Impact of Gay Marriage on Children Essay Example for Free

Impact of Gay Marriage on Children Essay Take a look at the picture of a gay and a lesbian couple (see Figure 1). Long ago people would have raised their eyebrows and glared at such obvious display of affection between two men and two women. They would have scurried away and cursed them who engaged in activities that compromise morality. They would have felt anger to know that a man would even think of marrying another man or a woman to another woman. But years later, this picture has become normal. Wherever people go, they see gay and lesbian couples. They are everywhere. And the government has also come to accept this phenomenon, although there are still debates whether gay marriage, or same-sex marriage, should be legalized and accepted. Gay marriage has been one of the critical issues still not resolved and still plagued lots of people today. There are debates and protests whether this should be legalized or accepted in the society. Many are strongly against gay marriage because of their various beliefs about marriage itself. On the other hand, many are also for gay marriage because they think that marriage is all about equality and freedom to choose and decide. However, we must look at what gay marriage does to the children, because they are also adversely affected by this. This paper will show that gay marriage (the term will be used interchangeably with same-sex marriage in this paper), has a negative impact on children. In 1989, Denmark granted â€Å"registered partnership† to same-sex couples; Norway, in 1993; Sweden, in 1994; and Iceland, in 1996. Other countries in Europe, such as France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium also did the same (Lee Badgett 2). Meezan and Rauch reported that gay marriage (or same-sex marriage) is a reality in the United States and other parts of the world. They added that for the advocates of same-sex marriage, it is a civil rights issue. For the opponents, it is a matter of morality. Both sides are correct, but most importantly, it is a family-policy issue which has not been regarded with the right amount of attention in the American scene (97). The most important question to be considered is: How will same-sex marriage affect the well-being of children? The statistics showed significant trends. In 2007, Craft reported that in 1976 alone, there were about 300,000 to 500,000 gay and lesbian parents. In Bahamas alone, the number of homosexuals is increasing. Many of these, who keep their homosexuality secret, have positions in companies and in governments. The Rainbow Alliance of The Bahamas showed that gay individuals makes up five percent while bisexuals make up 29 percent of The Bahamas population (see Chart 1). Additionally, there are about eight to 10 million children living in gay and lesbian households. It is estimated that the number of gay and lesbian people who are interested to adopt children is nearly two million. The highest concentration of adopted children living with homosexual parents could be found in California. These children tend to be younger. Gates, Lee Badgett, Chambers and Macomber estimated that there were about 65,000 adopted children living in a gay or lesbian household. Moreover, out of the estimated 3. 1 million gay and lesbian households in U. S. , 1. 6 percent includes an adopted child under the age of 18 (7) (see Table 1). In the Frequently Asked Questions article by The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) marriage is all about love, commitment, sharing and compromise. It should not be denied to couples just because of their sex; marriage is a personal choice. However, many believed that the purpose of marriage is procreation; producing children is the natural end of marriage (Cline). Since gay marriage is unnatural (it can’t produce children), Cline said that it would violate this very idea. It would undermine marriage because it is a moral institution for promoting and protecting procreation. Although this paper posits that gay marriage has positive impact on children, it is still important to look at both views about the same-sex marriage in order to make light of the things which are significant for the welfare of the children. Impact on Children Why should the children be considered when it comes to same-sex marriage? Children are helpless, according to Kurts. They rely upon adults. They need the society to provide them with institutions that keep them safe from chaos. Additionally, they cannot articulate their needs and cannot even vote. But, they are society. They are the future of the world. These are just some of the reasons why children’s well-being must be supported and encouraged. Baskerville is right in saying that the impact of gay marriage on children wasn’t paid much attention because the focus was on the debate over gay marriage. It is important to recognize the needs of the children because they deserve to grow in an environment where they have two legally recognized parents (Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health). Their relationship with their parents, the Committee furthered, must be stable and recognized. This must apply to all, whether the parents are of the opposite or of same sex. For those who advocate gay marriage, they said that gay marriage will have positive impact on the children. In an article by Sara Miles, she argued that banning gay marriage will deny children justice since marriage is good for kids. It is true that marriage is good for kids. Most of the literature about marriage would indicate that marriage brings positive outcomes for the children as it provides them with warm, close relationships with their parents. Advocates of gay marriage believe that