued was actually a very bland and tasteless item. Servers and cooks hated selling it. There was excitement and concern when the new ownership wanted to get rid of it. We all knew we were in for it when the new menu came out. Sure enough, customers have missed not having this item on the menu. Customers have been very vocal about this one item. Ownership feels that quality ingredients, perfect preparation, and impeccable service will build sales. There is a determination that the new regime can move past this one dish and convince the fickle public that there are a lot of other good reasons to dine at our restaurants. We are doing more than trying to keep our existing clientele. We are building a new clientele. Whatever perceptions the public had of us before does not matter. It is interesting to hear the complaints about some of our changes. All the while, most of the same staff works at the restaurant. The only real changes the public see are dress codes and menu changes. Otherwise, most change is behind the scenes. Because of the intense scrutiny mistakes in service or execution of the shift has to be perfect. We cannot afford to be less than perfect right now. Complacency has no place in the restaurant business. To be successful, we should always be looking ahead and learning from our past mistakes. We should always challenge ourselves to be better than we were yesterday. We are always training and learning. Managers should be acting as coaches and mentors to the staff. Management at all levels should not only ‘talk the talk’, they should ‘walk the walk’. However, the complaints are not always fair. The new menu is terrific. Quality and service are actually better than ever. The new owners spent a lot of money to help update and fix equipment that was vital to running the restaurant. Ownership has brought in more management and has improved the morale of the restaurant, not to mention the quality of life for all salaried people like myself. There has been a certain camaraderie resulting from moving toward common goals with other people. There is now a belief that we are a better place today because of our efforts. The best interventions from a   values point of view are those that help clients prepare their place in the future, whether its creation or adaptation. I am sure as we move forward that we will come in to our own again. The once faithful group of regulars will either go their own way or forgive us. Organizational development is a change strategy. â€Å"OD principles and techniques are experiencing a renaissance, thanks to the growth of the field of change management.† (Worren, N.A.M., Ruddle, K., Moore, K.,1999, paragraph 3.) Organizational development requires a change in behaviors. These behaviors, good or bad, become the organizational culture. The organizational beliefs and values start at the top of the food chain, the owners. What is important to the owner should be important to the worker in that organization. It is imperative that the owner or any organization find a way to keep his people motivated and passionate about his organization’s products. Therefore, the leadership of any organization has to ‘connect’ to develop change and organizational success. Leadership has to be viewed as the change master. An organization that wants to remain vital, must be able to deal with change. A restaurant is an excellent example of a business in a constant state of change. For some restaurants the menu can stay the same. Maybe that is what people like about the place. However, what goes on outside the restaurant can cause a need for change inside the restaurant. Roads are closed, the economy is shrinking, parking is now too difficult to bother, these are all worrisome real-life issues that any organization or restaurant might have to deal with. The restaurant cannot afford to maintain the status quo, change is simply that critical. Kurt Lewin developed the concept of force-field analysis. This philosophy is â€Å"deceptively simple and can be used to help plan and manage organizational change.† (Cumming, T.G., Huse, E.R. 1989, page 3.) Lewin believed that an organizational behavior was affected by the balance of two opposing forces. When these opposing forces are at odds, change happens. According to Lewin, there are driving forces and restraining forces. Driving forces affect and assist in the desired change. Restraining forces do quite the opposite. Restraining forces represent obstacles to the change. â€Å"If the weights of the driving and restraining forces are relatively equal, then the organization will remain static.†(Cumming, T.G., Huse, E.R. 1989, page 3.) Ownership has to remain aware of the balance of power these two forces represent for the organization. Change has to appear to always be for the good of the whole organization. People are wary of change and must be made to feel a part of its success in order to help embrace the new mindset. Lewin’s force-field analysis works as a method of environmental scanning and as a way for creating an empowering environment to the culture of the organization. The new owners have done an excellent job moving the organization forward. The efforts made to gather data and technical knowledge have been diligent. The new owners have moved forward by doing their homework. After reviewing all the necessary information, ownership has been able to assimilate all the necessary funds, materials, staff and time. As the organizational development process has moved forward, it has become obvious that the owners plan on giving their newly acquired business the tools it needs to accomplish the shared vision. This, of course, has led to the owners’ final phase of organizational development, the support of their people. At first, ownership had to tread lightly. In the beginning, it was as if the new owners wrapped their arms around us all and said â€Å"everything will be alright, just stick with us.