Red Box

A. Case Overview Redbox is a wholly-owned subsidiary by Coinstar, Inc. For only $1 per night it offers movie rentals. The first kiosks were located at McDonald’s. On 31 March, 2010, the total number of installed Redbox and DVDCpress Kiosks was 24,800. Redbox’s main strategy is to have kiosks that contain mostly new releases of movies on DVDs in shopping areas that are visited a lot. The rental fee is cheap, only $1 per night and the whole order and return process is fast, simple and easy for the customer.With its many kiosks, Redbox built a strong brand reputation. B. Analysis The SWOT analysis shows that Redbox’s strengths are its brand recognition and financial power, with being successful it can add more kiosks at good locations. It has built relationships with the chain retailers of its parent company Coinstar, Inc. and it offers value by offering very affordable movie rentals to customers. Redbox’s weakness is that it offers no online delivery yet. It s opportunities are expansion to other underserved and very good areas in the US, Puerto Rico, and UK.It can also further its expansion internationally. There is lots of existing and potential revenue growth at existing kiosks. Redbox has the strength to attract customers away from other competitors like Blockbuster. Redbox’s threats are services like Netflix that offer movie streaming online, companies that offer internet delivery of movies, Blockbuster building new kiosks and movie theaters when people are tired of watching movies at home. Redbox has lots of potential for further growth in revenue and popularity.It has to pay attention to shifts in customer’s preferences on how to watch a movie and adapt to changes. Porter’s Five Forces show that competition from rivals is strong, especially Blockbuster and Netflix. There is no product differentiation in movies. The threat of new entrants is weak because in order to compete with Redbox, it requires a lot of ca pital and building same good relationships to suppliers (movie production companies) as Redbox already has. The movie as a product can be easily substituted and people can buy instead of rent or watch something online.The buyers’ bargaining power is modest because buyers can either rent or buy or watch online and the switching costs are low. C. Recommendations Redbox should not miss the chance on expanding internationally. With its cheap movie rentals, it can attract customers from all classes in all countries and not be affected by economic crisis so strongly. It should also continue to do research on where to locate more kiosks and it should think about offering internet movie rentals. Also, it should continue to build and nurture good relationships with its suppliers.

Individual project Essay

Andy Rexford has started a cottage industry in his garage for catering for the niche market. Soon that market grows and so does his business. With this fast pace growth in the business Andy has expanded his business from one stitch machine to six stitch machine in the short period of time. Recently, Andy has developed a business plan which clearly states the good future growth and lots of financing required. Andy does not have much money of his own to invest in the business, so he is looking for the external financing sources. In this report, I will be discussing the different sources of external financing along with their advantages and drawbacks, and then I will be decided which source is the best for the Andy’s business. Sources of financing: There are various sources of financing the business but the most critical aspect is to understand which sources are appropriate for that particular business and how much finances do we needed. The assessment of sources is totally judgmental. Along with the judgment, it is also dependent on how willing he is to share the information about his business and ownership with others. Sources of finances are divided into 2 broad categories: -Internal financing -External financing. Andy’s savings and income are already been exhausted in the process of growth, and he requires more financing. To help Andy to take the decision wisely I will be discussing few external financing sources. External sources: External financing includes ownership capital and non-ownership capital. These two categories are divided into other several categories. For the business like Andy’s following three non-ownership capital financing is suitable. †¢ Banks †¢ Venture investors †¢ Small business association (SBA) Banks: They are the financial institution who lends the money to the businesses and individuals and charges an amount of interest against it. They are the hardest place to find the finances as the bank does not grant the loan very easily but the time is been changing now bank has come up many different loan schemes against which people are been given loans. A bank loan is considered as most desired mode of financing. People considered it as the most desirable because it is at times very speedy if you have good credit standing in the market you can get a loan in no time. Moreover, you can use that money in various ways and accountable for none. Although there are some advantages in getting a loan from the bank but there are some disadvantages as well. Disadvantages like, some loans carry a prepayment plenty so the borrower could not pay the amount early (Scarborough, 2006). Venture investors: Venture investors are those people who wealthy individuals, corporate and formal institutions who are willing to invest in the new business and growing businesses. In return for providing the capital to the businesses, they usually require a percentage of ownership in the company along with control over the strategic direction and payment assorted fees. â€Å"Private equity provides capital and access to a network that can transform a company into an industry player,† Karen E. Klein noted in Business Week. â€Å"But the price is high: a chunk of your business. † Like every other financing source, there are some advantages and disadvantages as well. The main advantage for the start-up business is that they are not obligated to repay the money. And the involvement of the high profile businessmen can also increase the credibility of new business. The main disadvantage an entrepreneur can have from the venture investor is that they become the part owners of the business, and thus they have the rights have a say in the decisions. The business owner faces a dilution of their position as owners and possible loss of power of controlling the business (Scarborough, 2006). Small business association: Small business association is the organizations in United States formed by the government that helps the entrepreneurs to start up their business. Small business association acts as the guarantor of loans for the people who do not qualify for the commercial loans. The advantages related to the small business association are that since it’s a government formed organization to encourage the businessman, they are charging very low interest rate as in comparison to the commercial banks. SBA takes a very quick decision regarding the approvals of loans to the people. There are many advantages attached to the SBA that makes it is desirable for the businessman but there is a gloomy side of this loan as well. Since its government loan no matter what happens to your business you have to pay off this loan before any other debt. Moreover, there is more paper work required than in commercial bank. The government wants to make sure that you are truly eligible for this particular loan or not. Andy’s source of financing: Andy should opt for the bank loan as it suits to the requirements of his business. Future of his business is very bright and there is a guarantee that his business will get double the size within next two years. So giving the ownership in his business would not be advisable if he wants to have all the profit, and he can have them as the matter of fact. As for the SBA, they have very long repayment schedule though the rate is a low but 20-30 years time period does not worth for that kind of loan. Since Andy only needs $700,000, which can be repaid within 2 years because the annual profit of Andy is 750,000. He can easily pay off this loan with 2 years. Hence it is suitable for Andy to take the bank loan. Conclusion: There are various sources of finances. Some financing can be done internally while some can be borrowed from others. In the case of Andy his earning is already been consumed in the expansion of the business. So it is suggested to him that he should take the bank loan because he does not need to give the ownership to the venture investors and does not need to give whole life to pay that loan. Bank loan will be the most desirable suggestion as Andy can pay this loan payoff this loan within two years. Moreover, he does not need to give any ownership to anyone.

Black Fly Beverage Company Essay Example for Free

Black Fly Beverage Company Essay Black Fly Beverage Company is a small beverage company based in London Ontario. The company has achieved recent success in the selling and promoting of their first alcoholic beverage, the cranberry/blueberry vodka cooler. The immediate success of this product presents two critical issues that the company must address. These critical issues are: †¢Black fly must expand its product mix in order to capture a larger market share in order to compete with larger established brands within the market place †¢Black Fly must also address capacity issues that will arise with an increase in demand or introduction of a new flavor Analysis. Current Situation Black Fly’s cranberry-blueberry vodka cooler has been well received by consumers due to its natural tasting ingredients and no chemical sweeteners producing a premium product different than existing similar beverages. The company now must take this opportunity to give their consumers another product to further explore the brand. Attempting to penetrate deeper within their current product will not allow its customers to further explore their favorite brand of vodka cooler. This will cause Black Fly to begin to lose their customers to other competing companies that offer multiple products and flavors (see exhibit 9). Black Fly also must also address the company’s capacity issues in order to allow them to meet the LCBO’s average order lead-time of seven days. At full capacity Black Fly is meeting the required lead time with minimal margin of error to account for delays, however, during the holiday season, which will occur as early as next month, the company will not be able to keep up with the increase in demand and will fail fulfill the LCBO’s order in time (see exhibit 7). Options The first option available to Black Fly would be to expand its product mix with the addition of a new flavor to compliment their existing cooler. The company will be able to take advantage of economies of scale through the current production; therefore a minimal cost of $30,000 will only be needed to cover development and merchandising fees. To cover this initial cost Black Fly will have to sell an additional 127 cases a month to break even, an increase of 10. 58% (see exhibit 2). It has been projected that adding another flavor to the product line could increase sales by 50 to 75 percent. This projected increase in sales would produce an annual expected ROI of 373% and 609% respectively (see exhibit 5). If however sales increased by only 10% due to the risk of cannibalization of their original recipe then the expected ROI would be -5% (see exhibit 5). This increase in sales however will put additional strain on the company’s current capacity (see exhibit 8). A second option to Black Fly would be the addition of a new specialty spirit-based product called â€Å"Spiked Ice†. This packaged ready to freeze cooler would be a non-competing product to the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. An advantage to this product is that there is no other product similar to it out in the marketplace. The LCBO has also committed to sell 8,000 cases of the product over the four summer months, which would produce revenues of $277,200 (see exhibit 3). Over this four month period this option will produce an ROI of 15% (see exhibit 6). To produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† the company however will have to purchase expensive machinery costing $500,000 and spend an additional $40,000 on merchandising and product development. To cover these costs Black Fly would have to sell an additional 7,585 cases of â€Å"Spiked Ice† (see exhibit 4). This may prove difficult as this new product is very seasonal producing higher sales in the summer months and potentially smaller sales in the fall and winter months, a time in which the LCBO has not committed to sell this product at this time. Another disadvantage to this option is the space that this new machinery would occupy in the already small warehouse. Black Fly’s current facilities cannot produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† and the original vodka simultaneously which would result in Black Fly loosing monthly revenues of $23,641 (see exhibit 1). Recommendation It is apparent that Black Fly must attempt to offer a variety of products to enhance its product mix and to keep current customers from trying other flavors offered by other competitors. At this time the best way to proceed with this will be to launch a new flavored vodka to compliment the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. The low initial costs and economies of scale gained through this option will allow Black Fly to introduce this new flavor quickly and efficiently to capitalize sales during the upcoming holiday season. To help address the concern of future capacity issues it would be recommended that Black Fly hire two more part-time workers and to run the production process seven days a week. This will be possible due to the expected high ROI associated with this option. This increase in production will allow the company to complete six full runs amounting to 3000 cases within the seven day lead time required by the LCBO ( see exhibit 10). In the future it will become necessary to upgrade to a larger facility and at that time it would be beneficial to begin producing â€Å"Spiked Ice†, however at this current time, given the company’s limited time in the market, it is suggested that Black Fly only pursue the launching of a new flavor. After the company has received sales from the holiday season the company will then be able to better address the possibility of relocating to a new warehouse and address their plans for â€Å"Spiked Ice† for the upcoming summer months. Black Fly Beverage Company. (2017, Feb 27).

