Ashesh's blog

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Ashesh — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:56:00 +0000

Blog update:

my blog has been transfered to:

http://asheshr.wordpress.com

Friday 28 November

Ashesh — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:30:08 +0000

This was a much awaited date. Friday 28 November was the deadline for essay in HRM, activity 6.5 in GEM SOCI1101 Understanding Society and last but not the least: Marketing Presentation.

a real bel bezer! Effective Time Management is required. Many Thanks to Google Calendar :D

I woke up early. Time to get dressed up in 'Classic', yes, and in Black also. Unfortunately, I could not print my assignments since I lacked A4 paper. Nevermind, I took my printer in the car. My primary school friend accompanied me during the trip Triolet - Reduit. Happily, we were not stuck in the traffic jam and reached uni at 08:15. Time to put on my new shoes (since I drive bare footed). The new shoes are like 'la pate canard' but nevertheless, very beautiful!!!!

To be able to obtain power supply for the printer, I went into the student center (common). There, could socialise a bit with prashant and co. I had the great please to be able to print my assignments and get it a spiral-binding. At the same time, offered the printing service to some of my close friends. Les filles reviewed the slides and performed a bit of formatting.

A bit of tension in the common, after solving some problems, finally got in the place where the marketing presentation of classmates had already started. In the RB lecture theater, I could witness les caisiers de winners, lolz. Gosh, I imagine the faces staring at us. Our group (les blues) sat down and started to "warm up" for the presentation.

We witnessed that a limited time slot was alloted to each member and that they were required to complete their presentation within 20 minutes, not a minute more. We appreciated some presentations when lunch time came.

Bel Nissa during lunch time. Time to take photos and play with the mic on the stage. It was very cool, we were enjoying ourselves.

I got the time to paste the powerpoint into the Uni laptop.

Time for presentations to resume. The respected lecturer again perform the classification of the order of groups for presenting. Luckily ours was 2 group after. We were impatient to present.

Tada..........................

Now its our turn........started to get on stage.

"Aler commence decorer". We had planned to paste stickers on the whiteboard and on the table of Pepi/Mirinda posters. On the table we placed samples of QBL's products.

I opened the powerpoint presentation. Everything going as expected.

I started: "Good Afternoon everybody". The lecture theatre still in 'brouhaha'. No other option than to utter: "now please shut down". No offense was meant. Just that wanted to have the attention of everybody.

We were waiting for Green light from our lecturer and came: "You may start". off the plane went....and we performed on the following slides:

Marketing of Pepsi in Mauritius

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mauritius marketing)

The fun part is on slide 33. I said: "Now I will try to explain the three levels of product".....hmmmmm (I looked at the audience)......you (pointing to prashant), "yes you........tell me, why do you drink?"

The interactive session was hyper fun because it was unexpected.

All the slides were well presented. Our team was fabulous, an epitome of teamwork.

Well, tous est bien qui fini bien. The presentations over, we took hyper fun taking photos of the classmates who stayed till 4:30pm.

we friends, went to relax and celebrate at Shoprite, then Belle Rose, Rose Hill (Boulettes), then Quartier Militaire (Tight sleeping) and then Kentucky with Smirnoff Ice - (dr. house, dr. wilson, dr. foreman).

Finally Home sweet home on Sat. 04:00 pm.

ha...........life is beautiful, isn't?

Sentenced to Everyday Life...

Ashesh — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:41:02 +0000

Articles suggest that it is now possible to have a nanny to look after your children, a person to clean your house or do your garden, as well as an agency to arrange your social life, your holidays, someone to let the washing-machine repair person to come into your house when you are at work, buy presents for your children and your spouse and so on. Indeed, lifestyle managers and consultants from companies such as the London-based TimeEnergyNetwork, which will run your household, co-ordinating all these sub-contractors to undertake your domestic chores.

Ref:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Gk_myyWa1tEC&printsec=frontcover
Mummy, I want to be a Housewife, The Times Higher Education by Catherine Hakim, 26 April 1996
Feature Article: Do women want to stay at home?

Defining the Housewife: Contemporary Feminism

A major debate, ostensibly concerned with women's participation in the labour market, was initiated by the article by Catherine Hakim, titled ' Five Feminist Myths about Women's Employment', published in the British Journal of Sociology 1995. Hakim insisted that the issue rested on the question of whether or not all women 'reject the role of full-time homemaker; that they seek to participate in the labour market on exactly the same basis as men'. She claimed that she had once thought that women would 'flodd into wage work on a full-time basis if at all possible'. She argued that feminists needed to recognise that not all women want to work full-time and indeed, many do want to stay at home.

Hakim published a book in 2000, Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21st Century, which has contributed to her controversial status among feminists in the UK, the US and Australia. The conservative Prime Minister, John Howard is reported by the Australian press as being most impressed by Hakim's work as as adopting her argument that women can be divided into three groups:

Home -centered
Adaptive
Work-centred

Hakim argues that a number of historical changes, common to all developed societies since the 1960s, have made it possible for women to make lifestyle choices about how they wish to handle the demands and opportunities of family and work life. And women, she says, are heterogeneous in how they make these choices. Hakim argues that the largest group are those who are 'adaptive'. They want to combine work and family but are not totally committed to a working career and wish to move in and out of the workforce at different times in their lives.

Defining Housewife

'Woman is doomed to the continuation of the species and the care of the home i.e immanence' - Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949). She claimed that the housewife wears herself out marking time in the endless repetition of her work and in waging a furious war against dirt and life itself for the rubbish and mess it creates. De Beauvoir argues that their engagement in these activities prevents women from achieving or pursuing self-actualisation or self-realisation. Women does not have control over the meaning of her life in her hands, she can only seek to create some sort of dignity out of her vassalage.

