Bob Knowlton Case Study Essay Example for Free

Bob Knowlton Case Study Essay Attribution process in chapter 4 is referred to as the ways in which people come to understand the causes of their own or others’ behavior. Knowlton felt that Fester was brought in to take his position as project head. With all the questions and research analysis that Fester completed on his own, Knowlton felt betrayed since his friend and mentor Jerrod never took the time to explain to him what was happening. When Knowlton did approach Jerrod to question why Fester was there, Jerrod replied, â€Å"We’re taking him on [. ]†Jerrod also replied that, â€Å"I don’t know yet where he will finally land †¦I thought he might spend a little time with you by way of getting started. † I believe that Knowlton should have gone back to talked to Jerrod again. Knowlton should have got his point across about the way that he and his team was feeling about Fester questions the work that he and his team had completed over the last six months and how calling his home at 2 o’clock explaining how Link’s patterning problem could be solved among other things. Jerrod could have then explained that Fester was brought in to be the project head for another department. In 1996, my husband and I were transferred to Korea for one year by the Army and our two kids that were 15 months old and 3 ? months old stayed with my mother-in-law. Once we returned a year later, our kids had grown so much. However much importantly to me, my kids were calling my mother-in-law mommy and I had not prepared myself for that. In the beginning, I was very hurt as well as confused as to why my kids was calling their grandmother â€Å" mommy†, but I came to the realization that they were at that stage in life where they were just starting to talk and mommy and daddy were their first words. After about a week, I asked my mother-in-law if she wanted the kids to call her grandma or nana so they would get use to calling my husband and I mommy and daddy. Finding of Facts 2: Self-Esteem The letter that Knowlton wrote explained that he would be glad to come back later (he would only be 40 miles away) to assist if there was any problems with the past work. Recommendation/Justification Self-Esteem is defined as the extent to which an individual believes that he or she is a worthwhile and deserving individual. In Knowlton’s situation he felt that he deserved the promotion to project head because he had the knowledge, skills and ability to perform the job. However, when Fester came and started challenging the result that he and his team had determined, he lost his self-esteem as well as his self-confidence and felt as if he was worthless to Mr. Jerrod and most importantly to his team and that allowed him to make a hasty decision to leave the organization. I recommend that Knowlton fight for his position, his team and most importantly his self-esteem. I recommend that Knowlton think about the achievements and contributions that he has made to the team as well as the organization. Once Knowlton builds his self-esteem back up, I recommend that he talks with his supervisor Mr. Jerrod and express his true feeling regarding how Fester approach toward his team is being very disruptive. In the military, we are usually transferred to different duty stations every three to five years. This one particular time, I was transferred to Ft Bragg, NC and they were not aware that I was coming to be assigned to the unit. Since they were not aware that I was coming, they did not have a place for me to work so I was consider a â€Å"floater† going from section to section to help out where ever needed until they found a permanent slot for me. The first section that I worked in was the processing section. The section was running smoothly, and I was there for observation purposes only. However, the leader that I am, I could not stand by and allow the soldiers to continue to work long hours without giving suggestions that would allow them to work smarter. I saw the hesitation that they were giving so I called a meeting and explained my purpose of being in the section and also let the soldiers know that I was just there to assist. Once they realized that I was not there to take anyone’s job, and that I was there to help the section run more efficiently, the soldiers began to gravitate toward me for more suggests. After about a week, the soldiers saw the results of my suggestions and incorporated those suggestions into their daily routines in the office. The soldiers also requested that I be assigned to their section permanently without my knowledge and when it was brought to my attention I was very impressed and decided to stay in that section. Findings of Facts: Team Empowerment Bob always prided himself on the fact that the work of the lab was guided and evaluated by the group as a whole and he was fond of repeating that it was not a waste of time to include secretaries in such meetings. Recommendations/Justification: Team empowerment refers to the degree to which its members perceive the group as (1) being competent and able to accomplish work-related tasks (potency), (2) performing important and valuable tasks (meaningfulness), (3) having choice (autonomy) in how they carry out their task, and (4) experiencing a sense of importance and significance (impact) in the work performed and goals achieved. Bob was proud of the members of his team. No one thought that they were smarter than anyone else on the team; they respected each other and valued each other’s opinion. However, from the very first day that Fester arrived, he made it clear that he was not a team player. He thought that everyone should work individually on their portion of the project, come together to complete the project and that be it. Bob also stated that he valued everyone’s opinion including the secretaries. Every member of the team know that if they did not pull their weight on their particular part of the project they could depend on their team mates for assistance and again Fester was not a fan of that. I believe that Bob should have stepped in and expressed his feelings as to how he and his team worked together on everything. He should have expressed how he valued everyone’s opinion and that he was not going to let him or ever Jerrold tear them apart. If Fester still had concerns he should have taken that up with Jerrold however, it should have been a dead issue to Jerrold since Fester was not going to be in charge of the department that Bob was currently heading. At my last unit, I was the section chief for the Personnel Section. I had just completed my training about three weeks prior when another sergeant came to the section that out ranked me. When the other sergeant came, after one week of watching how my section and I conducted business she wanted to make changes. One day she just came in the office and started making changes without consulting me or our commander. When I arrived to the office and saw the changes that she had made, I asked to speak with her separately, and I respectfully told her that I didn’t appreciate her coming in and changing my section around. She began to say that the changes that she was making was how she had her section set up at her last unit and the section ran smooth once all the changes were complete. Since she outranked me, I had to tell her again, respectfully that this was not her section, and the commander had not approved any of her changes nor did he have any knowledge of any of her changes. We then went and talked with the commander and he had agreed with me that first he would make the final decision if she was going to be in charge of the section or if I was going to continue to run the section. Also, if he was going to put her in charge of the section any changes that she wanted to make still had to be approved by him first. So needless to say, she was not happy with me, however, about a month or so later we had a talk. She stated that she admired me for standing up for myself as well as my section. She then went on to apologize for trying to use her rank to intimidate me. After our discussion, we were able to work together in the section as equals.