Poem Explication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Poem Explication - Essay Example Simple as it sounds, not all the people develop this childish perception of the world, saturated and magical. But Berman with his accurate ad elaborated poetic vision is one of those poets who can describe something that can hardly be explained by words. In his â€Å"The Charm of 5:30† the author manages to show how his own perception of the reality allows him to make simple moments and sensations of life charming. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say, and when reading Berman`s poem I have understood that all these mild pleasures of life are free and accessible yet one needs to try to experience them to the full extent. It is a white verse, the author did not want to stick to some rhythm or rhyme, and it looks like the words that create images are pouring out of his mind like water. It is clear that Berman wants to describe those moments which he appreciates in life, those fragile and light sensations that literally make this life worth living (like discovering red tints in cola or meeting a friend or even thinking about the lives of great people) and which are often left unnoticed by people who forget they are not dead yet. So I would suggest that the meaning of the poem was to depict valuable and charming manifestations of life in all their beauty. Berman chooses the central role in this verse, he is the observer and he is the speaker, and this adds to the credibility and sincerity of â€Å"The Charm of 5:30†. In most cases in order to write something or at least to try to write something people need the occasion. David Berman does the opposite- he does not look for occasion- he creates the occasion or uses the very process of living as the occasion in other words. For him his inner world and the environment are equally charming. His thoughts, memories as well as the slightest movements in the outer world are worth of speaking about them: What is noticeable is that Berman neglects all the sound devices using

International economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

International economics - Assignment Example 4. A debtor nation is that which has a negative balance of trade owing to numerous debts owed to international financial institutions while a creditor nation is that which has a positive balance of trade. Entries like exports, loan receipts and investments constitute surplus, hence indicate creditor status while those entries like amount expenditure, are considered deficits and indicate a debtor status (Becker 123). 5. Exchange rate refers to the market rates at which a given currency trades in relation to others. Depreciation refers to the decrease in a country’s exchange rate while appreciation is the decrease in a country’s exchange rate. Arbitrage is the systematic purchase of a good or service from one location at a very low price, and selling it in another location at an exceedingly high price. In exchange markets, arbitrage is used by traders by exploiting weaknesses in computerized systems to make quick profits (Becker 123). 6. Purchasing parity refers to a system normally used in determining various currency values in relation to others. Purchasing power parity would hold when the price of commodities were equal in all countries (Becker 223). A free market economy where goods enter and leave borders may make purchasing parity a good estimate of a country’s currency. 7. The following shows how exchange rate growth is closely connected to differences in money growth, and real output growth across countries whereby the growth of real output leads to a money growth, which subsequently leads to increase in the exchange rate 1. The supply curve is upward sloping since the increase in the supply of Canadian dollars leads to an increase in the value of Icelandic Krona. This may arise due to increased inflation in Canada and poor monetary economic policies. 9. The above graph shows that an increase in the Canadian dollar value leads to a corresponding decrease in the value of the Icelandic Krona. This may take place due to an increased demand

Karma Yoga Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Karma Yoga - Article Example Yoga being a Sanskrit word means â€Å"to become one† or â€Å"to unite†. In simpler words, it refers to the guidelines prescribed for union of a human being with the creator of this world. It is believed that such union brings the ultimate peace and happiness, which cannot be described in material words. Since divinity is within the human body and mind, yoga teaches the person to explore this divinity and seek union with it, while wondering within the confines of individual mind. Accordingly, Yoga refers to the techniques and attitudes as well as way of life that can free the human being from bondage of suffering as well as life and death. Indian scriptures are full of such detailed techniques as interpreted by many intellectuals like Ram Krishna Parmahans, Swami Vivekanand in the past as well as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar during the present times. According to Indian philosophy, there are mainly three paths, which can take a person to the ultimate goal of self-realization. As different paths of a mountain lead to the peak, the three paths can lead to this goal, either individually or collectively. The three paths are Jnana Yoga that means path of knowledge, Karma Yoga that means path of action without any selfish motives, Bhakhti Yoga that means path of complete surrender through devotion. Baghvad Geeta has summarized all three yogas and their techniques as well as virtues, as spoken by Lord Krishna while delivering sermons to young warrior Arjun in the battlefield. All three yogas are complimentary to each other and a true seeker would need practicing one or the other during the voyage to self-realization. In addition, the Raaja Yoga, that is the path of meditation, also leads to the final goal of self-realization. As Karma means action, Karma Yoga specifies the path of action. Discussing on the importance of action in a life of any seeker, Lord Krishna has clarified in Baghvad Geeta that taking proper action is essential, instead of being

Culture of Tears Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Culture of Tears - Research Paper Example The word cry has been mentioned in 168 verses in the bible and a total of 181 times. Crieth is a word that has been mentioned 17 times each in a different verse from the other, while the word cry appears once within the bible. That is not the end. The word cried has been mentioned in 195 verses and the total number of times it is mentioned adds up to 199 times. For 49 times, the word weep has been mentioned within 45 bible verses while weepest appears 3 times each in a different bible verse from the other. Weepeth appears in 41 verses of the Bible and total number of times t has been mentioned is 44 (Donald, 2008). All these words mean the same thing, to sum up, it is evident that the term tears and other words that are associated appear 534 times in the bible in 354 verses of the bible. This information gives people a very familiar theme of tears that is found all through the bible. In fact, weeping is associated with notable God’s servants explained in the bible (Donald, 200 8). The Lord himself happened to be a man of tears. Today Jews and other societies have adopted a different culture where crying portrayed to be a girlish thing. It is acceptable for women and girls. This is by far different from what is seen in the bible. It is an incorrect teaching since within the bible tears are accepted and highly praised or much admired. The heavy, as well as the continued trials through which many God’s people have gone through, are teachings of the believers on the need to be patient and silent under light suffering. Yet believers are even tempted to repine as well as despond. David comforts himself, at the time of fear and distress that God took notice of all his griefs as well as all his grievances. â€Å"You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? God has book and a bottle for the tears of his people, both the tears for his people’s sins as well as those for their suffering.  

Argument and Persuasion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Argument and Persuasion - Essay Example She boldly wrote her description and criticism Woolf presents one side of the argument where she so much rely on women freedom and right by indicating that men are the cause of all problems women have in the society i.e. where she says that many challenges that women fight when they are pursuing their professional endeavors like doctors, lawyers , teachers etc. . They are held back by their fears and doubts as well as society’s beliefs and judgment which Woolf claims is caused by men domination To provide a good example whereby Virginia relies so much on one side of argument, when she talks about a â€Å"Phantom† as a barrier that women should do away with for them to reach their objective. In my view â€Å"phantom† is anything everybody, despite of sex, class and kind has his/her own phantom. It basically presents obstacles of the mind. It’s associated with negative feelings that is between us and our aspiring and holds us back from maintaining the success (Woolf 67-9). We must learn to break to improve ourselves and wolf says â€Å"it is harder to kill a phantom than a reality† (275).Woolf uses some metaphors to explain his argument about the â€Å"phantom.† She compares it to an â€Å"angel†, and refers to her as angel of the â€Å"The Angel of the House† (274), and argues that â€Å"it was she who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her†, and she went ahead and describes her br iefly: â€Å"she was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (274) Virginia Woolf creates a link between the audience and the speaker, she creates awareness that the audience in the subject is mainly women and her main subject of focus is feminism. In her lines like â€Å"†¦I have come here out of respect for you, who are in process of showing us by your experiments what a woman is†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this line appeals to women crowd only. Woolf appeal strongly by ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos is established in his book

