Thursday, November 28, 2019

Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

Abstract The goal of the US health department is to protect the welfare of all Americans. It also aims at improving their safety. To achieve these noble concerns, the department has employed people from diverse cultural backgrounds.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While this strategy has the advantage of providing an opportunity for the department to gain from diverse knowledge bases and talents to aid in achieving its key aims and objectives, cultural diversity creates multiplicity disagreements, which can hinder the department from gaining from the merits of employing culturally diverse employees. This paper identifies cultural diversity disputes as a significant problem that warrants inquiry at the department of health. It holds that while the department’s leaders may have the option of mitigating such clashes by redu cing the diversity composition of the department, complying with the concerns of the quality of life and social justice renders such an option inappropriate. The paper proposes the introduction of policies for diversity conflict resolution, the creation of conflict mitigation and resolution committees, and ensuring that the department transforms through the adoption of transformational leadership style. The solutions are expected to fight cultural diversity problems at the US department of health. After discussing the problem of diversity management, the paper selects transformational leadership, with a particular emphasis on the communication aspect, as the best solution to the problem. Introduction The US health department employs people from diverse backgrounds. This recruitment strategy exposes it to the critical challenge of managing its workforce diversity. In this paper, the term diversity refers to the discrepancies that are witnessed in individuals who work in any associati on. Such differences may involve parameters such as their gender, race, community values, age, sexual affiliation, income levels, work experience, parental status, religious beliefs, ethnicity, religion, and physical abilities among others (Pitts, 2006). Workforce diversity management encompasses the development of an enabling and supportive environment for all people, regardless of their cultural diversity differences, to ensure that they can optimally contribute to the success of US health ministry.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since the goal of diversity management is to align all employees with the department’s vision and objectives, integration of leadership is critical in reducing its negative impacts on the ministry’s performance.  Leadership is essential in all organizations that use people to achieve their goals, mission, aims, and object ives. It involves influencing other people to facilitate the achievement of a given goal. Leaders plan, organize, direct, and steer other people towards the attainment of common mutual objectives and goals. Leadership occurs through the interaction of three primary contexts, namely leaders, followers, and the situation that prompts the deployment of leadership skills. Leaders need to possess qualities such as the ability to listen effectively to others, the capacity and willingness to speak in an honest and kind manner, the ability to be approachable, and the capacity to make well thought out decisions. Since listening constitutes a key feature of communication, this paper considers the issue of communication an important transformational leadership aspect that is necessary for resolving cultural diversity problems within the US health sector. The Problem of Cultural Diversity Management As organizations diversify, the approaches they deploy to address workforce management issues ar e critical in influencing their performance in the competitive marketplace. According to Pitts (2006), academicians and organizational leaders have communicated the significance of managing organizational diversity to not only guarantee success but also encourage a culture of innovation and creativity. Embracing diversity means that leaders need to steer their organizations as heterogeneous, rather than homogenous entities.  A homogenous organization is a non-diversified institution while a heterogeneous one comprises an assortment of workers. Many American health agencies are heterogeneous since they employ people of varying backgrounds in terms of race, age, physical abilities, and geographical regions, among others. According to leadership scholars such as Pitts (2006), effective management of workforce diversity can improve workforce productivity, improve workforce engagement, foster staff absenteeism, and/or increase workforce turnover by about five folds. The American minist ry of health emphasizes the need to improve employee performance in a bid to increase the quality and speed of service delivery. Therefore, managing its diversity is critical for its continuous success. An increasing number of scholarly studies reveal a direct correlation between employee attendance and job performance. Another positive relationship is evident between workers’ dedication and the perception of being valuable resources of an organization through the appreciation of their diversity.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, McMillan-Capehart (2006) says that organizational leaders who fail to understand that women and minority employees are valuable resources for achieving success experience reduced productivity. This claim infers that mismanagement of workforce diversity translates into increasing the health agencies’ operations costs. In this context, organizations that do not support diversity in their workplaces are likely to plunge into expensive lawsuits and/or out-of-court settlements for cases such as stereotyping, discrimination, and harassment that result from poor management of various culturally diverse talent tools. Such organizations are susceptible to costs that relate to employee replacement and training (McMillan-Capehart, 2006). In a situation where a workplace has many workers from various cultures or a bigger percentage of females, it becomes an issue, especially when the heads want to resolve the disparities among employees without causing unwarranted friction in the day-to-day employee relations. In this context, managing workforce diversity becomes crucial (McMillan-Capehart, 2006). The development of cultural diversity management knowledge by today’s leadership professionals is critical, considering that many of the issues that people encount er in the work environment do not prompt any tolerance to the differences that characterize different workers. Such issues can only be addressed using effective strategies for leading diverse employees. Many of the problems that cause friction in the workplace are mainly attributed to the viewpoints of marginalized and the mainstream workforce disparities. This friction is normally worse in an organization whose labor force mainly comes from a common ethnic group or race. The most pressing stalemate issues that pertain to workforce diversity are associated with women mistreatment in the workplace (Ollapally Bhatnagar, 2009). In this context, the concept of workforce diversity management is vital. Hence, today’s organizational leaders need to adopt the concept. Race and gender determine the approaches that leaders establish to handle diverse employees. Where a minority group considers itself more oppressed or discriminated, it is apparent that it may consider taking steps tha t are unhealthy to the performance of an organization. This situation is perhaps evident in many health facilities since many minority groups are aware of their rights. They acknowledge the existence of strict organizational codes of conduct and regulations that have been formulated to govern behaviors within the US ministry of health.