Drama Evaluation Essay

When we did the 6 hour workshop on capital punishment, we looked at some extreme cases like two Somalia women; one was raped and stoned to death; the other was also stoned because she committed adultery, which was seen as crime by law in her country. The other case was about a man who was trying to get his lover’s aunt to sell him her farm. When she refused he killed her, but he didn’t want to go to jail, so he told his lover that she should take the blame because, she is underage and therefore wouldn’t go to jail. However, she did o to jail but she is on death row and is still awaiting her death. Even though, we studied all the capital punishment cases, it was the short plays about Derek Bentley that I decided to evaluate. The other group decided to focus on Derek’s personal development throughout their play. The first scene is set with Derek reminiscing about his life on the day of his execution. The group use a monologue to set the first flashback of the play. He talks about how he was born and how the umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck; this was a possible cause of his mental problems. The group’s use of levels is done very well since Derek is represented by a prop which is very small and his parents are above him with the doctor and the reminiscing Derek is sitting away from the flashback – this was representing how far away from his family he is. This scene was very effective at emphasising Derek’s innocence, since babies are usually associated with purity. However, I think the scene could’ve been improved if the doctor faced the audience, unless that was an intentional way of showing that this character isn’t as important. The second scene isn’t as long but it shows how Derek’s personality has been developing. He is playing with his toys on the floor and he looks very happy and clueless. His parents come in to talk to Derek’s teacher, who informs them about Derek’s disabilities. The vulnerable side of Derek is seen because of the use of levels – the parents and the teacher are yet again on a higher level then Derek, making them seem like they’re in control of the situation. The scene could have been improved if more emotion was shown in the shock after Derek’s parents found out about his disabilities. If they hugged to comfort each other of they walked over to Derek himself, it would really show what kind of loving environment Derek grew up in. In the third scene Derek is in secondary school messing around in the corridors with Chris. They soon get caught by a teacher and Chris runs off, leaving Derek to take the blame. The scene isn’t done as well as the other scenes; the use of voice isn’t clear because sometimes Derek and Chris are shouting and sometimes it’s not easy to understand the dialogue between the two. The character of the teacher does a good job at showing the anger and annoyance in the boys. The fourth and fifth scenes merge into one scene which makes it confusing for the audience. The 4th scene only involves Chris and Derek when they’re planning their raid. Chris is trying to convince Derek that it’s a good idea and knows that Derek is going to agree anyway. There is a very quick pause and the 5th scene starts with Chris and Derek climbing up the stairs. The group used imagery props to show they’re climbing. This scene is the pivotal moment of the play, when Chris and Derek get caught by the police. It becomes a bit confusing because everyone is shouting and running around, although at the same time it creates a good scene of panic and a very realistic image of what it most likely would’ve been like in reality. My group focused on the friendship between Chris and Derek. We start the first scene with the pivotal moment of the play, where Derek shouts ‘let him have it Chris’ and Chris shoots the policeman. The scene is a lot like the last scene of the last group – there is a lot of shouting and panic and when the shooting happens, we used a freeze-frame to emphasise the moment. I think we could’ve improved it by having a longer pause in the freeze-frame to make it clear that this is the pivotal moment. The second scene was set when Derek first met Chris at school. They sit in the middle of the table and get Derek gets laughed at by the other children. This scene could be improved if Chris and Derek were sitting on a table away from others, to show that their friendship gets stronger. The third scene uses actors as props; Derek and Chris are now in one of their gardens, trying to build with wooden branches. They look happy and really close as they sit in their new ‘building’. This scene could be improved if body propping was used to build something else and if the levels of Derek and Chris would change from time to time because in some parts of the scene it is clear that Chris is the leader of their friendship. The fourth scene is quite short; it only includes Derek and Chris. Chris is trying very hard to persuade Derek that the raid is a good and safe idea. The use of voice is very effective as Chris’ voice becomes more high-pitched when he talks about how easy the raid is going to be. The use of space, however, is the thing that needed improving; if Chris walked around more to show how great the raid is going to be, it would’ve added more of an affect. The fifth scene goes back to the pivotal moment of the shooting, but this scene is about what happens afterwards. The shooting is now much quicker and the rest of the scene is Chris getting taken away by police. This scene could’ve improved if the scene showed what happened to Derek after the shooting. Overall, both groups had different ideas but both interpreted theirs by using the same techniques. My group used a series of flashbacks to pinpoint Derek and Chris’ friendship and the other group used flashbacks to show the development of Derek’s personality. This workshop had a big impact on how much we knew before and how much we know now. I thought these punishments weren’t happening around present time, but they are and my feelings are very much against this, no matter how bad the crime was.