† As the new team moved forward, some upper management was asked to leave. Time has been a good indicator of the ownerships’ dedication to the new vision and culture of the organization. Their efforts have been unwavering and very consistent. In this paper, I have detailed the importance of organizational development as it relates to my own company’s recent sale to a new group of owners. The process of organizational development has been fascinating to watch. Although the constant evaluation of all systems and actions throughout the organization has been exhausting, I believe ownership has succeeded in redeveloping a once tired and inefficient culture. Employees and managers have felt a greater sense of purpose towards the new organization. New ownership has successfully relayed a positive sense of urgency and purpose towards its existing staff and team members. The revamping of the organizational culture has brought forth a better quality employee and better quality experience for the organization’s customers. The organizational development techniques applied by the new ownership has helped to improve the profitability of both restaurants. New ownership had once touted that two additional restaurants would be opening within twelve months. Because of the success in developing organizational change, new ownership has now determined a new restaurant can be opened in only six months instead of twelve. This fast organizational growth is to be celebrated because it is a direct result of the diligent efforts of ownership and all staff involved after the transfer of ownership became official. Trust, a positive practitioner-client relationship, a successful diagnostic evaluation and change, effective communication between ownership and employees, and the importance of strategy has allowed this organization to become stronger and advance its number of concepts. In short, growth happens if organizational development is applied effectively. References: Brown, D.R., (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organizational Development (8th ed). Upper Saddle River Pearson Prentice Hall. Retrieved from: http://onlinevitalsource.com/#books/9780558857257/pages/31616081. Cumming, T.G., Huse, E.F. (1989), Organizational Development and Change (4th ed.) St Paul, MN: West Publishing. Retrieved from: http://jeritt.msu.edu/documents/TallmanWithoutAttachment.pc. Gandell, S., 2010, How Blockbuster Failed at Failing, Time Magazine. Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/magazine/article/0,9171,2022624-2,00.html. Goldstein, L. and Burke, W. (1991), Creating successful organizational change, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 19, page 5-17. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/215864273?accountid=32521 Handy, C. (1985), Understanding Organizations, Penguin, London. Retreived from: http://search.proquest.com/business/docview/215864273/13901F6FOC3249E4570/1?accountid=32521 Lok, P., Crawford, J., (2000). The application of a diagnostic model and sur veys in organizational development. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 15(2), 108-124. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/215864273?accountid=32521.) Salgado, S.R. (2003), Fine Restaurants: Creating inimitable advantages in a competitive industry. New York University, Graduate School of Business Administration). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 161 p. retrieved from: http://www.search.proquest.com/docview/305261479?accountid=32521305261479. Worren, N.A.M., Ruddle, K., Moore, K. (1999.) From organizational development to change management: the emergence of a new profession. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 35(3), 273-286. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236248857?accountid=32521.

Critical thinking skills

Critical thinking skills According to Loving and Wilson (2000), its challenging task to making sure the students have the critical thinking skills. To Novak, learning requires 5 components which are the teacher, learner, knowledge, evaluation and context to present. Novak also mentioned that students should be guided by a good teacher through actual learning and not just by just memorizing it. A concept map is taught to the students in order to improve their cognitive skills related to critical thinking skills which are useful in various fields. The concepts map is able to improve the students performance in the subjects requiring critical thinking skills (Daley et al, 1999). Hence, Ausubels (1968) assimilation theory is used together with Novaks (1998) concept map in order to promote critical thinking skills among the students because the characteristics of critical thinking such as analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation and self regulation are involved in the concept development. (Vacek, 2009) 5 steps of learning process such as concept formation, subsumption, progressive differentiation, integrative reconciliation and conlidation are described in the Ausubel assimilation theory. These steps are combined to make complicated critical thinking process so much easier through the building of a concept map (Novak, 1998). The formation of concept is divided into the primary concept and secondary concept. According to Ausubel (1968), the young children begin to recognize and label something that is regular using the language symbols and the concept formation is first occurring in them. Through observation, the young children shaped their intellectual activity and this makes up the primary concept which the example of primary concept include chair, table and cat (Novak 1998). The secondary concept is when upon having recognized much regularity, their cognitive structures are built, and many new concepts without any visible objects are taken by the children through children. The examples are love, anger and sadness. According to Novak (1998), the learning process of adults constructing the new concepts is similar with the process learnt by a child to create meaning for words. The formation of concept is also similar with interpretation of critical thinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Ausubel (1968), the integration of the newly acquired knowledge with the previous knowledge is what known as the subsumption, a phase of learning process and meaningful learning. New content and old knowledge are linked together and this forms the assimilation theory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In progressive differentiation, Ausubel (1998) stated that the natural sequence in which human beings cognitively organize and store knowledge is hierarchal from general to specific. It is rarely used in the education which causes many students to memorize the information than having a meaningful learning process. Human mind works by taking the whole with the assimilated parts than the vice versa process. Ausubel (1998) also mention that it can be achieved by arranging the information in a hierarchal series which its from the general to the details parts in a descending manner by having subset points branching from the main points.