Teamwork and Work Force Diversity Essay Example

Teamwork and Work Force Diversity Essay Would you Identify and describe the various existing types of groups and teams In your organization? How do you identify If these groups or teams are effective as a work group? Explain the meaning of this sentence, All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams. How do you comment to this Speed, Teamwork and Flexibility are the order of the day. How do you manage the On-site-Teams as well as Virtual Teams? How do you address or manage a Self-Managed Work Team? Explain how do you foster teamwork? What is your impression of the importance of teamwork in work setting (restaurant, permanent, fast food chain, etc) What programs/trainings have you established to promote teamwork in your organization. How do you handle work force diversity in the team members composition such as gender, religion, age, culture, disabilities, ethnic groups, etc. What do you do to improve teams processes, communications and decisions? How do you address Inter-Team Competition to make them good and effective In favor a common goal or purpose What are the companys secrets to make employees loyal to the company? What are he common reasons why some employees fail to carry out their tasks? What are the measures you are undertaking? What is the secret behind your companys success? Finally, as a manager, what advice can you give to those aspiring managers? 1 . What is Teamwork to you? 2. What are the activities that you implement to promote Teamwork on your employees? 3. What are the strategies to maintain the bond, relationship, cooperation, and teamwork In your work place? 4. Do opinions, suggestions coming from a member of the team are considered In making decisions? What decision ethos do your organization has? . What kind of workforce diversity do you have? 6. What is the most dominant religion exist in the organization, does the prevailing religion effects the daily organizational activities? 7. What is the composition of your team? Are members come from different departments? 8. Could you cite any team problems in your organization? Do social loafing, lacks of motivation, personality conf licts exist? 9. Could we ask one employee about to whom they always ask for help, and who most often help team, energize and dinnertime them. 10. Give us example when you were part of a team. We will write a custom essay sample on Teamwork and Work Force Diversity specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Teamwork and Work Force Diversity specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Teamwork and Work Force Diversity specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer What was your role in the teamwork? How did you contribute to this task group? How often did you interact with other team members? 1 1 . What nature of task does the teams in a certain department/unit of your company focus on? Technical demands or Social demands? Or both? How? 12. What was your companys way of formulating a team? Give us examples. 13. Have you ever had an experience where there were Issues or strong disagreement among the team members? What did you do? 14. Are there any cases that Teamwork was not improve your teams communications, skills and decisions? 6. How do you handle work force diversity in the team members composition such as gender, culture, age, disabilities,point of views, religions and the like? 17. How do you maintain the loyalty of your employees here in Disarming Water district? 18. Tell us about your experience working with peers. How did it go? Have you ever faced difficulties and disagreements? 19. Have you been a team leader? Describe your role as a team leader. Tell us about the challenges you faced in trying to resolve issues among team embers. What could you have done to be more effective? 20. Does Teamwork exist in a particular department of our company? How? 21 . Is there any problem/ challenges occurring with the working relationships between employees as a team in a specific unit/department? Give us examples. 22. Does feedbacks from your customers can help the teamwork to enhance and develop? 23. How did you cope up with such issues like water shortage specifically here in Disarming? 24. Are there any cases that Teamwork was not practiced by your employees or by the people in your work place? 5. How do you maintain the loyalty of your employees here in Disarming Water district? 26. When having misunderstanding in the team of production or in a certain area of work, how does the team leader fixed the said problem? How does it affect the production of the team? 27. How can we minimize misunderstanding in a team? How can we reduce the argument inside a team? 28. How does teamwork affect the production of the team? 29. What if the leader is the one who started the mess? And supposed to be the leader is the one who should fixed it? What can you do about it? 30. How can a leader make his team work together? How does the leader make the team as a team not Just people who needs to work together but a work as a team? 31 . For you as a manager, What is the secret behind your companys success? 32. How do you balance the roles of each member? Where did you base it? 33. How do you maintain the team dynamics? How will it affect your team performances? 34. Do you think a conflict is necessary to a team? How does it help your teamwork? 35. What are your team building activities that will help your team have rapport with each other?