these reasons must be taken into consideration and let someone marry whoever he wants to marry. Cline reported that those who oppose gay marriage will do anything to keep it from being legalized. However, there will come a time when gay marriage will be legal and recognized. In fact, there were actions taken in other countries to make this possible. With the rise of the issue of gay marriage in America, other areas were also considered, such as adoption of children. Baskerville quoted what Democratic state Sen. Therese Murphy. She believed that almost half of all adopted children in Massachusetts live in households with homosexually-behaving adults. Baskerville added that allowing gay couples to â€Å"have† children, or to give them the right to adopt, is nearly the same as granting them the right to claim the children of a couple. The question here is whether the biological parents will agree to be separated from their children. This is made easy by the government’s initiative to give other people’s children to gay or lesbian couples. The government also has the power to take back the children from their biological parents even though the parents did not do something that would make the government take back the children. This is because the government now had the incentive and the means to take children from their parents with no due process. Baskerville reported that the 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) gives financial incentives to the states to remove children from their original parents. As a result, CAPTA became instrumental in tearing children away from their parents. Additionally, the federal funds went to the foster-care providers. Even now, there are still children removed from their families despite the fact that foster homes were more abusive than the children’s original families. This problem existed for a long time until the government thought of another program. The government provided another program to solve the problem created by CAPTA, which is the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act. It provided more financial assistance to transfer children from foster care to adoption. This expanded the client base of stakeholders who had vested financial interest in available children. Gay marriage, it seemed, made this even worse. Baskerville reported that through having kids adopted by gay couples, the government officials can take advantage of the adoption. These government officials can very well benefit through the funds that are set for the Act. Rekers provided three reasons on why Arkansas has prohibited homosexually-behaving adults from being given license to be foster parents. First: The inherent nature and structure of households with a homosexually-behaving adult uniquely endangers foster children by exposing them to a substantial level of harmful stresses that are over and above usual stress levels in heterosexual foster homes. (Rekers 2) This means that those children entering foster care usually have high incidence of psychological disorder. Rekers explained that if homosexual parents adopted those children, they (the children) are likely to be at risk of psychological harm and maladjustment. This happens when the children are exposed in greater stress brought upon them by the mere presence of a homosexual in a foster home. Moreover, Rekers believed that the children are affected in such a way that they are at risk of depression or psychological disorders (2). Second, Rekers reasoned out the relationships between homosexually-behaving adults tend to be less stable and short-lived, unlike the relationship between a married man and woman. Therefore, this would not be appropriate for children because they will be easily influenced. Furthermore, Rekers believed that suicidal attempt, substance abuse, psychological disorders and breakups happen most often with homosexual partners. Thus, they are incapable of providing a secure and stable home that foster children needed. And if children are to be adopted by these homosexually-behaving adults, it would mean that children will be removed and transfer to another home. Sometimes the transition is traumatic for these children. Third, the household structure of foster-parents consisting of one or more homosexually-behaving members denies children their needs for adjustment that can be found in heterosexual foster homes. Rekers backed this third reason by explaining that unlike heterosexual households, a household with homosexually-behaving adults lack the concrete role of a mother and a father, which is necessary for the growth and development of children. Additionally, homosexual households lack the role of a mother and a father in raising children. Also, the children have no chance to witness a husband/wife relationship, which the society thinks is socially stable and healthier for the children. Rekers said that the children who live with a married man and woman are better adjusted compared to those who live in households with homosexually-behaving adults. Children in foster care must be placed with heterosexual married couple because this will provide them with their needed benefits and leads to better child adjustment. A study presented by Jacobs in her article showed that nearly all 50 studies done on the children of gay and lesbian couples (between six and 14 million in the United States) showed no significant difference between children raised by heterosexual or homosexual couples. However, those who oppose gay marriage argued that most of the studies done were small, there were methodological flaws, and mostly were politically biased. Jacobs reported a study which showed that there’s no significant difference whether a child is raised by a gay or lesbian parents. In