Bolman And Deals Four Framework Approach

Bolman And Deals Four Framework Approach Leadership was once about hard skills such as planning, finance and business analysis. When command and control ruled the corporate world, the leaders were heroic rationalists who moved people around like pawns and fought like stags. When they spoke, the company employees jumped. The entire career system in some organizations is based on using hard functional skills to progress. But when executives reach the top of the organization, many different skills are required. Corporate leaders may find that although they can do the financial analysis and the strategic planning, they are poor at communicating ideas to employees or colleagues, or have little insight into how to motivate people. The modern CEO requires an array of skills. Some suggest that people expect too much of leaders. Indeed, renaissance men and women are rare. Leadership in a modern organization is highly complex and it is increasingly difficult. It is sometimes impossible for finding all the necessary traits in a single person. Among the most crucial skills is the ability to capture audiences. Richard Branson, the funder of Virgin Group and Virgin Atlantic Airline could be one of best leader in the industry. Biography According to Virgin group website, Richard Branson was born in July 18, 1950 in Surrey, England. He is the son of a lawyer and an airline stewardess. He was educated at the exclusive Stowe School, but did not excel, possibly due to his nearsightedness and dyslexia. In his teens he developed a national magazine, Student at the Age of Sixteen. At seventeen he began a student advisory service. After leaving school, Branson entered the music industry. Considering that he could sell records cheaper than the existing average, he started a mail-order catalogue with friends. It was a success, and they opened a record discount shop. They named the business Virgin, because it was their first venture. Virgin Airlines is one of Bransons main businesses. Formed in 1984, it is part owned by Singapore Airlines, and it is the second largest British long haul international airline, and has won many awards. During the 1990s the fleet and the air route network expanded and a Premium Economy service was introduced. In 2003 Virgin Atlantic launched the innovative Upper Class Suite with a flat bed and seat, and in 2006 the Virgin Clubhouse opened at Heathrow with a spa, brasserie, cocktail bar, hair salon and games room. Branson is also well known for his personal adventures by Virgin Atlantic Flyer. In 2010, and less than 40 years after the original conception of the Branson Virgin businesses, Branson boasted over 200 Virgin Megastores worldwide. All told, Branson employed 24,000 employees in 150 companies, with revenues totaling an estimated five billion dollars each year from the entire Virgin Group including the music stores and airline. The Virgin empire was is the largest privately owned business in England (Virgin Atlantic Airways, 2010). Bolman and Deals Four Framework Approach to Richard Branson Leadership models can also help us to understand a leaders organizational influence. Bolman and Deal, in Four Framework Approach, suggest that leaders display behaviors in one of four frameworks: Structural, Human Resource, Political, or Symbolic. Each requires a specific organizational setting to be successful. The Structural Framework From the rational perspective, organizations are instruments designed to achieve specified goals. Organizations are purposeful in the sense that the activities and interactions of participants are centrally coordinated to achieve common objectives; behaviors in organizations are rational in the sense that roles and role relations are prescribed independently of the personal attributes of the individuals in the structure (Richard, 1992). In the rational domain, organizations are driven by strategies, and the role of management is to align strategies and structure with the external environment. Strategy development includes two kinds of approaches mainly. The first one is prescriptive approach which is the firm defined the objective and/or the main elements before brainstorm the strategy; vice versa, another one is have no clear objective and/or elements, all the strategy will be developing during the process, which call emergent approach. Finally, what people and task performed base on above approaches that will generate the strategic change by formal or informal organizational structure from the managers, because of environment, business relationship, technology, people, life cycle, political power, etc (Tichy, 1983). The importance of strategic change is that may occur considerable disruption, but this practice is also useful to analysis the specific causes for planning the best direction on Bransons management change. Bransons Corporate Level Strategy Diversification: The core business of Virgin Group is travel, but since early 1990, it has begun to involve in many other different businesses, such businesses are no directly or substantial relationships between each other. Such businesses include mass media, entertainment, beverage, finance, weight industries and more, all these small business units (SBUs) enriched the Virgins portfolio. Brand Extension: Branson built its red brand to represent value for money, quality, fun, innovation, success and trust. This idea is developed and applied on its whole range of businesses. Joint-Venture: In the flight service, each airline have to get the permission for access paths by during with local governments, this process is very complicated and consume a lot of resources in terms of human, money and time. Joint-venture is the method that can be easy to get this permission, also could be easy to meet the economic of scale to reduce cost, and share or lower the risk. Bransons SBUs Level Strategy Differentiation: Branson provides the offer which other firms no. The very common example is, Virgin Atlantics souvenirs are always different and united. Another one example is Virgin Atlantic keeps its safety record is zero accident, to increase the confidence to its passengers, or customers though its air ticket is expensive then others in generally. The Human Resource Framework Although people are intentionally rational, not all human behavior is the result of rationality. People do not leave their emotions and feelings at home when they come to work in the morning, and noneconomic objectives are pursued alongside economic objectives (Powell, 1999). In the human domain, the central issue is how to integrate human needs with organizational rationality. Virgin Group considers peoples as the important assets, so it pays attention on peoples motivation, culture and even the individual desires to manage and maintain peoples work well and comfortable. Branson also thinks staff first, then customers and shareholders, therefore the chairperson, staff, customers and shareholders could be considered as the key stakeholders. Chairperson Shareholders: Branson is as a leader in Virgin which has used the corporate brand name across its entire product, the whole Virgin Group is influenced by him, and he is the greater single asset in the group (Ensor Drummond, 2001). Meanwhile, Branson is one of the shareholder of Virgin Group companies, so as same as other shareholder, his values will be added into the group and will be implemented in running the business. Bransons values are innocence, innovation, quality, fun and irreverence of authority, all of such values could be found in his choices of new ventures. Investor: The investors mainly focus on the profit and the return of investment (ROI). This issue makes the conflict between investor and customers, because customers