Pythagorean Triples Essays - Diophantine Equations, Equations

Pythagorean Triples Essays - Diophantine Equations, Equations Pythagorean Triples Pythagorean Triples Three integers a, b, and c that satisfy a2 + b2 = c2 are called Pythagorean Triples. There are infinitely many such numbers and there also exists a way to generate all the triples. Let n and m be integers, n*m. Then define(*) a = n2 - m2, b = 2nm, c = n2 + m2. The three number a, b, and c always form a Pythagorean triple. The proof is simple: (n2 - m2)2 + (2mn)2 = n4 - 2n2m2 + m4 + 4n2m2 = n4 + 2n2m2 + m4 = (n2 + m2)2. The formulas were known to Euclid and used by Diophantus to obtain Pythagorean triples with special properties. However, he never raised the question whether in this way one can obtain all possible triples.The fact is that for m and n coprime of different parities, (*) yields coprime numbers a, b, and c. Conversely, all coprime triples can indeed be obtained in this manner. All others are multiples of coprime triples: ka, kb, kc.As an aside, those who mastered the arithmetic of complex numbers might have noticed that (m + in)2 = (n2 - m2) + i2mn. Which probably indicates that (*) has a source in trigonometry. But the proof below only uses simple geometry and algebra.First of all, note that if a2 + b2 = c2, then (a/c)2 + (b/c)2 = 1. With x = a/c and y = b/c we get x2 + y2 = 1. This is the well known equation of the unit circl e with center at the origin. Finding Pythagorean triples is therefore equivalent to locating rational points (i.e., points (x,y) for which both x and y are rational) on the unit circle. For if (p/q)2 + (r/s)2 = 1, multiplication by a common denominator leads to an identity between integers.Rational numbers approximate irrational to any degree of accuracy. Therefore, the set of rational pairs is dense in the whole plane. So, perhaps, one might expect that any curve should contain a lot of rational pairs or meander wildly to avoid them. But this is not the case. The recent proof of Fermat's Last Theorem lets us claim that the curves xN + yN = 1 with N*2 contain no rational points. But there are simpler examples. From Lindemann's theorem, we conclude that the graph of a perfectly smooth function y = ex contains a single rational point, (0,1). Moreover, pulling the unit circle even a little aside may change the picture drastically. Let (xk, yk) = ( 2/k, 3/k), and consider a unit circle with center at (xk, yk). As k grows, the point approaches the origin, but for no k, such a circle contains a rational point.Let t be defined by(1) t = y/(x+1). Then t(x+1) = y andt2(x + 1)2 = y2 = 1 - x2 = (1 + x)(1 - x). We are not interested in negative x. So let's cancel (1+x) on both sides. The result ist2(x + 1) = (1 - x). Solving for x we get(2) x = (1 - t2)/(1 + t2) From y = t(1+x) we also obtain(3) y = 2t/(1 + t2) Formula (1)-(3) show that t is rational iff both x and y are rational.There is another way to look at the just described configuration.The configuration consists of the unit circle centered at the origin and a straight line passing through the point (-1,0) which lies on the circle. Unless the line is tangent to the circle, the two have a second common point. In order to find this point, we have to solve simultaneously two equations: the quadratic equation of the circle x2 + y2 = 1 and the linear equation of the line. By eliminating either x or y from the latter, and substituting the result into the former, we get a quadratic equation in one variable with integer coefficients. One solution of this equation is immediate - it is related to the point (-1,0), and is rational. Therefore, the second solution of the equation is also rational and gives either x- or y-coordinate of the second point of intersection. (3,4,5), (5,12,13), (6,8,10), (7,24,25), (8,15,17), (9,12,15), (9,40,41), (10,24,26), (11,60,61), (12,16,20), (12,35,37), (13,84,85), (14,48,50), (15,20,25), (15,36,39), (15,112,113), (16,30,34), (16,63,65),