A Short History Of The Blues Essay -- Music, Blues, Communication, Ni

The late 19th century marked a great deal of change in the United States as well as the rest of the world. World war one had begun and reeked great havoc on the entire world. Nikola Tesla and the fathers of communications had made major scientific breakthroughs in the communications field and modern radio programming was right around the corner. Slavery had been abolished for over thirty years but segregation was still an enormous factor amongst the African-American people in the U.S. One of the most segregated states in the entire country, Mississippi, was on the brink of one of the most influential forms of modern music that the world had ever seen or heard: the blues. What the blues did for music is reflective in almost every piece of modern music heard throughout the world today. From rock and roll to country music, all the way to hip hop, the blues is deep down inside shining like a beautiful light that makes that music glow forever. Weather a person is happy or sad, compa ssionate or indifferent; the blues will always be there to light the way. Right at the turn of the century a man by the name of W.C. Handy was about to stumble upon a sound that would change the world of music forever. The year was 1903. The summer sun was beating down ferociously and a man named William Christopher Handy, who happened to be catching a train heading north, found himself in a town called Tutwiler Mississippi which lies smack-dab in the middle of the Mississippi delta between Clarksdale Mississippi and Greenwood Mississippi. Handy, a former bandleader of â€Å"a black orchestra that mostly plays dance music and popular standards of the day, is a learned musician who understands theory and the conventions of good, respectable music’’ sudden... ... America the civil rights movement had begun and a new type of blues called soul music was introduced. Traditional country blues was making its way into college towns and it was only a matter of time before electric blues would follow. As the fifties came to a close, the most musically influential time period in the history of popular music, the sixties, would come roaring in with bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Jimmie Hendrix all of which were heavily influenced by the blues. After the 1960’s through the seventies and the eighties the blues and its wonderful history would help to shape almost every form of modern music. In 2002 the United States Congress passed a resolution making 2003 â€Å"the year of the blues.† Without the development of the great pioneers of the blues genre music would be in a totally different place, as we know it today.