want to have better services that will increase the cost and decrease the maximization level of the profit Staff: The skills, knowledge and suggestions of the staff are important to the company, Branson also understand this point so that he wants his best people will stay in his company for venturing (Grant, 2003). Example: Julie Bower, Virgin Atlantic Project Manager, response to source alternative customer relations management (CRM) software, then experienced partially customized system with Virgin Atlantics own data. Finally, Saratoga System has been chosen as the provider of CRM system (Thomson Corporation Company, 2005). This example shows the valuable staff will affect the strategic development. Customers: The best products or services are always seeking by customer, in order words, firms are required to provide best product or service for maintaining current customers and exploring new customers. Companies that survive profitably in a competitive environment must be providing value for money (Johnson et al, 2005). Therefore, customers also influence the strategies of the company. Our first time with Virgin Atlantic, and out last! Chaotic queue at LHR took three hours to reach check in desk. The cabin crews were arrogant and more interested in putting on more make up than serving passengers. Virgin relies on their reputation from the eighties, but they have lost it big time. Want to travel and enjoy the experience avoid Virgin at all costs (Skytrax, 2008). This example not only explains how customers influence the strategy development, also explains to provide the certain products to customer can reduce the probability of finical loss. The Political Framework From the political perspective, organizations are coalitions of diverse individuals and groups with enduring differences in values and preferences. They are governed not by a single center, as is assumed in the rational perspective, but by a dominant coalition of interest groups. As such, organizations often operate with unresolved conflicts in goals (March Shapiro, 1992). From the human domain perspective, malfunctions arise from structural misalignment or from personal deficiency; while from the political perspective, divergent interests and resource scarcity inevitably turn organizations political. Government: The core business of Virgin Group is transport service, and this business is highly regulated by the government. In the result, government policy is very import to the Branson and company as well, like policy on safety, route, franchise etc. These factors are about the change in government or government policy. The airline industry in UK has been privatized already, this action is initiated by UK Government. Branson got the opportunity to run the airline services from this political change to be a franchisee. Branson entered the markets or industries that have large, well established competitors, for instance, David is one of his favorite roles who against Goliaths, it is the example that the corporate against a big business. Now, the airline industry is run by two parts, Virgin Atlantic and British airways, provide flight and airline services respectively. Moreover, British Airways is the main competitor for Virgin Atlantic that leaded Virgin Atlantic always played the underdog role in competing with British Airways. Though Virgin Atlantic and British Airways had been role as underdog and bully respectively, in 1992, Virgin Atlantic had been success to claim one and half million dollars from British Airways (Aker, 2005 Grant, 2003). The Symbolic Framework Symbolism plays a critical role in human experience. In the rational domain, the point of life is choice. However, organizational life is only partly concerned with making decisions (March Shapiro 1992). Decision making is often an arena for symbolic actions. Many events and processes are more important for what is expressed than for what is produced (Bolman Deal, 2008). The leaders use symbols to capture attention; they try to frame experience by providing plausible interpretations of experiences; they discover and communicate a vision. Innovation: Branson understands the new matters could attack the new customers and maintain the current customers, but its competitors also understand this simple theory. Therefore Virgin Atlantic based on the existed offers with new concepts or packages as a new products or services to get the competitive advantage in the industry. These factors are about the application of new inventors or ideas. The technology in air applies to the development of safe airplane, or reliable engine. Virgin Atlantic is the pioneer in this area, Branson introduced the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines to power its new Airbus fleet of 10 A330-300s has triggered a big switch from polution to green eco-friendly travel on the route. The Trent 700 is the first engine in the highly successful Trent family. The 72,000lb thrust engine has lower maintenance costs, lower weight and better performance retention. With the lowest lifecycle fuel burn, lowest cumulative emissions and lowest noise levels the Trent 700 has the lowest environmental impact of any engine on the A330 (TravelDailyNews, 2009). Branson reduces the time taken for long distance travel and efficiency in helping to customers. Except the improvement on speed, Branson also increased number of channels for passenger to buy tickets by web and machine. The software was designed to link customer details, flight information and limo service details together and provides Virgin Atlantic staff with accurate information and tools to efficiently and effectively manage the Upper Class Wing operation (Journalism UK, 2008). Virgin Atlantic has got the opportunity to operate the UK and World air service by the government policy. The inflection perhaps people will be willing to expand more on the travelling. The change of working place also affects the demand on all the modes of transport. The new channels have been developed through the web and new machine system. The market still has space to operate obviously, but the most important consideration of a transport services provider is safety. So the most strength of Branson and Virgin Atlantic has been improving its reputation especially in safety and on-time to get confidence of passengers. Comparison of Richard Bransons corporate strategy decision In the stage of setting up the strategies, Branson definitely understand the strategies of which are the ways in which strategy develops in organization. Bransons Virgin Atlantic Airline Strategic Development Command View and Culture View are highlighted by Virgin Atlantic The culture view is that it occurs as the outcome of the taken-for-granted assumptions and behaviors in organizations. (Johnson et al, 2005) Branson founded Virgin Atlantic in 1984; in fact, Virgin Atlantics success highly depends on the founders principles to provide the highest quality innovative service at excellent value for money for all classes of air travelers. This principle created and established the culture of Virgin Atlantic, because all Virgin companies also maintain an entrepreneurial culture based on Bransons principle. There are four strategic developments have been found out and will be further described in following: Strategy One: Differentiation Branson also has another philosophy in his principle which is to be a pioneer rather then a follower of the leader. In order to reach this point, Virgin Atlantic must offer highest quality innovative service for its air travelers. Its innovative actions include: 1986, the 1st airline provided sleeper seats in upper class 1990, the 1st airline brought in the automatic defibrillators, trained the staff to help in-flight cardiac arrest