Differences Between Compilers and Interpreters

Differences Between Compilers and Interpreters Before the Java and C# programming languages appeared, computer programs were only compiled or interpreted. Languages like Assembly Language, C, C, Fortran, Pascal were almost always compiled into machine code. Languages like Basic, VbScript and JavaScript were usually interpreted. So what is the difference between a compiled program and an Interpreted one? Compiling To write a program takes these steps: Edit the ProgramCompile the program into Machine code files.Link the Machine code files into a runnable program (also known as an exe).Debug or Run the Program With some languages like Turbo Pascal and Delphi steps 2 and 3 are combined. Machine code files are self-contained modules of machine code that require linking together to build the final program. The reason for having separate machine code files is efficiency; compilers only have to recompile source code that have changed. The machine code files from the unchanged modules are reused. This is known as making the application. If you wish to recompile and rebuild all source code then that is known as a Build. Linking is a technically complicated process where all the function calls between different modules are hooked together, memory locations are allocated for variables and all the code is laid out in memory, then written to disk as a complete program. This is often a slower step than compiling as all the machine code files must be read into memory and linked together. Interpreting The steps to run a program via an interpreter are Edit the ProgramDebug or Run the Program This is a far faster process and it helps novice programmers edit and test their code quicker than using a compiler. The disadvantage is that interpreted programs run much slower than compiled programs. As much as 5-10 times slower as every line of code has to be re-read, then re-processed. Enter Java and C# Both of these languages are semi-compiled. They generate an intermediate code that is optimized for interpretation. This intermediate language is independent of the underlying hardware and this makes it easier to port programs written in either to other processors, so long as an interpreter has been written for that hardware. Java, when compiled, produces bytecode that is interpreted at runtime by a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Many JVMs use a Just-In-Time compiler that converts bytecode to native machine code and then runs that code to increases the interpretation speed. In effect, the Java source code is compiled in a two-stage process. C# is compiled into Common Intermediate Language (CIL, which was previously known as Microsoft Intermediate Language MSIL. This is run by the Common Language Runtime (CLR), part of the .NET framework an environment that provides support services such as garbage collection and Just-In-Time compilation. Both Java and C# employ speedup techniques so the effective speed is almost as fast as a pure compiled language. If the application spends a lot of time doing input and output like reading disk files or running database queries then the speed difference is barely noticeable. What Does this Mean to me? Unless you have a very specific need for speed and must increase the frame rate by a couple of frames per second, you can forget about speed. Any of C, C or C# will provide sufficient speed for games, compilers, and operating systems.