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Integrated reconciliation is a form of analysis which it will occur when a person understands a given concept which is different but also similar to another concept. Misconceptions will happens when integrated reconciliation is not done. Newly acquired ideas are integrated and related with the previously learned subjects. With integrated reconciliation, students will know how to interconnect his new learning and old learning through making full use of the previous learnt knowledge to support the new knowledge.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ausubel (1968) mentioned that consolidation is done through correction and clarification and it is important to master one lesson before learning the next lesson as learning might be interrupted if a student did not master the current lesson. Its a part of critical thinking as consolidation will create opportunity for the student to self-regulate their lesson.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The combination of Ausubels theory of assimilation and Novaks concept maps is used to promote and master the critical thinking skills. According to Novak(1998), a concept is defined as a perceived regularity in events or objects, or records of events or objected designated by label. A concept map can help people to decode, interpret and categorize the problems. A concept map is started by identifying and addresses the problems on maps and later presenting it from the general into more specific concepts in a descending hierarchal manner with cross-links that portrays a connection of knowledge. Barriers to Critical Thinking The integration of critical thinking skills to education are often hindered by barriers or obstacles. These barriers are lack of training, lack of information, preconceptions and time constraints. According to Broadbear(2003), the lack of training among the teachers in critical thinking methodology cause the poor the critical thinking skills among the students. The teachers dont know how to teach critical thinking skills although they have received the training methods and knowing the contents of the critical thinking skills. Next, Scriven and Paul (2007) mention that the lack of additional critical thinking resources in the instructional materials as only a few instructional materials provide it. Although, certain textbooks provide chapter-based critical thinking discussion questions but however it lacks additional information. Often, preconceptions such as personal bias about the instructional materials often inhibit and blocks the ability of the teachers and students to think critically as one of the characteristics of critical thinking skills is analytical skills which is being fair, open-minded and inclined to ask questions regarding the topics. (Kang Howren, 2004). Lastly, instructors have to cover a wide content within a short time period and hence, shortcuts are taken by these instructors in order to finish the syllabus. Lectures, tips or objective tests are given to the students instead of testing their analytical abilities through problem based questions. The instructors tend to focus on the content rather giving opportunities to the students to solve questions. Objective tests are given to the students as it is faster to grade than short answer questions and according to the research done, objective tests and lecturing are not the best assessment and instruction methods (Broadbear, 2003; Brodie Irving 2007). Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are 6 stages in the critical thinking development. The stages start with the unreflective thinker stage followed by the challenged thinker, the beginning thinker, the practicing thinker, the advanced thinker and lastly, the master thinker stage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first stage, the unreflective thinker stage, which the thinker lacks the awareness regarding their thinking are affecting their lives and they dont know how to apply their knowledge and regularly practice in their daily lives. Clarify, accuracy, logic, or relevance are part of the standards for the assessment of thinking of which the thinkers in this stage are unaware of. Their thinking skills may have developed but they might not realize it. Besides, problems such as prejudices and misconceptions might occur in their lives due to lack of self-monitoring thoughts. Next, graduates graduating from secondary school or college can be still in the first stage and they lack the skills to assess or improve their thinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second stage, the challenged thinker, is defined when the thinkers realized and aware that thinking is part of their lives and also problems arises due to poor thinking. They are aware that their thinking has problems but unaware in identifying the problems are. Standards for the assessment and also awareness of thinking as involving concepts, assumptions and inferences are what the thinkers in this stage are becoming aware of although their understanding might be limited. The inconsistency of applying their thinking skills are making the thinkers believed that their thinking is better than it actually is. The beginning thinker which is the third stage is when the thinkers realized the basic problems in their thinking and begin to find ways to understand and improve their thinking through modification of some of their thinking but might have lack the systematic plans and limited understanding of deeper levels of problems. In this stage, the thinkers have enough skills to self regulate their thoughts and able to accept the critique of their powers of thought. Next, they begin to realize the needs of internalizing and using the standards for the assessment of thinking and also the role of thinking in their daily life. The fourth stage is the practicing thinker which the thinker recognize the needs to address the problems existed the in their thinking through a systematic practice in thinking regularly and internalize them into habits. However, they lack the understanding of the deeper levels of understanding which leads to deeper levels of problems embedded in the thinking. They becoming more knowledgeable and regularly monitor the role in their thinking and also assessing their standards for the assessment of thinking. The key trait in this stage is intellectual perseverance which will become a driving force