Labor Econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Labor Econ - Essay Example pecting that women will go out of the labor force during and after pregnancy, bosses are hesitant to give women the best training possible, which can simply be explained by the cost and benefit analysis. The intermittent attendance of women in the labor force would mean less return for the employer for every training and additional knowledge that it has given a female employee. The lack of training on the part of the women explains this difference in wages. Another inevitable result of the intermittent attendance of women to the labor force is their inability to be promoted to higher position as this would mean greater chaos in the office every time the women leave for child-bearing and child-rearing. The popular books on labor economics agree on this very important explanation for the male-female wage difference. With all other determinants equal, the reason why women are still promoted to lower position and still receive lower salaries than men is discrimination. The gender discrimination is not only observed in large countries like the USA but also in small but booming countries such as the Singapore, particularly observed in the form of pre-existing structural differences, sexism and male protecting their success by excluding women from high-paying jobs (Lee). 2. The comparable worth law is defined as â€Å"A theory holding that compensation for job classifications filled chiefly by women should be the same as for those classifications filled chiefly by men if the jobs, albeit dissimilar, are regarded as having equal value. According to this theory, workers salaries should be calculated on a scale of socioeconomic value that transcends traditional supply and demand† (Answers.com). The impetus of the law is to demolish any form of gender discrimination against women. But women having a low salary and coming from a different job than men may not neccesarily be a form of discrimination. What can be seen clearly as discrimination is the unequal pay between

Prison Reform Essay Example for Free

Prison Reform Essay Reform was a major issue in early 19th century America because it was a time when more middle-classed Americans were able to devote time to social causes and issues that they saw that concerned them. One of these important social movements was prison reform, and how men and women in prison were treated. In the early 1800’s the United States was regarded as having the best penal system in the world. This is why during the early 1800’s Alexis de Tocqueville was sent from France to the United States to study the penal system there. What he was coming here to study was how the system of prisons had been reformed already by Americans. Many individuals, in particular religious advocates who took up the cause of prison reform, had established themselves as the voice of prisoners. They felt that while prisoners needed to do time for their crimes and be punished accordingly, they also had the right to have good conditions within the prisons themselves. These people had a goal of creating prisons that were conducive to not only punishing individuals, but reforming them became an important part of their time in prison. These religious reformers felt that prisoners should be reformed to become good citizens and, if they never left jail, then at least they could be religious individuals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The successes of these reformers were that they did create a great amount of interest in reform. Many new prisons began to be built that would be more conducive to reforming prisoners. These successes were shortly lived, however, because sadly the prisons did not go up as quickly as the prisoners were going in and therefore old prisons that were not good conditions were still in use, and many prisoners still languished in them, in even worse conditions than before.