victims The 1st airline installed individual TVs to all classes of passenger on the wide-bodied aircraft 2005, won the RFID Breakthrough Integration Award since it is as a leader in RFID 2005 Virgin Atlantic applied RFID tag on the important parts that used in aircraft maintenance and repairs at Heathrow Airport warehouse, UK. The technological advancement is always the advantage taking for Virgin and the customers, said by Mark Butler, System Implementation Manager, Engineering Department, Virgin Atlantic (Tata Consultancy Services Limited, 2007). Strategy Two: Jointing Alliance Virgin Atlantic has jointed an alliance with many airlines until 2006 that providing better choice on where and when for its customers flights, the member of that alliance includes Singapore Airline, Bmi British Midland, Continental Airline, South African Airways, US Airways, Virgin Blue and Air China. All above airlines also signed Codeshare Agreement, so the connections between partners services become closer, customers could enjoy better service and value, such as checking customers and their luggage over to their final destination and synchronizing their schedules with Virgin Atlantics partners. Turn out the customers of Virgin Atlantic could enjoy the shortest possible connections between their services (Virgin Atlantic Airways, 2010). The crises of 11th September, 2001 that affected the worldwide economy, Virgin Atlantic also got heavy losses in financial aspect. The alliance strategy was significantly assisted the recovery, because it reduced the investment and the accompanying inflexibility and risk during the uncertainties of operating in other countries (Aaker, 2005). Strategy Three: Partnership In 1999, Singapore Airline acquired 49% Virgin Atlantic stake that can reinforce to provide the highest quality innovative service at excellent value for money for all classes of air travellers. Singapore Airline is a unique global partner, this is a perfect collaboration since both two airlines have an incomparable reputation for quality and innovation, and have own numerous awards from the travel industry. According to the terms of the dealing, both two airlines routes will not overlap each other and are uniquely complementary, also they keep independent managements, and the rights to develop their own products. This partnership action generated greater benefits to both companies passengers, such as fare, access to lounges world-wide and an increasingly seamless travel experience across their airlines network (Virgin Atlantic Airways, 2010). Japan Airline Strategic Development In terms of strategic management, the major contrast between Virgin Atlantic and Japan Airline is, Japan Airline is the one managed by traditional state-run or government hierarchy, so its companies strategy was established by country leader and the board, as same as or followed by the strategy of government, often the goal or the result is extremely unrealistic to the commercial. The gap occurs in between the top management board and the tactical managers which more strengthen the difficulties in implementation and lessen the competitiveness in international airline market. Moreover, Virgin Atlantic emphasizes on command view and culture view; in this session, Japan Airline emphasizes on planning view to develop its strategies. In the planning view, strategic planning is to use a formal planning system for the development and implementation of the strategies related to mission and objectives of the organization. (Lynch, 2000) Japan Airlines Background Japan Airline is a joint-venture company which was founded by one governmental company and two private companies, Japan Airline Company, Philippine Airlines and Northwest Airlines in 1951. Japanese Government bought the share from Northwest Airlines that leaded to Japan Airline totally transfer to Japanese Government. Nowadays, all decisions are made by the Board of Directors and their strategic development is mainly focused on strategic planning (Fundinguniverse, 2010). Japan Airlines Planning Procedure One of the Japan Airlines department, Corporate Planning Information Technology Services is established in Japan Airline for responsible to suggest strategies for Japan Airline. After the seminar in 1987, this department suggested five corporate strategies for planning strategies and implementation, one of the strategies is about operational. The Board of Directors and the management group suggest that it (the operational strategy) is now a matter of urgency that Japan Airline must speed up the development of the airlines state enterprise plan in compliance with the policy and guidelines., Minister Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo Conference, Nov 6, 1987. Then, Minister Ishihara grouped Japan Airlines problems for Japan Airlines management group to take actions (Sanchanta Takahashi,2010). Although this company is now privatized, but used to be country-owned and running by Government long time, the country leaders provide comments and policies on commercial-based company. This manner had been intervened the flexibility of Japan Airline. In 2006, Japan Airlines Chairperson, Haruka Nishimatsu established three committees, Strategic Steering Committee, Project Management Committee and Task Force Committee to increase competitiveness and the value of shareholder (Sanchanta Takahashi,2010). Today, Japan Airline failed to be effectively competing with other airlines because of such time-consuming and not really flexible to implement in Japan Airlines planning. Conclusion Leaders establish goals, assumptions, policies, strategies, and accepted norms of behavior. They usually recruit and promote managers who conform to their own values and expectations. While a leaders influence is evident in all organizations, it will apply more to small, highly centralized firms, or young, owner run businesses, and can increase with tenure. In the addition, the most relevant contrasts between Virgin Atlantic and Japan Airline are: Virgin Atlantic emphasizes on culture and command view because of following the principle that provided by Branson that it is controlled by the company. Japan Airline emphasizes on planning view which is controlled by Government so almost every strategies development is produced follow the planning procedure to lead the company more systematic. In theory it should not only focus on single view, but these two companies are only focused one or two views, that led some limitations in Virgin Atlantic and Japan Airline. For Virgin Atlantic, it is highly depends on the principles of Branson, he almost becomes the only one and unique person that can decide the future of Virgin Atlantic, includes stay in the market or shut down the business. Another side, for Japan Airline, it involves more procedures for making decision that could be enhances and smoothen the running for a company. As mentioned, there is only Branson is the key person for Virgin Atlantic or the whole Virgin Group, for the future, Virgin Group is suggested to established a number of rules or methods to maintain and investigate the current saturation of its businesses or the new ventures. After that, Branson is the most key person that affects all the things in Virgin Group, then is the staff, last is the customers. Last but not least, whether success to run a business depends on the policy, economy, society and technology in the place where located or plan to locate the business. In the result, the leader should aware all Structural, Human Resource, Political, and Symbolic framework in mind for coping the political, social, economic and technology factors positively. So, the finial suggestion is Richard Branson have to establish a committee to share and continue his great work.