How Many Days Congress Works - Annual Total and Average

How Many Days Congress Works - Annual Total and Average Members of Congress work fewer than half of the days in any given year, But those account for only the legislative days, defined as an official meeting of the legislative body to do the peoples business. The House works about one day out of three, and the Senate works a little more than that, according to federal records. Youve probably heard the phrase do-nothing Congress at least once in your life, and its often a jab at the inability of lawmakers to reach common ground and pass important spending bills. Sometimes its a reference to how little Congress appears to work, especially in light of the $174,000 base salary for its members - more than three times the amount of money the median U.S. household earns. Heres an explanation of how many days Congress works every year. Number of Days Congress Works in Session a Year The House of Representatives has averaged 138 legislative days a year since 2001, according to records kept by the Library of Congress. Thats about one day of work every three days, or fewer than three days a week. The Senate, on the other hand, was in session an average of 162 days a year over the same time period. Technically a legislative day in the House can span more than 24 hours. A legislative day ends only when the session is adjourned. The Senate works a little differently. A legislative day often stretches beyond the boundaries of the 24-hour workday day and sometimes week. That doesnt mean the Senate is meeting around the clock. It just means that a legislative session merely recesses but doesnt adjourn after a days work. Here are the number of legislative days for the House and Senate each year in recent history: 2016: 131 in the House, 165 in the Senate.2015: 157 in the House, 168 in the Senate.2014: 135 in the House, 136 in the Senate.2013: 159 in the House, 156 in the Senate.2012: 153 in the House, 153 in the Senate.2011: 175 in the House, 170 in the Senate.2010: 127 in the House, 158 in the Senate.2009: 159 in the House, 191 in the Senate.2008: 119 in the House, 184 in the Senate.2007: 164 in the House, 190 in the Senate.2006: 101 in the House, 138 in the Senate.2005: 120 in the House, 159 in the Senate.2004: 110 in the House, 133 in the Senate.2003: 133 in the House, 167 in the Senate.2002: 123 in the House, 149 in the Senate.2001: 143 in the House, 173 in the Senate. House Averages 18 Hours of Work a Week Theres a little more to this analysis than just the number of days lawmakers are scheduled to cast votes. A 2013 analysis conducted by The New York Times found that the House was in session for 942 hours that year, or about 18 hours a week. That level of work, The Times noted, was the least by any Congress in a non-election year in nearly a decade. By comparison, the House worked 1,700 hours in 2007,1,350 hours in 2005,and 1,200 hours in 2011. The same went for the Senate, which had 99 voting days in 2013. Some attempts have been made to force members of Congress to work full weeks. In 2015, for example, a Republican lawmaker from Florida, Rep. David Jolly, introduced legislation that would have required the House to be in session 40 hours a week when members of the House were in Washington, D.C.A work week in Washington should be no different than a work week in every other town across the nation,† Jolly said at the time. Jollys measure failed to gain traction. Constituent Services Theres much more to being a congressman than voting. One of the most important aspects of the job is being accessible and responsive to the people who voted them into office. Its called constituent service: answering phone calls from the public, holding town-hall meetings on important issues, and assisting members of the 435 congressional districts with their problems. The nonprofit Congressional Management Foundation has reported: Members work long hours (70 hours a week when Congress is in session), endure unequaled public scrutiny and criticism, and sacrifice family time to fulfill work responsibilities. The 70-hour work week reported by members of Congress is more than twice the average length of the work week for Americans. When Congress Adjourns Congressional sessions begin in January of odd-numbered years and typically end in December of the same year. Congress adjourns at the end of each session. There are two sessions for each sitting of Congress. The Constitution forbids either the Senate or the House to adjourn for more than three days without the permission of the other chamber.