Groupbased assignment for Financial data analysis Essay

Groupbased assignment for Financial data analysis - Essay Example The report analyses the risk and return of these two companies. Then the cost structure of these companies is compared. The first part of the report focuses on calculating the means and the variances of the two companies. 'Mean' provides a measure of average return to investors while the 'variance' and hence the 'standard deviation' indicate risk. The second part of this report focuses on calculating the cost of capital for DGSE COMPANIES INC to aid the appraisal of a project under scrutiny. The cost of capital is the "opportunity cost of an investment; that is, the rate of return that a company would otherwise be able to earn at the same risk level as the investment that has been selected". CAPM will be used as the model. The equity cost of capital is found by accumulating the data relating to the company's and market returns at different points in time. The calculations yield a mean value of 0.026557 for DGSE COMPANIES INC and 0.014395 for PUBLIC SERVICE ENTRP GRP INC. These figures can be interpreted as for an investor investing $1 in DGSE COMPANIES INC and $1 in PUBLIC SERVICE ENTRP GRP INC, after a month he will get an average holding period return of 2.6 cents and 1.4 cents on his investments respectively. The Variance and the closely related Standard Deviation are measures of dispersions, which indicate how the possible values are spread around the mean and are an indicator of risk. For the purpose of calculations, the following formula is used for variance: As per the calculations, the monthly variance for DGSE COMPANIES INC is 0.0401 (4.01 %) and for PUBLIC SERVICE ENTRP GRP INC is 0.0050 (0.5%). The square roots of these figures give the monthly standard deviation which equals 0.200 (20%) and 0.0707 (7%), respectively. The Variance is indicative of volatility, hence the risk. It indicates how risky the investment is. A Comparison of risk and return of the two companies will give a clear idea. Table 1. RISK - RETURN RELATIONSHIP S.No Company Name Risk (%) Variance Return (%) - Mean 1 DGSE COMPANIES INC 4.01 2.6 2 PUBLIC SERVICE ENTRP GRP INC 0.5 1.4 The famous phrase "Higher the risk, higher the return" holds well in our case. Chart 1 Source: Primary Table 2. YEAR WISE RETURN COMPARISON YEAR DGSE PUBLIC 1997 0.0932 0.0212 1998 0.0418 0.0270 1999 0.0895 -0.0058 2000 0.0449 0.0401 2001 -0.0188 0.0034 2002 -0.0849 -0.0142 2003 0.0806 0.0318 2004 0.0199 0.0202 2005 -0.0269 0.0229 2006 0.0261 0.0063 Chart 2 Source: Primary CALCULATION OF MINIMUM VARIANCE PORTFOLIO S.No Company Name Risk (%) Variance Return (%) - Mean 1 DGSE COMPANIES INC 4.01 2.6 2 PUBLIC SERVICE ENTRP GRP INC 0.5 1.4 The total portfolio return considering equal proportion of each companies share is (0.5)*2.6 + (0.5)*1.4 = 2% By Trial and error method, the minimum variance portfolio is arrived at respective

ACL Injury Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

ACL Injury - Research Paper Example There are other knee ligaments injuries but the most common injury associated with instability at the knee is ACL injury (Chaudhari, 2008). Perhaps this is because of the fact that ACL injury presents quite a number of ways through which it can suffer tears. Research has shown that the most common ACL injury occurs when the knee is bent exceedingly to the or to the sides more than it is used. Such scenarios are highly likely to occur amongst sports persons during trainings when they engage in activities aimed at making them flexible. In other instances, ACL injury may also occur when there is a direct pressure exerted on the thigh at a time when a person is standing on one leg (Tiidus, 2008). Studies have also revealed that ACL injury may also occur when a victim makes abrupt stop from a significantly highly speed, or attempts to make a sudden turn to the side while on a significantly high-speed motion. In all the above instances, one may observe that they all tend to exert pressure to the sides or on the ligaments at the back of the leg as had been noted. It is not a straightaway guarantee that any of such movements will result in ACL injury, but that they put a person at a highly risk of suffering from ACL injury. Therefore, there is a need to advise persons that take part in physical activities quite often on how what precautions to take during active periods of activities (Chaudhari et al., 2008). However, many physiotherapists and health professions have researched and proposed various ways for recovery and rehabilitation for detected cases of ACL injury. The thesis statement of this research shall be: Appropriate response to ACL injury should be case specific rather than universal approach for recovery and rehabilitation. This research shall assess various cases and analyze each depending on its magnitude. This is because prevalence of ACL injury has revealed that each case

Self-evaluation (Telecommuting will be the new way that jobs are Essay

Self-evaluation (Telecommuting will be the new way that jobs are performed in the next ten years. Introduction ) - Essay Example This can act as detrimental to a section of people are not well educated or skilled to perform any other kind of jobs. (Piskurich, 2008, p.27) Another argument presented by this paper is that telecommuting can provide an employee the added advantage of selecting his/her own working environment and this can have both economic and social benefits. However, there is also a down side because it becomes the responsibility of the employee to pay the bills of electricity and heat of his own working environment and in most companies the employees are not reimbursed for these aspects. (Piskurich, 2008, p.22) The paper puts forward a third argument that telecommuting provides the employee the advantage of working from home. This can help the employee to spend more time with the family thus promoting family values and developing stronger family relations. However, this can be disadvantageous for the supervisors whose primary responsibility is to monitor the efficiency and productivity of their supervisees. The supervisors do not feel comfortable because they cannot physically see their supervisees on daily basis. If the supervision is done badly then telecommuting can further reduce its effectiveness, however it can increase supervision that is done well. There is also the problem of jealousy from colleagues as many people feel that telecommuters do not work in all working hours at home. There may be others who cannot take up telecommuting because of their nature of work. All these can arouse jealousy from colleagues. This working from home facility can have an added disadvantage for thos e companies which regularly face crisis as it causes lack of flexibility. In case of emergency when holding a meeting is required it becomes extremely difficult to bring all the employees together if majority of them work from home. Therefore telecommuting as a way of job is