short, a child with gay or lesbian parents does not necessarily make him different from his peers. However, Jacobs presented some interesting findings from other researches regarding these differences. She mentioned that in 2001, Judith Stacey, a sociologist, and her colleague, Timothy Biblarz, found out that there are, in fact, some differences. They said that although gay and lesbian parenting is not harmful for children, those who have gay parents differ in some ways from those who have heterosexual parents. For instance, a study headed by Susan Golombok concluded that having homosexual parents does not encourage their children to become homosexuals. However, the daughters of lesbians were more open to the idea of being attracted to the same gender than the daughters of heterosexual mothers. Another finding was that out of the 25 children of lesbians, six of them had had relationship with someone of the same gender. The 21 children of heterosexual mothers did not have a relationship with the same gender. Kurts countered that gays have special case because the difficulties and challenges they experience are not from â€Å"discrimination† of marriage. The challenges and difficulties are due to the problem of sexual difference. He added that marriage is just a consolation for the challenges that are usual in situations faced by gays. Although gays are much tolerated in the United States, using marriage for the wrong purpose will not change the situations of gays. Instead, it will be the end of marriage, and the protection it provides for the children who are helpless. Gay marriage will also have an effect on heterosexual marriage. Supporting gay marriage, according to Gallagher (qtd. in Darby), would mean that the courts will not fully support the views of those who advocate heterosexual marriage. Moreover, if heterosexual marriage is confirmed as a special institution that must be protected and upheld, the number of fatherless children will decrease. Heterosexual marriage will prevent the incidences of children born outside marriage. Kotulski (qtd. in Darby) contradicted this by saying that there will still be fatherless children. There will be factors that would continue to break families, such as poverty and violence. Other Effects Pawelski et. al have noted some other effects of same-sex marriage to children. These effects, as noted, were experienced at different levels. In the psychosocial level, gay and lesbian individuals usually undergo peer rejection, harassment, depression or isolation. In fact, Pawelski et. al reported that almost half (47%) of gay and lesbian teens have thought about committing suicide while 36% actually attempted. Oftentimes, these individuals experience rejection from their loved ones, maltreatment in schools, homelessness, and violence. As adults, they experience discrimination, marginalization and violence. Various debates over the issue of same-sex marriage intensified the unstable environment for the homosexuals in the society. Lack of support and acceptance for them and their children will have effects on their physical and psychosocial health and safety. The children of gay or lesbian couples may, in the same way, experience marginalization and discrimination by those who do not approve of gay or lesbian parenting. More often, these children do not know how or where to find support. Even alliances in schools that admit straight gays can make the situation worse. Pawelski et. al reported that children are brought into long-term partnerships with gay and lesbian parents through surrogacy, adoption and alternative insemination. Their study also delved into the attitudes and behavior, personality and adjustment of parents when it comes to parenting. The authors found out that there were only few differences recorded regarding the comparison between lesbian and heterosexual mothers’ psychological adjustment, self-esteem and attitudes about child rearing. Lesbian mothers, the study showed, passed the psychological assessments and interviews. Furthermore, the study showed that the attitudes of lesbian mothers did not differ much from those of heterosexual mothers. In the same way, gay fathers did not differ much from nongay fathers. In fact, there are more similarities than differences. However, there is concern over the effect of the parent’s sexual orientation on the children because this might lead to embarrassment and thus keep the children from interacting with their peers. It was found out that the children of divorced lesbian mothers experienced more teasing from peers during childhood than the children of divorced heterosexual mothers. It is of interest that Pawelski et. al mentioned that the children who grew up with gay or lesbian parents were more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing than those children with heterosexual parents. Pawelski et. al mentioned another study which showed that children of heterosexual parents considered themselves more aggressive. Their parents and teachers regarded them as more domineering, bossy and negative. On the other hand, the children of lesbian parents considered themselves as more lovable. Their parents and teachers regarded them as more responsive, affectionate and protective of other younger children. Another study showed that the self-esteem, aggressiveness and sociability of children with lesbian parents and those with heterosexual parents have similarities. There were also studies conducted which showed that children of lesbian parents who were satisfied with their relationships have fewer behavioral problems and were better adjusted. There was also a study by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health wherein the population consisted of 12105 adolescents in the United States. The authors found out that 44 adolescents, ranging from 12 to 18 years old, who were living with two women, were similar to others who have heterosexual parents when it comes to measures of anxiety, depression, self-esteem and school success. There were also similarities regarding family relationships, care from others, neighborhood integration, regardless of whether the children come from opposite-gender or same-gender families (Pawelski et. al). Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts back in 2004, researches today showed that it may have positive impact in strengthening the ties between couples, their children and extended families. It is interesting to note, however, that a large number of young people in America seemed to support gay and lesbian issues. Olander, Kirby and Schmitt mentioned a survey done by the Council for Excellence in Government (CEG) and CIRCLE which asked young people from 15 to 25 years old their perspective about the rights of homosexuals. The survey found out that youths supported gay and lesbian issues such as protection in housing, employment and hate crime, legal partnerships or civic unions and the ability to adopt children (2). There are others who view gay marriage on a positive note. Carpenter believed that gay marriage helps children. He said that gay parenting nowadays is very common in the United States, and that there are children in every gay and lesbian household. He did not seem to agree that children are better raised by a married man and woman. He furthered that gay marriage will not take away children from their biological parents. Although there is no reported shortage of children, the number of married couples is not enough to raise these children. And this is the reason why singles and unmarried couples are allowed sub-optimal parenting. Carpenter thought that this arrangement is better than foster care where the effects on children are unfavorable. Brinkmann countered Carpenter’s views. She believed that if a child is exposed to both sexes in a household, it will have positive effects on his developmental needs. She explained that this aids them in forming their sexual identity. Since the breakdown of marriage in the country had negative effects especially on children, it must be considered that a heterosexual marriage will provide the children stability with regards to family relationships. Brinkmann furthered that without heterosexual marriage, the society will disintegrate. Times have changed and more changes will manifest in the future. Amidst these changes, the welfare of children who are affected by gay marriage must be the utmost consideration. This means that supporting heterosexual marriage will be beneficial for these children. The government and families must make sure that every step of the way, these children will be encouraged and supported. Their needs must be met in order for them to grow as responsible citizens in our society.

Sleepless Nights and Wasted Days: Changing School Times to Benefit Stud

The alarm goes off at six am and the typical high school student is barely able to open their eyes. It is time to get up and prepare for a full day at school, about eight hours. Most teenagers, according to the National Sleep Foundation, will only get about six hours of sleep since they tend to stay up until midnight (â€Å"Should schools start later in the day?†). After getting ready, many students look forward to a nap in their first hour class despite the information they will miss. Teenagers seem to always have had trouble getting up in the morning, even earning the title of lazy from their parents. However, recent research on adolescent sleep patterns has produced a biological explanation for this tendency. This raises a serious question: why are high schools starting early in the morning when teenagers are biologically programmed to sleep in? For most cases, school start time has not been conformed to fit student physiological needs simply because of transportation iss ues. Fifty six percent of students report being tired throughout the school day, which can lead to missed information and confusion (Wysong). According to this statistic, over half the students in class are not going to achieve their maximum learning potential in school. In order to avoid this problem, a teenager's brain typically needs to sleep from 11:00 pm to 8:00 am (â€Å"High schools starting later to help sleepy teens†). However, most high schools require students to be in class as early as 7:15 or 7:30 am. As a result, many adolescents simply do not have the opportunity to get enough rest. Changing the traditional school time to start later in the day will benefit adolescent sleep cycles, promote learning, and prevent disease by regulating the body. Ideally,... ...n Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. Selley, Chris. "Go on, sleep in: Toronto schools mull shifting classes to 11:30 to help dozing students." Maclean's 19 Nov. 2007: 158. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. "Should Schools Start Later in the Day?" Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication 30 Apr. 1999: 3. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 17 Mar. 2012. "Sleep may reduce teens' Type 2 diabetes risk." The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC] 20 Sept. 2011. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. Wahlstrom, Kyla L.; Davison, Mark L.; Choi, Jiyoung; & Ross, Jesse N. (2001). School start time study: Executive summary. 2001. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Wysong, Pippa. "School daze: turn your ZZZ's into A's." Current Health 2, a Weekly Reader publication Sept. 2007: 18+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 17 Mar. 2012.

