Sandhurst School Bombing by Wendy Malezo Essay Example for Free

Sandhurst School Bombing by Wendy Malezo Essay Many people have remembered the unfortunate events of the Sandhurst Road School bombing as a drastic and tragic act of wickedness. The Sandhurst Road School bombing occurred at a ‘big’ and ‘imposing’ school on Minard Road in Catford, South East London on Wednesday 20th January 1943 when a German fighter-bomber dropped a ‘500kg’ bomb on the school at approximately 12:30pm. The resulting explosion killed ‘32 children and 6 staff and 60 others injured’ many buried under rubble. Later on a further six children died in hospital. Many questions arise on whether Schumann deliberately ‘targeted’ the school or simply attacked what looked like a large factory. ‘The school was also several storeys high’. Most raids happened in the night but some were dropped in the day. Witness reports say ‘the planes flew first past the school, and then bombed it on the second run’. The school was surrounded by residential buildings. This suggests the this incident could of also been a mass bombing and it could also be categorised as ‘deliberate’ and most likely to be represented as ‘hunnish brutality’ (described in source B1). Source B2 is taken from the Kentish Mercury which was a newspaper article which was also published 2 days after the bombing. Although it may seem as reliable, the interpretation is weak due to it being biased and censored because government and RAF would want people on the home front to have strong morale. Due to inefficiencies of the warning systems the air raid siren had not sounded by the time German planes arrived. Many children ‘were having their lunch’ and the attack destroyed the area of the school where they were eating. Mary Burch and Eric Brady were both eyewitnesses. The event was also said to be ‘one that couldn’t be forgotten’ moreover Mary went on to say that ‘it was a feeling that couldn’t be explained’. It is most likely that these German bombers would’ve known about the existence of the school because it could clearly be identified as a school. A various of sources suggest that the RAF had bombed Berlin 3 days prior to this bombing which was a retaliation raid demanded by Hitler. Before the bombing everything was reported as normal, people were getting on with their daily lifestyles. Morales were high and uplifted. Source B4 explains that the tragedy was indeed deliberate and the civilians questioned the ‘boast’ of Captain Schumann moreover he showed no remorse however this interpretation is also weak because the newspaper quotes the leader in the process of avoiding the decrease of morale.

Ken Keseys One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie Essay -- Film

Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie The film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, produced by Milos Forman, contains many similarities to the novel, however the differences are numerous to the extent that the story, written by Ken Kesey, is overlooked by anyone who only saw the film. Ken Kesey wrote the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, after experimenting with drugs and working on a psychiatric ward in 1960 and the novel was published in 1962. â€Å"Kesey became a night attendant on the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital psychiatric ward so that he could concentrate on his writing.† (Magill 1528) Kesey’s rebellious novel explores the world of mental patients struggling against authority and society through incredible imagery. He was able to describe this struggle because of his personal experiences. Kesey was â€Å"disturbed by the dehumanizing treatment of the patients† (Beetz 3089-3090), so he decided to write this novel about them. In his surrealistic life’s work, Ke n Kesey has managed to capture both the gloomy asylum atmosphere and the mental patients’ demented attitudes. Kesey’s novel proclaims a classic struggle between good and evil or the hero and the villain. This contemporary classic was brought to life through the film version in 1975 and is considered â€Å"one of the greatest American films of all time† (Dirks 1). It was the first film to receive all the major Oscar awards. These included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The same name as the novel was chosen so that it would appeal to contemporary audiences, which proved to be a big hit at the box office. â€Å"Its allegorical theme is set in the world of an authentic mental hospital, a place of rebellion by a wise-guy hero against institutional authority and attitudes.† (Dirks 1) The initial difference between the novel and the film is the main character. In the novel, the story is told through the eyes of the narrator, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is the main character and â€Å"the most fully developed character in the novel.† (Beetz 3089) The Chief is a supposedly deaf-mute, half-breed Indian who is a very large and powerful man. He is a paranoid-schizophrenic who has been a Chronic patient on the ward for fifteen years. He is known as â€Å"Chief Broom,† because he is constantly pushing a broom around the ward. From the beginning, the reader... ...o is stripped of his dignity, significance, and freedom.† (Magill 1531) The theme leads a person through a whole different world. A world where paranoia runs wild and chaos is second in command only to Nurse Ratched, or society and how powerful a single authority can be. Chapter by chapter and scene by scene, the plot unravels, separating truth and insanity to reveal an amazing war of the mind. The power of strict, systematic control, verses the power of rebellion is a strong issue of the 1960’s and this issue works well as the theme for the novel and film. A powerful story is told where everyone’s individualism is essential to life. A person must meet life on its own terms or lose their individuality, dignity, and freedom. Even though McMurphy died, his legend lives on. An individual can find criticism with the â€Å"nest† or psychiatric hospitals or an individual can see how all of us are trapped in a restrictive and maddening "nest† of our own making. Although there are similarities and differences between the novel and film, it is an enjoyable version of strange human interaction with a battle against authority. The story is universal and it can be found in all aspects of life.