developing a realistic plan for systematic practice. Stage five or the advanced thinker is when the thinkers are into problems at deeper levels of thought such as egocentric and sociocentric and also actively analyzing their thinking. They are able to systematically monitor the role in their thinking and regularly assess their standards of assessment. Next, the advanced thinkers are able to develop new habits of thought through the deep and systematic internalization of critical thinking. Besides, they are able to figure the strengths and weaknesses of their own thinking and systematic plans and will try to keep improving the plan. The last stage or the master thinker stage, the thinkers are to take charge of their thinking, self monitoring, and continue to improve their own set of thinking. They are highly conscious and intuitive regarding of their own critical thinking skills through many experiences and practices. They are fairly minded and have developed new insights into problems at deeper levels of thought. To summarize, master thinkers are able to critique, consistently monitor, improving, think through complex issues with good judgment and perform effectively in everything in their lives. Critical Thinking Cognitive Skills   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Facione (1990), both cognitive skills and the disposition dimension are required for a good critical thinking. For critical thinking, cognitive skills such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation are the six 6 core skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Facione (1990) mentioned that the panels of experts defined interpretation as to comprehend and express the meaning or significance of a wide variety of experiences, situations, data, events, judgments, conventions, beliefs, rules, procedures, or criteria. Below the interpretation are the sub-skills of categorization, decoding significance, and clarifying meaning. In categorization, it is to sort and sub-classifying information in order to understand or describe events or situations. Describing intentions, purposes and motives of a persons facial expressions, language, signs or graphs and tables are what sub-skill of decoding significance about. Lastly, clarifying meaning is about to paraphrase or finding example which helps to explain something to other person while the meaning remains the same as intended.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Analysis is defined as to identify the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions, or other forms of representation intended to express belief, judgment, experiences, reasons, information, or opinions.. The sub-skills of analysis are examining ideas, detecting arguments, and analyzing arguments. Examining ideas are about defining terms, to compare ideas or statements, and also to identify problems or issues. In detecting arguments, its to determine the claims or against a given opinion based on given paragraphs, statements or descriptions. In analyzing arguments, its about finding the main resources, background and the sub-points of the main conclusion based on given reasons intended to support some claim.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The panels of experts in Delphi study defined the evaluation as the to assess the credibility of statements or other representations which are accounts or descriptions of a persons perception, experience, situation, judgment, belief, or opinion; and to assess the logical strength of the actual or intended inferential relationships among statements, descriptions, questions or other forms of representation. The sub-skills of evaluation are assessing claims and assessing arguments. The recognizing of factor which makes a person as credible witness or to determine given claim is whether true or false are what sub-skill assessing claims are about. In assessing arguments, its about judging between two contradict statements and also judge whether the conclusion drawn have the evidence back-up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inference is defined as to identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions; to form conjectures and hypotheses; to consider relevant information and to reduce the consequences flowing from data, statements, principles, evidence, judgments, beliefs, opinions, concepts, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation. The sub-skills of inference are querying evidence, conjecturing alternatives and drawing conclusions. In querying evidence, the information related to theory, questions, and issues is judged before it is decided. Next, multiple alternatives are create to solve a given question with a range of possible consequences, decisions and policies in the sub skill of conjecturing alternatives. Lastly, various opinions, evidences, relevant information together with ones own opinion are required before making a final conclusion for a given problem for the sub-skill of drawing conclusion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The last 2 core skills can enable people to think, explain their thinking and apply the critical thinking skills in their thinking thus improving themselves. In explanation, it is defined as to state and to justify that reasoning in terms of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, and contextual considerations upon which ones results were based; and to present ones reasoning in the form of cogent arguments. The sub-skills of explanation include stating results, justifying procedures and presenting arguments. Stating results sub-skill requires a person to analyze results of which he had produced accurate statement through reasoning and state ones research findings. In justifying procedures, a person shall record, evaluate, or justify his or her processes of solving problems based on other sub-skills and by presenting the evidences and also methodological. For example, it is used to show the steps in solving mathematical problems. La stly, to give reasons for accepting some claims is what sub-skill presenting argument about.