HR Training and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HR Training and Development - Essay Example should be to make sure that the employees follow a certain standard operating procedure within the workplace and they must not adhere to any other specifications than what have been told by the organization. The training procedures need to be elaborate covering all necessary details in such a manner that there is enough learning for everyone. The training regimes therefore bank on the experience which has been gained and which shall be used for the betterment of the employees in the long run (McCracken, 2005). The effectiveness of the training programs is significant and this can be gauged through the productivity shown by the employees once they implement these training realms within their respective quarters. This means that the different tangents behind these training modules would ask for a better understanding of the employees as per their work measures and how they are able to showcase their strengths and weaknesses as and when

The Cause of Voter Apathy in Canada Essay -- Cause and Effect Essays

What causes voter apathy? Why, in the most recent federal and provincial elections, did roughly 40% of eligible voters stay home? Perhaps candidate A, running for party A led by leader A, is not perceived as being significantly different from, or better than, candidate B, running for party B led by leader B. This lack of perceived difference between candidate-party-leader A and candidate-party-leader B, is not the only problem in an election. It is also impossible to vote directly on an issue. Yes, you can let an issue influence how you vote, but on election day you are forced to endorse one candidate, party and leader and repudiate all other candidates, parties and leaders. Issues take a back seat to personalities. In theory, voters can have their specific concerns addressed during an election. But that's not reality. Elections simply do not provide voters with a direct say on any issue. Rather, elections are centered on personalities. The real question, the only real choice, is as to which party should run the province or the country. A vote for an Opposition Party candidate is a vote to replace the Government Party, and a vote for the Government Party candidate is a rejection of the Opposition Parties' bid for power. But Canadians cannot use their ballots to implement - or to reject - any specific policy concerning health, education, labour, social services, the criminal justice system, fiscal issues, the environment, energy, infrastructure, agriculture, etc. Total control remains with the politicians up to five years at a time. And when voting day finally arrives, issues are drowned out by one big question: which leader/party should be the Government/Premier, or the Government/Prime Minister? Even when issues are ... ...vote for MLAs and MPs, they are also smart enough to vote in a referendum on an issue of their choice. By increasing the individual voter's effectiveness, citizens' initiative decreases voter cynicism. Citizens' initiative enables the active participation of all voters in their democracy. It reduces the influence of those who lobby politicians behind closed doors. Citizens' initiative gives taxpayers the power to ensure that difficult and controversial issues cannot be avoided or ignored. Citizens' initiative makes politicians more accountable and more responsive to taxpayer concerns at all times. The fact that citizens could put a proposal on the ballot puts pressure on politicians to act on the concerns of Canadians. In short, citizen-initiated referendums will increase accountability and openness, empower taxpayers, and improve our representative democracy.

Guiding Principals of Professional Learning Communities Essay

Normally, in a professional learning community also known as a PLC, the educators work together brainstorming ideas, lessons, and activities that will support a plan to be implemented all in hopes of the student’s achievement. A professional learning community can benefit a school’s environment by reinforcing teacher morale and leadership skills. As the school moves forward, every professional in the building must engage with colleagues in the ongoing exploration of three crucial questions that drive the work of those within a professional learning community: †¢ What do we want each student to learn? How will we know when each student has learned it? †¢ How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning? The answer to the third question separates learning communities from traditional schools. A PLC can serve as a support system that motivates teachers to follow a guided plan. Educators who are building a professional learning community recog nize that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of learning for all. Therefore, they create structures to promote a collaborative culture. This plan can include classroom assistants, parent volunteers, and other school personnel like librarians. The PLC culture can influence teachers through numbers. When teachers come together and have strength in numbers they can support each other, collaborate, and brainstorm the most effective methods and techniques to instruct the students. Even the grandest design eventually translates into hard work. The professional learning community model is a grand design, a powerful new way of working ogether that profoundly affects the practices of schooling. But initiating and sustaining the concept requires hard work. This is where the challenges may arise. It requires the school staff to focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively on matters related to learning, and hold itself accountable for the kind of results that fuel continual improvement. A PLC will construct a solid foundation of committed teachers who are passionate about their career and working with families a nd fellow colleagues. The benefit(s) of a PLC is that everyone has the opportunity to be involved and share goals and positive learning experiences of the schools learning environment. When educators do the hard work necessary to implement these principles, their collective ability to help all students learn will rise. If they fail to demonstrate the discipline to initiate and sustain this work, then their school is unlikely to become more effective, even if those within it claim to be a professional learning community. The rise or fall of the professional learning community concept depends not on the merits of the concept itself, but on the most important element in the improvement of any school; the commitment and persistence of the educators within it. In conclusion, educators who work together form structured atmospheres that promote learning. References Barth, R. (1991). Restructuring schools: Some questions for teachers and principals. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(2), 123-129. Marzano, R. (2003). What works in Schools: Translating research into action, Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Systematic Desensitization Definition and Research