Organising & Delegating in the Workplace Essay

1.1 The importance of making effective and efficient use of people’s knowledge skills while planning the team’s work to achieve objectives is explained Organising is the managerial function of arranging people and resources to work towards a goal. In order to achieve objectives in an effective and efficient manner it is important to have a good knowledge of the team’s skills. Issues such as lack of motivation in the team or lack of confidence could mean the objective is failed and at the same time enthusiastic, motivated and given responsibility for their work team, can reach the targets and aims and objectives. Overall meeting the objectives of the company could be at risk and cannot be met if the wrong person is chosen. Organising is about planning for a situation; it’s about working together to achieve one goal. To organise I need to ensure that the people I manage and lead are the making the best use of their skills to do that specific task. In Hull Libraries I have to plan for specific times of the year. I know for example that the school holidays are a busy time in Hull Libraries. It is important for the right me mber of staff to be matched with their own knowledge and skills to the task in hand. An example of a task that is needed specifically in the holidays may be a craft sessions. Now I know that certain members of staff do not excel in art and craft sessions. It would not be fair to put a member of staff that did not feel confident and have the correct skills on this task. It would affect their confidence and their motivation. I instead put a member of staff, for example Karen, as the lead for this task. Karen loves arts and crafts, enjoys working with children and is good at these sessions. This means that the children will enjoy it and the parents will feel that the received a good level of customer service. When holding sessions in the past we have had very positive feedback for these sessions. In Hull Libraries if a member of staff is allocated to the wrong area of work then this may have a direct impact on members of the public. Objectives may not be met on time and/or to the standard which they should be. This will not receive the level of customer service that they deserve or expect which can lead to complaints being raised and an unhappy member of the public. This reflects badly on Hull  Library service which we do not want. This may also effect a member of staffs level of motivation and dedication. When this time of year comes we also have a ‘relief’ list of staff. Should we need more members of staff on the counter to cover activities as mentioned above, we can call these staff in on a relief basis to help with the demand. Covering busy periods at the library is quite easy. As a supervisor am I not always on the rota to be on the counter, I am sometimes planned to be in my office. Should demand increase I can go onto the counter to serve customers as and when needed. 1.2 One technique is used to identify the appropriate activity for a person To identify the appropriate member of staff for the correct activity I have used a skills matrix spread sheet (appendix 1). A skills matrix is a table that displays people’s proficiency with certain skills and knowledge. You can link this to the task in hand. Recently in Hull Libraries we have started to hold appointments for Blue Badge assessments, as well as this we also have a summer programme of activities to hold for children and the day to day running of the library. To plan and allocate the correct work to the correct person I have looked at each member of staff and rated their skills needed for the task between 1 and 10. From the skills matric I can also see training gaps and also areas for mentoring. I can see that Karen would be good at mentoring Julie and Anne for children’s activities as they do not have as higher skills, knowledge and confidence as Karen. I can see that it would not be appropriate to put Jacki or Sue on Blue Badge appointments as they have not yet had the appropriate training. This would not be fair on either the member of staff or the member of the public. The service provided would not be to the higher quality that Hull Libraries wants it to be. For the task in appendix one I can see that it would be good to have Karen running the children’s craft sessions, Julie holding the Blue Badge Appointments, Sue helping members of the public with I.T and Jacki and Anne serving the customers on a regular basis. Anne is also trained with the delivery of Bus passes and Rail Cards so she can issue these should a member of the public attend the library for one. A skills matrix can also be used to identify  training needs. I can see that Jacki and Sue need training for Blue Badges. Should the skills matrix have been for a different subject then I would be again ale to identify training needs for other people. 