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lastly, self-regulation is defined as self-consciously to monitor ones cognitive activities, the elements used in those activities, and the results educed, particularly by applying skills in analysis, and evaluation to ones own inferential judgments with a view toward questioning, confirming, validating, or correcting either ones reasoning or ones results. The sub-skills are self-examination and self-correction. In self-examination, it is based on ones motivation, reflections, values, reasoning or attitudes to verify results produced and correcting the cognitive skills involved. In self-correction, its to create steps to corrects the problems that are arises when self-examination reveals errors. Learning Theory Behaviorism Behaviorism is when the a person is a passive learner, which the teachers mere fill the empty minds of the students with knowledge for the sake of getting better results in the examination. Its based on principle of stimulus-response which the behavior is caused by the external or environmental stimuli. The learners are extrinsically motivated by the teacher and absorb knowledge only. Correct behavior will be reinforced by the teacher through a system of rewarding and incorrect behavior by the students will be punished by the teacher. The learner is an empty vessel and the behavior is shaped through positive or negative reinforcement. Thorndike (1911)s theory of law of exercise showed that a learners behaviors and thinking can be influenced through responses from a teacher. The thinking opportunities are limited as implicit thinking is through passive process as knowledge is obtained to exposure only. Constructivism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In constructivism, the learners are an active learner, which they keen on experimenting with materials, objects and ideas in order to understand new information and often, they enjoy group work. The learners can develop their own personalized understandings of how world revolved around them by constructing their own knowledge and understanding. New knowledge which is obtained by learners is checked against existing self-existing knowledge. Disequilibrium might occur as newly obtained knowledge might conflict with existing beliefs and new knowledge have to be assimilated into the new knowledge. The teacher can support the development of the thinking in the learners by giving challenging problems and this enables the learners to have cognitive processing. There are 4 stages of cognitive development according to Piagets theory. First stage, sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 year old), the infant is able to differentiate between self from other objects and ab le to understand how things by interacting with the environment. Assimilation and accommodation helps learning to take place. Next stage, between ages 2 to 4, preoperational stage, objects are represented through images and words as the child is able to learn to use language and also be classified in simple ways through the distinct features. The child is unable to think abstractly and needs concrete situations. Examples of abstract and concrete are justice and court. Third stage, the child is between age 7 to 11, a concrete operations stage, the child is able to think logically about objects because the child to think abstractly and conceptualize and also, the modified schemata due the object cannot be assimilated is increased due to accumulation of physical experience. The last stage, the formal operations stage, ages 11 to 15, the person is able to make deductive and hypothetical reasoning as his or her cognitive ability reaches the final stage and thus, the thinking is also simi lar to an adult in this stage. The implications of thinking are implicit thinking through assumed process and thinking outcomes by task resolution. Social Constructivism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Social constructivism is based on the Vygostkian ideas which social interaction is important for the development of thinking and cognitive as well. In Vygostkian idea, the main concepts are the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). MKO is defined as a person who is more knowledgeable, better understanding, higher ability than learner regarding to a task, process and concept. The MKO can be anyone from teacher, coach, peers, younger person or computers. ZPD is defined by Vygostky (1986) as the the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. An appropriate assistance or scaffolding which is given to learner for particular task will help the learner to achieve the task faster and once the learner mastered the task, the scaffolding can be removed as the learner is able to complete the task on his or her own. Language is important as its an important tool to put the inner thoughts and thinking into words. Vygostky also stressed that social interaction is important than development. Its a dynamic process between teachers and learners as teacher helps to meditate, scaffold and supports thinking. The thinking is explicit as the learner is actively sharing the cognitive and collective contribution to solve problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brain aspects that promote critical thinking are divided into 5 types which are the unique brain, the problem solving brain, the maturing brain, the adaptive brain and the emotional brain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Factors that affect the uniqueness that is different in every human being are gender, exposure to abuse, specific disorders, culture and exposure to drugs, toxins or trauma. For example, a person with head trauma might have difficulty in learning compared to a person with a healthier brain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the problem solving brain, a person is not born with ability to solve skills as problem solving requires many skills and these skills have to be learnt by the brain. The brain will change every time a person learns a skill by reorganizing the brain mass, cortical organization and interregional connectivity. Next, new synapses are created whenever there is a new learning which has a challenging task. In addition, repetition is the key for learning new skills in the brain. The process of learning a skill should work from particular sub-skill, generalizing sub-skill and lastly to real-life experiences. Theres should be a limit of interval for the training of new thinking skills. Besides, the production of new cells for learning and memory are enhanced by the gross motor activity or the movements of the large muscles of the body as the physical exercise can make reading easier to students who have difficulties in learning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The environmental factors are directly affecting the maturation of the brain. Next, every parts