Effect of Stress on Job Performance

Effect of Stress on Job Performance STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE People react to stress in different ways. Some copy much better than others and suffering fewer of the harmful effects of stress. Just as stress differs as a function of the individual, it also differs as a function of ones type of occupation. Some occupations are, of course, inherently more stressful than others. All of the stress-strain-health relationships have an obvious impact on the organization and industry. Both physical and mental illness renders the employee unlit for work, and combine both to lessen the satisfaction obtained from work and reduce job performance and productivity levels. There are various ways that stress symptoms or outcomes are reflected in the workplace. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests that certain individuals, in a variety of occupations, are increasingly exposed to unacceptable levels of job-related stress (Schultz Schultz, 2002). Occupational stress is any discomfort which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by in stances, events or situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a persons coping capabilities and resources to handle them adequately (Malta, 2004) Occupational stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or need of the worker (Sauter and Murphy. 1999). Performance is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued by the organization or system that one works in. Each individual is exposed to a range of stressors both at work and in their personal lives which ultimately affect his or her performance. Pressure at work can be positive leading to increased productivity. However, when this pressure becomes excessive it has a negative impact. The individual perceive themselves as being unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skills to combat their stress. Stress is acknowledged to be one of the main causes of absence from work (Mead, 2000). The occupational stressors can be categorized into four major groups. Firstly, the working conditions, including shift and week-end work, inadequate remuneration, hours of work, discrimination and safety at the work environment. Secondly, relationship at work including quality of relationships with peers, subordinates and supervisors. Thirdly, role conflicts and ambiguity including ill-defined role, functions, expectations, and duties. Fourthly, organization structure and climate which includes communication policy and practice, major changes in the workplace, culture of the organization, and lack of participation in decision-making. Another cause is career development including under utilization of skills or failing to reach full potential. Another contributing factor is the nature of the job which might amount to an immense amount of physical and emotional exhaustion (Parikh Taukari, 2004) The main objective of this study is to identify role of different contributing factors of job stress and to investigate level of stress on those factors in the organization. And also to find that how job performance is affected by job stress. There are different factors of job stress i.e. work overload, work under load, supervision role conflicts, career development, physical environment repetitive work, work family conflict and coworkers. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES There is difference in level of occupational stress among the employees of different departments of the organization. High level of stress adversely affects the performance of the employees. STRESS AT WORLKPLACE (OCCUPATIONAL STRESS) In todays changing and competitive work environment stress level is increasing both in WORKERS as well as MANAGERS .As a result of this work stress, more and more managers are showing signs of chronic fatigue and burnout. Research has concluded that stressed out managers are not good for organization and shareholders also .In most case stress reduced efficiency among individuals as well as reduced productivity also. Stress is the problem in amongst all the countries of the world ,irrespective of whether the economy is strong or weak .To know about the actual work stress we should have to know about the behavior of the individuals ,causes of the stress, its consequences and then how it can be reduce . â€Å"Considered from an individual`s points of view stress is our body`s physical, mental and chemical reaction to circumstance that frighten, confuse, endanger or irritate to any person†. If controlled stress, is a friend that strengthens us for the next encounter .if handled poorly, it becomes an enemy which can cause diseases like high blood pressure, ulcer, asthma, and over reactive thyroid. As per the medical explanation of the term â€Å"Stress is the body`s general response to environment situations.† it can lead to Physiological discomfort. Some kind of emotional unhappiness. Strained relationship with other people. In very simple words stress refers to an individual`s reaction to a disturbing factor in the environment. Different discipline and different professional have viewed it differently. Agarwala at 1979 believed that the confusion in definition is primarily due to the fact that the same term is used variously by scholars of different disciplines .Thus, in physic, stress is a force which acts on a body to produce strain. According to Beehr and Newman â€Å"Job stress is a condition arising from the interaction of the people and their jobs, and characterized by changes within people and force them to deviate from their normal functioning.† Stress can be defined as â€Å"Bodys non specific response to any demand made on it. Stress is not by definition synonymous with nervous system tension or anxiety. On one side Stress provides the means to express talents and energies and pursue happiness, on the other side it can also cause exhaustion and illness, either physical or psychological† One of the common accepted views of stress is provided by Selye through THREE STAGE MODEL OF STRESS. He called it General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Selye defines stress as â€Å"an adoptive response to the external situation that results in physical, physiological, and behavioural deviation for organizational participant.† He has suggested a three stage model and states that when an organism is confronted with a threat the general physiological response occurs in the three stages . Selye said that †¦There can be up to three phases that our resistance levels go through when we are exposed to a stressor. The first is the alarm phase. The bodys resistance to physical damage drops for a short-time. This is so our bodies can prepare to cope with the stressor by using up available energy and normally protective stress hormones. Temporarily some of our defenses against physical damage drop so that our blood pressure increases, blood-sugar rises, muscle tension increases, we breathe faster and deeper and we get a surge of adrenaline-like substances to give us extra physical capabilities should we need them. If the stressor no longer exists the body returns to its normal level of resistance. However if the stressor persists, (we cant fight or flee from it or and this goes beyond his original thinking we are unable to apply counteracting psychosocial resources) our level of resistance increases beyond normal, relaxed levels When our bodies start to run in higher gear. High levels of stress hormones continue to help us cope with the stressor. This is appropriately called the resistance phase. If there is no relief the body can continue for days, weeks, even years until either the stressor is suddenly removed or because it is very energy-consuming our body collapses often with more dangerous and extreme physical reactions. They are the same as in the alarm phase only more intense and more relentless. It is here in this third or exhaustion phase that our health suffers or even death can occur. Our level of resistance to physical disorder, disease and psychological pressure is at its lowest. It is characterized by feelings of lethargy an absence of energy and bodily resources to cope. MEASUREMENT OF ROLE STRESS: In the context of India two measures have been developed by Indian researchers and have been extensively used in research in India. They are given below: ORGANIZATIONAL ROLE STRESS: This instrument developed by Pareek (1983) this instrument based on the key concept t understand the integration of the organization .It is through this role that the individual interacts and gets integrated with the system. An n organization can be defined as system of roles, where role has been defined by the expectations various significant persons, including himself / herself, have from that position. The concept of role and the related concepts of ‘role space and ‘role set have a built- in potential for conflict and stress (Pareek 1999). From the point of view of an individual, two role systems are important: Role Space and Role Set. ROLE SPACE:- Each individual occupies and plays several roles simultaneously. A person can be a son a father a member of a club and so on at the same time. All these roles constitute role space time. All these roles constitute role space. In the center of the role space is the self. Role space is the self. Role space thus can be defending as â€Å"the dynamic inter-relationship between the self various roles an individual occupies.† ROLE SET;- The individual`s role in the organization is defined by the expectations of other significant roles and those of the individual himself .thus the role set is â€Å"the pattern of relationship between the role being considered and other roles. The organization role stress scale consists of 50 items measuring ten different types of organizational role stresses. These roles stress are Following: Inter role distance (IRD):-it is expected when there is a conflict between organizational and non organizational roles. Role stagnation (RS):- it is the feeling of being stuck in same role. Role expectation conflict (REC):- Stress is generated by expectation of different significant persons such as superior , subordinate, and peers ,about the same role and the role occupant`s ambivalence as to whom to please. Role Erosion (RE); Here stress is the function of the role occupant`s feeling that some function which should properly belong to her role are transferred to some other role. Role Overload (RO) ; when the role occupant feels that there are too many expectations from her. Role Isolation (RI); Stress refer to the psychological distance between the occupant role and other roles in the same role set. Personal Inadequacy; It arises when the role occupant feels that he does not have the necessary skills and training for effectively performing the function expected from his role. Self Role Distance (SRD):- When the role the person occupies goes against his self concept. Role Ambiguity (RA):- It refers to the lack of clarity about the expectation of the role. Resource Inadequacy (RIN):- Stress is evident when the role occupant feels that he is not provided with the adequate resources for performing the function expected from his role. SOURCES OF STRESS It has been said that stress result form a misfits between environmental demands and personal adequacies to meet these demands .However, management of stress is not possible unless the individual is aware of the specific source of stress. Stress can be emanating from variety of sources. Pestonjee (1983) has identified three important sectors of life in which stress originates .These are (a) Job and organization (b) Social Factors (c) Inter Psychic sector .The first namely , job and organization, refers to totality of the work environment (task ,atmosphere, colleagues , compensations, policies ,etc.)The social factors refer to the social / culture context of life .It may include religion, caste, language, dress and other factors. The intra psychic sector encompasses those things which are intimate and personal like temperament, values, abilities, and health. It is contended that stresses can originate in any of these sectors or in combinations thereof. Factor intrinsic to the Job: These are related to poor working conditions shift work, long hours, poor technology, travel, risk and danger, work over load. Role in the organization: When a persons role in an organization is clearly defined and understood, and when expectation place upon the individual are also clear and non- conflicting, stress can be kept to a minimum. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) have identified three critical factors- role ambiguity ,role conflict , and degree of responsibility for others are major source of stress. Relation -ship at work: The working relationship which one has with people working in the same organization can also be a major source of stress. Career Development : A host of issue such as job security , fear of job loss, obsolescence or retirement and numerous performance appraisals can create pressure and strain. Organizational structure climate: just being part of an organization can present threats to a persons sense of freedom and autonomy. It seems that the position in the organization has something to do with stress. However the research evidence its inclusive .some studies have found that position in the organization does make a difference in job stress. Nature of Profession: The research evidence suggests that certain kind of occupations cause greater stress. Than others in a study of comparative degree of stress amongst professionals Mishra(2001)collected data from 144 doctors and 82 nurses drawn from various hospitals , their result show that nurses experience greater stress in their job as compared to doctors. Predispositional stress: The degree of stress seems vary with the personality and predispositional factor. Some individuals experience greater stress than others. Doctors with internal locus of control reported higher organizational stress than the internal . (Kumar 1988) The below chart shows one example of the structure of a department in an organization, indicating typical causes of stress that may effect stress at certain levels in the structure, and particular. Causes that are affecting individuals. Stress is contagious; anyone who is not performing well due to increases the amount of pressure on their colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. SYMPTOMS OF STRESS As stated earlier Stress is caused by or reaction to the external events and bring about changes in our response and our general behavior. The presence of Stress can be estimated by the analysis of certain symptoms an individual shows. These symptoms can be divided into three different categories. They are Feelings ,Behavoiur and pshysological . When the individual experience Stress, one or more of the following symptoms can be exhibited: Feelings The individual becomes anxious about the outcomes and is scared. The person feels that he has got something to loose or something wrong will take place. In an anxious state the person does not want to be corrected or interrupted. He looks out for other areas where he can forget about the stress-causing event for a while. The person becomes irritable