1.3 How human resource planning can be used to assure output and quality is explained Human resource planning is how companies can determine and analyse the requirement of, and supply of if need be, a workforce in order to achieve the organisation’s goals and objectives. HR planning predicts what will affect the availability and requirement of employees in the future. If a company also has too many staff HR planning for the future is key when it may come to making redundancies in a company. Hr planning also takes into account staff that on annual leave, sickness and maternity. This may result in temporary staff being brought in to support core staff. Hull Libraries do have a list of ‘relief’ casual staff who are able to come in should this situation arise. Part of HR planning is the training of members of staff. Training ensures that the right amount of staff have the correct skills and knowledge to provide the customer with the level of service they expect. For workplaces like factories this is slightly easier to predict as they have output of raw materials. They can predict how many items a certain line can make in an hour and plan staffing around orders and the amount of materials needed. Many factories can use formulas to generate their anticipated work load and work force. Many companies for examples can predict that an order has been placed for 100 items. Each member of staff can produce 10 items a day but they only have two days to turn the order around. This means that they will need 5 members of staff minimum to meet the requirement. This is a small example of what companies can predict. Large companies can predict when orders for 1000’s of items are placed. For Hull Libraries it is slightly harder as we do not have key figures as output. The output for Hull Libraries is customer service to the customer.  What the customer expects and what the customers gets. If Hull Libraries were short staffed and still managed to serve customers they would not receive the same quality and time they expect. Conversely, if Hull Libraries were short staffed and ensured that the customer was taken care of and received the level of customer service they expect then not enough customers will be able to be served. Either way, complaints are likely so HR planning is really important. Recently though with the changes that have been happening we have been able to plan staffing with output figures in mind. We know that each library has approximately 30 Blue Badge appointments each week, each taking one hour. This means we have been able to plan staffing to cover the 30 hours of appointments each week. In a couple of cases this has resulted in staff being moved from other libraries and in the long term plan it is going to result in new staff being recruited. Delegating to achieve workplace objectives 2.1 One example of delegation and one example of empowerment in the workplace is given â€Å"Delegation involves giving a member of your team the responsibility for part of your job and the authority to carry it out, but you retain overall control and accountability.† (Williams, 2006) Delegation is an important management skill. Good delegation saves you time, develops your staff and motivates. Poor delegation will cause frustration, demotivation and failure to achieve the task. Effective delegation is crucial for management and leadership succession. Delegation is giving responsibility ensuring that the member of staff knows what is required of them and the standard that is expected. The overall control is retained by me as a manager. This means that the task will still be supported and also the task will not fall behind time constraints. Some tasks are ideal for delegation but some should never be delegated. Tasks that should never be delegated include confidential matters, disciplinary action, appraisals and  counselling staff. Jobs that can be delegated include jobs which are routine, jobs where an individual member of staff be able to do the task to a better standard than myself and jobs of which are low to medium priority. As a manager I have delegated tas ks to members of staff on many occasions. Each month I have a full team meeting and devise a rota of jobs that can be delegated to staff. These are jobs that are a core part of library duties but are not vital jobs for me as a line manager to complete. Some of the jobs may take time when I can be working on higher priority jobs. One of the jobs which I have delegated in the library is the display work. I have delegated this job to Karen. This includes the general posters in the library and then creating the display work in the library including the children’s library. The reason I have delegated this task is for a number of reasons. The job is not a high priority task so I may have another task which need doing first, Karen is really good at producing display work and Karen has a passion for art and really enjoys producing displays. I am not as skilled and do not have knowledge of art and crafts to produce the displays to the calibre of what Karen can. By delegating this task to Karen she has excelled at the job in hand and it has motivated her in her work. Empowerment is a management practice of sharing informa tion, rewards, and power with employees so that they can take initiative and make decisions to solve problems and improve service and performance. Empowerment is based on the idea that giving employees skills, resources, authority, motivation, as well holding them responsible and accountable for outcomes of their actions, will contribute to their motivation. Each month during a team meeting I ask the staff if they had any ideas that they would like to put forward to improve their skills or to improve the customer’s experience of the library. If the ideas seemed a positive one and one we would be able to go ahead with I would speak to my line manager to have the idea authorised ready for implementation. If the idea was authorised I would then speak to the member of staff who had the idea and let them lead on this. One of the ideas that came from one of these meeting was from Sue, one of my members of staff. She had noticed a rise in people coming to the library to use the computers to search for jobs, create CV’s and general help with setting up e-mails and using computers. An idea she put forward was to start a â €˜work club’ at Greenwood Library. The session would be held on a weekly basis where members  of the public could drop in and have advise on the topics mentioned earlier. The management agreed this was a great idea. I then let Sue take the lead on this project as it was her idea. She really enjoyed taking the lead on it and her motivation increased. 