Practical Experience and On-the-Job Training

Practical Experience and On-the-Job Training Hashtag: #MasterChef Practical Experience and On-the-Job Training Since cooking is one of the few occupations where one can get most of his training on the job, it is often favorable for an aspiring chef to work as a kitchen staff and gain practical or actual experience in a real world commercial kitchen. Most successful chefs according to study, are always eager to learn about food, they love the kitchen, and take advantage of opportunities offered by the kitchen to develop the skills and personality of a great chef. For example, the ability to think clearly,  stay  focused, and make quick decisions at a fast pace, demanding, and noisy environment are characteristics of a great chef progressively developed in the kitchen. YOUR FUTURE IN 180 MINUTES EXAM Practical skills  and experience are a tacit knowledge that is unique and difficult to imitate. It is the source of differentiation and competitive advantage that allows an individual to innovate, add value, ensure accuracy, and product quality. Expert chefs with significant tacit knowledge are capable of preparing any meal without consulting a cookbook because they have years of practical cooking experience. Moreover, expert chefs with sufficient practical experience are already accustomed to the taste, texture, color, and aroma of a particular meal and therefore able to mix ingredients without measuring devices and cook delicious meals without cooking timers. Formal Culinary Education Some Master Chef’s cooking skills are not only developed through years of practical experience but formal culinary education. The reason is that most Certification Standards for chefs performing in the executive and master level are based on experience and formal education. An aspiring chef, therefore, regardless of years of practical experience must obtain formal culinary education before he or she can be certified and land a job in better restaurants or hotels with high hiring standards. Some known advantage of having a degree or certificate from a professional and reputable culinary school is increased potential in landing a job, gaining knowledge of different cooking methods, learning theoretical cooking techniques from highly trained culinary school teachers, and getting certified in different areas of food education such as food preparation, food science, and food studies. Formal culinary education can also help aspiring chefs to experience and appreciate team building and develop a personal discipline that will set them apart from others. This discipline can help them keep everything in perspective; make them better employees and a great leader to other chefs. It is important to remember that although advantageous, the need to go to formal culinary school depends entirely on the job you want to pursue. For instance, chef levels with relatively little responsibility do not need formal education as they can land a job in school, hospital, and other institutions that only require high school diploma and adequate restaurant experience.

How can interactive media encourage students from secondary schools to Dissertation

How can interactive media encourage students from secondary schools to eat healthy and thus contribute to reducing the growing o - Dissertation Example n.d.). Considering the cases of school children, the number of children suffering from overweight has been rising over the years. Records reflect that one out of three children is becoming obese or overweight. These children are also affected with heart diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes that are associated with the increase in weight. It is a matter of serious concern that lead to several challenges for such school children to cope up themselves in situations of the school environment and lead a healthy life (Congress, 2000). Thus there is a need to reduce the problems related to overweight in school children in order to protect them from the above mentioned diseases of the health (Pillitteri, 2010). The present study focuses on the effects of interactive media towards encouraging children from secondary schools to eat healthy and become aware of the growing overweight problems among such children. Meaning of Healthy Eating in Healthcare: By healthy eating in healthcare, it refers to the foods in amounts and types that contain a proper balance between nourishment and power supporting the growth of the children as well as of the metabolism of the adults. In order to eat healthy, such foods need to be selected that contain vitamins for the promotion of the health, as well as minerals that are required by the body. The quantities of fats, cholesterol, sugar and sodium need to be less in such foods (Tassoni, 2002). Thus healthy eating means intake of those foods and nutrients that are actually needed by the food for proper growth and health. The necessary nutrients include protein, carbohydrates, fat, water, vitamins, and minerals (Boyle and Long, 2008). Thus it can be realized that healthy eating is extremely essential for individuals to remain healthy such that they do not suffer from severe diseases that result from overweight problems. With