In Ann Oakley's Housewife (1974),she claimed that most women in modern industrialised societies shared the experience of beign a housewife. The primacy of the housewife role in women's lives today, she argued, plays a major part in hampering progress towards sex equality. By the end of her book, she concluded that the housewife role must be abolished. 'Housework', she announced, 'is work directly opposed to the possibility of human self-actualisation'.

Here is a comment from Just_Jane, a professional flickr user on this photo:

To be a real housewife is a privilege.
you are saving a lot of money, no baby sitter , no laundry bill. no housecleaner no cook. I did that for many years and the best was that Mommy was always at home when the children came from school. no key for my children, and alwasy plenty of time for fun and games.
The children who's Mom is working, are paying the price. Look at the modern youth... drugs and violence.. and never learned to love..

Catherine Hakim

Catherine Hakim is senior research fellow, London School of Economics. Dr Catherine Hakim, senior research fellow at the London School of Economics, has warned that the Government's new Single Equality Bill will discriminate against men, since all the measures needed to give women equality have already been enacted and the remaining disparity in pay is due to the fact that only one-quarter of women are fixated on careers to the exclusion of family life.

"The feminist myth that all or most women would be just as careerist as men, if only they were given the opportunity, has been exploded," says Dr Hakim

The bar that forced women to resign their jobs on marriage, particularly in the white-collar occupations of teaching and clerical work, had the function of forcing wives to become economically dependent on their husbands. It also reinforced the "normality" of a rigid sexual division of labour in the household, with breadwinning the exclusive responsibility of the husband while care of the home and family was allocated to the wife. It is as well to remember that although the marriage bar was gradually eliminated after the second world war, it did not become illegal until the Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act came into force around 20 years ago

These unexpected, even unwelcome, findings were reviewed in my article "Five feminist myths about women's employment", in the September 1995 BJS, which went on to ponder why feminist social science had got it so wrong, whether feminists have fallen into the trap of inventing "convenient facts" just as men have done for centuries.

Academic critical response was immediate. Even before my paper was published, a critical comment signed by 11 social scientists was accepted by the BJS editor. A full debate on the "Myths" article was eventually published in the March 1996 issue, with two separate critical comments followed by my response, "The sexual division of labour and women's heterogeneity", which presented further evidence from attitude surveys on men's and women's sex-role attitudes across Europe. I argued that sex differentials in employment experience in Western Europe are nowadays due to personal choice as much as to sex discrimination. Sociologists and economists have overlooked the fact that most women, as well as men, still accept and even prefer differentiated sex roles. The argument is being labelled "preference theory".

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep

Ashesh — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:14:47 +0000

It was a fine day when I was doing photocopy at the UoM Library. As my instince was saying, I was again going to encounter a book in Psychology. As this time, to my great surprise, a BSc Psychology Student (first year) came and we could had a nice chat. His assignment was on "Dreams". A quiet tough title. I suggested the book: Interpretation of Dreams by Segmend Freud. Here is a nice reading on the topic.

Ref:National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/understanding-the-brain-development.html

http://www.howstuffworks.com/brain.htm#

Until the 1950s, most people thought of sleep as a passive, dormant part of our daily lives. We now know that our brains are very active during sleep. Moreover, sleep affects our daily functioning and our physical and mental health in many ways that we are just beginning to understand.

Nerve-signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters control whether we are asleep or awake by acting on different groups of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. Neurons in the brainstem, which connects the brain with the spinal cord, produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake. Other neurons at the base of the brain begin signaling when we fall asleep. These neurons appear to "switch off" the signals that keep us awake. Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our blood while we are awake and causes drowsiness. This chemical gradually breaks down while we sleep.

During sleep, we usually pass through five phases of sleep: stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress in a cycle from stage 1 to REM sleep, then the cycle starts over again with stage 1 (see figure 1 ). We spend almost 50 percent of our total sleep time in stage 2 sleep, about 20 percent in REM sleep, and the remaining 30 percent in the other stages. Infants, by contrast, spend about half of their sleep time in REM sleep.

During stage 1, which is light sleep, we drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. Our eyes move very slowly and muscle activity slows. People awakened from stage 1 sleep often remember fragmented visual images. Many also experience sudden muscle contractions called hypnic myoclonia, often preceded by a sensation of starting to fall. These sudden movements are similar to the "jump" we make when startled. When we enter stage 2 sleep, our eye movements stop and our brain waves (fluctuations of electrical activity that can be measured by electrodes) become slower, with occasional bursts of rapid waves called sleep spindles. In stage 3, extremely slow brain waves called delta waves begin to appear, interspersed with smaller, faster waves. By stage 4, the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. It is very difficult to wake someone during stages 3 and 4, which together are calleddeep sleep. There is no eye movement or muscle activity. People awakened during deep sleep do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes after they wake up. Some children experience bedwetting, night terrors, or sleepwalking during deep sleep.

When we switch into REM sleep, our breathing becomes more rapid, irregular, and shallow, our eyes jerk rapidly in various directions, and our limb muscles become temporarily paralyzed. Our heart rate increases, our blood pressure rises, and males develop penile erections. When people awaken during REM sleep, they often describe bizarre and illogical tales – dreams.