of the brain have different maturation rates as brain frontal lobes may fully matured at the age of 25 to 30 as it is a slow process. The characteristics of the maturing brain are language and reading skills, social awareness, ability to know the cause and effect and ability to make hypotheses or inferences. Poor nutrition will cause the process of brain maturation to slow down. Lastly, past and life experience will shape the neurons in the frontal lobes of the brain which is responsible for higher order thinking skills such as critical thinking skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The adaptive brain is when the brain is shaped through by postnatal experiences. Highly complex interaction with the environment through stimulation will help to cause the brain to be specialized and thus allowing development of thinking in the learners brain. For example, higher SAT scores are obtained by students who are actively involved in school drama performance than the students that did not participate. It is important for the parents to let the children to play and early experiences that make them to make mistakes. Next, exceptional upbringing such as unusual mentor or parents will often results children with exceptional thinking skills. Next, nutrition also plays important roles in cognitive among the children. Lastly, opportunities should be given to the children to develop talents and abilities as its important for them to developing thinking skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The emotional brain relates to the ability to think critically. The emotions are always changeable due the brains sensitivity of responding to both internal and external stimuli and the brain are consists of cooperative neural clusters activated by chemical and electrical energy. The stable states or when neurons involved tend to coalesce into cooperative groups, self organizing in to collective behaviors are likely to occur again at another time if the stable states of that person is long. For example, a person who is frequency afraid will enter that afraid stage, the stable state of his anytime. Hence, its important for the student to be taught the ability to focus to become the stable states as the ability is not innate thus for a student to think well, the ability to control emotions is important as well. Sensations, mental state, and feelings are what make up of emotional states and only one part of emotional state is what we consciously feel at t he time. The ability to activate the state that is required to solve problems and suppresses the negative parts of the state is what make a good critical thinker.

A Cultural Examination of the Russian Federation Essay -- cultural mar

â€Æ' Introduction In 1991, the great social experiment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolved. The empire spanning almost five centuries, from the remnants of the Golden Horde to Stalin's "new Russia" (Hoskins, 1997) from Poland to the Pacific disappeared, leaving a political-sociological void that is only now moving towards resolution. Still the largest nation in the world (Shultz, 2000), Russia spans two continents, multiple time zones, and a land area that diminishes that of the United States. Although it no longer demonstrates the breadth of cultural conglomeration existing in the era of Soviet existence, the Russian Federation provides for an interesting cultural examination, and will be the basis of this paper. Specifically, this paper will examine six different areas of culture noted by the Hofstede Centre's 6-D model; power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism, and indulgence. A bar-graph of the various scorings of Russia by the standards of the Hofstede Centre to provide a visual representation of the information to be examined in this paper is provided below. Providing a cultural baseline also will assist the reader in examining a nation such as Russia, therefore the author has included cultural references and notations to the United States of America. As well, though it is outside the scope of this paper, a brief historical examination of different areas of Russia's culture will be offered, as to fully understand a nation's cultural existence and development, knowledge of its history is required. Power Distance The dimension of power distance, according to the Hofstede Centre, indicates that â€Å"[t]he extent to which the less powerful members within ... ...Soviet era, it will be of interest to examine these cultural markers and see if the nation will remain as it has throughout much of similar changes, or if Russia will truly redefine herself as the 21st century continues. References Hosking, G. (1997). Russia: People and empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. K., P. A. (2011). In this issue: Russia's special path. Russian Social Science Review, 52(6), 3. Kostenk, N. V. (2011). Information-culture styles in Russia and Ukraine. Sociological Research, 50(4), 57-86. Russia. (n.d.). In The Hofstede Centre. Web. January 28, 2015, from http://geert- hofstede.com/russia.html Schultze, S. (2000). Culture and customs of Russia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. United States. (n.d.). In The Hofstede Centre. Web. January 28, 2015, from http://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html

The Theme of Saints in Robertson Davies Fifth Business Essay -- Saint

The marvelous story of saints is one of the leading themes in Fifth Business. As the author Robertson Davies develops this theme through Dunstan’s journey into hagiology, he often uses certain saints such as Saint Dunstan, as allusions. Among the Saints that the novel refers to, Saint Paul is the perfect allusion that portrays the character of Paul Dempster since the two share strong similarities in their lives. Additionally, Saint Paul foreshadows Dunstan’s encounter with Paul Dempster. Saint Paul’s life is similar to Paul Dempster’s life in many ways. Both of them develop their hatred from an early age. Saint Paul was a Jewish student who hated Christians whom he believed to be infidels. As he grows in status, he assists in persecuting them. Similarly, Dempster has an abhorrence for his mother and her inanity which made him the laughingstock in his town. He penalizes his mother for causing him to endure such ignominy by running away. Furthermore, their display of hatred also leads them to attain and sustain a second life. Saint Paul and Paul Dempster are both reborn in their life...

