ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction The pandemic has changed business communication on a global scale. The need to manage business meetings properly is now significantly challenged. There is no need to mention that poorly held meetings might weaken the company’s performance, let alone a negative effect on the team’s morale. While the real-life meetings held before the COVID-19 was exceptionally effective, the pandemic left its mark on the online sessions provided at the moment. Now, the meetings’ efficiency decreased, challenging its facilitators to engage new practices and rethink previously used ones. The following report is focused on the most useful practices for face-to-face conversations as well as for the virtual ones. The techniques for both types of sessions will be contemplated; the analysis of the possible difficulties the team may face will be provided. Analysis of the Real-life Meetings Practices The techniques used during face-to-face meetings are rather efficient and can be implemented during online conversations. First, sending agenda, the practice used by Mr. White, at least one week in advance, is highly recommended for the productive meeting. The file should state the goals of the upcoming conversation, contain the topic list of discussion, and a time frame for each of the topics; it also should seek feedback on the proposed agenda ( Best practices for effective meetings, 2020). Then, the next successful one used by the chairman is reviewing the agenda and the goals at the beginning of the meeting. Such warming up allows the participants to concentrate fully on what is going to be discussed. Another useful practice used by Mr. White was obviously the request to his colleague to warn him if the time allowed for an issue is over. While speaking, one may lose track of time, trying to regard all the details involved, even if their ability to manage time is high. Hence, having a colleague to help becomes an essential part of any time plan. Timing is of significant importance to both face-to-face and virtual meetings since the capacity to concentrate is limited. Mr. White then implemented the next activity – he repeated the questions and commented on the members’. He also asked for the comments when one’s proposal is spoken. This practice involves the participants in the conversation and helps them to concentrate on the issue being discussed. Last but not least, is summarizing the agenda, reviewing the assignments, and setting the time frame for the next session (the one after the break, in this case). Still, more practices may be engaged to boost the effectiveness of face-to-face meetings, involving them lat
Professionals’ Collaboration This paper is focused on the collaboration scenario that reveals a range of problems faced by a 14-year-old student whose family has recently migrated to the USA. It can be seen that currently, the boy fails to align with the school rules. The case may deal with several legal and ethical issues. The student admits that he has been working in the previous year to help his parents who faced financial problems. It is not clear where exactly he was employed, but according to the US laws, the only opportunity for him to work legally was to get agricultural employment with parental consent (“U.S. federal child labor law”, 2017). A principle with the help of a social worker will discuss this issue and define whether the boy was allowed to work at that time. They will try to tell if there his parents desired to make him work instead of attending school or the student did it without their permission. It will also be revealed whether his employers violated the law or not. As the family has become homeless, a social worker from the community can take him into care to ensure that he is decently treated and his health and wellness are not at risk. The professional will gather information regarding the boy’s condition obtained after the assessment maintained by a school psychologist, nurse, counselor, and teaching staff to support the claim. As the student has already lost weight and does not eat properly, it may be better for him to live under the state’s protection (Coulter, 2013). However, professionals may face ethical issues as they reveal that the boy is willing to live with his parents but his emotional and physical state is negatively affected. Not to be biased, they have to base their decision on the assessments of academic, social, and psychological conditions provided by the professionals. Through cooperation, different parties will obtain critical information needed to develop an aggregate picture of what is happening and why. In addition to that, it is significant to remember that family problems made the boy aggressive towards other children and led to suicidal thoughts. School psychologists should assess this behavior and develop a plan of action along with a counselor so that improvement within both school and personal life can be observed. All these professionals may face problems trying to define whether the boy’s misbehavior deserves punishment or not, so it is critical for them to deepen in all peculiarities of this case. The quality of this interaction will have an enormous influence on the results of the assessment. If professionals fail to find a common language or do not share the information effectively, they are likely to overlook some critical issues that were not identified initially. As a result, the interventions they propose will not reach the expected results. What is more critical, the boy can be taken from his family even though it is not needed or even make him commit suicide. Role and Function of Professionals To respond to those issues, the boy has a principal needs to involve all professionals who provide related services. In this way, he/she wil