the school children the problems are more since they tend not to understand the problems and the ill effects of u nhealthy foods and their obesity can actually lead to them becoming obese when they are grown up as well (Penn, 2005). Trends and Development in Healthy Diet: Studies have revealed certain trends in health eating. These trends do not include only losing weight and diet regimens. Rather they consider the healthy eating habits in order to bring about a change in the lifestyle, with balanced and proper diet particularly focused on eliminating or reducing the problems of child obesity and overweight problems in school children. In the present times, several individuals, as reflected by the Americans, have turned their focus on improving their diets. Thus diets are obtained to have changed and people are now more concerned to follow the dietary instructions as provided by health departments. Low fat diets have been obtained to have gained attraction among most individuals that reflect a turn towards the positive effect as far as healthy eating is concerned (Weimer, n.d.). The governments in this regard have started playing a significant role. Since dietary constraints have proved to prevent several health problems in individuals, considering the small children as well, hence governments are also taking initiatives to encourage healthy eating among small children and other individuals. They are providing effective nutritional information to

Article Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 15

Review - Article Example To formulate an effective plan one must assess prior disaster experiences since the risks vary in size, location, industry, and business size. It is sad to note that businesses fail to formulate a contingency plan for the unexpected event. According to the Disaster Recovery Preparedness Council Survey, at the end of 2013 more than 70 percent of businesses acquire dismal grades in terms of disaster preparedness. The author surveys 100 small businesses in New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York after disaster of Hurricane Sandy and the report reveals that two thirds of the businesses do not have disaster recovery plan in place. Scarinci(2014) says that in October 2012, Hurricane Sandy causes major devastation in New York especially in borough of Staten Island’s many small businesses struggle to recover. After the disaster small business owners, assess the loss and identify the requirements to reopen their businesses as well as apply for financial assistance. Most of the small business owners that try open to their businesses realize that planning is crucial to facilitate the recovery process and prepare for future disasters. In addition to that, the business owners do not understand disaster preparedness since it is a topic that overwhelms them. Small businesses in Staten Island rely on limited assistance due to limited resources. CPAs in the area can provide audit services, tax, financial services. CPAs offer advice on growth, planning, retirement, contingency, development, and disaster recovery. The survey 1 on disaster recovery plans reveals that respondent CPA firms do not have a contingency plan before the Hurricane Sandy. Some of the businesses assume they do not need a disaster recovery plan since it cannot affect them directly. The most widespread problems on the small businesses include computer viruses, utility outages, and power issues. It is positive to note that most of the small businesses

Economic Development Of Vietnam And China Economics Essay

Economic Development Of Vietnam And China Economics Essay China has been a remarkably successful economy since its adaptation of market-oriented reforms in 1978. The countrys real GDP growth has averaged about 9% each year from 1979 to the present (Naughton, 1995). Vietnam has also gone through a terrific economic development after the countrys transition process from centrally-planned economy to a market economy and it also gone from a poor to a middle-income country in just 20 years. This essay is devoted to give an overview how the gradualist path of economic reforms of the late 1970s and early 1980s affected both Chinas and Vietnams economies and led to a high rate of development. I will analyze what factors made both countries to choose gradualism in contrast with Shock Therapy also known as Big Bang approach. While various scholars debate which approach leads to a better performance, I will demonstrate that in the case of China and Vietnam the gradualist approach turned out to be the more efficient one. Over the past five decades, East Asia has emerged as a region with several spectacular stories (i.e. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan) of catch-up development. Both China and Vietnam have achieved remarkable economic growth since their economic reforms. Scholars (i.e. Popov, 2007) argue that the transformation of these two countries was caused by the adverse supply shock that resulted from deregulation of prices and change in relative price ratios that created the need for reallocation of resources in order to correct the industrial structure inherited from centrally planned economy. The end of Cultural Revolution in China in 1976 revived the two competing forces of institutional centralization and accelerated growth, which in contrast requires decentralization (Riskin, 1987). Two years later, in 1978, a plan of reform was adopted to deal with the imbalances in the economy. The transition strategy undertaken by China is termed a dual track reform path because there is both a planned and a market part of the economy. In this dual track path, there was not only one single reform attempted at one time, but different programs were also tried simultaneously until the new reform measure could replace the old system. In the case of big-bang reform, the old system is usually destroyed before the new system takes place. Vietnam has gone through a similar transformation over the past 20 years and shifted its economy from a centrally planned economy to a Socialist-oriented market economy. In 1986 the government introduced a policy package which is often referred as economic reform (Doi Moi). It combined government planning with free-market incentives and encouraged the establishment of private businesses and foreign investment, including foreign-owned enterprises. Both countries began their economic development from their agriculture sector, and in both cases, their attempts to build a Soviet-style economy failed, during their pre-reform period (Vu, 2009) Today both countries are major players in the global economy, where Vietnam is the worlds leading exporter of pepper, seafood, rice, coffee (Backman, 2007) and China is the second largest economy in the world after U.S. One might ask, how both of these countries with a Communist government could achieve such high level of economic growth, hence in order to understand how their transformation led to todays development, it is important to compare and contrast gradualism with shock therapy economic reform approaches. Big bang versus Gradualism A big bang or shock therapy approach implements various reforms on (monetary policy, privatization, trade and exchange rates etc.) quickly, whereas the gradualist approach spreads various reforms over an extended period of time. There are several arguments in support of big-bang approach to various types of reform. First, in the context of privatization, a big-bang approach provides a critical scale of privatized sector in the economy so that the privatized firms will be efficient (Roland and Verdier, 1992) Second, a big bang may increases the credibility of a reform (Lipton and Sachs, 1990) Third, the gradualist alternative gives time to reform opponents to organize themselves and thus invites a more formidable resistance (Krueger, 1993) In addition, in the context of price reforms, a gradual reform is undesirable, because it may induce an intertemporal speculation (van Wijnbergen, 1992). Finally, a big-bang approach brings the benefits more quickly (World Bank, 1991). On the other hand, there are various supportive arguments for a gradualist approach as well. The earliest statement in favor of this approach is from Confucius: More haste, less result. First, a gradualist approach may avoid excessive cost, especially for the government budget (Dewatripont and Roland 1992; Nielsen, 1993). Second, it avoids an excessive reduction in living standards at the start of a reform (Wang, 1992). Third, it allows trial and error and mid-course adjustment (World Bank, 1991). Fourth, it helps a government to gain incremental credibility (Fang, 1992). When the outcomes of reforms are uncertain to individuals, a gradual approach splits the resistance force and can thus increase the programs chance of surviving attacks by special interest groups (Rodrik, 1990). Gradualist approach to reform can be defined as a sequential implementation of minimum bangs (terminology from Williamson, 1991). A minimum bang is a simultaneous implementation of a minimum set of reforms that can be i mplemented independent of other reforms without failure. It is important to note though that, even across a set of minimum bangs, a gradualist approach may not always be better than a big bang. A reform program may not be able to overcome political resistance, if it is implemented by shock therapy, but it may become politically viable if it is implemented by a gradualist approach. Friedman and Johnson (1995) argued that in the presence of complementarities between government policies and enterprise attributes and convex adjustment costs for enterprises (i.e. costs increasing with the speed of reforms) radical shock-therapy reforms might not necessarily be optimal. Countries that chose to follow the big bang approach, found themselves in a supply-side recession, where the excessive speed of change in relative prices required the magnitude of restructuring that was simply non-achievable with the limited pool of investment. The speed of adjustment and reallocation of resources in every economy is limited, if only due to the limited investment potential needed to reallocate capital stock. This is one of the main rational for gradual, rather than instant, phasing out of tariff and non-tariff barriers, of subsidies and other forms of government support of particular sectors. This can be used as a powerful argument against shock therapy, especially