The first REM sleep period usually occurs about 70 to 90 minutes after we fall asleep. A complete sleep cycle takes 90 to 110 minutes on average. The first sleep cycles each night contain relatively short REM periods and long periods of deep sleep. As the night progresses, REM sleep periods increase in length while deep sleep decreases. By morning, people spend nearly all their sleep time in stages 1, 2, and REM.

People awakened after sleeping more than a few minutes are usually unable to recall the last few minutes before they fell asleep. This sleep-related form of amnesia is the reason people often forget telephone calls or conversations they've had in the middle of the night. It also explains why we often do not remember our alarms ringing in the morning if we go right back to sleep after turning them off.

Since sleep and wakefulness are influenced by different neurotransmitter signals in the brain, foods and medicines that change the balance of these signals affect whether we feel alert or drowsy and how well we sleep. Caffeinated drinks such as coffee and drugs such as diet pills and decongestants stimulate some parts of the brain and can cause insomnia, or an inability to sleep. Many antidepressants suppress REM sleep. Heavy smokers often sleep very lightly and have reduced amounts of REM sleep. They also tend to wake up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep due to nicotine withdrawal. Many people who suffer from insomnia try to solve the problem with alcohol – the so-called night cap. While alcohol does help people fall into light sleep, it also robs them of REM and the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep. Instead, it keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep, from which they can be awakened easily.

People lose some of the ability to regulate their body temperature during REM, so abnormally hot or cold temperatures in the environment can disrupt this stage of sleep. If our REM sleep is disrupted one night, our bodies don't follow the normal sleep cycle progression the next time we doze off. Instead, we often slip directly into REM sleep and go through extended periods of REM until we "catch up" on this stage of sleep.

People who are under anesthesia or in a coma are often said to be asleep. However, people in these conditions cannot be awakened and do not produce the complex, active brain wave patterns seen in normal sleep. Instead, their brain waves are very slow and weak, sometimes all but undetectable.

How Much Sleep Do We Need?

The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age. Infants generally require about 16 hours a day, while teenagers need about 9 hours on average. For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day. Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual. The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid. We don't seem to adapt to getting less sleep than we need; while we may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired.

People tend to sleep more lightly and for shorter time spans as they get older, although they generally need about the same amount of sleep as they needed in early adulthood. About half of all people over 65 have frequent sleeping problems, such as insomnia, and deep sleep stages in many elderly people often become very short or stop completely. This change may be a normal part of aging, or it may result from medical problems that are common in elderly people and from the medications and other treatments for those problems.

Experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven't had enough sleep. If you routinely fall asleep within 5 minutes of lying down, you probably have severe sleep deprivation, possibly even a sleep disorder. Microsleeps, or very brief episodes of sleep in an otherwise awake person, are another mark of sleep deprivation. In many cases, people are not aware that they are experiencing microsleeps. The widespread practice of "burning the candle at both ends" in western industrialized societies has created so much sleep deprivation that what is really abnormal sleepiness is now almost the norm.

Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous. Sleep-deprived people who are tested by using a driving simulator or by performing a hand-eye coordination task perform as badly as or worse than those who are intoxicated. Sleep deprivation also magnifies alcohol's effects on the body, so a fatigued person who drinks will become much more impaired than someone who is well-rested. Driver fatigue is responsible for an estimated 100,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1500 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Since drowsiness is the brain's last step before falling asleep, driving while drowsy can – and often does – lead to disaster. Caffeine and other stimulants cannot overcome the effects of severe sleep deprivation. The National Sleep Foundation says that if you have trouble keeping your eyes focused, if you can't stop yawning, or if you can't remember driving the last few miles, you are probably too drowsy to drive safely.

Return to Index

Sleep and Disease

Sleep and sleep-related problems play a role in a large number of human disorders and affect almost every field of medicine. For example, problems like stroke and asthma attacks tend to occur more frequently during the night and early morning, perhaps due to changes in hormones, heart rate, and other characteristics associated with sleep. Sleep also affects some kinds of epilepsy in complex ways. REM sleep seems to help prevent seizures that begin in one part of the brain from spreading to other brain regions, while deep sleep may promote the spread of these seizures. Sleep deprivation also triggers seizures in people with some types of epilepsy.

Neurons that control sleep interact closely with the immune system. As anyone who has had the flu knows, infectious diseases tend to make us feel sleepy. This probably happens because cytokines, chemicals our immune systems produce while fighting an infection, are powerful sleep-inducing chemicals. Sleep may help the body conserve energy and other resources that the immune system needs to mount an attack.

Sleeping problems occur in almost all people with mental disorders, including those with depression and schizophrenia. People with depression, for example, often awaken in the early hours of the morning and find themselves unable to get back to sleep. The amount of sleep a person gets also strongly influences the symptoms of mental disorders. Sleep deprivation is an effective therapy for people with certain types of depression, while it can actually cause depression in other people. Extreme sleep deprivation can lead to a seemingly psychotic state of paranoia and hallucinations in otherwise healthy people, and disrupted sleep can trigger episodes of mania (agitation and hyperactivity) in people with manic depression.

Sleeping problems are common in many other disorders as well, including Alzheimer's disease, stroke, cancer, and head injury. These sleeping problems may arise from changes in the brain regions and neurotransmitters that control sleep, or from the drugs used to control symptoms of other disorders. In patients who are hospitalized or who receive round-the-clock care, treatment schedules or hospital routines also may disrupt sleep. The old joke about a patient being awakened by a nurse so he could take a sleeping pill contains a grain of truth. Once sleeping problems develop, they can add to a person's impairment and cause confusion, frustration, or depression. Patients who are unable to sleep also notice pain more and may increase their requests for pain medication. Better management of sleeping problems in people who have other disorders could improve these patients' health and quality of life.