2.2 One barrier to delegation and one mechanism to support delegation is identified Delegation is a very important management technique; it brings benefits to team members and team leaders. At times there can be barriers to delegation from team members and from team leaders. Some of the barriers from a team leader/supervisors point of view may be; I can do it better myself, my members of staff are just not capable enough, it takes too much time to explain what I want to be done, if it goes wrong I’ll still be accountable, delegation reduces my own authority, I’ll be shown up if they do too good a job, my staff prefer that I make the decisions and team members want to avoid responsibility. Some of the barriers that staff may feel is I do not understand what I am needing to do, I do not feel skilled enough to do the task asked of me and it’s not in my job description. The most important mechanism is to support your staff throughout the delegation process. Explaining the task in detail and with time to the member of staff is key. Explaining how important the task is and why the task is necessary. Always reiterating to your member of staff that you are there for them should they need any help is important as they will feel supported. Once the task has been completed give the member of staff praise and recognition for the task in which they have completed. It is them vital to pass credit to the member of staff. The will encourage them for future tasks and will improve motivation. 2.3 One technique that could be used to monitor the outcomes of delegation in the workplace is explained Monitoring tasks when delegation has taken place is vital. By monitoring it means the manager stays in overall control and be able to spot potential problems at an early stage. If this occurs the member of staff can then be guided and makes any changes necessary to get back on track. It is important when work is delegated that from the start objectives, time scales and key points are arranged. This is important so that whilst monitoring the delegation you can benchmark them against agreed targets. There are many ways you can monitor the progress and outcome of delegation. This can be by way of meetings with staff, statistical reports, observing the member of staff and gather information from others to name but a few. One I personally prefer is to have regular 1:1 meetings with the member of staff involved in the task. These can be regular informal discussions with the member of staff where I can ask the member of staff how they feel the task is going and if they need any further advice/support. If they need any further resources to complete the task this can be discussed. We can also look at the objectives and see if they are being met. It also gives me a chance to congratulate and praise the member of staff for completing/working towards completing the task. This gives the member of staff a sense of achievement and will increase motivation. Once the task is completed I will have a final meeting with the member of staff to discuss how the task went and what things we can do different in the future. Should it result in a task that may be ongoing I will carry on the meetings to make sure we are making best use of resources. 2.4 The effectiveness of feedback, recognition and reward techniques in the workplace is reviewed. Feedback and recognition is an imperative part of the delegation process. Its gives the manager a chance to speak to the member of staff involved in the task and helps the member of staff to learn from the experience. This may be for a positive part of the task or possibly a negative part. Feedback encourages staff to develop their skills and knowledge for the future. Giving feedback is also a key part of being a manager. Feedback and  recognition can help a member of staff to feel motivated and part of the team. The will feel more confident in future tasks and can be willing to help other members of the team. Some companies have reward schemes to encourage members of staff. This may be variable pay, bonuses, profit sharing and stock options. A business can choose to reward individual or group contributions or a combination of the two. Group-based reward systems are based on a measurement of team performance, with individual rewards received on the basis of this performance. These systems can encourage individual efforts; they also tend to reward underperforming employees along with average and above-average employees. A reward program which recognises individual achievements in addition to team performance can provide extra incentive for employees. It can increase motivation and improve staffs work rate on a regular basis. All of the techniques above help staff to be more motivated in the workplace and encourages them for future tasks. It is a vital cog in the wheel for a business or company. Without the final part staff may feel demotivated and will not be as willing to tasks further tasks on in the future. References Williams, K (2006). Introducing Management. 3rd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Appendices