Principles of personal development in adult social care settings Essay

Ai) Create a guide for the new social care worker about how to reflect on their practice. The guide must include the headings listed with an explanation of each. As part of our job role it is important to carry out reflective practice especially because we work with vulnerable adults and our effectiveness will have an impact on them and their care. 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, service users 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 you 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 your 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. Standards help social care workers so they work in the same level as other social care workers. It helps standardised the service they are giving. By having a standard, they can always reflect with it and achieve the same standardised level. You should know the standards to understand what is expected of you as a health and social care worker, and then you should reflect to ensure you are meeting these standards. These would be the CQC and your code of practice which are found in the managers office. All codes of practice should be adhered to at all times. see more:explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service Aii) You arrange a mentor meeting to feed back to the social care worker. You have comments to make which include both praise and constructive criticism. It is important for a social care worker to seek feedback on their performance so they can improve on ways of working that they may need to, helping them work in the best possible way. If you do not agree with feedback regarding your performance, talk to a senior member of staff for advice. People may react differently to constructive feedback. Some may not agree and see the feedback as negative, where it is meant to help them improve their practice. Others accept feedback positively and work to improve their practice listening to and taking in advice. Some people may take the feedback but not work to improve on anything so stay at the same level. It is important for social care workers to use their feedback to improve their practice, not just in their jobs but in life. Feedback provides a framework with which to be a reflective practitioner, this means recognising both the good and bad in their practice and using that knowledge to make it better in the future. Without that you remai n stagnant, there is always room for improvement.

Use of New Media in Political Campaigning

ng Introduction of New Media and It’s Effects on Political Campaigning Ammara Mahmood 997652455 POLD51H3 Abstract In the campaigning of all United States, Canada and Britain for the elections 2008/2010/2011, the role of new media was vital. It started off with Obama’s campaign in 2008 and is still carried on in elections after that. This paper looks at the use of new media by parties in the three countries and how their use of media differed in the dated elections. For this, the paper explores three key concepts of new media that have affected politics: 1- What was the party’s goal or strategy? – How did the party execute its goal or strategy? 3- In what way was each party’s strategy a success or failure? With the use of quantitative and qualitative data, the hypotheses shows that new media’s introduction in political marketing has impacted and evolved the campaigning strategies since 2008. It shows new media has been a major component of cam paign strategies for educating voters, informing citizens about electorates, party’s ideals and resolutions and how the use of mass media though still present has declined due to the arrival of new media.The findings suggest that new media has been a major source of campaign financing in US while in Canada, it has been a way of educating voters. Contrary, in Britain, it has more been used as a side tool where mass media is still a major component of campaigning. Introduction of New Media and It’s Effects on Political Campaigning Living in new digital reality means that citizens must accept the changes it will bring to their culture and society. While the mass media provided people with a platform to raise their voice and be heard, the new media has given people a chance to interact.The need of humans to constantly be conversed, heard, and feel valuable is what the new media provides. These qualities of new media has enabled it to move from the basic realm of our daily lives to other important aspects of our lives of which one is, the arena of politics. With the introduction of the new media and its varying forms, politics and the idea of interaction with leaders and parties has revolutionized. This paper argues that the use of new media has changed the notion of politics, with the leaders and parties now bounded to learn new ways to interact and stay connected if they are to leave a mark and succeed.This will be shown through the differing use of new media in relation to party’s goals and strategies, their execution and success or failure in United States of America (USA), Britain (UK) and Canada for the elections of 2008/2010/2011. New Strategies With the dramatic changes in telecommunication technology, the way people interact and the way politics functions have been transformed. There have been several new media strategies to engage voters and money in the three countries. Firstly, with the expansion of broadband technology, and the int roduction of smart phones, the world of politics has become more interactive.New media has provided people with a cheaper method to constantly interact with their leaders, parties and be informed about them without having to physically travel to attend debates or political rallies. Also, this has allowed for web-accessible information to the public where there is no more need for pamphlets, brochures or posters to be accessed and dropped off at people’s houses. People can now sit in the comfort of their homes and get all the information they need about their candidates, and parties.The paper, Reform in an Age of Networked campaigns mentions, â€Å"Broadband has acted as a force multiplier in the creation of a more distributed computing environment† (Corrado, Malbin, Mann & Ornstein, 2010). Secondly, the new media has allowed for different types of political organizations and networked communities where people can mobilize and act together around a certain issue or poli tical point of view through use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The candidate campaigns are now more engaged with either the number of donations being tracked or the number of visitors to the sites being noted, digital communication makes t easier to identify and manage supporters. It also allows parties to expand their databases for use in subsequent elections. Thirdly, new media has allowed for innovation and an increase in donations for campaign financing. An example of this is the MyBO site for Barrack Obama which set a new standard to recruit and engage financial supporters. â€Å"Individuals who made a contribution were regularly solicited by email and often were asked to make an additional contribution that would be matched by another donor.Contributors could sign up for a â€Å"recurring gift† program that allowed them to make donations of as little as $25 on regular basis by charging the amount to a credit