Engage In Personal Development Essay

1.1 Describe the duties and responsibilities of own work role. As a Teaching Assistant my main responsibility is to create a safe, happy, positive, stimulating and multicultural learning environment in which children can be cared for. My main duties are listed below: To work as an integral member of the team, creating a safe, constructive and stimulating environment for the children. To meet the children’s individual needs, appropriate to their stage and level of development. To be involved in the setting up and clearing away at the start and end of each session as required. To be involved with the planning of activities. To support literacy and numeracy activities in the classroom. To foster children’s growth of development and self reliance, and to be involved in children’s activities with a view to supporting and extending these activities appropriately. To ensure that toys and equipment are maintained, clean and safe to play with or use. To understand and comply with the Fire Drill Practise. To attend and take part in staff and other relevant meetings. To keep a daily register, first aid box and other relevant records as required. To communicate with parents and carers in a positive, constructive manner. To make time available on a regular basis to discuss the day to day running of the setting with other members of staff. Observing pupil performance and reporting on observations to the teacher Listening to pupils read, reading to them, and telling them stories. I also feel that as an individual I am able to communicate well with children and adults and actually enjoy doing this and hopefully inject a bit of humour into work. Often I am left to decide how or what to do with children as the teacher is tied up doing other things. This means I must use my own initiative and get on with the task in hand. I am able to do this without a  problem. I realise I must always be busy and if this means straightening the books in the book corner or sharpening pencils then this is what I do. I am aware I am expected to follow all the schools policies and procedures and so I have a copy of them all and have read them all. An important policy is of course confidentiality. Everything that happens in the school must remain there – I am not to discuss children school records and background with any outsiders. I am a good listener too and feel I have a sympathetic nature however I also realise I need to be firm but fair. Boundaries are important to chil dren and must be made clear. 1.2 Explain expectation about own work role as expresses in relevant standards. Each work role has its own set of standards the expectations I was given by my class teacher included being reliable and able to build good relationships with children and parent carers, encouraging play whilst learning, and by having children’s best interests e.g. physical activities, outings, this would help them to enjoy their growth in knowledge and assist in enhancing their development as a whole. Also I was expected to work as a team with other staff members and parent/carers in order to support the children to promote the children’s initial learning so that the children could feel confident and would be able to boost up their self-esteem. I was also expected to supervise the children which meant following the Child Protection Act and health and safety policy. Children must always be watched closely to prevent and reduce the severity of injury to children. Children often challenge their own abilities but are not always able to recognise the risks involved. As a Teaching Assistant I need to supervise children and identify any risks and minimise injury. The National Occupational Standards for Teaching Assistant offers guidance on the wider aspects of competent performance. It also forms the basis for the NAPTA (National Association of Professional Teaching Assistants) Profiles, which many schools now expect their Teaching Assistants to complete. The Support Work in Schools qualifications at levels 2 and 3 are also based on the National Occupational Standards. Dfe and Ofsted are examples of other models of performance which are accessible to assistants. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided. Reflective practice is one of the tools which can be used by Early Years Professionals to fulfill their role as ‘change agent’, which is at the heart of the Early Years Professional Status (CWDC, 2008). By structured reflection on current practice the EYP can identify what change is valuable, worthwhile and improving. As part of our job role it is important to carry out reflective practice especially because we work with children/young people and our effectiveness will have an impact on them and their learning. Reflective practice means thinking about and evaluating what you do and discussing any changes which could be made. This means focusing on how we interact with colleagues, children and the environment. It means thinking about how we could have done something differently, what we did well, what we could have done better. How we can improve what we have done. It also means reflecting our own values, beliefs and experiences which shape our thoughts and ideas. This will allow us to obtain a clearer picture of our own behaviour and a better understanding of our strengths and weaknesses- so that we can learn from our own mistakes and take appropriate future actions. I am always trying to improve the quality of my performance and by using reflective practice it allows me to look objectively at my work and figure out how I can improve on it. Reflective practice allows me to support the children better and better- if I have any concerns about how the session went I can look back and work out what more I could have done. I may have used one resource and found it useful and then choose it again with another child. It helps to have something to aim for, it helps with job satisfaction. 2.2 Demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice. From experience reflection on my own practice has given me opportunities to improve greatly on the task next time. It doesn’t mean that I was â€Å"wrong† to begin with it just means that the good parts of the task can be made even better. It really is about striving to improve on what was done. I am in the fortunate position to have a mentor who is excellent at tweaking my tasks and highlighting how I could improve on them. The first day I worked as a TA I was placed in a Reception class where I was to split children into  three groups. One group went to play in the sandpit, another outside on the tricycles and the last group were sent to paint. All the children were happy and content however the painting group became bored very quickly. I soon realised I hadn’t guided the children in any way. When I suggested painting a family member suddenly their interest came back and they were intent on finishing their family portrait before venturing into the sandpit. I realised on reflection that such young children needed direction and instruction in order to maintain their attention on something. I should have done this at the outset but didn’t. This is an example of reflective practice from my very first day in a classroom. This is just one example and as a TA I can honestly say that there is more than one example a day which reinforces what an important thing reflective practice is. I fortunately work in a school that are big into reflective practice and so it isn’t difficult to approach staff if a method of teaching isn’t working well. Very often learning methods need to be tweaked for the individual also. I have often worked with a group who all but one found the task manageable. For that particular child I had to change part of my instruction in order to help with the way they were able to learn. For example one of my children finds that by moving about and learning by touching things helps him to understand concepts being taught to him. I recently changed a counting task to suit him whereby I asked him to count chair legs round a table. The others were happy working with units and an abacus. I now realise that I have developed all my learning strategies through reflective practice. 2.3 Describe how own values, belief systems and experiences may affect working practice. Reflection can be difficult when your own attitudes and beliefs may differ from others. It is important to not let your own attitudes and beliefs affect your work role and to maintain your professionalism at all times. I have tried to look at what I value and consider and how my own beliefs / experiences could affect the way I work below: Background My family structure, its culture and origin will differ from others. I have parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. I can’t imagine life as an only child. My parenting techniques and parenting I  received will differ from those around me. I may not agree with how children are punished at home however I am in no way expected to pass judgement to the children. Moral influences Two children in the class I assist in are not able to be involved in Christmas activities of any sort due to their religious beliefs. At Christmas they were unable to decorate stars and make tree decorations or join in with the nativity and Christmas meal. I sat and made different things with them and kept them entertained during rehearsals however I did feel sorry for them as both wanted to join in with their friends. It was important that I didn’t show my feelings to them though as this would of been very wrong. Other people may struggle with those who have different diet and lifestyles e.g. veganism, vegetarianism. Marriage, war, immigration and emigration are other areas people may have opinions on along with trafficking, smacking, smoking, drinking, unemployment and employment. 3.1 Evaluate own knowledge, performance and understanding against relevant standards. This is about reflecting on and evaluating honestly my own performance, and discovering ways to improve it through skills development. This requires me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and to try to find out what information and support is available to help me develop a plan covering my own personal and professional aspirations, and then put those plans into action. As I mentioned earlier, I monitor my performance regularly to make sure that it is as effective as possible. I luckily get regular and useful feedback on my performance from my class teacher. I usually log where I need to make any improvements so it is clear next time I come to do the task where to make the relevant changes. Recently due to new recommendations the school has needed to change the marking system. We now put a circle not a cross next to incorrect work. Any changes I need to be aware of for my teaching practice.