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this context, the possession of leadership knowledge about leading diverse employees is critical in ensuring that leaders achieve their job mandates. From this dimension, leading a diversified labor force has a chief contribution in terms of aiding people who work within the US health sector to connect with one another in an attempt to further the department’s goals and/or create positive changes within the corporate community. The health segment’s leadership has a proactive role to play in ensuring proper control and monitoring of cultural diversity to avoid conflicts of interest among the minority and majority groups of workers. Leaders cannot conduct this noble task if they are not fully cognizant of the relevance and importance of managing cultural diversities in the health ministry. How can they realize this dream? The next section discusses the various alternative solutions that the health ministry leaders can deploy to lead their diverse employees effectively to ensure that the sector attains its goal and objectives of delivering quality and speedy services to all people. Alternative Solutions The Creation of a Conflict Mitigation and Resolution Committee Clashes emerge in all organizations, including the health sector. Although it is important to minimize the negative cultural diversity conflicts, it is necessary to encourage positive conflicts. Organizations, individuals, and even work teams require constructive conflicts for them to grow. By engaging in opposing discussions, especially on mechanisms for accomplishing specific outcomes, opportunities are created for people from diverse cultural backgrounds to participate in activities that benefit the entire organization. Consequently, mitigation and resolution of negative conflicts via conflict resolution and mitigation committees can help the health section to ensure that cultural diversity becomes a resource that it can tap to guarantee a sustainable positive performance. In this s ense, the outcomes of decisions that are made following engagements in constructive conflicts are in favor and accommodative of all key stakeholders’ interests within an organization. Destructive conflicts make people in an organization uncomfortable. In some situations, escalated conflicts have the implication of compelling people to quit working (McMillan-Capehart, 2006). Organizations that experience destructive conflicts encounter challenges of reduced work morale, many cases of labor turnover, and a high rate of burnout. This observation suggests that organizational leaders should focus on eliminating destructive conflicts while at the same time, encouraging constructive conflicts in the effort to attain excellent performance through conflict resolution committees. From the above expositions, setting conflict resolution and mitigation committees sounds an imperative strategy for creating rectification channels in case people who work at the health ministry experience des tructive conflicts because of their cultural diversity. However, in some cases, two people may not like each other, right from the beginning, due to diversity and other personality differences. Such committees’ mandates may only be limited to areas of departmental interest where diversity differences contribute to low employee outputs. Therefore, some aspects of conflicts such as personality clashes, which do not directly relate to cultural diversity’s effect on productivity, may not be captured in the suggested resolution mechanisms. Personality clashes contribute to workplace disputes due to differences in beliefs, values, and approaches to handling problems. When people have difficulties in appreciating and embracing other people’s work methods, clashes emerge. Considering that people have different capacities, something that cannot be harmonized, some stereotyped people’s way of doing work may go unaddressed. The committee members are also drawn from culturally diverse populations. This strategy, which may lead to the normalization of some work approaches, attracts clashes among employees, especially where such methods are considered acceptable in the society from where the committee members and employees come. Establishing Policies for Guiding and Training Employees to Embrace Cultural Diversity The desired organizational leadership directions are guided by an industry’s best practices. Consequently, the department of health needs to establish policies for guiding and training employees on the importance of embracing cultural diversity. The US Government Accountability Office’s (2005) report on employee diversity management is a significant source of such practices. The agency has established various cultural diversity management practices, which may also be utilized at the US health ministry. They include the commitment of the top leadership, inclusion of diversity in organizational strategic plans, linking diver sity to organizational performance, measuring the contribution of diversity to organizational success, succession planning, recruitment, training on diversity, and diversity accountability (The US Government Accountability Office, 2005). Succession development is a premeditated procedure that is aimed at classifying and establishing capacity-building tactics for the department’s anticipated management expansion. It avails equal opportunities for all employees, irrespective of their cultural diversity differences. Diversity training involves mitigating the problem of cultural diversity through educating culturally diverse employees on the relevance of embracing the diversity of their workmates for collective organizational performance. Linking diversity to performance implies the appreciation that culturally diverse employees yield greater productivity at the individual and departmental levels. The inclusion of diversity in strategic planning means alignment of organizational strategic plans with the talent potential of culturally diverse employees. Adopting Transformational Leadership In the health department, leaders are the vision carriers. They ensure that all employees reason and/or do their work as one entity that comprises different cultures. Through the adoption of transformational leadership, the department can ensure effectiveness in leading culturally diverse people towards a shared vision. Effective leadership entails the possession of the ability to influence other people to one’s way of thinking. Polychroniou (2009) confirms that that leadership entails influencing people to do their work by conforming to some established standards. Therefore, effective leadership involves complex processes that are often characterized various actors (followers and leaders) whose interaction results in a range of possible anticipated outcomes (Samad, 2009). Leaders play a variety of roles, including serving as sources of inspiration, inducing organiz ational change through corporate leadership, and serving as the main source of organizational power and visions (Samad, 2009). Therefore, through leadership, the health department can create a culture that appreciates people’s diversity. This appreciation requires ardent communication of the fact that cultural differences do not amount to any cultural advantage while doing work at the department. All the work is done in accordance with standards and procedures that are unique to the department. Considering that transformational leaders are great communicators, transformational leadership is an appropriate headship style that can deal with the diversity problems at the department. The performance of an organization depends on the effectiveness of its communication strategies. For instance, a reduction of workplace diversity clashes can incredibly increase employee productivity. Myatt (2012) reckons that poor communication directly correlates with escalated work disputes since many of the clashes within an organization are caused by lack of insufficient information, broken communication, or even when cases of half-truths are encountered. This observation suggests that precision, accuracy, the timing of communication, and the contribution of cultural diversity differences to the department of health can help in resolving