Sleep Disorders

At least 40 million Americans each year suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders each year, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleeping problems. These disorders and the resulting sleep deprivation interfere with work, driving, and social activities. They also account for an estimated $16 billion in medical costs each year, while the indirect costs due to lost productivity and other factors are probably much greater. Doctors have described more than 70 sleep disorders, most of which can be managed effectively once they are correctly diagnosed. The most common sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.

Tips for a Good Night's Sleep:

Adapted from "When You Can't Sleep: The ABCs of ZZZs," by the National Sleep Foundation.

Set a schedule:

Go to bed at a set time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Disrupting this schedule may lead to insomnia. "Sleeping in" on weekends also makes it harder to wake up early on Monday morning because it re-sets your sleep cycles for a later awakening.

Exercise:

Try to exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day. Daily exercise often helps people sleep, although a workout soon before bedtime may interfere with sleep. For maximum benefit, try to get your exercise about 5 to 6 hours before going to bed.

Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol:

Avoid drinks that contain caffeine, which acts as a stimulant and keeps people awake. Sources of caffeine include coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, non-herbal teas, diet drugs, and some pain relievers. Smokers tend to sleep very lightly and often wake up in the early morning due to nicotine withdrawal. Alcohol robs people of deep sleep and REM sleep and keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep.

Relax before bed:

A warm bath, reading, or another relaxing routine can make it easier to fall sleep. You can train yourself to associate certain restful activities with sleep and make them part of your bedtime ritual.

Sleep until sunlight:

If possible, wake up with the sun, or use very bright lights in the morning. Sunlight helps the body's internal biological clock reset itself each day. Sleep experts recommend exposure to an hour of morning sunlight for people having problems falling asleep.

Don't lie in bed awake:

If you can't get to sleep, don't just lie in bed. Do something else, like reading, watching television, or listening to music, until you feel tired. The anxiety of being unable to fall asleep can actually contribute to insomnia.

Control your room temperature:

Maintain a comfortable temperature in the bedroom. Extreme temperatures may disrupt sleep or prevent you from falling asleep.

See a doctor if your sleeping problem continues:

If you have trouble falling asleep night after night, or if you always feel tired the next day, then you may have a sleep disorder and should see a physician. Your primary care physician may be able to help you; if not, you can probably find a sleep specialist at a major hospital near you. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively, so you can finally get that good night's sleep you need

Negotiated order, power and culture

Ashesh — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:46:02 +0000

It was a fine university day. The birds were chirping and purple flowers blossoming. Until, our dear beloved and respected class rep. who is always devoted to her work (nunds) gave me the golden opportunity to photocopy HRM notes on culture. One fine day, I sat down and I read it - because I do read sometimes, though very rarely: Chapter 3: Managing Culture by Stephen Linstead, under the section, The Origins of Organisational Culture, last 3 lines in paragraph 3 and I quote:

"A good film to watch, which relates to negotiated order, power and culture is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1973) starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Milos Forman"

Given the vivid effects of better understanding HRM (in some way) after watching Office Space. I decided to take advantage of the broadband connection and download the movie from the information super highway. I sat down and with the dolby Headphone enjoyed the 5 Oscar Winning film. It was a fantastic film. Amazing performance by Jack Nicholson. Great screenplay. as well as being entertaining, great way of understanding concepts in Sociology and well as Psychology. Ref: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073486/

Ref: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Sociological Analysis

The movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is based on the experience of a criminal that elected to move to a mental institution to avoid serving his time at a prison work camp.

The criminal, Randall P. McMurphy, or McMurphy, as the other inmates call him, was under the impression that his sentence would be converted to the amount of time he would need to spend in the institution. What he did not realize was that once he was admitted to the institution, he would not be released until the medical staff felt he was safe for society.

McMurphy goes about living in the institution, and creates a society among several of the patients, which has a large impact on the structure of the institution. His relationships with the other patients in the ward develops into a society where thoughts and opinions grow and interfere with the flow of the institution's rules and regulations, and friction is made between the authorities and the patients.

McMurphy strives to overcome the head nurse, Nurse Ratchet, and finds himself understanding the mentalities of the others in the ward.

Insanity

This movie's theme is about insanity and how people on "the other side" of the wall view the term "insanity".

Society

The term "society" is defined as a group of people that share a culture and common identity. This society is present when McMurphy is admitted to the institution, but he changes it by developing relationships with the other patients. This can be described as social influence. Social influence is where other people have an impact on and change the thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors of others.

When McMurphy first arrives at the institution, the other patients follow a structure in the institution where interactions with others are limited. Many of the patients are withdrawn from others, and only follow the daily "routine" assigned to them. This is a society of order and regulations, and the members of this society have a culture and common identity of being "insane" and in the institution for medical treatment.

Role Conflict

McMurphy changes this society by influencing the other patients. During his time in the ward, McMurphy develops relationships with the other patients and teaches them to interact with one another more completely. He also how to work towards what they wanted with both their accommodations in the hospital, as well as their personal goals for themselves and their success with their treatment.
While he is doing this, Nurse Ratchet becomes enraged at his attempt to change the system she strongly encourages and abides by. There is an unspoken feud between the two, and there is a role conflict between them as well. The role conflict is between the power of the authority, and the obedience of the patient.

Since McMurphy is expressing his desire for change, he other patients follow his lead and also demand their own desires. Nurse Ratchet begins losing her authority over the patients and McMurphy gains influence over the patients.