Understanding the Development Strategy of a Five Star Hotel

â€Å"Reflecting on My Group† Yuvakumar Naga Sindhura (n6994059) The purpose of this essay is to understand the development of strategy for a five star resort hotel. The process of development within the team and the understanding of the conflicting ideas. The strategy was meant to be developed for a fictitious resort hotel which consists of 150 rooms, with no specific location. A group consists of two or more individuals who work and interact with each other to achieve a common goal (Bartol, Tein, Mathews, & Martin, 2005). I worked with Ehsan, Armeen, in order to brainstorm and discuss possible strategies that could be possibly developed for the upcoming resort hotel. As a group we were unproductive as my members were unable to move without a location in mind and hence stagnated in formulating a strategy, which proved to be a major issue. Hence leading Inkpen (1996) (as cited in Bauerschmidt, 1996) to demonstate the presence in the absence of strategy. Mintzberg (1973) as cited in (Selveg, 1987) focuses mainly on the purpose of the decisions, who is involved in making them, how preferences are evaluated, and types of environments ideal for the mode. Therefore Mintzberg thus laid prominence on the process by which strategies surface, rather than on their content. But a personal strategy has been developed providing a direction for growth and success. My personal strategy formulated is an all-season resort destination of choice for visitors and residents, specializing in world-class alpine skiing and recreation facilities with a local historic and cultural focus, nestled amongst pristine forest terrain and rugged mountain ranges. This essay discusses and reflects upon our collective involvement and the processes and stages that we progressed. In this essay we shall explore Tuckmans(1965) stages of group development (forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning), also defining the inputs, practices, processes and outcomes of working together in a group, along with the explanation and application of group cohesiveness, relevant member roles and leadership values which were supposed to be apparent within my group but lacked as everyone had opinions to what the leader had to say. As group members begin carrying out tasks and activities, eventually a team is evolved. Teams go through five stages of development as identified by Tuckman (1965), as cited in (Miller, 2003). Mostly all our meeting were held in class, our group had five undeceive individuals who only spent time discussing and brainstorming on what should be done first like the strategy, mission, vision or the values, rather than making a beginning. Therefore no progress was seen, even though worksheets were given during every class to guide us accordingly. Strategy was anticipated but was not fully present in the conflict of making one and it is believed that in this process the notion of strategies are in transition (Bauerschmidt, 1996). Therefore identifying group tasks and goals and building relations with each other was minimal. Tuckman(1965), as cited in (Miller, 2003) states that during this stage it is important that team members learn about each other, recognise the attitudes of other members and establish the goals and purpose of the group. During the regular interactions in the group meeting, we developed a positive relationship with each other, which is one of the key points suggested by (Tiosvold, Hui, Ding, & Hu, 2003) who supports the traditional idea that relationships are crucial for effective team performance. As a group we had different attitudes, values and cultural backgrounds, which could have thought to cause conflict within the team, but indecision was the highlight throughout, as some others in the group were skeptical of whether they were going the right direction, hence their opinions were not voiced and ideas were not shared both ways. It became a one way flow of ideas or discussion. But we experienced positive and friendly attitudes and exchange of ideas on varied topics, mostly apart from the topic of presentation and the assignment, thereby increasing our knowledge. As a group we experienced minimal cohesiveness. Cohesion in a group involves the level of purpose and commitment to the team among members (Dwyer, 2005). But due the difference in understanding and the mode of communication, the group ended up splitting into half, getting into sides where individuals understood each other. Cohesion is also linked to the input of knowledge and skills in a group, a group should have similar cultural backgrounds in order to be effective, to which I agree as all the members of our group came from different cultural backgrounds, with different values, efficiency and effectiveness, hence direction lacked in rder to achieve our goal. Groups with diverse attitudes and backgrounds are alternatively said to be more creative and flexible and make better decisions (Bartol et al. , 2005). I further refined the personal strategy formulated previously to develop a clearer direction for the growth and development of the organisation. The revised version of the strategy is an all-season resort destination of choic e for visitors and residents, specializing in world-class alpine skiing and recreation facilities with a local historic and cultural focus, nestled amongst pristine forest terrain and rugged mountain ranges. Offering personalised attention and facilities to physically unwind. It has been found in literature that the content and process of strategy emerge as two distinctly separate, but related concepts, and there appears to be no direct underlying relationship between strategy content and the process of strategy making but there is rather a relationship arising from and which is attributable to the holistic nature of an open social system (Van de Ven 1979 as cited by Seveg, 1987). Next stage of group development is storming; this is the stage when intra-group conflict and hostility can arise. All members of our group worked well together, but with a lot of challenging conflict. I believe we lacked the values of leadership skills, which did not give us the reinforcement to perform better. The ability to influence and develop individuals of a team, in order to achieve a worthwhile vision which meets the current needs of everyone and everything required by the form of work (Cacioppe, 2001 as cited in Volckmann 2005). Leadership skills portrayed at least by a member is required for a team to stay focused and move towards their goals. Leaders appear everywhere, depending on the circumstances that require them to exert leadership (Wheatley, 2005). This was least reflected by the chosen leader or the other members of the team. A self-managed team is an unsupervised group of people responsible for a task; they are given complete control over group membership and behaviors. Our self-managed team as in all other teams consisted of differing group-task roles, group roles fall into three categories; task, maintenance and self-orientated. Group-task related members help the group develop and accomplish its tasks and goals; and the group-maintenance, members within my group provided differences of opinions constantly but had a good level of interpersonal relationships with members, which to a level fostered group harmony but still resulted in ineffective group work (Bartol et al. , 2005). As my group progressed to the norming stage our relationships, goals and plans were still unclear, but we had to head off our ways to complete the assignment. Even though most of everything that we were supposed to do was unclear for us, we came to a consensus decision where the expression of cognitive conflict among members of the group is encouraged without allowing an explicit group interaction (Priem, Harrison and Muir, 1995). We then progressed to the performing stage of group development. This stage entails the development of interpersonal relationships, problem solving and achievement of performance, but was our performance a successful one? It is evident that there was lack of clarity throughout, but good level of interpersonal skills were maintained, however problem solving as a team lacked. At this stage I personally thought of revising my strategy for th resort management as it was long. The all-season resort destination specializing in world-class alpine skiing and recreation facilities with historic and cultural focus, nestled amongst pristine forest terrain and rugged mountain ranges away from the hustle bustle of daily life. Offering our customers personalised attention and facilities to physically unwind. After trying to put our heads to the requirements of our assignment we tried one last time to gather thoughts together thereby entering the adjourning stage, this involves goal accomplishment and the ultimate movement away from the group (Miller, 2003). We met together for the final time and reflected upon what we gathered and if what we gathered was sufficient and appropriate for our assignment. Overall, as a group we came to the mutual agreement that we as a team had no goal to achieve and our time was insignificantly wasted as we lacked an understanding of what we were to do and how we were to go about it. In conclusion the final strategy personally created was what remained for the organisation. As a group we departed our directions in order to formulate a strategy for the upcoming resort hotel. According Tuckman (1965) as cited by (Miller,2003) stages of team development we were unable to fit as we really did not understand our task at hand.