negative conflicts that emanate from culturally diverse employees. Transformational leaders have an ability to eliminate all volatile situations such as the problem of cultural diversity within an organization. This problem hinders the collective employee performance. The objective is to not only realize common goals but also meet the targets for various activities within the organization (Ruderman, Hannum, Leslie, Steed, 2006). Successful transformational leaders motivate and inspire other people. They also foster the development of a positive work environment where all people as considered valuable sources of organizational success, des pite their cultural differences and ways of thinking. Transformational heads ensure that any challenging departmental opportunities that may exist within a heterogeneous organization are turned around to strengths. Anand and Udaya (2010) support this view by adding that transformational leadership skills are important in encouraging work motivation. Such leaders ensure that subordinates play their roles in increasing organizational effectiveness. Without effective leadership, the department of health can suffer from a blurred vision that lacks a clear focus on the desired future of the organization. Solution Selection Among the discussed alternative solutions to the problem of cultural diversity at the US health department, transformational leadership is selected as the best strategy. The leadership style not only encourages trust but also builds workers’ confidence in a leader. Basri, Rusdi, and Sulaeman (2014) assert that the leadership theory aims at changing internal work values and structures to build faith with an objective of eliciting increased work proficiencies. Cultural diversity is crucial for the success of the department of health. It allows the generation of diverse ideas, which may lead to increased creativity and innovation levels. To this extent, transformational leadership may find application in the process of addressing the problem of cultural diversity at any health facility. According to the US Government Accountability Office (2005), the best practices, which are discussed under solution two are fundamental to any effective leadership within an organization. Leaders are charged with the responsibility of resolving challenges that are witnessed when an organization tries to align employees (followers) with the established vision. Therefore, solution one also requires the input of leadership to mitigate cultural diversity disputes. Hence, transformational leadership comprises the most effective solution to the challenges of cultura l diversity in any health facility. Deploying the transformational leadership theory to change the internal structure of the department of health may foster fair distribution of tasks. The move also reduces work strain and stress that lead to burnout. Through the transformation of the department of health’s value systems to ensure that people regard cultural diversity as strength, rather than a problem, people can learn to work homogeneously, irrespective of their cultural inclinations. Indeed, globalized organizations have now transformed to embrace cultural diversity. This strategic initiative is supported by the belief that employing people from diverse backgrounds gives an organization a competitive advantage. For instance, an organization develops the capacity to tap and benefit from the full range of talents and knowledge bases (Johnson Keddy, 2010). Focusing on diversity as a strategic initiative for an organization is crucial since it enhances growth through the incr ement of product range through innovation that is brought up by people who possess different work capabilities. However, diversity follows the bringing together of people from different cultural backgrounds (Gramberg, 2005). This claim underlines the importance of using transformational leadership tactics such as communication to manage any emerging disagreements. Proper communication eliminates the necessity of monitoring and controlling workers, as suggested in solution two. It focuses on influencing other people to work as a team to realize an organization’s vision. Indeed, the aspect of influencing people creates a long-term solution compared to controlling and monitoring, which are short-term in nature.  To resolve cultural diversity-related problems, the Institute of Leadership and Management (2007) reveals how the HRM is essential in helping to create a common organizational culture where employees understand that different people have different abilities and beliefs and that these differences should not be permitted to influence the way people relate with one another. Alternatively, diversity differences need not to lead to personality clashes in workplaces. The HR segment, which is charged with the role of ensuring that employees work in harmony without conflicting situations that lead to personality clashes, should deploy diversity to enhance success by treating any conflict that arises from cultural differences frictions as an act of indiscipline and negligence when it comes to complying with the established organizational culture. While this role may be well established in the outline of the mandates of the HRM at the department of health, communication, which is an essential aspect of transformational leadership, may hinder the success of the initiatives that the HR deploys to deal with personality conflicts. Communication is a significant cause of workplace disputes, including cultural diversity-related clashes. It can deliver tangible p roducts, as opposed to being a soft component of the leadership roles. Communication improves consumer satisfaction. Besides enhancing the quality of service delivery, it also fosters employee retention and satisfaction (Lee, 2008). However, improper communication is an ingredient of workplace disagreements. In an organization that employs people from diverse backgrounds, communication is the tool that is deployed to harness employees’ individual differences in an effort to align them with a common organizational culture that is in tandem with the organization’s aims, missions, goals, and objectives (Johnson Keddy, 2010). This observation suggests that communication is also essential in ensuring effective resolution of cultural diversity clashes. Communicating adequately and effectively is crucial when it comes to eliminating workplace issues. The Institute of Leadership and Management (2007) reveals how the availability of adequate and unambiguous information helps e mployees to support and/or do what is within their capacity to ensure that organizations succeed in the direction that is set by their respective leaders and managers. In this sense, the goal of an effective communication program in an organization is to foster the change of employees’ behaviors and their perception towards other employees. Failure to maintain excellent communication channels may create personality clashes. This situation reveals why transformational headship is crucial in an organization that wishes to induce a culture of diversity tolerance. Communication entails sharing success information by translating the essential business objectives and goals into terms that employees can understand easily (Johnson Keddy, 2010). In response to such communication strategies, employees are engaged, aligned, and ready to work collectively towards driving organizational success. In fact, when communication fails, misunderstanding arises. The situation leads to the failur e of employees to execute tasks as desired by the leaders. Such atmosphere may also lead to cultural diversity clashes. Conclusion The US department of health needs to understand the benefits of adopting a multicultural environment that can tolerate workforce diversities. Indeed, the United States recognizes the need for the cultural tolerance to build a cohesive nation. Through cultural tolerance, the American ministry of health gains immensely from the increased productivity, thanks to the contribution from the diverse employees. Diversity increases the ability of the ministry to protect the health of all Americans. Ensuring a multicultural health department calls for the adoption of an effective leadership style. The top-down headship approach is the best since it allows the participation all staff members in the decision-making process. Transformational leadership is also central since it appreciates the relevance of workforce diversity from moral and business perspectives. For the American health sector to achieve this goal, the department essentially deserves to change its values to increase its commitment to the promotion of cultural diversity within the work environment. The department needs to transform to become a segment that reaps from the different cultures of its workforce. It should not allow the cultural background of an employee to define his or her performance levels. Transformational leadership addresses the unique challenges that the individual employees experience in the work environment.  