Introduction As compared to Australia, Malaysia is a developing country whose consumers still direct most of their consumption towards expenditure on basic commodities. Consumer behavior on any basis is driven by many factors hence hard to know the exact reasons why people buy. While most consumers may be driven by need, others buy due to motivation (psyche) (Mowen 2000). Comparisons and contrasts of consumer models according to schiffman in Malaysia The theories tend to shows beliefs possessed by various categories of consumers and how their beliefs influence consumer behavior. Consumers are viewed from either the economic perspective or social perspectives as indicated by the two theories applicable in Malaysia (Mowen 2000). These are the points of penetration of by the marketers into the consumers to influence how?, what?, how much? in addition, the quantity. The theories discussed are based on the needs of consumers and they are social in nature. They include – Pavlovian learning model and Veblen social-psychological model. Pavlovian model is derived from the famous Russian experiment on the dog and its behavior concerning food where the dog could be induced for food using the bell. It is therefore quite clear that human behavior in terms of purchasing is conditioned in such a manner. This theory is employed in Malaysia by marketers to explore consumer aspects such as learning ability, the rate they forget and the extent to which they are likely to discriminate (Mooij 2004). These results into a human consumption behavior where a response is triggered by a relevant stimulus based on the concepts of drive, cue, stimulated response, and reinforcement. Drives either can be primary or learned and are the needs that drive consumers to behave in a given way. Generally, they entail hunger, thirst, cold, corporation, and fear. Cue is more specific as it determines where, how and the time when the subject responds to a drive. For example, depending on how a cold drink is advertised it may stimulate the drive of thirst. Response refers to the manner in which consumers react to the cue, the reactions are normally not similar. Similarity can be skewed by intensifying the degree of the experience. The Malaysian market is striving to do this by providing a variety of products through differentiation. Reinforcement strategy is also because of a rewarding experience, an experience is earned only when it is repeated severally. The aspect stresses that when reinforcement is ignored the consumer habit is likely to extinguish (Mooij 2004). Marketing application of the model This method as applied in Malaysia directs a marketer on the ways of behavior expected from the consumers and the advertisement strategy to be employed depending on the target market. In addition, the model is largely applicable mostly when introducing a new product into the market, which is highly competitive. Marketers in Malaysia apply this by extinguishing old and outdated brands while introducing new ones. It only challenge comes at the point when you need to convince
Introduction The truth about the history of American Indians is often distorted. While people tend to consider these cultures immature, the wisdom of centuries remains unknown on a large scale. However, there is visible progress in terms of the present-day approach to Native Americans’ history since it is studied and discussed more frequently. Nowadays, the task of primary importance is to educate the society and convey the idea that the rich past of the American Indians should be remembered. Knowledge of American Indians I have to admit that my prior knowledge about American Indians lacked consistency. I was familiar only with the general facts: some names of the Indian civilizations, such as Maya, or “the Cradle of the Americas” idea (Oakes et al. 6). Although I did not support the opinion that Native Americans were barbarous, I could not rationalize my viewpoint. In the context of what I studied, this background became a fundament on which the new material was reinforced. For example, I knew that farming was significant, but the fact that it was connected with political power in relation to Iroquoian women who played a large part in agriculture astonished me (Oakes et al. 9). Food Strategies and Culture The diversity of American Indians cultures in housing, gender roles, and religion is partially explained by the types of food strategies they designed. Farming brought the Mexican model of villages when houses were built around court-yards and many great constructions, some of which were “built largely for ceremonial purposes” (Oakes et al. 8). Under such circumstances, men and women could exercise political power. As for hunting and gathering, such cultures were connected with nomadic life, lodges, wooden totem poles, and men’s critical role. Women were mostly involved in gathering while men hunted. Cronon and White’s “Indians in the Land” Cronon and White supplement the information about the impact of agriculture and the attitude towards the environment. They emphasize that Indian people were environmentalists in their own manner different from the European perception: the development of agriculture brought reshaping the land by fire; to kill an animal meant to have social relationships with it. The key idea is that one should not implement the same criteria considering different cultures. North America before European Settlement No society is absolutely good or evil. It would be equally wrong to blacken American Indian’s past or extol it. Contrary to the popular opinion, their cultures were not primitive. Before the first European settlers arrived, they managed to carve out their lives and achieved substantial progress. Just as any people, these groups entered into alliance, negotiated, or fought. The masterpieces of architecture, for instance, Moctezuma’s palaces, amazed the newcomers. Aggressiveness attributed to American Indians also bears no relation to the actual state of affairs. The stereotype that Indians routinely sacrificed thousands of people at a time has nothing to do with their reality: still, they could sacrifice some prisoners of war to th