card. † This emphasis on small donors instead of a few large donors proved very successful for Obama’s campaign and this was only possible due to his wise use of new media techniques. New Media is a 21st Century catchall term used to define all that is related to the internet and the interplay between technology, images and sound (Socha & Eber-Schmid, 2012). The elections before 2008/2010/2011 were untouched by new media.It was with Facebook’s launch in 2004, YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006 that ever since, new media became a vital component of politics. USA election 2008 The 2008 US Presidential election were the start of what was to come in politics. The use of new media and the significance it was about to have in the politics, started in the year 2008 with Obama and McCain campaigning against each other. These elections were the first one where political candidates possessed a huge media presence then any candidates ever in the political history.Both the candidates of the Republicans and the Democ rats, McCain and Obama had not only websites that kept people aware of their campaigns but they were also virtually present on almost all of the social networking platforms. New Media was used as a new, cheap, â€Å"grassroots† (a golden word for campaigns of any kind) way for candidates to shore up support, and McCain and Obama have jumped in with gusto; both candidates were on Facebook (McCain has 214,482 supporters listed, Obama 1,380,827), and both had MySpace pages (McCain has 64,644 friends, Obama 457,188); both were also on LinkedIn, Digg, Twitter, Flickr, and Eventful (McCracken, 2008).The individual websites for both the candidates were MyBarackObama. com and McCainSpace (see Appendix A for snapshots of websites). The registration process were similar for both sites with each asking you to explain the reasons of your choice and general info like name, date of birth etc and once you entered the site, you could perform activities like writing blog posts, sharing videos , status or tweets to engage and remain informed. Obama’s site attracted a lot more people due to its catchy and unique outlook then that of McCain.The site also had a financial aspect to it where people could make donations online allowing people to feel valuable and participatory even if the donation was a small amount. McCainSpace—like his entire website—had a clunky, blase feel to it. MyBarackObama. com, though scarcely more in others resting or entertaining than McCainSpace, did at least feel more comfortable in its own skin; the style and typography was cohesive, easy to navigate, and it seamlessly fit into Obama’s larger site (McCracken, 2008).The Republican as their general top down, hierarchical approach in elections seemed to be resistant in using the new media because they were reluctant to move of the traditional message conveying system giving the power of message into the hands of outsiders. Contrary, Democrats were more flexible in the appr oach handing control to people outside of formal party members and representatives. This allowed them to make use of new media tools by not obsessing with message control. For example, The first was the Obama Girl video titled â€Å"I Got a Crush†¦ On Obama. The three-minute video, made by independent filmmakers unassociated with the campaign, featured a seductive young woman singing about her â€Å"crush† on Senator Obama. The second, also unassociated with the campaign, was a video montage of Barrack Obama edited to appear as if the candidate were performing with musician Will. i. am. Titled â€Å"Yes We Can,† that video became a rallying cry for the Obama campaign. Those videos were watched 11. 6 and 13 million times respectively (Metzgar & Maruggi, 2009).Overall, Obama clearly due to his bold and innovative strategies was more successful in campaigning using the new media then McCain was which might have played a role in him being elected as President as well . Britain election 2010 Compared to USA, Britain has been more subtle in their use of the new media. The 2010 elections marked the first time that new media was introduced and used in Britain’s politics. From the televised debates to the online involvement through social media sites, the 2010 elections were a revolutionary change in the country’s politics. The most impact that new media had in the year’s elections were behind the scenes.The parties used it to mobilize and organize supporters and campaigners to increase their database and garner continuous support. Parties used email to connect with potential voters on a regular basis. The strategies used by parties varied though. For the Lib Democrats it seems to have been a largely internal and campaigner-focused affair but the Conservatives were much more prolific with regular (often more than daily) emails arriving in the inboxes of members and supporters from David Cameron, George Osborne, Eric Pickles and W illiam Hague(Williamson, 2010).Compared to these two, Labour party’s strategy was somewhere in between with them being public oriented having face to face contact then Liberal Democrats but not being as professional and subtle as the Conservatives. One Labour insider described a mass email from Lord Mandelson as ‘utterly boring’ and said they could not read beyond the first paragraph (Williamson, 2010). As successful as email service proved during elections, what was shocking was the failure of party’s websites to engage voters. While the main party websites did not gain much support, spoof websites for the Conservatives like mydavidcameron. com proved successful.This was set up by an individual as a response to the ‘airbrushed’ images of the Tory party leader appearing on billboards around the country. The website allowed anyone to download templates, create their own spoof Conservative election posters and then upload them (Williamson, 2010) . The Liberal Democrats launched their site labservative. com and the Labour party also created a website with web content including a viral of YouTube videos. The Conservatives went ahead of the two parties with anyone entering key words or phrases into Google being given a link to their website at the top of the page and usually a YouTube video to accompany it.The most important aspect of the 2010 elections was the introduction of American like Presidential debates that the Britain saw for the first time. The debates were a huge success with around 9. 