Annie Dillards Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Essay -- Annie Dillard Pilgrim

Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard opens Pilgrim at Tinker Creek mysteriously, hinting at an unnamed presence. She toys with the longstanding epic images of battlefields and oracles, injecting an air of holiness and awe into the otherwise ordinary. In language more poetic than prosaic, she sings the beautiful into the mundane. She deifies common and trivial findings. She extracts the most high language from all the possible permutations of words to elevate and exalt the normal. Under her pen, her literary devices and her metaphors, a backyard stream becomes a shrine. Writing a prayer, Dillard becomes an instrument through which a ubiquitous spirit reveals itself. Yet in other cases, she latches on to an image of holiness and makes it ugly, horrifying, disturbing, as if to suggest that the manifestation of all that is holy need not always be pretty, that the gorgeous and the gruesome together comprise all that is holy, and without one the other would be meaningless. The written words are a spiritual pilgr image to the holy shrine where language tinkers with itself, makes a music unto itself, chips and shapes itself into the stuff of Dillard's essays. Religious overtones score the text, emerging as references to Islam, Hasidism, and to a lesser extent, Christianity; there are also subtle intimations of mysticism. Dillard plucks the title of the first essay, "Heaven and Earth in Jest," from the Quran, quoting Allah directly. Describing the darkness capping the ocean as "a swaddling band for the sea" (7), a repeated phrase, her diction implies the Christ child. She makes a power evident without ever saying so aloud, explicitly, by naming it. By means of archaic phrasing, she conveys the sense that what ... ...(82). She defines innocence as "the spirit's unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. It is at once a receptiveness and total concentration" (82), combining the lexicon of religion and mystical journey to elucidate how awareness and knowledge can integrate with openness to fulfill the state of innocence. McIlroy understands her pages of scientific and mystical experience in a two-dimensional way, leaving unturned the third dimension where a seeming dichotomy merges and seams together opposites in a contiguous loop designed to illustrate a coherent and encompassing exploration of the outer world of the creek and the inner world of the mind. Works Cited Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York: Quality Paperback, 1974. McIlroy, Gary. "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and the Burden of Science." American Literature 59 (1987): 71-84.