Influences of Organisational Culture on Social Care

Influences of Organisational Culture on Social Care Explain How Different Aspects of Organisational Culture, Including Communication and Leadership, Influence Service Provision in Social Care Organisational culture, a theoretical model of business practice, may also used to understand the systems and behaviour of other organisations, in particular the application of organisational culture theory to the understanding of social work practice. This model of business attempts to understand the positive and negative development of an organisation, through conscious and unconscious processes, and how these elements assist or limit the people within the organisation. Applying the principles of organisational culture theory to an environment which is essentially client-focussed is not straightforward, but provides social care theorists with both a way to understand barriers and limitations within the system, and the way that the principles of the organisation is applied to service provision; it may also offer a key to implementing practice reforms and changing the structure of social service organisation from within. By interpreting the social care system through this business mo del, it is possible to avoid the limitations which hinder better practice within social work. As this essay is based upon the terminology of Organisational Culture Theory, it is necessary to begin with a brief introduction to the theory, highlighting its concerns, and considering how this term relates to current understanding of organisational models. After this explanation, the essay will then consider each of the most important terms within organisational culture theory, including leadership, communication, and motivation. These terms will then be used to describe the aspects of organisational culture as they affect the provision of services within social care. A conclusion will discuss the relevance of organisational culture theory to social work, finishing with the consideration of how this business model is being used to alter the way in which social services are practiced, and the values which are utilised by social care. Organisational culture, the â€Å"set of beliefs, values and meanings that are shared by members of an organization† (Austin and Claassen, 2008, 349), is most often understood to refer to the practices and behaviours of a business organization. The term â€Å"Organisational culture† is not easily defined, despite its frequent usage, and theorists have therefore tended to outline the term according to their own interests. Attempts to clarify the meaning of ‘organisational culture† began in 1954: â€Å"The culture of industrial groupsfrom class origins, occupational and technical sources, the atmosphere of the factory which forms their background and finally from the specific experiences of the small informal group† (J. Brown, quoted in Anderson-Wallace and Blantern, page 3). This term highlights the importance of social bonding in creation of an organisational culture, which serves to unite a company around a common world view. Andrew Brown is one of m any authors who have noted that the same organisation can have different organisational cultures in different countries, reflecting a difference in the social cultures of those companies: â€Å"These differences are most striking when they were detected in the subsidiary companies of the same multinational organisation, because they seemed to suggest that national cultural differences may help shape organisational design and behaviour at a local level† (Brown, 1995, page 2). Later, organisational culture would be more extensively defined by both Brown and Edgar Schein: these two works will be the basis of the remainder of this essay. It is important to note the essential elements of organisational culture theory: that this culture consists of social and localised beliefs about the operation of the business; these beliefs, or mythology, may bind a company together to the extent that it becomes isolated from outside ‘reality’: Brown uses the example of Philips Elec tronics: â€Å"Philips’ cultural inclination to define truth and reality according to its technological bias has led critics to charge that it is complacent, lethargic, inward-looking and risk adverse† (Brown, page 29). He also notes that critics considered the internal culture a definite factor in the economic failure of the business. Brown’s work is a general guide to organisational culture, and offers three main sources of culture within a business: â€Å"The societal or national culture within which an organisation is physically situated† – which might be one reason why multinationals operating in many countries often have a number of organisational cultures; â€Å"The vision, management style and personality of an organisation’s founder or other dominant leader† – leadership and the mythology of prominent leaders being an important influence on the culture of a business; and â€Å"the type of business an organisation conducts and the nature of its business environment† – one would not expect social care to develop the same organisational culture as a company such as Shell or Cadburys (two businesses mentioned by Brown). Schein’s work describes similar factors in a rather more abstract manner. He uses the terms ‘artifacts’, ‘expressed values’, and ‘basic assumptions’ to describe organisational culture. Schein sees artifacts as including all the tangible