Group Power

The patients, led by McMurphy, form a group. This group interacts with one another, and recognizes their identity through their involvement with each other. Since there is only a group of patients in the entire ward that really interact with one another, this group becomes a primary group. These are the select patients that grow close with each other and possess common thoughts and desires.
There are specific norms in the institution that are expected to be followed by the patients, as well as the employees of the ward. McMurphy and eventually, the other inmates constantly violate these norms.

For instance, McMurphy bribes a security guard to allow his female friends into the ward with alcohol, and the patients have a party during their sleeping time. No visitors are allowed, and certainly no alcohol, but the patients enjoy themselves and disregard that they are violating a norm of the institution.

Culture

Non-material culture is present both inside and outside of the institution. The patients outside of the institution violated the aspects of non-material culture involving appropriate behaviors and patterns of interaction. This is why they are living in the institution- they violated these norms of behavior and interaction. Some of the patients were voluntary, but they felt that they were inconsistent with the interactions with others in their personal lives. Others, like McMurphy, were seen as dangerous or unhealthy to society, and their interactions or behaviors were inappropriate when compared with the non-material culture of their society.

Punishment

Due to the violated norms and inappropriate interactions of these patients, sanctions were the responses from the rest of society and also the medical staff of the institution. For instance, since the patients in the hospital were seen as unsafe to society, others sanctioned them by being placed in the institution. Also, when McMurphy violates the norms of the institution by rioting with the other patients, and he attacks a hospital orderly, he is given shock treatment to control his emotions and behavior. This sanction was a medical treatment that was deemed necessary by the hospital staff because they felt that McMurphy, as well as two other patients, were out of control and insubordinate to the norms of the institution.

Medicalization

Each of the inmates in the institution are prescribed and administered medications by the hospital staff to control their illnesses. In fact, there is one scene that emphasizes "medication time", and each of the patients must take their prescribed medication in view of the head nurse. McMurphy questions the contents of his medicine, and is refused any information, even though it is his body the medicine is entering. This is a perfect example of medicalization, for these patients do not have a choice of whether they feel medicine is necessary for their treatment. The doctors make that decision for each patient based on their opinions and "expertise". Many of these opinions are based on the ideals of absolutism, where the doctors determine what is either absolutely right or wrong in the patient's behavior, and when it is wrong, what medical treatments are necessary for them.

When the patient's do something that is considered wrong, it is defined as deviance. The patient's deviance is determined by whether or not their action, idea, or attribute is offensive, immoral, or strange to society. For example, McMurphy was originally sentenced to a work camp, the crime he committed was statutory rape, which is considered immoral to society.
The expectations of these patients are to behave, think, and interact in accordance with society's ideals. Because the patients stray from these expectations, their actions are considered violations. The reaction to these violations is first, the admittance to the institution, and after that, medicalization of the deviants once they have entered the institution.

Groupthink

Groupthink is present in the society of the patients, because at one instance, McMurphy pressures the others into voting with him for a decision that is made by the entire ward. This creates a unanimous vote among the primary group, and causes a patient outside of the group to vote by his own rationalizations. Groupthink is defined as just that- the process where pressures to achieve a unanimous decision influence and overwhelm other ability to decide for themselves.

Society Structure

This institution has the structure of a bureaucracy. Although this is not a place of employment for the patients, there are a set of rules and expectations that the patients are expected to follow, and the doctors and staff rule the institution. There is also a division of labor present among the staff, for certain employees have specific guidelines and defined duties for them to complete and work by. And there is also a hierarchy of authority in the institution, for certain professionals are deemed more important and therefore have more power and authority over the other employees. For example, the head nurse has more authority than the orderlies do, and the doctors have more authority than the head nurse does.

Social reconstruction

The patients, against some of the regulations of the institution, take collective action. The patients begin to violate the rules, and also voice their frustrations involving the policies they feel are wrong or unnecessary. At group meetings, which are supervised and instructed by Nurse Ratchet, the patients not only ask for change to fulfill their wants and needs, but they demand them as well. The patients also show their demand for change by violating the rules one evening, and having a large party after McMurphy bribes a security guard. The ideology of the patients is that of the want for mental freedom and also more changes they feel are necessary.

After the patients take their collective action against the authority of Nurse Ratchet and the institution's policies and regulations, there is a collapse in the order of the ward.

In order for the staff of the hospital to regain control after the party the patients held, strict sanctions are administered to some of the patients, and McMurphy receives a frontal lobotomy as a "treatment" for his unwillingness to cooperate and abide by the rules and norms.

Conclusion

After analyzing this movie, I now have a deeper understanding of many sociological concepts, and also of mental institutions and the lives and mentalities of the patients in them. I am very pleased that I chose this film, for it provided me with a lot to think about, and it gave me a chance to see a more in depth look about "insanity" and the way it is perceived by society. Although this movie was originally made for entertainment purposes, I think that it is a key factor in the learning and understanding of sociology and also psychology. I also think that it would provide a better understanding to all of us that remain on the "sane" side of the wall.

In Search of Excellence

Ashesh — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 10:05:06 +0000

Ref:

David Guest, Right Enough to be dangerously wrong , an analysis of the In Search of Excellence Phenomenon
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/stevenson/in%20search%20of%20exc.pdf
http://www.q.ikp.liu.se/q/phdkurser/In%20Search%20of%20Excellence%20_SM%20%20JJ_.pdf

The In Search of excellence argument:

"In Search of Excellence" was written by Peters and Waterman who were employed by McKinsey, the leading firm of management consultants. This publication seek to define the characteristics of excellent organizations using the McKinsey 7-S framework; Structure, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills, Strategy, and Shared Values.It describes the business practice of a number of leading American companies and in particular identifies eight attributes common to most of the excellent companies. Briefly summarised, these attributes are:

1. A Bias for Action -A preference for getting on with it and doing something rather than engaging in excessive analysis of a problem ofr allowing committees to cause delays.