Desensitization, commonly referred to as systematic desensitization, is  a type of behavioral therapy technique in which patients gradually become exposed to certain fear stimuli in order to overcome the fear. Desensitization is a part of cognitive therapy treatment, or  conditioning, that targets a specific phobia without addressing the causes of that phobia. Since its first practice in the mid-20th century, systematic desensitization has routinized the treatment and management of many phobias. Key Takeaways: Desensitization Desensitization, or systematic desensitization is a behavioral therapy that helps people overcome irrational fears through gradual exposure to the fear stimuli.Desensitization does not take into account the underlying causes of the fears it treats.The technique has been used successfully on people experiencing stage fright, test anxiety, and numerous phobias (e.g. storms, flying, insects, snakes).Compared to regular psychoanalytic therapy, desensitization takes a shorter period of time to achieve results, can be conducted in groups, and requires limited training of counselors. History and Origins The first clinical use of systematic desensitization was described by the pioneer behavioralist Mary Cover Jones (1924), who found that both direct conditioning and social imitation were effective methods for eliminating childrens fears. She concluded that the best way to break down maladaptive responses was to introduce the feared object while the child was enjoying him or herself. Jones colleague and friend Joseph Wolpe is credited with the operationalization of the method in 1958. He based his research on the simple idea that if a person could reach some state of relaxation that is antagonistic to anxiety or fear, and then experience that fear in some way, the overall impact of that fear would be reduced. Wolpe found that relaxation in the face of situations that had previously evoked anxiety tended to reduce the fear attached to the stimuli. In other words, Wolpe was able to substitute a relaxation response to a maladaptive neurotic habit. Important Studies Jones study focused on a three-year-old boy named Peter who had developed a pathological fear of a white rabbit. Jones engaged him in eating—an enjoyable practice for him—and over time slowly moved the bunny closer to him, although always at a sufficient distance so as not to interfere with his eating. Eventually, Peter was able to stroke the rabbit. Wolpe based his study on psychologist Jules Massermans conditioned reflex experiments, which he produced experimental neuroses in cats and then cured them using desensitization. What Wolpe did was to devise other methods for treating the cats, in a manner he called reciprocal inhibition. Like Jones, he offered the cats food when presenting the conditioned fear stimulus. He then applied those theories to clinical patients. He concluded that forcing people to face their fears often resulted in frustration, whereas combining relaxation with stepwise exposure to different levels of their fears (called a hierarchy of anxiety) successfully weaned them from their phobias. Wolpe reported a whopping 90 percent rate of cure or much improvement in a series of 210 cases. He also reported that his cases did not relapse and did not develop new kinds of neurotic symptoms. Key Theories Systematic desensitization is based on three hypotheses that underlie much of behavioral therapy: It is not necessary to find out why or how a subject learned a phobia.The methodology of stepwise exposure to increasing levels of a given fear does not lead to a replacement of learned behaviors.It is not necessary to change the person as a whole; desensitization targets specific responses to phobias. The existing response or neurotic behavior, said Wolpe, is the result of learning a maladaptive response to a stimulus situation, a conditioned fear. Systematic desensitization defines that fear as a true conditioned emotional reaction, and so a successful treatment involves the patient unlearning the response. Usefulness of Systematic Desensitization Desensitization works best on people with specifically definable fear responses. Successful studies have been conducted on people with fears such as stage fright, test anxiety, storms, closed places (claustrophobia), flying, and insect, snake, and animal phobias. These phobias can be truly debilitating; for example, storm phobias could make life intolerable to the patient for several months out of the