aspects of a culture – language, surroundings, technology and â€Å"The visible behavior of the group and the organizational processes into which such behavior is made routine† (Schein, 1992, page 17). These are the aspects most observable to outside researcher, although Schein notes that â€Å"It is especially dangerous to try to infer the deeper assumptions from artifacts alone because one’s interpretations will inevitably be projections of one’s own feelings and reactions† (Schein, page 18). Espoused values may help the researcher to better understand the culture; some of these values later become assumptions: â€Å"Only values that are susceptible to physical or soci al validation and that continue to work reliablywill become transferred into assumptions† (Schein, page 20). Consciously espoused values may provide a clue to the basic assumptions of a group; alternatively, they may not: â€Å"One must discriminate carefully between those that are congruent with underlying assumptions and those that are, in effect, either rationalizations or only aspirations† (Schein, page 21). Basic Assumptions are, in essence, what lies beneath; these assumptions are those held subconsciously by an organisation: â€Å"If a basic assumption is strongly held in a group, members will find behavior based on any other premise inconceivable[they] actually guide behaviortell group members how to perceive, think about, and feel about things† (Schein, page 22). With this understanding of basic organisational culture theory, it is now possible to consider in greater detail a number of subjects which are influenced by this culture: motivation, leadership, and communication. Motivation: Business theory is greatly concerned with the motivation of employees, and a strong organisational culture is considered essential to this. â€Å"Most organisations make strenuous attempts to motivate their employeesan appropriate and cohesive culture can offer employees a focus of identification and loyalty† (Brown, page 90). A positive organisational culture has a beneficial effect upon the motivation of the workforce, encouraging staff retention, high performance, and the intake of recent graduates; employees may also experience a better quality of life, or at least working life, avoiding stress-related illness. By contrast, a negative culture may result in loss of motivation, high staff turnaround, workers entering employment with fewer skills or qualifications, and low performance. Leadership: Leadership, particularly charismatic leaders and company founders, have a profound impact upon the organisational culture of a business. Founders, of course, by creating the business, â€Å"usually have a major impact on how the group initially defines and solves its external adaptation and internal integration problemsFounderstypically have strong assumptions about the nature of the world, the role that organizations play in that world, the nature of human nature and relationships [and] how truth is arrived at† (Schein, page 213). The creation of the company is usually the beginning of its organisational culture and basic assumptions; and while the espoused values may change, the unconscious basic assumptions may extend back to the foundation of the business. Founders and later leaders are often charismatic, and their decisions may not be challenged directly: â€Å"The emerging culture will then reflect not only the leader’s assumptions but the complex int ernal accommodations created by subordinates† (Schein, 230). The charismatic leader’s personal style will also lead to the development of a mythology. These stories are vitally important in the maintenance of an organisational culture. Communication: The effective communication of ideas is essential in organisations, and often progress can be hampered through poor communication; Schein describes the development of production engineering: â€Å"Without it, engineering often designs things that cannot be built or are too expensiveEngineering is likely to perceive production as lazy and unimaginative, while production perceives engineering to be unrealistic† (Schein, 258). Organisational culture can affect communication, for example in hospitals, where â€Å"Most were discovered to suffer from a dearth of worthwhile formal communication channels† (Brown, 281). An organisational culture which avoids communicating new ideas will undoubtedly make profound mistakes and fail to co-operate. It is possible to see these aspects in the influence of organisational culture upon social care, and particularly how the provision of care is directly affected by leadership, communication, and motivational ideas. As Anderson-Wallace and Blantern explain, the perception of the recipient of care has a basic assumption (unchallenged), as its base: â€Å"One cultural artefact is an emphasis on an assessment of the individual client within their wider social environment. This is underpinned by the espoused value of the importance of a dialogue between practitioner and client. The underlying assumption is of the independent nature of the client in active negotiation with the practitioner.