Jack Welch names ten managerial concepts that every manager has to understand and employ. These concepts are: integrity, change, customer focus, size and structure, constant fight, self-confidence, training, searching for best global talents, informality and global learning ( Jack Welch final GE mgt meeting , 2010). Jack Welch notes that the concept of integrity is closely connected with acting legally ( Jack Welch final GE mgt meeting , 2010). He claims that managers should always act within the boundaries of the law and make sure their people act legally as well. Apart from being legal, the concept of integrity is also related to having values and always doing right things. Welch also stresses that true leadership is about making people share the values of the company and accept the concept of integrity ( Jack Welch final GE mgt meeting , 2010). I agree with Welch and I also think integrity is all about having values and being responsible. It is possible to note, though, that acting legally is an indispensible part of being responsible and sharing values. Effective leaders should make sure their people have the necessary values and act correspondingly. This will contribute to the organization’s development as all employees will move in the same direction. Jack Welch emphasizes that self-confidence is one of the essential building blocks of a successful organization ( Jack Welch final GE mgt meeting , 2010). He claims that effective leaders have to build self-confidence in their people. Notably, he is also developing self-confidence of the managers who are present. He claims that their organization has the necessary tools and resources to enable managers to reward their people. Thus, Welch mentions such tools as big raises, numerous options, stimulating atmosphere, exciting jobs and promotion which are major tools of motivation. Welch claims that these tools have to be employed. The speaker also stresses that the managers who are present are all successful and effective leaders who enable the organization succeed. Welch claims that those present are best managers in the organization. It is necessary to note that he sounds quite sincere. He seems to believe in what he is saying. Welch singles out four types of managers. The first type is the manager who has values and is effective. According to Welch, such managers should be promoted ( Jack Welch final GE mgt meeting , 2010). The second type is a manager who has the values but is not very effective. Leaders should give such managers another chance and these managers can transform into type one managers. The third type of managers is a manger who has no values and is not effective. Leaders should fire such managers. However, the most dangerous type of managers that can have a negative or
Introduction The Dance Class is an artwork that was created by a famous French artist Edgar Degas in 1872. This painting is from the group of Degas’ projects about the theme of dance and ballet techniques, in particular. Main body Among the existing variety of impressionists’ works, The Dance Class by Degas is probably one of the most interesting and strong projects. As well as his other artworks, The Dance Class was performed by oil on canvas. There are no bright colors on the painting but strict and concerned choices to prove the nature of ballet as an art form – calm and definite. In addition to properly chosen techniques and materials, the artist was able to create a story with the past, the present, and the future. Looking at this work, it is possible to say that Degas was passionate about ballet and not only the stage performance itself but the events that happened during training and rehearsals. There are several female ballet dancers and two men (one in a white suit seems to be a ballet master, and another could be an orchestra man because of the conductor’s stick in his hands). The ballerinas look exhausted probably because of the amount of work done before. Still, they are confident in their actions and ready to follow their goals. There are no extra or unnecessary people or movements – just what it has to be during a ballet rehearsal. In this painting, Degas wanted to underline the importance of a working process. One ballerina performs a dance, another is sitting on the chair, several women follow the performance, and several young ladies are rehearsing and warming up. In other words, each person is occupied with something, prov