when reforms involved result in a sizable reallocation of resources. It is also important, that the pace of liberalization had to be no faster than the ability of the economy to move resources from non-competitive to competitive industries. Differences in performance during the initial stage of transition depend strongly on the initial conditions and external trade patterns. In addition, changes in the institutional capacity of the state have dramatic impact on performance. Economic reforms in China and Vietnam after the pre-reform period It is definitely the strong institutional framework that should be held responsible for the success of gradual reforms in China and Vietnam, where strong authoritarian regimes were preserved and centrally planned economy institutions were not dismantled before new market institutions were created. The shock-therapy approach was not desired by China, because of its radical reform programs, therefore the gradualist approach was more likely to be successful, due to Chinas under-developed and under-industrialized economy with a large rural surplus of labor force. Chinas economic reforms can be divided into separate eras. The first one, which extends from Deng Xiaopings 1978 opening and reform to the early 1990s, the Communist Party emphasized rural development with relatively little interference from above, where the result was an explosion of small- and medium-sized businesses that created an enormous rise in employment and wealth. Deng created his first special economic zones in places along the coast, such as Shenzhen, where there was relatively little established industry. So the new companies that sprang up there were almost entirely private. Foreign investors piled in, but mostly under conditions that did not disadvantage local entrepreneurs. Outcome: everyone got rich together. Centrally planned economy was no longer viable in China; therefore changes were required to promote economic growth. Consequently, without a definite model in mind, China underwent a lengthy path of adjusting reform objectives from a planned economy with some market adjustment to a combination of planned and market economy to a socialist market economy. In Vietnam, economic reforms started in 1986 and they resembled very much Gorbachev-type marginal reforms in the same period. Vietnamese authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to economic liberalization and international integration. They have moved to implement the structural reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive export-driven industries. In both Vietnam and China the economic reforms were initiated under certain circumstances that provided three critical factors for change: receptivity, crisis and opportunity (Vu, 2009). During their pre-reform period (China: 1953-1978; Vietnam 1954-1986)Â  [1]Â  they made extraordinary efforts to build their socialist economies, but they experienced failure rather than success. China was impoverished by the Cultural Revolution, while the Vietnamese economy was ruined by the collectivization of land, nationalization of privately owned industrial and trading establishments and socialist ideology-driven initi atives (Vu, 2009). Reforms became possible because of various internal and external factors in both countries. In China, the death of Chairman Mao in 1976 paved the way for Deng Xiaoping and his economic reforms, while in Vietnam, the radical reform programs launched by Gorbachev in 1985 in the Soviet Union, which was then Vietnams role model for economic development as well as its main provider of aid, to some extent were an inspiration for the Vietnamese leadership. Fforde and Vylder (1996) observed that the similar circumstances leading to reforms in China and Vietnam are behind the fact that the reforms in both countries were more economic than political. While the reforms in China and Vietnam were initiated under the pressure of economic despair and the need of finding a new way to recover the economy, the main concern of the leadership in both countries was to maintain political stability and the absolute power of the Communist Party. As a result, to justify the legitimacy of the political system, both countries chose a gradualist approach to reform with a special focus on economic growth. A big bang approach and a possible unsuccessful outcome of a reform could have destroyed the parties credibility and led to an up rise within the country, of what the regime would not have survived, so the two countries had no other choice than introduce new economic reforms only step by step. This gradualist approach addressed the easy problems first and left the hard ones for later. A radical approach (big bang) would aim to maximize efficiency gains and minimize the political costs of reform. The pacing and sequencing method of the gradualist approach gained popularity in both countries at the expense of advocating for immediate liberalization. One important feature of reforms is that people are not sure usually whether they are necessarily gainers or losers of a certain reform, therefore I believe that a gradualist approach may be politically more sustainable than the big bang approach, because it splits the resistance force