and moody. During high level of Stress the individual develops a negative frame of mind and suffers from low self-esteem. The person loses faith in his capabilities and is afraid of the failures. The individual does not have a focused approach and is not able to concentrate and is involved in his own plans and thoughts. Physiological and Behavioral Changes Speech problems. Impulsive Behavior Crying for no apparent reason. Laughing in a high pitch and nervous tone of voice. Grinding of teeth Increasing smoking and use of drugs and alcohol. Being accident-prone Perspiration /sweaty hands Increased heart beat Trembling/Sleeping problems Diarrhea / indigestion / vomiting/ nausea Butterflies in stomach Headaches Premenstrual tension Pain in the neck and or lower back Susceptibility to illness Loss of appetite Nervous ticks Dryness of throat and mouth. Tiring easily or over eating CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS The effect of stress is closely linked to individual personality. The same level of stress affects different people in different ways each person has different ways of coping. Recognizing these personality types means that more focused help can be given. Stress shows itself number of ways. For instance, individual who is experiencing high level of stress may develop high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness, and the like. These can be subsumed under three categories: Individual consequences Organizational consequence Burnout Individual consequences: Individual consequences of stress are those, which affect the individual directly. Due to this the organization may suffer directly or indirectly, but it is the individual who has to pays for it. Individual consequences of stress are broadly divided into behavioral, psychological and medical. v Behavioral consequences of stress are responses that may harm the person under stress or others. Behaviorally related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, paid speech, and sleep disorders. v Psychological consequences of stress replace to an individual mental health and well-being from or felling depressed. Job related stress could cause dissatisfaction, infact it has most psychological effect on the individual and lead to tension, anxiety irritability, and boredom. v Medical consequences of stress affect a persons well being. According to a research conducted, it revealed that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates, increases blood pressure bring out headaches and induce heart attacks. Organizational consequences: Organizational consequences of stress have direct affect on the organizations. These include decline in performance, withdrawal and negative changes in attitude.  ¯ Decline in performance can translate into poor quality work or a drop in productivity. Promotions and other organizational benefits get affected due to this.  ¯ Withdrawal behavior also can result from stress. Significant form of withdrawal behavior is absenteeism.  ¯ One main affect of employee stress is directly related to attitudes. Job satisfaction, morale and organizational commitment can all suffer, along with motivation to perform at higher levels. Burnout:- A final consequence of stress has implementation for both people and organizations. Burnout is a general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual simultaneously experiences too much pressure and few sources of satisfaction. STRESS AND YOUR PERFORMANCE So far, we have seen that stress is a negative experience. We have seen the short-term burnout. The Positive Effects of Pressure Sometimes, however, the pressures and demands that may cause stress can be positive in their effect. One example of this is where sportsmen and women flood their bodies with fight-or-flight adrenaline to power an explosive performance. Another example is where deadlines are used to motivate people who seem bored or unmotivated. We will discuss this briefly here, but throughout the rest of this site we see stress as a problem that needs to be solved. The Negative effect of pressure In most work situations jobs, our stress responses cause our performance to suffer. A calm, rational, controlled and sensitive approach is usually called for in dealing with most difficult problems at work: Our social inter-relationships are just too complex not to be damaged by an aggressive approach, while a passive and withdrawn response to stress means that we can fail to assert our rights when we should. Before we look further at how to manage stress and our performance, it is important to look at the relationship between pressure and performance in a little more detail, first by looking at the idea of the â€Å"Inverted-U†, and second by looking at Flow. This is the ideal state of concentration and focus that brings excellent performance. Pressure Performance – the Inverted U The relationship between pressure and performance is explained in one of the oldest and most important ideas in stress management, the â€Å"Inverted-U† relationship between pressure and performance. The Inverted-U relationship focuses on peoples performance of a task. The left hand side of the graph is easy to explain for pragmatic reasons. When there is very little pressure on us to carry out an important task, there is little incentive for us to focus energy and attention on it. This is particularly the case when there may be other, more urgent, or more interesting, tasks competing for attention. As pressure on us increases, we enter the â€Å"area of best performance†. Here, we are able to focus on the task and perform well – there is enough pressure on us to focus our attention but not so much that it disrupts our performance. The right hand side of the graph is more complex to explain. Negative Thoughts Crowd Our Minds We are all aware that we have a limited short-term memory: If you try to memorize a long list of items, you will not be able to remember more than six or eight items unless you use formal memory techniques. Similarly, although we have huge processing power in our brains, we cannot be conscious of more than a few thoughts at any one time. In fact, in a very real way, we have a limited â€Å"attention capacity†. As we become uncomfortably stressed, distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thinking begin to crowd our minds. This is particularly the case where we look at our definition of stress, i.e. that it occurs when a person perceives that â€Å"demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.† These thoughts compete with performance of the task for our attention capacity. Concentration suffers, and focus narrows as our brain becomes overloaded. As shown in the figure, this is something of a slippery slope: the more our brain is overloaded, the more our performance can suffer. The more our performance suffers, the more new distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thoughts crowd our minds. Other research has shown that stress reduces peoples ability to deal with large amounts of information. Both decision-making and creativity are impaired because people are unable to take account of all the information available. This inability accounts for the common observation that highly stressed people will persist in a course of action even when better alternatives are available. It also explains why anxious people perform best when they are put under little additional stress, while calm people may need additional pressure to produce a good performance. Notes on the research behind the Inverted-U: While this is an important and useful idea, peoples evaluations of stress and performance are by necessity subjective. This has made it difficult to prove the ‘Inverted-U idea formally. Also, for ease of explanation, we show a smooth curve here. In reality, different people have different shaped and positioned inverted-Us at different times and in different circumstances. This is all part of â€Å"lifes rich tapestry†. Entering a State of Flow When you are operating in your â€Å"area of best performance†, you are normally able to concentrate, and focus all of your attention on the important task at hand. When you do this without distraction, you often enter what Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University describes as a state of ‘flow. This involves â€Å"being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and youre using your skills to the utmost. You perform at your best in this state because you are able to focus all of your efforts, resources and abilities on the tasks at hand. While you are sufficiently motivated to resist competing temptations, you are not so stressed that anxieties and distractions interfere with clear thought. This is an intensely creative, efficient and satisfying state of mind. It is the state of mind in which, for example, the most persuasive speeches are made, the best software is developed, and the most impressive athletic or artistic performances are delivered. Helping Yourself to Get Into Flow One of the frustrations of management is that managers can feel that they lose the ‘right to these periods of deep concentration when they must be readily available to others, and be able to deal with the constantly changing information, decisions and activities around them. Studies of good managers show that they rarely get more than a few minutes alone without distraction. This alone can be frustrating, and can contribute strongly to managerial stress. In jobs where concentration is a rare commodity, there are various solutions to creating the periods of flow that sustain good performance. Solutions include working from home, or setting aside parts of the day as quiet periods. Another solution might be to delegate the activities that require the greatest levels of concentration, allowing the manager to concentrate on problems as they arise, serving to create a flow of its own. One of the key aims of this site is to help you manage stress so that you can enter this state of flow, and deliver truly excellent performance in your career. MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORK PLACE Every responds to stress in a different way, it is only by understanding the nature of individual responses that you can start fighting stress yourself and others. Reduction or elimination of stress is necessary for psychological and physical well being of an individual. Efficiency in stress management enables the individual to deal or cope with the stressful situations instead of avoidance. Strategies like tie management, body-mind and mind-body relaxation exercise, seeking social support help individual improve their physical and mental resources to deal with stress successfully. Apart from helping employees adopt certain coping strategies to deal with stress providing them with the service of counselor is also useful. Many strategies have been developed to help manage stress in the work place. Some are strategies for individuals, and other is geared toward organizations. Individual coping strategies: Many strategies for helping individuals manage stress have been proposed. Individual coping strategies are used when an employee under stress exhibits undesirable behavior on the jobs such as performance, strained relationship with co-workers, absenteeism alcoholism and the like. Employees under stress require help in overcoming its negative effects. The strategies used are: Exercise: One method by which individual can manage their stress is through exercise. People who exercise regularly are known to less likely to have heart attacks than inactive people are. Research also has suggested that people who exercise regularly feel less tension and stress are more conflict and slow greater optimism. Relaxation: A related method individual can manage stress is relaxation. Copying with stress require adaptation. Proper relaxation is an effective way to adopt. Relaxation can take many forms. One way to relax is to take regular vacations; people can also relax while on the job (i.e. take regular breaks during their normal workday). A popular way of resting is to sit quietly with closed eyes for ten minutes every afternoon. Time management: Time management is an often recommended method for managing stress, the idea is that many daily pressures can be eased or eliminated if a person does a better job of managing time. One popular approach to time management is to make a list, every morning or the thins to be done that day. Then you group the items on the list into three categories: critical activities that must be performed, important activities that should be performed, and optimal or trivial things that can be delegated or postponed, then of more of the important things done every day. ROLE MANAGEMENT: Some what related to time management in which the individual actively works to avoid overload, ambiguity and conflict. SUPPORT GROUPS: This method of managing stress is to develop and maintain support group. A support group is simply a group of family member or friends with whom a person can spend time. Supportive family and friends can help people deal with normal stress on an ongoing basis. Support groups can be particularly useful during times of crisis. BEHAVIORAL SELF-CONTROL: In ultimate analysis, effective management if stress presupposes exercise of self-control on the part of an employee. By consciously analyzing the cause and consequences of their own behavior, the employees can achieve self-control. They can further develop awareness of their own limits of tolerance and learn to anticipate their own responses to various stressful situations. The strategy involves increasing an individuals control over the situations rather than being solely controlled by them. COGNITIVE THERAPY: The cognitive therapy techniques such as Ellis rational emotive model and Meichenbaums cognitive strategy fir modification have been used as an individual strategy for reducing job stress. COUNSELING: Personal counseling help employees understand and appreciate a diverse workforce, the holistic approach adopted by the counselor gives him a comprehensive view of the employee as client and enable him to deal the issues of work related problems in a larger context with his awareness of the inter-relationship among problems in adjustment with self, other and environment and that a work concern will effect personal life and vice-versa, the employee would receive help regarding the problem in all life. One of the advantage of the individual interventions is the individual can use these skills to improve the quality of life in offer domains like family, social support and self, thus reducing the negative carry of experiences in these domains into the work life which might effect his occupation mental health. ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES: The most effective way of managing stress calls for adopting stressors and prevent occurrence of potential stressors. Two basic organizational strategies for helping employees manage stress are institutional programs and collateral programs. Work Design Stress Management programs Work schedules Health promotions programs Culture Other programs Supervision Institutional programs: Institutional programs for managing stress are undertaken to established organizational mechanism Effect of Stress on Job Performance Effect of Stress on Job Performance STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE People react to stress in different ways. Some copy much better than others and suffering fewer of the harmful effects of stress. Just as stress differs as a function of the individual, it also differs as a function of ones type of occupation. Some occupations are, of course, inherently more stressful than others. All of the stress-strain-health relationships have an obvious impact on the organization and industry. Both physical and mental illness renders the employee unlit for work, and combine both to lessen the satisfaction obtained from work and reduce job performance and productivity levels. There are various ways that stress symptoms or outcomes are reflected in the workplace. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests that certain individuals, in a variety of occupations, are increasingly exposed to unacceptable levels of job-related stress (Schultz Schultz, 2002). Occupational stress is any discomfort which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by in stances, events or situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a persons coping capabilities and resources to handle them adequately (Malta, 2004) Occupational stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or need of the worker (Sauter and Murphy. 1999). Performance is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued by the organization or system that one works in. Each individual is exposed to a range of stressors both at work and in their personal lives which ultimately affect his or her performance. Pressure at work can be positive leading to increased productivity. However, when this pressure becomes excessive it has a negative impact. The individual perceive themselves as being unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skills to combat their stress. Stress is acknowledged to be one of the main causes of absence from work (Mead, 2000). The occupational stressors can be categorized into four major groups. Firstly, the working conditions, including shift and week-end work, inadequate remuneration, hours of work, discrimination and safety at the work environment. Secondly, relationship at work including quality of relationships with peers, subordinates and supervisors. Thirdly, role conflicts and ambiguity including ill-defined role, functions, expectations, and duties. Fourthly, organization structure and climate which includes communication policy and practice, major changes in the workplace, culture of the organization, and lack of participation in decision-making. Another cause is career development including under utilization of skills or failing to reach full potential. Another contributing factor is the nature of the job which might amount to an immense amount of physical and emotional exhaustion (Parikh Taukari, 2004) The main objective of this study is to identify role of different contributing factors of job stress and to investigate level of stress on those factors in the organization. And also to find that how job performance is affected by job stress. There are different factors of job stress i.e. work overload, work under load, supervision role conflicts, career development, physical environment repetitive work, work family conflict and coworkers. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES There is difference in level of occupational stress among the employees of different departments of the organization. High level of stress adversely affects the performance of the employees. STRESS AT WORLKPLACE (OCCUPATIONAL STRESS) In todays changing and competitive work environment stress level is increasing both in WORKERS as well as MANAGERS .As a result of this work stress, more and more managers are showing signs of chronic fatigue and burnout. Research has concluded that stressed out managers are not good for organization and shareholders also .In most case stress reduced efficiency among individuals as well as reduced productivity also. Stress is the problem in amongst all the countries of the world ,irrespective of whether the economy is strong or weak .To know about the actual work stress we should have to know about the behavior of the individuals ,causes of the stress, its consequences and then how it can be reduce . â€Å"Considered from an individual`s points of view stress is our body`s physical, mental and chemical reaction to circumstance that frighten, confuse, endanger or irritate to any person†. If controlled stress, is a friend that strengthens us for the next encounter .if handled poorly, it becomes an enemy which can cause diseases like high blood pressure, ulcer, asthma, and over reactive thyroid. As per the medical explanation of the term â€Å"Stress is the body`s general response to environment situations.† it can lead to Physiological discomfort. Some kind of emotional unhappiness. Strained relationship with other people. In very simple words stress refers to an individual`s reaction to a disturbing factor in the environment. Different discipline and different professional have viewed it differently. Agarwala at 1979 believed that the confusion in definition is primarily due to the fact that the same term is used variously by scholars of different disciplines .Thus, in physic, stress is a force which acts on a body to produce strain. According to Beehr and Newman â€Å"Job stress is a condition arising from the interaction of the people and their jobs, and characterized by changes within people and force them to deviate from their normal functioning.† Stress can be defined as â€Å"Bodys non specific response to any demand made on it. Stress is not by definition synonymous with nervous system tension or anxiety. On one side Stress provides the means to express talents and energies and pursue happiness, on the other side it can also cause exhaustion and illness, either physical or psychological† One of the common accepted views of stress is provided by Selye through THREE STAGE MODEL OF STRESS. He called it General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Selye defines stress as â€Å"an adoptive response to the external situation that results in physical, physiological, and behavioural deviation for organizational participant.† He has suggested a three stage model and states that when an organism is confronted with a threat the general physiological response occurs in the three stages . Selye said that †¦There can be up to three phases that our resistance levels go through when we are exposed to a stressor. The first is the alarm phase. The bodys resistance to physical damage drops for a short-time. This is so our bodies can prepare to cope with the stressor by using up available energy and normally protective stress hormones. Temporarily some of our defenses against physical damage drop so that our blood pressure increases, blood-sugar rises, muscle tension increases, we breathe faster and deeper and we get a surge of adrenaline-like substances to give us extra physical capabilities should we need them. If the stressor no longer exists the body returns to its normal level of resistance. However if the stressor persists, (we cant fight or flee from it or and this goes beyond his original thinking we are unable to apply counteracting psychosocial resources) our level of resistance increases beyond normal, relaxed levels When our bodies start to run in higher gear. High levels of stress hormones continue to help us cope with the stressor. This is appropriately called the resistance phase. If there is no relief the body can continue for days, weeks, even years until either the stressor is suddenly removed or because it is very energy-consuming our body collapses often with more dangerous and extreme physical reactions. They are the same as in the alarm phase only more intense and more relentless. It is here in this third or exhaustion phase that our health suffers or even death can occur. Our level of resistance to physical disorder, disease and psychological pressure is at its lowest. It is characterized by feelings of lethargy an absence of energy and bodily resources to cope. MEASUREMENT OF ROLE STRESS: In the context of India two measures have been developed by Indian researchers and have been extensively used in research in India. They are given below: ORGANIZATIONAL ROLE STRESS: This instrument developed by Pareek (1983) this instrument based on the key concept t understand the integration of the organization .It is through this role that the individual interacts and gets integrated with the system. An n organization can be defined as system of roles, where role has been defined by the expectations various significant persons, including himself / herself, have from that position. The concept of role and the related concepts of ‘role space and ‘role set have a built- in potential for conflict and stress (Pareek 1999). From the point of view of an individual, two role systems are important: Role Space and Role Set. ROLE SPACE:- Each individual occupies and plays several roles simultaneously. A person can be a son a father a member of a club and so on at the same time. All these roles constitute role space time. All these roles constitute role space. In the center of the role space is the self. Role space is the self. Role space thus can be defending as â€Å"the dynamic inter-relationship between the self various roles an individual occupies.† ROLE SET;- The individual`s role in the organization is defined by the expectations of other significant roles and those of the individual himself .thus the role set is â€Å"the pattern of relationship between the role being considered and other roles. The organization role stress scale consists of 50 items measuring ten different types of organizational role stresses. These roles stress are Following: Inter role distance (IRD):-it is expected when there is a conflict between organizational and non organizational roles. Role stagnation (RS):- it is the feeling of being stuck in same role. Role expectation conflict (REC):- Stress is generated by expectation of different significant persons such as superior , subordinate, and peers ,about the same role and the role occupant`s ambivalence as to whom to please. Role Erosion (RE); Here stress is the function of the role occupant`s feeling that some function which should properly belong to her role are transferred to some other role. Role Overload (RO) ; when the role occupant feels that there are too many expectations from her. Role Isolation (RI); Stress refer to the psychological distance between the occupant role and other roles in the same role set. Personal Inadequacy; It arises when the role occupant feels that he does not have the necessary skills and training for effectively performing the function expected from his role. Self Role Distance (SRD):- When the role the person occupies goes against his self concept. Role Ambiguity (RA):- It refers to the lack of clarity about the expectation of the role. Resource Inadequacy (RIN):- Stress is evident when the role occupant feels that he is not provided with the adequate resources for performing the function expected from his role. SOURCES OF STRESS It has been said that stress result form a misfits between environmental demands and personal adequacies to meet these demands .However, management of stress is not possible unless the individual is aware of the specific source of stress. Stress can be emanating from variety of sources. Pestonjee (1983) has identified three important sectors of life in which stress originates .These are (a) Job and organization (b) Social Factors (c) Inter Psychic sector .The first namely , job and organization, refers to totality of the work environment (task ,atmosphere, colleagues , compensations, policies ,etc.)The social factors refer to the social / culture context of life .It may include religion, caste, language, dress and other factors. The intra psychic sector encompasses those things which are intimate and personal like temperament, values, abilities, and health. It is contended that stresses can originate in any of these sectors or in combinations thereof. Factor intrinsic to the Job: These are related to poor working conditions shift work, long hours, poor technology, travel, risk and danger, work over load. Role in the organization: When a persons role in an organization is clearly defined and understood, and when expectation place upon the individual are also clear and non- conflicting, stress can be kept to a minimum. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) have identified three critical factors- role ambiguity ,role conflict , and degree of responsibility for others are major source of stress. Relation -ship at work: The working relationship which one has with people working in the same organization can also be a major source of stress. Career Development : A host of issue such as job security , fear of job loss, obsolescence or retirement and numerous performance appraisals can create pressure and strain. Organizational structure climate: just being part of an organization can present threats to a persons sense of freedom and autonomy. It seems that the position in the organization has something to do with stress. However the research evidence its inclusive .some studies have found that position in the organization does make a difference in job stress. Nature of Profession: The research evidence suggests that certain kind of occupations cause greater stress. Than others in a study of comparative degree of stress amongst professionals Mishra(2001)collected data from 144 doctors and 82 nurses drawn from various hospitals , their result show that nurses experience greater stress in their job as compared to doctors. Predispositional stress: The degree of stress seems vary with the personality and predispositional factor. Some individuals experience greater stress than others. Doctors with internal locus of control reported higher organizational stress than the internal . (Kumar 1988) The below chart shows one example of the structure of a department in an organization, indicating typical causes of stress that may effect stress at certain levels in the structure, and particular. Causes that are affecting individuals. Stress is contagious; anyone who is not performing well due to increases the amount of pressure on their colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. SYMPTOMS OF STRESS As stated earlier Stress is caused by or reaction to the external events and bring about changes in our response and our general behavior. The presence of Stress can be estimated by the analysis of certain symptoms an individual shows. These symptoms can be divided into three different categories. They are Feelings ,Behavoiur and pshysological . When the individual experience Stress, one or more of the following symptoms can be exhibited: Feelings The individual becomes anxious about the outcomes and is scared. The person feels that he has got something to loose or something wrong will take place. In an anxious state the person does not want to be corrected or interrupted. He looks out for other areas where he can forget about the stress-causing event for a while. The person becomes irritable