Although different strategies or alternative solutions have been suggested to resolve the cultural diversity problem at the department of health, this paper has selected transformational leadership as the best solution. This choice has been supported by the fact that possible recommendations such as solutions 1 and 2 integrate the perceptive of transformational leadership in a multicultural organization. The integration of diverse cultures for people t o operate harmoniously requires effective communication of organizational goals. Leaders need to clarify that an employee’s culture does not hinder his or her performance. Considering that transformational leaders are great communicators and change drivers, transformational leadership is the best choice for resolving cultural diversity problems, especially where such problems lower productivity in the American health sector. Reference List Anand, R., Udaya, G. (2010). Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship with Leadership Practices. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(2), 63- 69. Basri, D., Rusdi, M., Sulaeman, S. (2014). The Effects of Transformational Leadership on the Teacher Performance at Senior High School, Maros Regency. International Journal of Academic Research, 6(5), 61-66. Gramberg, B. (2005). Managing Workplace Conflict: Alternative Dispute Resolution in Australia. Annandale, N.S. W.: Federation Press. Johnson, C., Keddy, J. (2010). Managin g Conflict at Work: Understanding and Resolving Conflict for Productive Working Relationships. London: Kogan Page. Lee, E. (2008). Communication Network Approaches to Conflict Management at the Workplace and Job Satisfaction. London: LexisNexis. McMillan-Capehart, A. (2006). Heterogeneity or homogeneity: Socialization makes the difference in firm performance. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 19(3), 83-98. Myatt, M. (2012). 5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/ Ollapally, A., Bhatnagar, J. (2009). The Holistic Approach to Diversity Management: HR Implications. The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 44(3), 454-472. Pitts, W. (2006). Modeling the impact of diversity management. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 26(2), 245-268. Polychroniou, V. (2009). Relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership of supervisors. Team Performance Management, 15(8), 340-357. Ruderman, N., Hannum, K., Leslie, B., S teed, L. (2006). Leadership skills and emotional intelligence. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership. Samad, S. (2009). The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Effective Leadership among Managers in Malaysian Business Organizations. The Business Review, 13(1), 158-171. The Institute of Leadership and Management. (2007). Managing conflict in the Workplace. Oxford, Boston: Pergamon Flexible Learning. The US Government Accountability Office. (2005). Diversity management: Expert-identified leading practices and agency examples. GAO-05-90. Washington, D.C.: G.A.O. This research paper on Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace was written and submitted by user Kayleigh Larsen to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Circumstances that Led to WWI essays

Circumstances that Led to WWI essays The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand triggered World War I. However, the war had its origins in developments in the 1800's. The chief causes of World War I were the European Alliances, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism. The alliance system was one of the last factors to emerge before the war. Consequentially, the contributions of this system to the beginning of the Great War have to be considered. Although the alliance system was a main cause of the First World War, it arose because of several other factors, and did not cause the war single handedly. Nationalism was the next major long-term cause of WWI. Nationalism involved all those who shared a common language, history and culture. It was a strong feeling of support for ones own nation. Nationalists believed that the needs of their nation were more important than the needs of other nations. Nationalists were so proud of their nation that they wanted it to be the richest and most important and recognized as such. Such strong feelings made the countries very aggressive towards other nations and quite unforgiving if their nation had been offended. It was nationalism that encouraged Givrilo Princip to shoot dead the Austrian heir. Nationalism greatly blew up the tension and had an influence in causing WWI. Another cause of WWI was imperialism. Imperialism is the desire of nations to own colonies and form an empire. European countries had been taking over colonies throughout the world since the fifteenth century. From 1870 on there was an unwritten competition to take over parts of the world they had earlier considered not worth colonizing. Britain and France, and Germany and France had almost gone to war over clashes in North Africa. Italy resented France because they prevented the setting up of Italian colonies, and the British and Russians clashed over who should have control in Persia, but were both worried that Germany would take land in the ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Anthropologic Comparison Of Orangutans, Gorillas, And Chimpanzees Essay

Anthropologic Comparison Of Orangutans, Gorillas, And Chimpanzees - Essay Example Studies have revealed that female orangutans solely assume the responsibility of rearing their children whereas the males their work is over once they mate. This implies the male is not that social, which prompts their young males once they reach maturity to leave their mothers to live the solitary life (Maggioncalda 14). Chimpanzees are the most social primates compared to both the orangutans and gorillas (Haviland 59). Consequently, this is has prompted numerous scientists to refer to their social structure as "fusion-fission" due to the close-knit groups, which they normally maintain. Mainly these social units comprise of 10 chimpanzees where they usually move together from one place to another in search of food (Haviland 59). Contrary to the gorillas and orangutans, they usually keep strong family or community bonds that may carry on for a lifetime. Dominance in any group by males adopts the age’s hierarchy, where the old chimp becomes the alpha primate, which is also evident among their females though they are under males. Chimpanzees unlike to the orangutans, they guard their territory by touring their boundaries. Once another male chimpanzee intrudes the territory, others gang up against the intruder. However, almost mature female chimpanzees are free to move from one group to another bu t still maintain their natal bond, which is contrary to the orangutans (Primate Infor Net). Gorillas’ social structure is in between that of chimpanzees and orangutans. This is because one male commonly referred to as silverback usually dominates one female troop; mainly for mating and protection purposes (ONeil).