and allows uninterrupted political support for the reform. On the other hand, if a reform program is strong at the start and well supported by the public, then a shock therapy approach is better both because it brings the benefits faster and because it is politically preferred to various schemes of partial or gradual reforms. There are of course other factors as well (export oriented industrial policy) that contributed to the rapid growth of these Asian transition economies and not just gradualism. Conclusion It is clear to see by now, that both countries went through huge changes in their economies in the past 20-30 years. The Communist leadership was able to maintain their power, but also open up more and create a unique socialist-market economy, where the state still owns the major industries such as telecommunications, national railroads, airlines and power. While there is only one direction for both China and Vietnam more economic reform and liberalization the Communist Party of these governments will certainly not tolerate any challenge to their power. They want economic change but not political one. While the two countries initiated their economic reforms from comparable economic and social conditions and have rather followed similar approaches to reform and economic management. Since the launch of these reforms, both countries have made impressive achievements in their growth performance; however their growth patterns have significantly diverged. China has far outperformed Vietn am in both the pace and the efficiency of growth. I dont think that there is need for comparison though, when both their historical and economic backgrounds, prior to the reforms, were different and also given the size of the two countries, China surely has an advantage due to its huge population. It is also important to keep in mind that while China has an advantage in government effectiveness, its institutional foundation remains weak, which is rather comparable with Vietnam. One of the issues that I found during my research is that in making comparative analysis between the shock therapy and gradualist approach, the country cases for big bang outnumber the countries that followed a gradual path and succeeded. China and Vietnam seem to be the only ones in comparison with a great amount of other transitional economies that followed the big bang approach. In this regard, the investigation of other similar cases following the gradual approach would be worth studying to have a better understanding and also a more accurate comparative analysis on different transitional paths adopted among different transitional economies. References: Backman, Michael. Chapter 16 Is Vietnam the New China. Asia Future Shock: Business Crisis and Opportunity in the Coming Years. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. pages 110-118 Dewatripont, M., and G. Roland (1992) The virtues of gradualism and legitimacy in the transition to a market economy. Economic Journal 102, 291-300 Fang, Xinghai (1992) Economic transition: government commitment and gradualism. Working Paper, Stanford University Khuong M. Vu. Economic Reform and Performance: A Comparative Study of China and Vietnam. China: An International Journal 7.2 (2009): 189-226. Project MUSE. 15 Apr. 2010 Krueger, Anne 0. (1993) Political Economy of Policy Reform in Developing Countries (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) Lipton, D., and J. Sachs (1990) Creating a market economy in Eastern Europe: the case of Poland, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1, 75-147 (1990) Naughton, Barry. Growing out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform, 1978-1993. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1995. Riskin, Carl. Chinas Political Economy: the Quest for Development since 1949. Oxford [Oxfordshire: Oxford UP, 1987. Roland, Gerard, and Thierry Verdier (1994) Privatization in Eastern Europe: irreversibility and critical mass effects. Journal of Public Economics 54(2), 161-83 Rodrik, Dani (1990) How should structural adjustment programs be designed, World Development 18, 933-47 Van Wijnbergen, S. (1992) Intertemporal speculation, shortages and the political economy of price reform. Economic Journal 102, 1395-406 Vladimir Popov, 2007. Shock Therapy versus Gradualism Reconsidered: Lessons from Transition Economies after 15 Years of Reforms1, Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, vol. 49(1), pages 1-31, Wang, Yijiang (1992) East European puzzle and Chinese enigma: institutional changes as a resource allocation problem. Paper presented in Anaheim, January 1993. Working Paper, University of Minnesota World Bank (1991) World Development Report 1991: The Challenge of Development (New York: Oxford University Press) http://www.arts.usask.ca/economics/skjournal/sej-3rd/Lynden.htm Accessed: 05.01.2010 http://dspace.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/40425/1/cu99-5.pdf Accessed: 05.03.2010

Henry Lawson Essay Essay