and moody. During high level of Stress the individual develops a negative frame of mind and suffers from low self-esteem. The person loses faith in his capabilities and is afraid of the failures. The individual does not have a focused approach and is not able to concentrate and is involved in his own plans and thoughts. Physiological and Behavioral Changes Speech problems. Impulsive Behavior Crying for no apparent reason. Laughing in a high pitch and nervous tone of voice. Grinding of teeth Increasing smoking and use of drugs and alcohol. Being accident-prone Perspiration /sweaty hands Increased heart beat Trembling/Sleeping problems Diarrhea / indigestion / vomiting/ nausea Butterflies in stomach Headaches Premenstrual tension Pain in the neck and or lower back Susceptibility to illness Loss of appetite Nervous ticks Dryness of throat and mouth. Tiring easily or over eating CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS The effect of stress is closely linked to individual personality. The same level of stress affects different people in different ways each person has different ways of coping. Recognizing these personality types means that more focused help can be given. Stress shows itself number of ways. For instance, individual who is experiencing high level of stress may develop high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness, and the like. These can be subsumed under three categories: Individual consequences Organizational consequence Burnout Individual consequences: Individual consequences of stress are those, which affect the individual directly. Due to this the organization may suffer directly or indirectly, but it is the individual who has to pays for it. Individual consequences of stress are broadly divided into behavioral, psychological and medical. v Behavioral consequences of stress are responses that may harm the person under stress or others. Behaviorally related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, paid speech, and sleep disorders. v Psychological consequences of stress replace to an individual mental health and well-being from or felling depressed. Job related stress could cause dissatisfaction, infact it has most psychological effect on the individual and lead to tension, anxiety irritability, and boredom. v Medical consequences of stress affect a persons well being. According to a research conducted, it revealed that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates, increases blood pressure bring out headaches and induce heart attacks. Organizational consequences: Organizational consequences of stress have direct affect on the organizations. These include decline in performance, withdrawal and negative changes in attitude.  ¯ Decline in performance can translate into poor quality work or a drop in productivity. Promotions and other organizational benefits get affected due to this.  ¯ Withdrawal behavior also can result from stress. Significant form of withdrawal behavior is absenteeism.  ¯ One main affect of employee stress is directly related to attitudes. Job satisfaction, morale and organizational commitment can all suffer, along with motivation to perform at higher levels. Burnout:- A final consequence of stress has implementation for both people and organizations. Burnout is a general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual simultaneously experiences too much pressure and few sources of satisfaction. STRESS AND YOUR PERFORMANCE So far, we have seen that stress is a negative experience. We have seen the short-term burnout. The Positive Effects of Pressure Sometimes, however, the pressures and demands that may cause stress can be positive in their effect. One example of this is where sportsmen and women flood their bodies with fight-or-flight adrenaline to power an explosive performance. Another example is where deadlines are used to motivate people who seem bored or unmotivated. We will discuss this briefly here, but throughout the rest of this site we see stress as a problem that needs to be solved. The Negative effect of pressure In most work situations jobs, our stress responses cause our performance to suffer. A calm, rational, controlled and sensitive approach is usually called for in dealing with most difficult problems at work: Our social inter-relationships are just too complex not to be damaged by an aggressive approach, while a passive and withdrawn response to stress means that we can fail to assert our rights when we should. Before we look further at how to manage stress and our performance, it is important to look at the relationship between pressure and performance in a little more detail, first by looking at the idea of the â€Å"Inverted-U†, and second by looking at Flow. This is the ideal state of concentration and focus that brings excellent performance. Pressure Performance – the Inverted U The relationship between pressure and performance is explained in one of the oldest and most important ideas in stress management, the â€Å"Inverted-U† relationship between pressure and performance. The Inverted-U relationship focuses on peoples performance of a task. The left hand side of the graph is easy to explain for pragmatic reasons. When there is very little pressure on us to carry out an important task, there is little incentive for us to focus energy and attention on it. This is particularly the case when there may be other, more urgent, or more interesting, tasks competing for attention. As pressure on us increases, we enter the â€Å"area of best performance†. Here, we are able to focus on the task and perform well – there is enough pressure on us to focus our attention but not so much that it disrupts our performance. The right hand side of the graph is more complex to explain. Negative Thoughts Crowd Our Minds We are all aware that we have a limited short-term memory: If you try to memorize a long list of items, you will not be able to remember more than six or eight items unless you use formal memory techniques. Similarly, although we have huge processing power in our brains, we cannot be conscious of more than a few thoughts at any one time. In fact, in a very real way, we have a limited â€Å"attention capacity†. As we become uncomfortably stressed, distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thinking begin to crowd our minds. This is particularly the case where we look at our definition of stress, i.e. that it occurs when a person perceives that â€Å"demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.† These thoughts compete with performance of the task for our attention capacity. Concentration suffers, and focus narrows as our brain becomes overloaded. As shown in the figure, this is something of a slippery slope: the more our brain is overloaded, the more our performance can suffer. The more our performance suffers, the more new distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thoughts crowd our minds. Other research has shown that stress reduces peoples ability to deal with large amounts of information. Both decision-making and creativity are impaired because people are unable to take account of all the information available. This inability accounts for the common observation that highly stressed people will persist in a course of action even when better alternatives are available. It also explains why anxious people perform best when they are put under little additional stress, while calm people may need additional pressure to produce a good performance. Notes on the research behind the Inverted-U: While this is an important and useful idea, peoples evaluations of stress and performance are by necessity subjective. This has made it difficult to prove the ‘Inverted-U idea formally. Also, for ease of explanation, we show a smooth curve here. In reality, different people have different shaped and positioned inverted-Us at different times and in different circumstances. This is all part of â€Å"lifes rich tapestry†. Entering a State of Flow When you are operating in your â€Å"area of best performance†, you are normally able to concentrate, and focus all of your attention on the important task at hand. When you do this without distraction, you often enter what Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University describes as a state of ‘flow. This involves â€Å"being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and youre using your skills to the utmost. You perform at your best in this state because you are able to focus all of your efforts, resources and abilities on the tasks at hand. While you are sufficiently motivated to resist competing temptations, you are not so stressed that anxieties and distractions interfere with clear thought. This is an intensely creative, efficient and satisfying state of mind. It is the state of mind in which, for example, the most persuasive speeches are made, the best software is developed, and the most impressive athletic or artistic performances are delivered. Helping Yourself to Get Into Flow One of the frustrations of management is that managers can feel that they lose the ‘right to these periods of deep concentration when they must be readily available to others, and be able to deal with the constantly changing information, decisions and activities around them. Studies of good managers show that they rarely get more than a few minutes alone without distraction. This alone can be frustrating, and can contribute strongly to managerial stress. In jobs where concentration is a rare commodity, there are various solutions to creating the periods of flow that sustain good performance. Solutions include working from home, or setting aside parts of the day as quiet periods. Another solution might be to delegate the activities that require the greatest levels of concentration, allowing the manager to concentrate on problems as they arise, serving to create a flow of its own. One of the key aims of this site is to help you manage stress so that you can enter this state of flow, and deliver truly excellent performance in your career. MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORK PLACE Every responds to stress in a different way, it is only by understanding the nature of individual responses that you can start fighting stress yourself and others. Reduction or elimination of stress is necessary for psychological and physical well being of an individual. Efficiency in stress management enables the individual to deal or cope with the stressful situations instead of avoidance. Strategies like tie management, body-mind and mind-body relaxation exercise, seeking social support help individual improve their physical and mental resources to deal with stress successfully. Apart from helping employees adopt certain coping strategies to deal with stress providing them with the service of counselor is also useful. Many strategies have been developed to help manage stress in the work place. Some are strategies for individuals, and other is geared toward organizations. Individual coping strategies: Many strategies for helping individuals manage stress have been proposed. Individual coping strategies are used when an employee under stress exhibits undesirable behavior on the jobs such as performance, strained relationship with co-workers, absenteeism alcoholism and the like. Employees under stress require help in overcoming its negative effects. The strategies used are: Exercise: One method by which individual can manage their stress is through exercise. People who exercise regularly are known to less likely to have heart attacks than inactive people are. Research also has suggested that people who exercise regularly feel less tension and stress are more conflict and slow greater optimism. Relaxation: A related method individual can manage stress is relaxation. Copying with stress require adaptation. Proper relaxation is an effective way to adopt. Relaxation can take many forms. One way to relax is to take regular vacations; people can also relax while on the job (i.e. take regular breaks during their normal workday). A popular way of resting is to sit quietly with closed eyes for ten minutes every afternoon. Time management: Time management is an often recommended method for managing stress, the idea is that many daily pressures can be eased or eliminated if a person does a better job of managing time. One popular approach to time management is to make a list, every morning or the thins to be done that day. Then you group the items on the list into three categories: critical activities that must be performed, important activities that should be performed, and optimal or trivial things that can be delegated or postponed, then of more of the important things done every day. ROLE MANAGEMENT: Some what related to time management in which the individual actively works to avoid overload, ambiguity and conflict. SUPPORT GROUPS: This method of managing stress is to develop and maintain support group. A support group is simply a group of family member or friends with whom a person can spend time. Supportive family and friends can help people deal with normal stress on an ongoing basis. Support groups can be particularly useful during times of crisis. BEHAVIORAL SELF-CONTROL: In ultimate analysis, effective management if stress presupposes exercise of self-control on the part of an employee. By consciously analyzing the cause and consequences of their own behavior, the employees can achieve self-control. They can further develop awareness of their own limits of tolerance and learn to anticipate their own responses to various stressful situations. The strategy involves increasing an individuals control over the situations rather than being solely controlled by them. COGNITIVE THERAPY: The cognitive therapy techniques such as Ellis rational emotive model and Meichenbaums cognitive strategy fir modification have been used as an individual strategy for reducing job stress. COUNSELING: Personal counseling help employees understand and appreciate a diverse workforce, the holistic approach adopted by the counselor gives him a comprehensive view of the employee as client and enable him to deal the issues of work related problems in a larger context with his awareness of the inter-relationship among problems in adjustment with self, other and environment and that a work concern will effect personal life and vice-versa, the employee would receive help regarding the problem in all life. One of the advantage of the individual interventions is the individual can use these skills to improve the quality of life in offer domains like family, social support and self, thus reducing the negative carry of experiences in these domains into the work life which might effect his occupation mental health. ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES: The most effective way of managing stress calls for adopting stressors and prevent occurrence of potential stressors. Two basic organizational strategies for helping employees manage stress are institutional programs and collateral programs. Work Design Stress Management programs Work schedules Health promotions programs Culture Other programs Supervision Institutional programs: Institutional programs for managing stress are undertaken to established organizational mechanism