4 million people (Bamieh, 2010) tuning in to watch the debate. The new media then acted as a side tool with people tweeting and posting statuses. Tweetminster reported 184,396 tweets relating to the first debate, averaging over 29 tweets per second (and peaking during the debate at more than 41 tweets per second) (Bamieh, 2010). Conservatives:Facebook: 108,000+ Fans Twitter: 36,000+ Followers Youtube: 2,970,000+ Views Liberal Democra ts: Facebook: 90,000+ Fans Twitter: 22,500+ Followers Youtube: 135,000+ Views Labour Party: Facebook: 59,000+ Fans Twitter: 19,000+ Followers Youtube: 1,684,000+ Views (Bamieh, 2010) The table (see Appendix B for data on blog posts) and the stats clearly suggest that the Conservative party took the lead on the social media front whether it was Twitter, emails, Facebook, blog posts or YouTube which played a role in their victory in elections. Canada election 2011Following on the steps of the 2008 elections in their neighbor country, Canadian parties and politicians made vital use of new media in the country’s elections in 2011. In Canada, the social media outlets have been utilized by parties to generate dialogues, channel electorate’s attention, educate voters, instigate online activity on portals, and connect with supporters. The Liberal party’s approach in the elections was to go all out and imaginative and make use of every possible social outlet to engage vo ters and mark their presence.The Liberals linked Ignatieff ’s Facebook page with discussion groups and also offered readers the chance to ask questions, which few seemed interested in doing (Taras & Waddell). In contrast, the Conservative Party, which greatly increased its use of digital media from 2008, used a funneling strategy focusing on channeling the electorate’s attention and online activity to the party’s online portal, Tory Nation also using its portal as its primary means of connecting with supporters (Natalie, 2008).The NDP used new media to educate its voters to increase its vote share while constantly emailing supporters. It also made use of Smartphone applications wisely by introducing an iPhone application named ‘Jack Layton’ which informed supporters about upcoming political events while also linking photos and videos of their leader’s tours regularly. Similarly, the Green Party also introduced an application and tried to educ ate its supporters about the party.Unlike the other more recognizable parties, the Green Party was faced with the task of establishing itself as a legitimate alternative party and political force in Canadian politics and so its extensive use of digital media usage stemmed from its need to build awareness and to communicate its message outside mass media (Natalie, 2008). While, all the parties made use of Twitter vastly, the usage of Facebook and YouTube was surprisingly limited in their strategy. Most of the candidates including Stephen Harper and Ignatieff jumped and made use of the tweeting bandwagon.Facebook didn’t attract nearly the same amount of media attention as Twitter, perhaps because parties and candidates used it mostly like any other one-way means of communication. Candidate and party Facebook sites were used primarily to distribute messages to voters but generated almost no debate and interaction with them about policies (Taras & Waddell). The party’s str ategies in the 2011 elections in use of new media were not as bold and widely used to that of USA.The parties used the new media as a side tool with all the parties doing a little but none of them doing enough to utilize the new media’s strengths fully. Conclusions In the three countries, the use of new media overall has allowed to facilitate a sense of community and a stronger connection between individuals and candidates. However, the extent and degree to which the parties in each country have utilized new media varies. While the USA has been the predominant leader due to its brave and innovative use of new media, Canada and Britain have been slowly accepting and dealing with this phenomenon.Also, in the three countries, new media strategies are being used as old strategies in new and advanced forms. Email, websites and social media all played important roles but they were not game changers, simply additional tools that could be successfully deployed alongside other, more t raditional methods (Williamson, 2010). Earlier, mass media played a similar role of interaction and engagement in politics. Now, new media allows for a greater extent of individual involvement and engagement through use of social media sites, online networking communities etc in the arena of politics.This can also be portrayed from the idea that other factors in politics such as charisma, race, and identification still matter and have in fact become more important after the innovations and enhancements to media. For example, in the election of 2008, it was not just the smart use of new media that allowed for Obama’s success. Rather, it was a combination of his charismatic personality, his appearance as the first to be black President and his use of new media that led to his commendable success that year. In conclusion, new media is vital to the changing world of politics today.It has transformed how we interact and stay informed about parties and their leaders. The new media has both its pros and cons and is widely used in America, Britain, and Canada. Thus, we all must accept the new media and incorporate it in our lives to better stay informed and connected. References Bamieh, M. (2010). British general election 2010 — learn social media by example. Retrieved from http://blog. thoughtpick. com/2010/05/british-general-election-2010-learn-social-media-by-example. html Campaign Finance Institute. 2010. Reform in an Age of Networked Campaigns. Pp. 1-16. http://www. finst. org/books_reports/Reform-in-an-Age-of-Networked-Campaigns. pdf McCracken, B. (2008). new media as election strategy: How Obama and McCain court the Net Generation. UCLA'S journal of cinema and media studies, Retrieved from http://www. tft. ucla. edu/mediascape/Fall08_Mccracken. html Metzgar, E. , ; Maruggi, A. (2009). Social media and the 2008 u. s. presidential election. Journal of New Communications Research, IV(1), Retrieved from http://fralincm. files. wordpress. com/2011/06/s ocialmedia_08election. pdf Roebuck, Natalie. Use of the Internet in the 2008 Canadian Election.M. A. paper. Blackboard. Socha , B. , ; Eber-Schmid, B. (2012). What is new media?. Retrieved from http://www. newmedia. org/what-is-new-media. html Taras, D. , ; Waddell, C. (n. d. ). The 2011 Federal Election and the Transformation of Canadian Media and Politics. Retrieved from http://www. aupress. ca/books/120205/ebook/04_Taras_Waddell_2012-How_Canadians_Communicate_IV. pdf Williamson, A. (2010). 2010: The internet election that wasn’t. Political Insight, Retrieved from http://www. politicalinsightmagazine. com/? p=397 Appendix A (McCracken, 2008) Appendix B (Bamieh, 2010)

Why Homeschooling Is on the Rise

Homeschooling is an educational choice surrounded by many myths and misconceptions. Even though this method continues to provide high national test scores and well-rounded, diversely educated children, many people still do not see the virtue of the choice. They often have preconceived notions about what goes on in homeschooling. History and Background of Homeschooling Homeschooling is defined as instruction in an educational program outside of established schools. Homeschooling  dates back to the 1960s with a counter-culture movement that soon fizzled out. The movement was rekindled in the 1970s after the Supreme Court upheld the decision that removing school prayer was not unconstitutional. This decision sparked the Christian movement to homeschool although, at the time, it was illegal in 45 states. Laws slowly changed, and by 1993 homeschooling was recognized as a parent’s right in all 50 states. (Neal, 2006) As people continue to see the benefits, the numbers continue to grow. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Education reported that the number of homeschooling students had climbed from 850,000 in 1999 to 1.1 million in 2003. (Fagan, 2007) Reasons People Homeschool As a homeschooling mother of two I am frequently asked why I homeschool. I believe that Mariette Ulrich (2008) best summed up the reasons why people homeschool when she said: I prefer to make those [educational] choices myself. Not because I think I know ‘better’ than all those professional educators, but I do think I know my own children best, and consequently which programs and methods would benefit them. Homeschooling is not about rejecting other people and things; it’s about making personal and positive choices for your own family. (1) While statistics do not show that violence is on the rise, it is hard to ignore stories in the news relating violent school events on a regular basis. Because of these perceptions of school violence, it isn’t difficult to understand why some parents want to educate their children at home. However, this is sometimes viewed as an attempt to shelter their children. Homeschoolers understand that sheltering their children would not do any good. They will still be exposed to the violence in the world through other mediums. Nevertheless, homeschooling does help to keep them safe by keeping them away from the current trend of school violence. While school violence is now a leading factor in many parents’ decisions there are many different reasons for choosing to homeschool. The statistics state that: 31.2 percent of home-schooling parents say that â€Å"concern about the environment of other schools† was their primary reason for home instruction16.5 percent stated â€Å"dissatisfaction with the academic instruction in other schools†29.8 percent said â€Å"to provide religious or moral instruction†6.5 percent was â€Å"because the child has a physical or mental health problem†7.2 percent said â€Å"because the child has other special needs†8.8 percent gave â€Å"other reasons† (Fagan, 2007). For my family it was a combination of the first three reasons—academic dissatisfaction being top—along with specific incidents that led us to decide to homeschool. How Homeschooled Students Perform Academically People might have their own preconceived ideas about who exactly homeschools. Homeschoolers initially consisted of white, middle-class, and/or religious fundamentalist families, but is no longer limited to this group. (Greene Greene, 2007) In fact, the number of African American homeschoolers has steadily grown in recent years.  (Black, 2006,) You can understand why when looking at national statistics. A significant discovery in the study Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America stated that there was no difference in homeschooling scores based on the student’s race, and that scores for both minority and white students in grades k-12 averaged in the 87th percentile. (Klicka, 2006) This statistic is in sharp contrast to the public school systems where 8th grade white students score in th e 57th percentile on average, while blacks and Hispanic students score in the 28th percentile in reading alone. (Klicka, 2006) Statistics do not speak favorably only about minorities but all students who homeschool, regardless of their demographics. The study â€Å"Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America† completed in 1997, included 5,402 students that homeschool. The study verified that on average, homeschoolers were performing higher than their public school equivalent â€Å"by 30 to 37 percentile points in all subjects.† (Klicka, 2006) This seems to be the case in all studies performed on homeschoolers; however, due to the lack of standard test practices in each state and no unbiased collection of these scores, it is hard to determine the exact average score for homeschooling families. In addition to flourishing standardized test scores, many homeschool students also have the benefit of fulfilling graduation requirements and going to college earlier. This is attributed to flexible nature of homeschooling.  (Neal, 2006) Studies have also been made to compare homeschool and public school settings in cases of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders. The studies showed that homeschooling parents provided educational settings yielding more â€Å"academic engaged time (AET)† in comparison to the public school settings, making homeschooling more beneficial for the child’s development and learning. (Duvall, 2004) Due to this increase in academic performance it is no wonder that colleges are attempting to recruit more homeschoolers because of their high test scores coupled with their self-discipline for completing work. In an article sent around to college personnel about the benefits of making special efforts to recruit homeschoolers Greene and Green say, â€Å"We believe that the homeschool population represents fertile ground for college enrollment efforts, consisting as it does of many bright students with a wide array of educational, personal, and family experiences.†Ã‚   Homeschool Teacher Qualifications Beyond the statistics, when someone talks about homeschooling, usually two points come up. The first is whether the parent is qualified to teach their child, and the second and possibly biggest question asked of  homeschoolers everywhere is about socialization. Qualification is a big concern because opponents of homeschooling believe that parents do not have the ability to teach children like a certified teacher does. I do agree that teachers have accreditation beyond what typical homeschooling parents do, but I also believe that parents have the ability to teach a child any class that they would need, especially in the elementary years. Children have an ability in homeschool that is not available to them in a traditional classroom. If a student has a question in class, it might not be the appropriate time to ask the question, or the teacher might be too busy to answer. However, in homeschool if a child has a question, time can be taken to answer the question or look up the answer if it is unknown. No one all of the answers, not even teachers; after all they are human as well. Dave Arnold of the National Education Association (NEA) stated, â€Å"You would think that they might leave this—the shaping of their children’s minds, careers, and futures—to trained professionals.† (Arnold, 2008) Why would it make more sense to leave these important factors in a child’s life to a person who with be with him for only a year? Why leave those factors to someone  who does not have time to develop the child’s strengths and weaknesses and provide one-on-one time with him? After all even Albert Einstein was homeschooled. However, there are resources for parents who aren’t confident about teaching higher level classes. Some options include: online or correspondence coursesco-opscommunity college classes (Fagan, 2007) With these classes—usually utilized in math or science but available in all subjects—students have the benefit of a teacher knowledgeable in the subject. Tutoring and access to the teacher for specific help are usually available.   