Many of the short stories by Henry Lawson deal with isolation or mateship, however not many of them deal with a combination of the two. The characters in Lawson’s stories have a strong sense of community, but they must still stand alone in order to survive. Some are alone because they must be, some because they want to be, some are a definite part of a group and still remain alone. Some are not as alone as they may think. All these ideas are shown in Lawson’s stories in one form or another, and some are easier to define than others. The type of isolation presented in â€Å"The Drover’s Wife† is one that is easily defined. She is left at home by her husband because â€Å"the drought of 18– ruined him. He had to sacrifice the remnant of his flock and go droving again† earning money for a family he barely sees. This forces his wife to fend for herself, battling both the elements and her loneliness on her own. This isolation is one that she does not welcome, but one that she accepts because she must. She shows a resilience that is admirable and a strong character. Because she must look after her â€Å"four ragged, dried-up-looking children†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she is not lacking of company, but lacking rather in support. She must rely upon her own courage and wits to keep both herself and her children alive. This stops her from being alone in a physical sense but not in an emotional one. She deals with this situation well, and while she does not enjoy her isolation, she manages to retain her sa nity. â€Å"The Bush Undertaker† contrasts this in that there is a definite tone of mental instability. The main character is alone out in the bush when he comes across what seems to be the corpse of an old mate, â€Å"Brummy†. He talks to Brummy even though it is obvious that he knows Brummy is dead. This shows that while the Bush Undertaker is aware of the absurdity of his situation, his isolation has made him more receptive to any form of companionship, even that of a corpse. He has no real goal that is mentioned in the story, so we assume that a lack of any company has unhinged his mind slightly. Even though he is talking to Brummy as if he were alive he still accepts the reality of Brummy’s demise, and buries him. He isn’t doing this out of sheer practicality however for he makes the comment that â€Å"Theer oughter be somethin’ sed†¦ Theer oughter be some sort o’ sarmin.† And then proceeds to  give the uncaring corpse a sermon at his burial. In this way while the bush undertaker is alone, the corpse of Brummy is not, as in death his mate is with him and supports him. While the bush undertaker is alone through necessity there are examples within Lawson’s stories of characters that actually choose to be alone. In â€Å"Water Them Geraniums† Mrs. Spicer is frequently left alone with her children. She has a husband, who is rarely at home, and several children, but is alone in the sense of she has no support. Joe comments that â€Å"I supposed, the reason why she hadn’t gone mad through hardship and loneliness was that she hadn’t either the brains or the memory to go farther than she could see through the trunks of the ‘apple trees’.† This may be far more accurate than he may think. She adamantly refuses the help of the Wilsons and tells her children â€Å"†¦not to say we was hungry if yer asked; but if yer give us anythink to eat, we was to take it an’ say thenk yer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This passage shows even though Mrs. Spicer is alone by ways support, her pride stops her from admitting her neediness, but it is enough to stop her from accepting help which is offered. She says to Mary that she has â€Å"†¦got past carin’ for anythink now. I felt it a little when Tommy went away†¦But I’m over that now.† It’s this assumed pose of strong noble unconcern that makes her able to deal with the hardships, although some would argue as to whether she deals with them well. She forces herself to stand alone in supporting her children, and in time this isolation caused by pride seems to be what kills her, for as Joe Wilson concludes â€Å"It was some time before we could believe that she was dead. But she was ‘past carin† right enough.† Another of Lawson’s stories that deals with isolation is â€Å"Brighten’s sister-in-law† which is also told from the perspective of Joe Wilson. However, at a time when Joe Wilson expects to be on his own, he finds steadfast help and caring support. While he and his son, Jim, are out bush Jim has a seizure. Joe panics, but has enough presence of mind to go looking for help. He finds help in the form of Brighten’s sister-in-law, a woman whose name we never learn. She aids him, treats Jim and eventually manages to get Jim into a stable condition. Throughout the story he hear mention of what seems to be a great emotional turmoil within this good Samaritan, as  she is described as both stoic and as crying while Jim is in the house. Even though it seems to cost her dearly, emotionally, she still treats Jim and this shows how even though some may expect no help, sometimes fate intervenes. The stories of Henry Lawson deal with all these themes of isolation, and the theme that is strongest is that of survival, for even though all his characters seem to be clearly alone or in company, most often they are alone in a sense that is an essential part of the power of his stories. They are alone in that they can rely upon, truly constantly rely upon, only one person.