2. Close to the Customer -The emphasis is on Customer Service.

3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship -The company is broken down into small units and each of which initiative is encourage. Innovative behaviour is highly valued.

4. Productivity Through People -Employees are seen as the key resources of the organisation.

5. Hands-On, Value-Driven -Senior executives promote a strong corporate culture

6. Stick to the Knitting -Successful companies stay close to the business they know best and avoid the temptation to become conglomerates

7. Simple Form, Lean Staff -These companies maintain a simple organisation structure, avoiding the complexities of matrix organisation and employ relatively few senior head office staff.

8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties - Core company values are strongly emphasized but those who adhere to them are given considerable freedom and errors are tolerated

Explaining the success of In Search of Excellence

1. The message is valid

Those organisations that manifest the eight attributes, irrespective of what else they do, will be conspicuously successful. They give weight to the importance of informal qualitative factors such as leadership and culture in shaping the performance of organisations.

2. The message is perceived as valid

In Search of Excellence is essentially about the 'soft's s's. It is telling managers that their intuitive judgements and more especially their judgements about people are crucially important for organisational success. In making this claim the authors appear to be distilling the wisdom and experience of successful managers rather than deriving their conclusions from the more academic perspective of the business schools with their emplasis on management techniques.

3. It is an easy read

It is possible to distil the essence of the book in no more than ten minutes in the introductory chapter.. Another appeal of the book to managers is that it is easy for busy managers to read while it avoids being patronising or unduly simplistic.

4. Good timing

Another factor in the success of In Search of Exellence was undoubtedly its timing. The book appeared in the early years of the Reagan area when the United States was beginning to rebuild its self-confidence after several years of introspective self-doubt. The success of Japan had kindled an interest in Japanese management, and several bestselling business books had appeared either extolling the virtues of Japanese compared with American management. The most successful illustration of this was Ouchi's (1981) Theory Z. The message from In Search of Excellence was rather different and fitted in well with Reaganite America. It was that to find the lessons for success in American Industy, you need to look no further than in your own back yard. The lessons were to be found by exploring the practices of the best American companies and not by looking overseas.

5. Its marketing and practicality

The success of In Search of Excellence has been attributed by some writers to its perceived practicality and common sense. It promises a new approach and points to the dimensions on which managers ought to focus their attention. The book has also been a careful marketing of McKinsey, the consulting firm by whom both Peters and Waterman were employed when they wrote the book.

The more limited success of management books in the UK can be attributed, at least in part, to the lower level of education among managers and their failure to develop habits of reading and keeping up to date with new ideas about management. (NEDO, 1987).

Pretty cool stuffs are available on Tom Peters website:

http://www.tompeters.com/freestuff/index.php including:

http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/freestuff/uploads/TP_Purpose083107.pdf

http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/PDFs/Quotes41_010306_3.pdf

Office Space, Work Sucks...

Ashesh — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:34:05 +0000

Below is the movie review for Office Space, a movie which we are supposed to view for the Human Resources Management Module.

Main Characters:
Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons

Jennifer Aniston as Joanna

David Herman as Michael Bolton

Ajay Naidu as Samir Nagheenanajar

Diedrich Bader as Lawrence

Stephen Root as Milton Waddams

Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh

Review:

The movie revolves around employee working at a software company Initech.

Peter does not basically likes his job. He sits in a cubicle and updates a bank software. He is supposed to produce TPS reports as output. He is supervised by 8 persons.

Samir and Michael bolton works in the same cubicle. They are frustrated by a fax machine.

The funny guy who loves his red stapler. He is easily manipulated by the Division Vice President. The latter orders him to move his desk and takes his red stapler away from him.

Peter is interested at a coffee waitress who also does not like her job. She is required by her boss to display flair by wearing a minimum of 15 "icons" on their uniform.

One fine day, the staff at Initech realise that the company hires 2 consultants to perform "household cleaning". The company is resorting to downsizing.

Lumberg requests Peter to work on Saturday and Sundays because supposedly the company lost some people and some catch up has to be done. But Peter does not want to.

Peter seeks the service of homeopathy because he wants the solution to: is it possible that I come at home and think that I have been fishing all day!" Peter receives relaxation technique.

Consequently Peter keeps relaxing Saturday and Sundays! He keeps on doing nothing. Peter decides not to go to office but he does not want to quit.

He get around with Joana and watch Kung Fu with her!

At Initech, as all the other employees, Peter goes to the interview by the 2 consultants. The latter request them to describe Peter's typical day. Peter tell them honestly. The consultants realise the problem with Peter (demotivation) and realise that Peter's potential is at Upper level management.

Peter refuses his manager Lumbergh to produce TPS reports. Upon the recommendations of the 2 consultants, Peter receives a promotion where he will be in charge of 4 people. However on the other hand, Peter's friends - Samir and Michael would be fired.

Peter then conspires with Michael who once told him that he can write a software to "steal" money the banking transactions which Initech software performs. They both convince Samir to collaborate in this plot also.

They three people execute their plan! However a problem occurs and the company finds out about it.

It is great fun to see how the after their resignation at Initech, they also steal the nagging print machine (which is always paper jammed when you most need it). They take out all their frustration on the machine by breaking it into pieces.