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Impact of Tourism on the Quality of Life on the Citizens of the Essay

Impact of Tourism on the Quality of Life on the Citizens of the Historic Center of Venice, Italy - Essay Example To achieve this primary objective, the first step is to survey and record the present distribution of retail shops and the type of primary goods such as food and other daily commodities sold therein. The number of shops that predominantly sell tourist-oriented goods would be recorded and a â€Å"touristization index† would be formulated to estimate the prevalence of tourist-oriented shops in the region. Another index, viz. â€Å"shopping comfort† would also be formulated to measure the quality of life based on the importance and necessity of products sold in these retail shops, the accessibility of the stores, the number of people of different age groups in each shop’s vicinity, average price of basic goods etc. Once these indices are computed, the shopping landscape of Venice from the time of World War II (1945) to 2005 would be recreated. This will facilitate the study of the evolution of the retail landscape of Venice in 60 years, and will also equip the resea rchers with enough data to help in identifying the trends in its evolution. The research problem that this study wishes to address is whether tourism has influenced the quality of life of people living in Venice, by affecting its retail sector. The study wishes to ascertain whether shops selling basic and daily commodities have been replaced by tourist-oriented shops selling artifacts and souvenirs, thereby affecting the common people’s daily lives. Access to shops selling foodstuff and other necessities, the age of individuals living in the shop’s vicinity and the distances travelled to procure goods for daily needs will thus be assessed by the study. research problem that this study wishes to address is whether tourism has influenced the quality of life of people living in Venice, by affecting its retail sector. The study wishes to ascertain whether shops selling basic and daily commodities have been replaced by tourist-oriented shops selling artifacts and souvenirs, thereby affecting the common people’s daily lives. Access to shops selling foodstuff and other necessities, the age of individuals living in the shop’s vicinity and the distances travelled to procure goods for daily needs will thus be assessed by the study. The study also intends to propose alternatives, and public and private interventions to stop or even reverse the trends, in case they are found to have a negative impact on the people’s quality of life. II. Research Paradigm The proposed research aims at challenging popular claims that increasing tourism in Venice has led to the replacement of shops selling goods of basic necessity with shops selling tourist-related goods such as souvenirs and apparel. Although this has been the common perception of local citizens since the past 30 years, the belief is largely anecdotal and is not backed by quantitative or qualitative evidence. Moreover, no investigation has been done until date on the type of local stores t hat have been running and those that have been shut down since the second World War. Therefore, the belief that tourism has negatively impacted the people’s quality of life by changing the retail scene is based on unconfirmed assumptions. The researchers thus wish to challenge the hypothesis that â€Å"Venice is becoming a harder and more costly place to live in, where souvenir shops have displaced stores providing primary necessities to the aging local population†. It is expected that this hypothesis will either be confirmed or decried after the successful completion of the proposed study. If the hypothesis is confirmed, potential solutions will be proposed. However, if the hypothesis were disproved, it would result in a paradigm shift in the local perception

Monday, November 18, 2019

Literary Response #4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary Response #4 - Essay Example As the poem develops the speaker’s emotional state takes on a more somber and forlorn tone. Millay writes, â€Å"but the rain/ Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh/ Upon the glass and listen for reply;/ And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain/ For unremembered lads that not again/ Will turn to me at midnight with a cry† (Millay, 3-8). In these lines Millay uses the image of the ghosts in the rain to symbolize the speaker’s past lovers. One can envision the speaker looking out at the rain and attempting to recollect these past individuals. Upon realizing that the speaker will never again share a moment of love and intimacy with these past lovers the speaker’s emotional state is punctuated by a quiet pain. The image of the rain as the ghosts of past lovers is highly effective as rain has an immediate visceral effect of creating the emotion of sadness and slight depression; when coupled with the image of past lovers that the speaker will never again be able to spend time with, it is not difficult for the viewer to not only understand, but also feel this somber emotional state. As the poem advances and ultimately concludes the speaker’s emotional state is explored in greater depth, with more complex images. Millay writes, â€Å"Thus in the winter stands a lonely tree,/ Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,/ Yet know its boughs more silent than before:/ I cannot say what loves have come and gone;/ I only know that summer sang in me/ A little while, that in me sings no more† (Millay 9-14). In referring to the lonely tree, the speaker is actually referencing herself. The image of winter conveys both the passage of time, as well the coldness that accompanies the speaker’s loneliness. While previously the speaker’s emotional state was perceived as slightly somber, this image of winter is starkly dark and despondent. This despondency is advanced in the following image of birds that once frequented the tree

Friday, November 15, 2019

Passive Ventilation of Modern and Traditional Malay Houses