Traditionally, being a leader is considered as reaching the pinnacle of one’s career; for some reason, it is generally assumed that the position of a leader is what every average member of society strives for. However, even though so many people are actually willing to take the position of a leader, very few of the candidates realize what being a leader means and what responsibilities it handles to its owner. Although it is traditionally considered that a leader is the person who provides instructions to his/her subordinates and supervises important processes taking place in a specific organization or society, being a leader actually presupposes having a specific mindset, developing certain personal qualities, being able to set particular goals and strive to reach them, and, most importantly, expelling one’s communication skills to build strong relationships with the rest of the people based on a specific hierarchy. There are many ways to describe what being a leader is. The best way to do so is to list the basic qualities that a true leader must-have. As my personal experience has taught me, a true leader must have the skills of getting his/her point of view across (Williams & Miller, 2002), the ability to mobilize people and set goals and be able to hit them (Zenger, Folkman & Edinger, 2009), as well as the need to continuously improve his/her skills and be a lifelong learner (Batemen & Snell, 2011) are the basic requirements that must be met in order to become an efficient leader. To be more particular about my experience as a leader and the important lessons that I have learned, four situations helped me realize what it takes to be a leader. The first situation concerned the issue of misunderstanding between an employee and a manager. One of the employees at the organization where I trained my leadership skills started claiming that his ideas were stolen by another member of the staff. The given experience has taught me that a true leader cannot only give credit to the people who deserve it but also to give chance to those who have made a mistake and are willing to make for it. Another situation concerned the information-sharing issue. Because of the employees’ unwillingness to share their ideas and information, which the incident described above spawned, the organization’s performance was reduced a few notches, which resulted in several major losses. Hence, the need to introduce the principles of teamwork arose: “Teams can also increase productivity, improve quality and reduce costs” (Bateman & Snell, 2011). The third issue concerned the quality of the staff’s performance. Since the organization started hiring remote employees, it became quite hard for the latter to maintain high-quality standards with little to no examples to follow. To solve the given issue, the method of benchmarking suggested by Zenger, Folkman & Edinger (2009) was provided: “Benchmarking enables people to see a better way to approach a task” (Zenger, Folkman & Edinger, 2009, 6). Finally, it is necessary to mention the case when it was necessary to change the persuasive style to introduce the aforementioned idea of knowledge shar
The end of 19 th century was characterized by the intense immigration of Chinese people to the US. The reasons were various, but the tree of them might be distinguished as major. First, the discovering of gold in California. Numerous amounts of people seeking for wealth started to move to the Southwestern coast of America, and Chinese among them (Portes 45). Second, the economic situation in China was hard as China was dominated by the British Empire providing fewer opportunities for common people to earn money and support their families. Third, for all the immigrants America has been a not another place to live or earn money, it was a symbol of opportunities, freedoms, ways to fulfill their potential, live another, better life, change something into a good and prosperous way. In 1882, the United States government faced a serious problem not capable of conducting a large number of immigrants from China attracted by Californian Golden Rush. In attempts to regulate this constant flow, the Congress issued execution laws that forbade people from China, “Mongolians” to gain American citizenship through naturalization (Hsu 47). That was the first step in preventing Cheese from becoming rightful Americans, leading to their isolations, and unification within communities, making strong international bonds and providing support to people of the same nationality (Kanazawa 801). Later on the legal practice together with common treatment of Chinese immigrants began leaning towards separation from other American community, as a governmental policy was to mark them as strangers, people of other way of life, people, people that will never be understood by Americans, people that will never accept the American way of life (Lau 14). A good example of disregarding attitude can be demonstrated by the fact that the testimony of Chinese people witnessing against the white man who committed serious crime were not taken into account as the intellectual development of people of this race were considered beyond a certain point (Joo 353). This neglecting deepened as Chinese began to be considered as threat, due to economic depression and a limited number of working places. And the neglecting and suspicious attitude stayed even decades later when authorities continued to be reprehensible towards Chinese people when providing them with American citizenship (Lai 51) If to evaluate the situation from the point of legality, it might be considered as violating the Fourteenth Amendment of American Constitution. The Chinese had a full right to apply for the right to stay, work, and later apply for the citizenship, as well as representatives of other nationalities. However, their general right, according to the American laws was disrupted by American authorities themselves. The only adequate respond Chinese immigrants could come with was introduction of “paper sons” system. As the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that the people who were born in the U