Understanding Division Of Labor

Division of labor refers to the range of tasks within a social system. This can vary from everyone doing the same thing to each person having a specialized role. It is theorized that humans have divided labor since as far back as our time as hunters and gatherers  when tasks were divided based mainly on age and gender.  The division of labor became an important part of society after the Agricultural Revolution when humans had a food surplus for the first time. When humans werent spending all of their time acquiring the food they were allowed to specialize and perform other tasks. During the Industrial Revolution, labor that was once specialized was broken down for the assembly line. However, the assembly line itself can also be seen as a division of labor.   Theories About Division of Labor   Adam Smith, a Scottish social philosopher, and economist theorized that humans practicing division of labor allows humans to be more productive and excel faster. Emile Durkheim, a French scholar in the 1700s, theorized  that specialization was a way for people to compete in larger societies. Criticisms of Gendered Divisions of Labor Historically, labor, whether inside the home or outside of it, was highly gendered. It was thought that tasks were meant for either men or women and that doing the work of the opposite gender went against nature. Women were thought to be more nurturing and therefore jobs that required  caring for others, like nursing or teaching, were held by women. Men were seen as stronger and given more physically  demanding jobs. This kind of labor divide was oppressive to both men and women in different ways. Men were assumed incapable of tasks like raising children and women had little economic freedom. While lower class women generally always had to have jobs the same as their husbands in order to survive, middle-class and upper-class women were not allowed to work outside the home. It wasnt until WWII that American women were encouraged to work outside the home. When the war ended, women didnt want to leave the workforce. Women liked being independent,  many of them also enjoyed their j obs far more than household chores. Unfortunately for those women who liked working more than chores, even now that its normal for men and women in relationships to both work outside the home, the lion share of household  chores is still performed by women. Men are still viewed by many to be a less capable parent. Men who are interested in jobs like preschool teachers are often viewed with suspicion because of how American society still genders labor. Whether its women being expected to hold down a job and clean the house or men being seen as the less important parent, each is an example of how sexism in the  division of labor hurts everyone.