Passive Ventilation of Modern and Traditional Malay Houses Comparing the Passive Ventilation Style of Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest Resort With the Common Traditional Malay House in Malaysia. ABSTRACT The objectives of the research is to compare the passive ventilation style of Modern Malay  House in Belum Rainforest Resort with the common Traditional Malay House in Malaysia. The  research questions are what are the comparison of passive ventilation in Modern Malay House  in Belum with the common Traditional Malay House. Secondly. how does the orientation of  building affect the passive ventilation. Finally. How does the the passive ventilation system  works for Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest Resort and Common Traditional Malay  House in Malaysia. These are the list of methodology that being used to help my research. Site  observation at Belum Rainforest Resort. internet research. articles and books. My analysis of  methodology is by studying and comparing the details of these two houses that are related to  the passive ventilation. The result is i found that Modern Malay House in Belum is lack of  details that contribute to passive ventilation system. Common Traditional Malay house is still  the best since it gives spotlight more on the passive ventilation. In a nutshell. house that focus  more on the passive ventilation are much better since it reduce the humidity and produces a  good thermal comfort in a building. In future. i hope that people will design buildings that  concentrate more on the passive ventilation rather than design. 1.0 INTRODUCTION What is Architecture ? The definition of Architecture is the art or practice of designing and  constructing buildings. Architects are the one who runs the world. They create an enjoyment  story in every building that they design so that the world would not be as boring as it is. When it  comes to architecture world it is super wide and it consist of many different styles and  techniques. Every country have their own styles of designing to express their country ‘s  uniqueness. One of the best design in the world is the building that meet the need and pretty  much response to the climate. Also. It needs to know about the microclimates and the climate  zone. know the basic physiology of human thermal comfort. reduce the loads and enhance  visual comfort by controlling the sun. Thermal mass are used to improved the comfort efficiency  and to pick a space-conditioning strategies that are climatic responsive. Vernacular architecture  is one of the architecture sty le that take seriously on all of this criteria when designing a building. Vernacular Architecture is being refer as a traditional buildings that are designed to meet  the local climate and culture. They design with using a deep understanding together with a  respect towards the nature. Vernacular architecture can be called as a sustainable architecture  as well since it are also built to sustain the environment without destroying it. Vernacular  architecture tends to evolve time after time to reflect the technological. reflect the historical  context in which it exist. reflect the cultural and also reflect the environment. This style of  architecture used the local resources and available energy and materials. so it can refer  accordingly to the climate. site and culture. The most common basic function in vernacular  architecture is to shield and protect from the weather conditions. Passive cooling system can not be separate from the vernacular architecture as they are  greatly related together. Passive cooling is a building design approach that targets on the heat  gain control and heat dissipation in a building in order to improve the indoor thermal comfort  with lower or zero energy usage. A good orientation of a building. proper design layout and  system used in a building will allow the passive ventilation system be in the building. Ventilation  is the main criteria in passive cooling system as it is the one that move the air from outside  building to the inside so that it can improve the thermal comfort of a building. And my case  study is to compare the passive ventilation of Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest Resort ,  Perak with a common Traditional Malay House in Malaysia. 2.0 An Overview of the Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest Resort. Perak. Malaysia As stated on Malaysia’s online website. Malaysia is a country that being classified as  a country that have a hot climate and humid tropical climate with all months above 18 degree  Celcius. Belum Rainforest Resort is the place which I picked for my case study. Belum  Rainforest Resort is located on the northern part of Malaysia and just below the boundary of the  other country which is Thailand. Belum Rainforest Resort is located in the middle of  jungle which is surrounded by the water element from the Lake of Banding or Tasik Banding. This make the place a great become as a great place for the passive cooling design. Extracted from http://lensahijau.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-establishment-of-air-house-standard_18.html The Malay House in Belum was design to be modern but yet still maintaining the basic  element of Traditional Malay House. The photo below is one of the Modern Malay House in  Belum Rainforest Resort. Extracted from http://www.maplandia.com/malaysia/perak/gerik/hotels/belum-rainforest-resort/ The similarity of this modern malay house with the traditional malay house in Malaysia is they  used completely 100 per cent wood as the main material for construction. 3.0– What are the Comparison of Passive Ventilation on the Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest Resort with Common Traditional Malay House in Malaysia ? A traditional Malay House produce the ventilation by applying many of full length  windows and doors at the body level. ( Yuan, 1987: 76 ). Hassan and Ramli ( 2010 )  conclude that Huge openings on Malay house walls produce high air intakes outside to  lowering the performance of stack effect. The below diagram stated clearly that. most of the  outdoor and indoor temperatures were higher than 28 degree Celcius with the humidity level  in the house is higher than 60 per cent and the wind speed in Malay house flow in about 0.3  m / s to 3.4 m / s. Extracted from http://lensahijau.