Scripts

Before Introduction Good evening ladies & gentlemen. As event will be beginning shortly, may we invite everyone to kindly take your seats. Thank you. Introduction Good evening [_____________, ____________] ladies and gentlemen. I’m ___________ and I’m __________ we will be your emcees for this evening. On behalf of Linglingay Association, we would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to grace this blissful occasion. So relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. Opening prayerBefore we start, may I call on _____________ for the opening prayer. Pambansang AwitPlease remain standing for the singing of Pambansang Awit to be lead by __________________. Marching of Officers Before anything else, we would like to acknowledge the key persons who took a great part of this joyous affair. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure to introduce to you the Linglingay Association’s officers. Let’s start off. Please make a stand and march as your name is called. So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, our most distinguished set of Linglingays Association’s officers. Let us once again give them a big round of applause. Message of the PresidentAnd now let’s welcome the Linglingay Association’s Chairperson. Let us give her a big hand for a job well done. Intoduction of Guest Speaker 1Without further ado, we would like to warmly welcome ___________. Sir/ Madam, thank you so much for your support. Speaker 2May I have your attention please, as we welcome _______________. Thank you sir/ Madam for gracing this occasion. Speaker 3Also with us here tonight and it is with great pleasure to have our guest speaker _________. Thank you _______________ for going out of your way to be with us. Speaker 4And now, we are truly happy to have here with us the ______________________ Thank you ___________ for sparing your precious time with us. Speaker 5For our next speaker, Friends lets give a big hand to ______________. Thank you Ma’am, it’s our pleasure to have you with us. Dance numbersAnd now, the moment we have all been waiting for, presenting to you the __________________ for their dance presentation. Thank you for that gracious presentation. Now, May we bring your attention to the dance floor as we welcome ____________________. Asking officials or guest to dance on floorNow may we invite ____________ to be on floor to show his/their talent/s in dancing. Sir the floor is yours. Food In just a few moments ladies and gentlemen food will be served. Enjoy! Ladies & gentlemen, we hope you have been enjoying your food so far. Closing remarksMay we now call on _____________, for tha closing message. With that, on behalf of Linglingay Association, we would like to once again hank everyone for gracing this occasion. We hope that you have enjoyed the celebration as much as we have enjoyed hosting it to you. We wish a flourishing new year ahead of everyone. Thank you. Others Welcome scriptsWe would like to acknowledge the arrival of _____________. Welcome and Thank you for sharing your time with us. We would like to recognize the arrival of _____________. Thank you for coming sir. We would like to acknowledge the presence of _______ ___. Thank you sir,and Welcome to the Linglingay’s Association New year’s ball. Thank youAgain Thank you for your participation, you may now return to your seats. Sir, Madam, Thank you so much for your generosity. Additional scriptsSo I guess that’s about it. I hope I did not miss out anyone. If I did, please be so kind to remind me. There you have it ladies and gentlemen. Holidays like Christmas and New Year bring families together. It refreshes the family ties and friendship that have gone out of date and almost forgotten against the toll of time and distance. Goodbye message to speakersThank you for being with us tonight, sir _________. Have a safe trip! Thank you for sharing your precious time sir ________. Happy new year and have a safe trip. Thank you for gracing this occasion ___________. May you have a safe trip! Welcome the associations and give their names to the emcee (get their representatives for pageants and boy pick up): Message booth: Food for the associations: For the guest speakers: Food for the judges: Game: Trip to JerusalemMs. Gay Linglingay Boy pick upGame ka na ba? (10 per association) Mr. and Miss LinglingayBalloons Disco king and queen Bingo

Passion History

What is my passion? I feel as though I have many things I am passionate about in life. I'm also sure I will learn new things I am passionate about as I become more educated and grow older and wiser. To name a few I am passionate about animals, reading legal case studies, raising my daughter to be a strong and independent lady, education and lifelong learning. My passion that I will be talking about Includes hard work, dedication, motivation, and education. My passion Is to provide my daughter with everything that I feel wasn't offered to me. To make sure she takes hold of every read opportunity in front of her.To make sure nothing passes her by, I have a passion to teach her everything I have learned and to help her and be there whenever she needs me. My passion is to have the relationship with my daughter that I always wanted with my mother. â€Å"And mothers are their daughters' role model, their biological and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships† by V ictoria Seconds. (Quote Garden, 2011) This quote ties in perfectly to my passion for my mother-daughter relationship. What Is a role model? A role model is someone others look up to. They create a want in others to better themselves.Anyone can be a role model. Nowadays, I'm working on being a good role model for my daughter and she seems to be my role model in that process. What a great little person she Is! Little girls Imitate their mothers and look up to them for emotional support. This quote Is basically saying that everything I do ultimately effects what my daughter will do. It's like follow the leader; to instill leadership in a person one must be a good leader. â€Å"A daughter needs a mom to make sure she keeps true to her heart, to comfort her wrought her tears, to challenge her to strive for what is just beyond her reach. (Lang, 2004) These are Just some of things needed from a mother to a daughter. The mother daughter bond is necessary in the development of raising a lit tle girl to be everything she wants to be and more. I must teach my daughter to never stop at her potential but to exceed It. My Job Is to be everything I want my daughter to be and more. To provide her with the proper education, home life, support, and love that she needs. To be there for her In any way she needs. Nothing Is Impossible and everything Is possible when you set your mind and on It.