Comparing The Us Constitution :: essays research papers

In 1918, while the rest of Europe was still engaged in World War I, a newly formed communist government was developing in Russia. Much like 18th century Americans, they had just managed to overthrow what was viewed as a tyrannical government and hoped to form a new nation free of the injustices of the previous rule. Both countries wrote a new constitution as well as a declaration of rights to facilitate this, but their respective documents had vast differences. These disparities stemmed from differences in the ideologies of the new governments. The primary objectives of the Russian Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People and the later constitution were the â€Å"abolition of all exploitation of man by man, complete elimination of the division of society into classes, merciless suppression of the exploiters, socialist organization of society, and victory of socialism in all countries.† Americans wanted equality of opportunity and personal freedom instead of th e social equality desired by the Russians. The American constitution and Bill of Rights were created to protect personal liberties and individual freedom while the Russians were more concerned with the welfare and equality of the population as a whole. This difference is partially due to the differences in the conditions leading to revolution in each country. The American Revolution was initiated by the wealthy in response to what they considered unfair treatment by a foreign ruler while the Russian revolution was instigated by the poor in reaction to centuries of oppression and exploitation by the wealthy within their own country. In the years leading up to World War I, social unrest among the Russian people was spreading rapidly. There was a huge social gulf between the peasants who were former serfs and the landowners. The peasants regarded anyone who did not work as a parasite. They had always regarded as all land belonging to them. They regarded any land retained by the landowners at the time serfs were freed as stolen and only force could prevent them from taking it back. By the time Russia entered the war, one peasant rebellion had already been suppressed and several socialist revolutionary movements were developing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In February of 1917 a group of female factory workers and led a revolt in which the Tsar was dethroned, only to be replaced by a provisionary government composed of the Russian elite. When this government did not live up to its promises of an end to Russian involvement in World War I, the Bolsheviks (â€Å"majority†), a revolutionary movement led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisionary government in what bacame known as the October revolution.

America Needs to Use Less Chemicals :: Farming Agriculture Environmental Essays

America Needs to Use Less Chemicals How would you like going to the grocery store and finding out that prices on your regular food items have increased sharply? How would society react to a giant inflation on goods that are needed most? Would poverty and starvation increase with such inflation? These are all questions that would have to be answered if farm chemicals were to be banned throughout the world. Banning farm chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides, would in turn lower the yields farmers would receive from their crops. It would also increase the demand for food, along with the price the consumer would have to pay. But, are there alternative ways of controlling weeds and insects, using a more natural way society will find more acceptable? This debate has been growing more and more each year, but no answer has availed itself. When farmers and society cooperate, education and limits can help slow down pollution and still keep yields to a maximum. Under the current circumstances, farm chemicals are needed for both the farmer and society. With education, chemicals can be used efficiently by everyone. In the debate over chemicals, many people in society believe that more organic fertilizers and weed killers should be used to eliminate pollution due to chemicals. This is a great hypothesis, but when you examine the problem this is nearly impossible. Manure is just one of the examples on how the pollution of fertilizers and weed killers could be reduced. Manure is an organic substance that can substitute many other forms of fertilizers. In reality, it would be impossible to cover every acre of farm ground with manure. Society today is led to believe that manure is safe for water and is free of pollution when actually it is not. Manure potentially carries many funguses and bacteria that can pollute our water supply. Recently it was discovered that a natural fertilizer has the potential of killing many types of noxious weeds. Nick Christians, an Iowa State University researcher, has discovered corn gluten to be the first "natural" weed killer and fertilizer. Corn gluten is a protein s ubstance extracted from corn during processing. Researchers have found that the corn gluten extract has the potential to interfere with germination in crabgrass and other noxious weeds. On the other hand, "the natural corn byproduct is less effective and more expensive than synthetic weed killers," noted Christians (28). America Needs to Use Less Chemicals :: Farming Agriculture Environmental Essays America Needs to Use Less Chemicals How would you like going to the grocery store and finding out that prices on your regular food items have increased sharply? How would society react to a giant inflation on goods that are needed most? Would poverty and starvation increase with such inflation? These are all questions that would have to be answered if farm chemicals were to be banned throughout the world. Banning farm chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides, would in turn lower the yields farmers would receive from their crops. It would also increase the demand for food, along with the price the consumer would have to pay. But, are there alternative ways of controlling weeds and insects, using a more natural way society will find more acceptable? This debate has been growing more and more each year, but no answer has availed itself. When farmers and society cooperate, education and limits can help slow down pollution and still keep yields to a maximum. Under the current circumstances, farm chemicals are needed for both the farmer and society. With education, chemicals can be used efficiently by everyone. In the debate over chemicals, many people in society believe that more organic fertilizers and weed killers should be used to eliminate pollution due to chemicals. This is a great hypothesis, but when you examine the problem this is nearly impossible. Manure is just one of the examples on how the pollution of fertilizers and weed killers could be reduced. Manure is an organic substance that can substitute many other forms of fertilizers. In reality, it would be impossible to cover every acre of farm ground with manure. Society today is led to believe that manure is safe for water and is free of pollution when actually it is not. Manure potentially carries many funguses and bacteria that can pollute our water supply. Recently it was discovered that a natural fertilizer has the potential of killing many types of noxious weeds. Nick Christians, an Iowa State University researcher, has discovered corn gluten to be the first "natural" weed killer and fertilizer. Corn gluten is a protein s ubstance extracted from corn during processing. Researchers have found that the corn gluten extract has the potential to interfere with germination in crabgrass and other noxious weeds. On the other hand, "the natural corn byproduct is less effective and more expensive than synthetic weed killers," noted Christians (28).

America as an Empire :: essays research papers

America as Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? Jim Garrison   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jim Garrison’s book addresses a poignant theme faced by American culture today. Garrison explains that America must tread carefully in the present as to avoid crossing the fine line of acting as a â€Å"global leader† and acting as a â€Å"rogue power.† To begin with, I found it necessary to look up the word ‘rogue,’ which dictionary.com defines as â€Å"vicious and solitary,† clearly a negative term. This being established, Garrison is attempting to address what it is that would make a country appear to be overbearing, overly aggressive and power hungry rather than as a respected, admired superpower.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contrary to my belief upon picking up the book, Garrison quickly enlightened me to the other option. I had never thought of America as a â€Å"rogue power.† However, after giving it a few thoughts, and having Garrison’s input on the matter, it seems quite apparent that America has in fact become a rogue power. America, which was once seen as a picture-perfect place where dreams could be achieved and freedom be found, has indeed become a dominant solo power. It is the unmatched superpower of the world, unmatched by any foreign nation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, I found it quite strange to see in such black and white print, an assertion of America as a ruthless master in commander. Though the charm of living in America is that we have the ability and the freedom to criticize whatever we feel, it is rare for me to encounter an American with such a seemingly un-American point of view. Never the less is was quite informative. I also agree with Garrison that the principles and practices upon which America was founded 225 years ago have drastically changed. Garrison stated that America â€Å"used to represent freedom. It now represents power.† After reading that, I was forced to take a step back and really consider that statement. To my own dismay I could not think of any grounds to disprove this statement. I found it quite disheartening to suddenly realize that America had in all essences of the word, had come to define the word â€Å"power.† Garrison examines what makes a nation considered to be a republic, verses what makes a nation considered to be a republic. If a republic implies a democratically run single nation, then that term cannot completely apply to America. America as an Empire :: essays research papers America as Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? Jim Garrison   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jim Garrison’s book addresses a poignant theme faced by American culture today. Garrison explains that America must tread carefully in the present as to avoid crossing the fine line of acting as a â€Å"global leader† and acting as a â€Å"rogue power.† To begin with, I found it necessary to look up the word ‘rogue,’ which dictionary.com defines as â€Å"vicious and solitary,† clearly a negative term. This being established, Garrison is attempting to address what it is that would make a country appear to be overbearing, overly aggressive and power hungry rather than as a respected, admired superpower.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contrary to my belief upon picking up the book, Garrison quickly enlightened me to the other option. I had never thought of America as a â€Å"rogue power.† However, after giving it a few thoughts, and having Garrison’s input on the matter, it seems quite apparent that America has in fact become a rogue power. America, which was once seen as a picture-perfect place where dreams could be achieved and freedom be found, has indeed become a dominant solo power. It is the unmatched superpower of the world, unmatched by any foreign nation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, I found it quite strange to see in such black and white print, an assertion of America as a ruthless master in commander. Though the charm of living in America is that we have the ability and the freedom to criticize whatever we feel, it is rare for me to encounter an American with such a seemingly un-American point of view. Never the less is was quite informative. I also agree with Garrison that the principles and practices upon which America was founded 225 years ago have drastically changed. Garrison stated that America â€Å"used to represent freedom. It now represents power.† After reading that, I was forced to take a step back and really consider that statement. To my own dismay I could not think of any grounds to disprove this statement. I found it quite disheartening to suddenly realize that America had in all essences of the word, had come to define the word â€Å"power.† Garrison examines what makes a nation considered to be a republic, verses what makes a nation considered to be a republic. If a republic implies a democratically run single nation, then that term cannot completely apply to America.