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-establishment-of-air-house- standard_18.html There are several comparison that can be found in Modern Malay House in Belum  Rainforest Resort. The Modern Malay House in Belum were design using a timber  construction. Most of the timber construction are not solid if to compare to a concrete  construction due to being build piece by piece. Since it is build piece by piece so it will  have a small gaps between a piece and a piece of wood. This small gaps is one of the  strategy in passive cooling system. The function of the small gaps is to allow the movement  of air into the house so that it could ventilate and automatically improve the indoor  environmental quality. Most of the traditional malay house have this thing but if to compare  to the modern side of malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort. it does not have this thing. It  does not have small gaps on the wall and floor. the small gaps only can be seen on the  outside of the house which is on the balcony’s floor. This is not good since it blocks t he air  from entering into the house. The unique thing about the Malay house is that it is built on  stilts. This approach in many ways has several benefits from a thermal, functional and safety  point of view. The raised floor, which is built higher than the ground, can catch winds of a  higher velocity ( Yuan. 1987 : 71 ). and the use of timber planks for the floor, which have  gaps between them, can bring the air into the inner space. The Balcony area that contain small gaps for air ventilation purpose. The inner side of the building which does not contain any floor gaps and wall gaps. Other than that. during my site observation I found that there is no ventilation through  roof joint that can be found in the house. This ventilation through roof joint also contribute  in Passive Cooling Design. It makes the house produce a large movement of air into the  building through the roof joint. Traditional Malay House really focus on the opening so that  they can have a good thermal comfort without producing energy that we do not need such as  electricity. Also. without opening through the roof joint the stack ventilation system will  obviously not happen. Extracted from http://lensahijau.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-establishment-of-air-house-standard_18.html How does the Passive   Ventilation   System Works for Modern Malay   house in Malaysia and Common  Traditional Malay House in   Malaysia ? Extracted from http://www.belumresort.com/acco_kampung_house.html The floor plan above shows the floor plan of the Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest  Resort. Common Traditional Malay House Floor Plan Extracted from https://www.academia.edu/2377416/Chapter_2_Malaysian_Vernacular_Architecture_and_Its_Relationship_to_Climate Both Modern Malay House and Traditional Malay House are randomly arranged. This is  to ensure that the wind velocity in the houses in the latter path of the wind will not  substantially being reduced. Stack ventilation is the flow of air from outside which enter into the  building and goes out from the upper side of a the building. Stack ventilation use different  temperature to move the air. Hot air increases due to the lower pressure occur. It is sometimes  being called as a buoyancy ventilation. The below diagram shows how the stack ventilation  basically works. Extracted from http://sustainabilityworkshop.autodesk.com/buildings/stack-ventilation-and-bernoullis-principle Stack ventilation is one of the unique ventilation system that happen in a traditional malay  house. Based on my observation on the modern malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort. I  found that there is no stack ventilation happens on this house since there is no opening through  the roof joint for the air to go out. The other problem is this house does lifted up a bit by the  stilt but the other problem is that there is no floor gaps for the air to come in from below. This  modern malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort does not have the stack ventilation effect   compare to the original traditional malay house. The traditional malay house use the stack  ventilation effect to cool the inner side of the house. Stack ventilation makes the movement of  the air flow and enter from the opening on the downside and the side of the house. Then the air  slowly transfer to the upper side of the house and goes out through the openings on the roof  joint. Extracted from http://malay101.blogspot.com/2012/08/malay-architecture.html Even the modern malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort does not use the stack  ventilation system. they use the other system of ventilation which is the cross ventilation system  . Cross ventilation system is obtain when there is windows on the both sides of the room. This  caused the air to flow across the space. Since the wind comes the most on the side of the  building. Openings on the sideway really helps the modern malay house in Belum Rainforest  Resort to give a better thermal comfort. The cross ventilation system is good since it reducing  the energy consumption in a building. The below diagram shows the cross ventilation system  that happens on modern malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort. The arrows on the diagram above shows the air movement that flows into the house. Other than that ,the unplanned arrangement of the Traditional Malay House is really  important as it gives contribution in reducing the risk of the strong winds. ( Hanafi. 1994 ). Settlements that are along the coastal areas experience great wind speed than the inland  religions. ( Hanafi. 1994 ) Traditional Malay House are usually detached and it dispersed the  units with ample external space. This is to allow the fresh air circulation occurs in the building. (Hanafi. 1994 ). Extracted from https://www.academia.edu/2377416/Chapter_2_Malaysian_Vernacular_Architecture_and_Its_Relationship_to_Climate Extracted from https://www.google.com.my/maps/@5.5428286,101.341145,187m/data=!3m1!1e3 Photo above is the rough arrangement of modern malay house in Belum Rainforest  Resort. The arrangement are based on the linear concept and which it is applying the same  concept as the traditional malay house in Malaysia. How does the orientation of the  building affect the passive  ventilation? Building orientation are really important in malay traditional house. For religious  reasons. most traditional Malay houses are oriented to face Mecca(east west direction) ,  which indirectly minimizes the area of exposed walls to direct solar radiation during theday  (Yuan. 2011). The building orientation also does help in providing good sun shading. and  also a good ventilation system. Normally. the Malay Kampong House will be orientate  according to the east – west orientation. This orientation function as letting you to harness  the daylight and take control of the glare along the long faà §ade of the building. It will reduce  the glare from the setting sun or even from the rising sun. One more reason on why east –  west orientation is the best orientation is because of it ensures the building to get a better  thermal comfort. The photo below show that the not so accurate wind diagram that being  taken from the windfinder.com. Extracted from http://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/butterworth Based on my research study I found that most of the wind comes from the Northwest