What Does a Forensic Psychologist Do - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 1005 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/08/05 Category Psychology Essay Level High school Tags: Forensic Psychology Essay Did you like this example? A major in which I look forward to exploring would include forensic psychology. This would make a perfect combination with a degree in psychology and knowledge and/or a degree in criminal justice because SHSU and most colleges do not offer a major in specifically forensic psychology. I am very interested in the human mind and why we do the things we do. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "What Does a Forensic Psychologist Do?" essay for you Create order Another thing that interests me, even more, is psychopaths, serial killers, and criminals in general, and what causes the aggression in them. Of my knowledge, SHSU does not carry a program or degree or offer criminology as a major. So, therefore, I will have to work with two different studies. I hope to explore more of what causes the tendencies and impulses that murder experience and hopefully one day will be able to get close enough to them to get first-hand information on how their brain works. Pysch means mind and ology means the study of. So far, I have taken Psychology 1301 and it has been what I have expected, Ive enjoyed it. Next semester I will start to get a look into my minor with a class called Intro to Criminal justice. To work in the field of criminal psychology, you must earn a masters or doctoral degree in clinical psychology, forensic psychology or counseling, which takes about five to seven years to complete. Theres currently no specific forensic psychology degree, which explains why I would have to take the steps I need to. Aspiring forensic psychologists should complete numerous psychology and criminal justice courses while studying as undergraduates since few schools offer degree programs in forensic science. Recommended courses include cognitive, clinical, social, developmental, and criminal investigative psychology. as said on a career profiles website on forensic psychology. This website also includes what they spend the most time doing or would be seen doing. Forensic Psychologists often specialize in research. Some research conducted by forensic psychologists improves interrogation techniques, while other research focuses on public policy and improving criminal rehabilitation and the design of correctional facilities, as the article states. I could go several different options and paths I could take with these degrees in case I change my mind or it does not work out how expected. The psychology route, or the criminal route. Advancement and job placements, competitiveness, and salaries all go up depending on how much school and the higher the job I am looking for is. For example, I could go for a basic bachelors degree and jobs vary from a case manager or an intake officer. With my masters, I could be a therapist in psychology. And if I were to work my way up to a Ph.D. I could qualify to become a clinical psychiatrist which would be able to prescribe people to medications for the illness or disorder I think they are suffering from. The salaries with these careers range from $35,000-$120,000 at best. I would not want to make any less. Taking the criminal route I could choose from options such as Police departments, Government agencies, Prosecutors offices, and Law firms. A government agency that is my dream job is in the FBI. To be a forensic psychologist working for cases that the FBI deal with is something I would love to be working for and I will hopefully get there one day. A job in which a psychology degree would come in handy, regarding the Fbi but is a very competitive job would be a criminal profiler. This job is something most people would think of and refer to shows like criminal minds and NCIS. The characters in criminal minds are criminal profiles but do a lot more than most do, specifically for the show. With that being said, you can conclude that everyone wants a job like this and is very hard to do specifically what they do. As Brenda Scottsdale describes an article about careers in psychology in the FBI, criminal profilers typically used the information from solved crimes and find similarities to give a profile to an offender and match it with a certain person. FBI investigators use these profiles, which contain statements about the probable age, gender, interests, ethnic background, and personality of the perpetrator, to solve the crime. Forensic criminal profilers testify in court about their findings, backing up what they say with releva nt research. One of the FBIs most famous criminal profilers, John E. Douglas, gained fame by interviewing such infamous criminals as David Son of Sam Berkowitz and Charles Manson, (Scottsdale, Brenda). The salary for a criminal profiler is not published by the FBI, but I would not mind what I made per year if I had the opportunity to work in a position like that especially with cases that involved famous and potentially dangerous serial killers that I could do research on and learn more about. I would personally love to work with criminals and be able to figure out their minds. It would be much more interesting than being a therapist who deals with mental illness, however, I would enjoy that as well. Jobs such as a detective would be interesting and just a step down from being a criminal profiler. Most of the time criminal psychologists, in a field referred to as criminological psychology, will also work to testify in a court setting and decide if a certain offender is competent to stand in a trial. For example, the offender may try to plead insane and it is the criminal psychologists job to determine their sanity during the time of the offense and their current state of mind (Criminal Psychologist Career). Criminal psychologists are often called up as witnesses in court cases to help the jury understand the mind of the criminal. They study thoughts, behavior, and intentions of criminals. A website for a psychology school guide indicated, According to PayScale, the average annual salary for a criminal psychologist is $50,868. However, the pay band extends from a low of $24,000 per year to well above $140,000 annually (July 2017 data), (Criminal Psychologist Career).