In the end, Peter want to return the money illegally stolen via the computer virus introduced into the mainframe. To his good luck, a fire breaks out at the company and Initech does get an idea about the computer scam performed by its former employees.

Peter takes the job that of his neighbour - garbage collecting, which he likes very much - earning bucks, exercising and liking what he is doing.

Joana resigns from the previous restaurant and works for another one.

Interview - marketing manager

Ashesh — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:31:48 +0000

How to get a good degree?

Ashesh — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:57:37 +0000

Some students work very hard and still don't get a good degree, even when they really deserve one. This is usually because they don't work smart enough.

Below is a compilation of the best parts I consider from the book: How to get a good degree, making the most of your time at university. Author : Phil Race - Emeritus Professor of Educational Development at the University of Glamorgan

What is a good degree?

A good degree is a meaure of:

how intelligent you are;
how hard you work on your studies;
how well you develop your understanding of the subjects you study;
how lucky you are when the exam papers are set;
how clever you are;

Characteristics of students who get good degrees

Rate yourself against each of the characteristics, writing 'H' alongside those you think you already display a high level, 'M' - medium level and 'L'- low level

Memory
Breadth of subject knowledge
Analytical skills
Speed of working
A critical mind
Widely read
Innovative thinker approach
Consistent
Not stupid
Resourceful
Motivated
Originality
Communicating in a structured manner
Logical arguments
Good all-rounder in terms of subject
Consistency in performance
Flair, Creativity - eg. organising University Lipdub
Good memory
Lateral thinking
Good time management and organisation
Luck and good health

Strategy for getting a good degree

wanting to learn (intrinsic motivation);
needing to learn (extrinsic motivation);
learning by doing; practice, trial and error, having a go, experiential learning
feedback, finding out how your learning is going;
making sense of what you're learning; increasing your understanding, or 'digesting' what you learn;

As a student, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

When I start something, I almost finish it; I stick at things.
I want a good degree for me, not just to satisfy other people's expectations of me.
I'm good at deciding what is important, and not just getting on with what seems to be urgent.
I'm good at receiving feedback from other people, both when it's positive and when it's critical
I don't waste time thinking about doing some work, I just get on with it straight away.
If I can't see the point is of doing something, I tend to leave it and do something that I can see the point of.
I work best by myself; workign with other people just wastes too much time.
I find it useful to work with other people, as this means I get more ideas that I would if working by myself.
I never feel that my learning of something is finished, but that it is sensible to reach a resting level for the present time.

Some productive lecture processes

become excited about the subject and enthused (wanting);
see why something is important
solving problems
asking questions (seeking feedback)
answering questions
prioritizing issues and information (digesting)
making notes in a manner that makes important things stand out from the page/ Summarizing
trying out theoretical principles in practice-based examples

Tutorials

Tutorials are opportunities to show lecturers that you are one of the students who is heading towards deserving a good degree. Lecturers notice the differences between motivated, conscientious students and the rest.

Group Work

Life is a group-work business, unless you like beign really quite lonely. Employers rate group-work skills very highly.

Good habits when doing assessed group work include:

Coping well with any problems that emerge in the group
Recognising and accomodating people's different abilities.
Playing to individual strengths.
Keeping the team output in mind and avoiding personal nit-picking.
Using the team as a resource.

Final year dissertations

Good habits when writing final year dissertations include:

Managing your time effectively.
Reviewing the fields well, and early.
Knowing when to stop working on the dissertation.
Valuing originality.

Presentations

Tips for giving good presentation:
Promising, interesting start.
Aims of presentation, clearly stated near the beginning
Confident, authoritative manner.
Good eye contact with audience, adding to credibility.
Evidence of thorough research
Knowing about what he/she is talking about.
No embarassing silences or pauses
Visual aids useful, appropriate and well-handled
Questions handled confidently and well
Good time keeping

Handout Materials

Good habits when making use of handout materials include:
keeping them securely
actually usign them
Working out what was handed out
Modifying them and adding to them
Filing them systematically
Turning them into questions to practise on

Last minute revision

If you've worked consistently and steadily at your revision for weeks or months, you should not need to spend any significant efforts right at the last minute.
'The exam is tomorrow, now is your last chance to make that difference which will get you a good degree.'
Do a little polishing of things you already know well, rather than reading things that you find you don't know well.
Do a little gentle practising. Map out again in your mind (or paper) the answers to questions that you have already addressed in your revision. Show yourself that you can gather up your thoughts efficiently and calmly, and will be able to do so again shortly in the actual exam.
Treat last minute revision like warming up in the gym. Use it to stretch your mind, and to raise energy levels, rather than to exhaust yourself before the actual exam.

Knock knock: BCS exams

Ashesh — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:34:04 +0000

The October 2008 BCS exams are knocking the door. Its time to use the heavy artillery again....

The modules that we are going to nail down this fall are: 1) Software Development and 2) Computer & Network Technology. Let's talk a bit about the respective module's tastes....

Software Development

Module Rationale:

Programming, using many styles and languages, provides solutions to a wide variety of scientific, engineering and business problems. Programming is a core skill that will be used throughout a computer practitioner's career. It is a skill largely acquired by practice and experience. This module introduces candidates to fundamental concepts of programming with the emphasis being laid on the whole of the software development process.

Problem Solving

The first recommended textbook is described below. I think this is an excellent book for those starting to learn problem solving and expressing their solutions in algorithms/ pseudocode which they can later code in any language they want. Simple Program Design: A Step by Step Approach, Fifth Edition is written for inspiring programmers who want to develop good programming skills for solving common business problems. Stressing structured programming and modular design, pseudocode is used as the major program design technique.