and  Northeast side. There is least air comes from the northern and the southern side. This  orientation system works pretty well since the modern malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort  are orientated using the east west orientation. The window on the modern malay house in  Belum Rainforest Resort that located on the side of the house is openable so this can make the  wind to flow into the building and circulate in good way. The below photo shows the orientation  of the modern malay house in Belum Rainforest Resort. Extracted from https://www.google.com.my/maps/@5.5428286,101.341145,187m/data=!3m1!1e3 Building that are surrounded by the water element are good for passive cooling design. What I found is Belum Rainforest Resort is surrounded by a big lake which is the Tasik Banding  . This Tasik banding contribute pretty well in making the house cooler and achieve the correct  standard of thermal comfort. The wind which flow from the Northwest side brings the cool air  from the lake and directly enter the building. – Conclusion In a nutshell. Malaysia is a country that are meant to be as a hot climate  country with a high humidity level. Houses in Malaysia that will be design or already  been designed by people need to follow the Malaysia ‘ s climate to achieve a good  thermal comfort. Modern Malay House in Belum Rainforest Resort are lack of the  original features that suppose to have in every Traditional Malay House. People that  design the malay house in Belum are not concentrating on the features anymore. in  fact they are more in terms of creating a new building with using a different way to  achieve the thermal comfort. The house might look like a malay traditional house  when you look it from the farthest distance. but it is totally different when you come  closer and study about the details of the house. Modern Malay House in Belum are  lack in terms of passive ventilation contribution. The house pretty much does not  apply the basic elements of a traditional malay house which is to have the wall gaps  and small gaps between the timber for the air to move into the building. This is such  a waste since this small features is actually really make the building to achieve a very  good environmental indoor quality. The ventilation through the roof joint also is a  good thing when it comes to express the stack ventilation system. Since traditional  malay house don’t use the electricity more often than a normal building. this stack  ventilation really works in every traditional malay house because it reduce the energy  consumption and automatically reduce the living cost. Also. stack ventilation  makes the traditional malay house to get a maximum ventilation from almost every  side of the house which the wind are basically come from the bottom. middle and  even from the upper side of the house. Other than that. the layout arrangement in  malay house will contribute in making the place become more comfortable. Layout  arrangem ent is one of the criteria in vernacular architecture. this layout arrangement  will contribute on the flow of the wind. Last but not least it is important as well to  orientate the building in a proper direction. The proper building orientation will make  the building to receive a good sun shading device. better air ventilation system so  that the building would not be hotter on the inside.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Management Techniques For The Red-cockaded Woodpecker On Federal Lands :: essays research papers

Management Techniques For The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker On Federal Lands ABSTRACT The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) has been listed as an endangered species since October, 1970. This species inhabits pine forests in the southeastern United States where the majority of prime timberland is privately owned. Private ownership of preferred habitat and historically destructive silvicultural practices create unique problems for federal wildlife managers. This report analyzes three management techniques being used to assess and augment red-cockaded woodpecker populations on federal lands in the region, primarily military installations. Seeking cooperation between diverse government agencies, wildlife managers attempt to accurately assess species abundance, alter woodpecker nesting cavities, and construct nest sites in an effort to enhance red-cockaded woodpecker habitat on limited federal holdings in the American southeast. Key words: Picoides borealis, Global Positioning System, Geographic Information System, cavity trees, cavity restrictors The red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) is an endangered species that inhabits pine forests in an historical range from Texas to the Atlantic coast (Jackson, 1986; Reed et al., 1988). Picoides borealis nest in clans or family groups that usually consist of one breeding pair and 2 non-breeding male helpers (Jackson, 1986 ). This group establishes and defends a territory that includes foraging habitat and nesting "cavity trees" (Copeyon et al., 1991; Jackson et al., 1986; Rossell and Gorsira, 1996). Red-cockaded woodpecker clans excavate cavities in living pines, and have established a living and foraging routine in conjunction with the southeastern pine forests and the historical occurrence of fire, which reduces hardwood understory while sparing fire-resistant pines (Jackson, 1986). Much of the prime nesting and foraging habitat for this species has been systematically eliminated due to development, timber harvest and intensive fire suppression (Jackson, 1986). The emergence of dense hardwood understory and midstory as a result of fire suppression in red-cockaded woodpecker habitat has resulted in the abandonment of many otherwise undisturbed areas (Jackson, 1986; Kelly et al., 1993). The red-cockaded woodpecker has been listed as endangered since 1970 (Federal Register, 1970 as cited by Ertep and Lee, 1994). Four requirements for sustained red-cockaded woodpecker populations that are lacking in the species historical range are identified as critical to species stabilization and recovery: 1.) Open pine forests with shade tolerant understory controlled by cyclical fire seasons; 2.) Old growth Pinus palustrus aged > 95 years and Pinus taeda aged > 75 years; 3.) Approximately 200 acres for nesting group or clan; 4.) Multiple clans per area to maintain genetic stability and variability (Jackson, 1986). The opportunity to establish or preserve these habitat qualities on private timberland is largely lost due to historical harvest practices and development, and research on expanding populations on federal