Professionalism in the Workplace of Nursing Essay - 698 Words

In a highly respected profession such as nursing, professionalism is an important element to staying employed and setting one’s self apart from the rest of the applicants when competing for a potential job. By definition professionalism are the qualities and traits that describe a professional. While knowledge is crucial in any profession, according to an article published by the University of Kansas (2012), â€Å"all medical professionals must strive to retain those humanistic qualities integrity, respect, and compassion that constitute the essence of professionalism.† Whether you work in a hospital or administration these three qualities encompass the core of nursing and exemplify what it means to be a professional. Integrity is the†¦show more content†¦Even if no one found out about this mistake, eventually it could happen again if you don’t take the necessary steps to correct your mistake, and this time it could be deadly for your patient. Being respectful and considerate to your patient is necessary for providing excellent patient care. It is also important to be respectful and considerate to your colleagues; arriving on time, being a team player, doing above the minimum as often as you can are all excellent ways to show this. It is essential to ensure that the workplace is an â€Å"environment in which all colleagues enjoy equal respect and where they can advance to their full potential.† (Professionalism initiative, 2012) If everyone treated their colleagues with respect, it would make the workplace very hospitable and help provide better patient care, which is the main purpose of nursing. An environment without respect can become hostile and impair the growth of your colleagues and yourself which can lead to giving substandard care to your patients and their families. Compassion is a crucial aspect of nursing; it involves seeing the patients as more than just a medical problem. 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