year and bird phobias could trap a person indoors. The rate of success seems to be related to the degree of sickness shown by the patient. As with all psychology, the least ill patients are the easiest to cure. Those things which do not respond well to the treatment are nonspecific or widely generalized states of fear or anxiety. For example, agoraphobia (fear of the marketplace in Greek, referring to a generalized anxiety around being in public), has proven to be comparatively more resistant to desensitization. Systematic Desensitization vs. Psychoanalytic Treatment Results since the 1950s have generally supported the effectiveness of systematic desensitization in modifying phobic behaviors and have demonstrated its short-term as well as long-term superiority over traditional psycho-dynamic treatment options. The success rate is often quite high. Benson (1968) cites a study by Hain, Butcher, and Stevenson of 26 cases of psychoneuroses. In that study, 78 percent of patients showed systematic improvement after an average of 19 sessions—one exhibited success after a one single hour and a half session. Follow up studies of a year later reported that 20 percent of the participants saw even more improvement, while only 13 percent saw relapses. Compared to traditional psychoanalytical treatment, systematic desensitization sessions do not require a  drawn-out process. Wolpes average of success was only ten 45-minute sessions, depending on the clients ability to learn relaxation techniques. Others have found an average of about that found by Hain, Butcher, and Stevenson, 19 or 20 sessions. In contrast, psychoanalysis to identify and treat the underlying causes of a particular fear or sets of fears, as well as study the entire personality, can take hundreds if not thousands of sessions. Unlike psychoanalysis, desensitization can successfully be done in small groups (6–12 people, for example).  No elaborate equipment is required, just a quiet room, and the techniques are easily learned by school counselors and others in counseling roles. In addition, desensitization is applicable to a wide variety of people, anyone who has good powers of visual imagery. They dont have to be able to verbalize and conceptualize their performance: Three-year-old Peter was able to learn to pet the bunny. Criticism There is clearly a high success rate—although more recent studies suggest the long-term success rate is likely around 60 percent rather than Wolpes 90 percent. But some scholars, such as psychologist Joseph B. Furst, see systematic desensitization as a method that oversimplifies the complexities of neuroses, fear, and anxiety. It ignores the social surroundings and practices of the patient which likely both originally caused and presently maintain the neurotic behaviors. Desensitization has little effect on symptoms of depression, obsession, and depersonalization. However, as the treatment progresses, some patients report improved social adjustment. As they experience decreased fear, they report that they work better, enjoy their leisure more, and get along better with others. Sources Benson, Steven L. Systematic Desensitization in the Treatment of Phobic Reactions. The Journal of General Education 20.2 (1968): 119–30. Print.Bernard, H. Russell. The Science in Social Science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109.51 (2012): 20796–99. Print.Deffenbacher, Jerry L., and Calvin C. Kemper. Systematic Desensitization of Test Anxiety in Junior High Students. The School Counselor 21.3 (1974): 216–22. Print.Furst, Joseph B. The Relation of Form to Content in Psychiatric Thought. Science Society 32.4 (1968): 353–70. Print.Gelder, Michael. Practical Psychiatry: Behaviour Therapy for Anxiety States. The British Medical Journal 1.5645 (1969): 691–94. Print.Jones, Mary Cover. A Laboratory Study of Fear: The Case of Peter. Pedagogical Seminary 31 (1924): 308–15. Print.Kahn, Jonathan. Musicians Stage Fright: Analysis and Remedy. The Choral Journal 24.2 (1983): 5–12. Print.Morrow, Willi am R., and Harvey L. Gochros. Misconceptions Regarding Behavior Modification. Social Service Review 44.3 (1970): 293–307. Print.Rutherford, Alexandra. Introduction to a Laboratory Study of Fear: The Case of Peter Mary Cover Jones (1924). Classics in the History of Psychology. 2001. Web.Wolpe, Joseph. Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1958. Print.Wolpe, Joseph, and Arnold Lazarus. Behavior Therapy-Techniques. New York: Pergamon Press, 1969. Print.