While I do disagree with the statement that parents are not qualified to teach their children, I believe that there should be end of year testing. This requirement is on a state to state guideline, and I believe that it should be made mandatory so that a parent can prove that homeschooling is effective for her child. If public school children are required to take these tests, then so should homeschoolers. Virginia law states that all families must register [with their local school district] on a per yearly basis and submit results of professional standardized testing scores (similar to SOL) although there is an option of â€Å"religious exemption† that does not require any end of year testing. (Fagan, 2007) The study â€Å"Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America† also found that students ranged in the 86th percentile â€Å"regardless of state regulation,† whether a state had no regulations or a large amount of regulations. (Klicka, 2006, p. 2) These statistics show that state regulations on testing, on what degree of certification a parent has (which can range from no high school diploma to certified teacher to holder of a non-relational bachelors degree), and compulsory attendance laws all have no significance in regards to scores achieved on tests. Homeschool Student Socialization Finally the biggest concern among  those questioning or outright opposed to homeschooling is socialization. Socialization is defined as : â€Å"1. To place under government or group ownership or control. 2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable. 3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.† The first definition is not applicable to education but the second and third are worth looking into. People believe that kids need socialization with other children in order for them to be productive members of society. I completely agree with that. I believe if you have a child who is homeschooled and is rarely in public, interacting with others, then I agree that you will have a problem with that child in years to come. That is just common sense. However, I do not believe socializing is fitting in with other children their own ages that have no moral compass, no sense of right, or wrong and no respect for teachers and authority figures. When children are young and impressionable, it is hard for them to tell which children to steer clear of, often until it is too late. This is where peer pressure comes into play, and children want to mimic their peer group’s behavior in order to fit in and receive group acceptance. Dave Arnold of the NEA also speaks about one specific website that says not to worry about socialization. He says, â€Å"If this website encouraged home--schooled children to join after-school clubs at the local school, or participate in sports or other community activities, then I might feel different. Maine state laws, for example, require local school districts to allow home-schooled students to participate in their athletic programs† (Arnold, 2008, p. 1). There are two problems with his statement. The first untruth is that most homeschoolers dont want to participate in elementary and high school sports like this. There arent legal requirements in each state allowing them to so in states without laws it is based on the individual school board. The problem with this is that school boards sometimes do not allow homeschoolers to participate in their organized sports, whether due to lack of funding or discrimination. The second untruth in his statement is that homeschoolers do encourage these types of activities. Homeschoolers in general know that their children need interaction with other children (of all age ranges not just specific to their own grade) and do everything possible to ensure their children receive this. This comes in the form of: team sportsco-ops (groups of homeschoolers who get together weekly to exchange classes to allow for socialization and taking advantage of the parents’ strong teaching points)support groups (homeschoolers that get together on a regular basis for the children to play or participate in activities such as bowling or roller skating)clubs such as 4H  and scoutslessons such as dance and karate. Many  public libraries, museums, gyms and other community groups and businesses offer programs and classes, catering to the growing number of homeschoolers. (Fagan, 2007) This usually allows more avenues for education as well as opportunities for homeschooling families to get together. Socialization is a very important aspect in every child’s life. However, homeschool graduates that have been exposed to these avenues of socialization have shown just as much ability to survive in and contribute to society as their public school counterparts. Homeschooling is a viable option to those who feel that their children aren’t learning enough, are falling prey to peer pressure, or are exposed or susceptible to too much violence in school. Homeschooling has statistically proven over time that it is a method of education that succeeds with test scores surpassing those in public schools. Homeschool graduates have proven themselves in the college arena and beyond. The questions of qualification and socialization are often argued, but as you can see have no solid facts to stand on. As long as the test scores of those students whose parents are not certified teachers remains higher than public school children, no one can argue for higher qualification regulations. Even though the socialization of homeschoolers does not fit in the standard box of a public classroom setting, it is proven to be just as effective if not better in providing quality (not quantity) socializing opportunities. The results speak for themselves in the long run. I am often asked why I homeschool.  There are so many answers to this question—dissatisfaction with public schools, safety, the state of society today, lack of religion and morals—that I would end up going on and on. However, I think my feelings are summed up in the popular phrase, â€Å"I’ve seen the village, and I don’t want it raising my child.† References Arnold, D. (2008, February 24). Home schools run by well-meaning amateurs: schools with good teachers are best-suited to shape young minds. National Education Association. Retrieved March 7, 2006, from http://www.nea.org/espcolumns/dv040220.html Black flight—to homeschool (2006, March-April). Practical Homeschooling 69. 8(1). Retrieved March 2, 2006, from Gale database. Duvall, S., Delaquadri, J., Ward D. L. (2004, Wntr). A preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of homeschool instructional environments for student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. School Psychological Review, 331; 140(19). Retrieved March 2, 2008, from Gale database. Fagan, A. (2007, November 26) Teach your children well; with new resources, home-schooling numbers grow (page one)(special report). The Washington Times, A01. Retrieved March 2, 2008, from Gale database. Greene, H. Greene, M. (2007, August). There’s no place like home: as the homeschool population grows, college and universities must increase enrollment efforts targeted to this group (Admissions). University Business, 10.8, 25(2). Retrieved March 2, 2008, from Gale database. Klicka, C. (2004, October 22). Academic statistics on homeschooling. HSLDA. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from www.hslda.org Neal, A. (2006, September-October) Excelling in and out of the home, homeschooled kids are thriving across the country. Students demonstrating exceptional academic honors are capturing top slots at national competitions. Saturday Evening Post, 278.5, 54(4). Retrieved March 2, 2008, from Gale database. Ulrich, M. (2008, January) Why I homeschool: (because people keep asking). Catholic Insight, 16.1. Retrieved March 2, 2008 from Gale database. Updated by  Kris Bales