Author: Lesley Anne Robertson
THOMSON ; (Sep 2006) ISBN: 1423901320 ; ISBN13: 9781423901327

1. Program Design
2. Pseudocode
3. Developing an Algorithm
4. Selection Control Structures
5. Repetition Control Structures
6. Pseudocode Algorithms Using Sequence, Selection, and Repetition
7. Array Processing
8. First Steps in Modularisation
9. Further Modularisation, Cohesion, and Coupling
10. General Algorithms for Common Business Problems
11. Detailed Object-Oriented Design
12. Simple Object-Oriented Design for Multiple Classes
13. Conclusion
Appendices
A: Flowcharts
B: Special Algorithms
C: Translating Pseudocode into Computer Languages-Quick Reference Chart

The lecture notes are found here.

Software Testing

Testing is the process of executing a program with the intent of finding errors.

I enjoyed the psychology of testing and the principles of testing in this book. Chapter 7: Debugging is also very interesting:

Debugging seems to be the one part of the software production process that programmers enjoy the least. One reason:

Your ego may get in the way. Like it nor not, debugging confirms that programmers are not perfect, committing errors in either of the design or the coding of the program.

The Art of Testing is a classical book on software testing and which still has its influence today. Software testing still remains an art. We still don't know how to make it a science. Most of the testing methods and practices are not very different from 20 years ago. It is nowhere near maturity, although there are many tools and techniques available to use. Good testing also requires a tester's creativity, experience and intuition, together with proper techniques.

The Art of Software Testing, Glenford J. Myers, Corey Sandler (Revised by), Tom Badgett (Revised by), Todd M. Thomas (Revised by)

ISBN: 978-0-471-46912-4; 256 pages; June 2004

Another interesting Article: Software Testing; Authors: Jiantao Pan; Carnegie Mellon University

Data Structures And Algorithms

The book: Introduction to Algorithms has been recently been added to my bookshelf. After The Art of Computer Programming - Donald Knuth, this is considered to be the best book on Algorithms. The textbook provided an enjoyable introduction to the field of Algorithms.

Data Structures and Algorithms in Java - Goodrich & Tamassia; Handouts can be found on the site.

Here is a very informative web page from The University of Canterbury, on which one can find Java applets that show the operations for primitive data structures such as Stacks, Queues, and Binary Trees and also animations for sorting and searching algorithms.

Development Environment

Visual Studio - a high productivity tool

Basic Debugging features in Visual Studio 2005

11 Visual Studio 2005 IDE Tips and Tricks to Make You a More Productive Developer

If I had enough time, I would have searched on other development tools like Eclipse, Active State Komodo, NetBeans, Borland Delphi, Codegear RAD studio, Geany (my favourite), MonoDevelop, BlueJ, IntelliJ IDEA.

CSE 1002Y Programming Methodology done during academic year 1 has been also of great help, together with A-level Practical Programming Project (Paper 2). Got the ability to solve problems and express them in Pascal or C++. Development environment for Pascal: Turbo Pascal for windows; C++: Linux GCC and Geany IDE.

Computer and Network Technology Module

Module Rationale

This module provides a foundation for all professional computer personnel in computer technology and related topics, in particular the areas of: number systems, hardware, operating systems, system software, networks and system performance measurement.

Key topics: Use of Boolean Algebra, simplification of logic equations, Sequential logic elements: D flip-flops, RS flip-flops. This post depicts how "difficult" I find these topics, given it is almost blank .

Interesting topics: Trends in processor technology, Memory hierarchy, IO techniques, Future PCs, system performance and evaluation; Revision of Networking (rusted CCNA coming back !), Wi-Fi, Cloud Computing, Security.

Some chapters can be downloaded from here.

Available on the BCS 24X7 library. A very helpful book which covers fundamentals and architecture in detail.

I recently added the book: Computer Networking and the Internet - F. Halsall, a great book on Networks-covers the topic in depth. Also Computer Networks and Operating systems Design and Implementation- A. Tanenbaum are a must for reading.

Conclusive Note

Well, given I already had my first BCS paper - Information Systems (managed to get an A- ), I have an idea of how to prepare for the coming modules.

You, SD and CT, I am coming to boushoum, boushoum you down!! Wish me Good luck!

Ashesh's blog

Blog on http://asheshr.wordpress.com

Friday 28 November

Sentenced to Everyday Life...

Defining the Housewife: Contemporary Feminism

Defining Housewife

Catherine Hakim

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep

Ref:National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

How Much Sleep Do We Need?

Sleep and Disease

Sleep Disorders

Tips for a Good Night's Sleep:

Negotiated order, power and culture

Insanity

Society

Role Conflict

Group Power

Culture

Punishment

Medicalization

Groupthink

Society Structure

Social reconstruction

Conclusion

In Search of Excellence

The In Search of excellence argument:

Explaining the success of In Search of Excellence

Office Space, Work Sucks...

Interview - marketing manager

How to get a good degree?

What is a good degree?

Characteristics of students who get good degrees

Strategy for getting a good degree

As a student, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

Some productive lecture processes

Tutorials

Group Work

Final year dissertations

Presentations

Handout Materials

Last minute revision

Knock knock: BCS exams

Software Development

Module Rationale:

Problem Solving

Table of Contents:

Software Testing

Data Structures And Algorithms

Development Environment

Computer and Network Technology Module

Module Rationale

Conclusive Note