† (Anderson-Wallace and Blantern, page 8.) The basic assumption also reveals that the emphasis is upon the client, rather than upon the care worker. In such circumstances, it would not be surprising to see care workers being de-motivated; active participation is limited to the client, lessening th e need for effective communication, and also the possibility of blaming the client for errors; against this latter lays the practice of holding social services responsible for all errors in service provision. Motivation is a major problem in social service, revealed through high turnover, poor quality of working life, and work-related illnesses such as stress: â€Å"stress is more common amongst social workers than either the general population or health care workers, due to the sensitivity and responsiveness to the difficult problems presented by clients which their work requires† (Ramon and Morris, 2004, page 7). As noted above, lack of motivation provision within organisational culture not only results in all the complications described here, but is also connected to low job performance. Here, the organisational culture influences service provision in a negative manner, by creating a culture of de-motivation, where the care worker feels impotent: â€Å"The statements indicate the relationships between experiencing stress, level of control, autonomy and flexibility within their job or role† (Ramon and Morris, page 8). There are also conflicting social cultures within the w ider environment which contribute to this absence of motivation: the western world generally emphasises self-help and chastises those who are dependent upon government assistance: â€Å"A further layer was poor morale, associated with an inquiry on child protection (a feature shared with a number of similar departments), and the experience of a culture which tended to view stress as reflecting individual weakness† (Ramon and Morris, 7, but also visible in the wider media). There is in fact very little evidence for leadership as part of organisational culture within the social services, although some research has suggested that leadership culture within social care may be negative: â€Å"This vindication of the pessimistic view of the team leaders group highlights the defensiveness of some senior managers of social services departments who view constructive criticism as an affront† (Ramon and Morris, 19). The account of leadership culture within the social care department suggests an organisation that emphasises leadership above productivity and worker satisfaction – other parts of the essay note staff complaining about impolite and inconsiderate leadership styles. Despite an espoused value of worker importance, the basic assumption appears to be that leadership is most valued, and criticism by lower staff members is not acceptable. Poor communication culture lies at the heart of social care training. Ramon and Morris note â€Å"Improved communication between management and staff† as one of the goals of their research (Ramon and Morris, page 10), suggesting at the very least that the organisation culture of the social services is one of negligence towards communications, other sections of their essay suggest that communication is exceedingly poor â€Å"Poor communication and consultation within the organisational culture was identified as the major cause for stress,. As noted above, this can seriously affect performance, in this instance service provision† (Ramon and Morris, 19). In the following example, the necessary NVQ was preceded by a questionnaire upon the values of the workers involved; these reveal quite different values from those of the NVQ modules – an emphasis upon personal quality of life offered by the workers is altered to education on health care and understanding of residen t’s social issues. â€Å"Almost without exception, role development was identified as impor ­tant; most viewed this to be within the care sector at a higher grade or entering nurse training. Significantly, male staff perceived their role pro ­gression to be to that of care home manager or owner† (Winter and Meehan, 2004, page 6) While most of the workers described personal lives as more important or as important as work, and valued honesty and equal opportunities for staff, instead, emphasis was placed upon NVQs with modules such as â€Å"Fostering people’s equality, diversity and rights†, where the focus was upon the residents’ needs rather than staff equality. Training within the NVQ did not cater for male staff’s ambitions, or for personal quality of life. Here we can see Social Care with a series Espoused Values (care and motivation of staff; better staff retention; valuing employees) which contradict the actions of the area, with it s emphasis upon residential equality and the gaining of IT skills, suggesting that the Basic Assumptions do not match – the basic assumptions might be â€Å"care of the residents is more important than staff satisfaction† and â€Å"IT training will improve motivation and help retention†, or even â€Å"training will improve the care given†. It is worth noting that, while 92% of staff thought the NVQ training would improve motivation, only 50% thought it would improve staff retention – one of the stated aims of the training. Emphasis upon training therefore appears to bear little correlation to workers’ performance; it also does not appear to have improved the motivation or turnover of care staff. The purpose of this essay has been to consider how organisational culture influences the provision of services within social care. One thing that has become clear from this research is that the organisational culture of social services relies heavily upon charismatic leadership to develop the stated values of the department. However, the culture also places limitations upon staff criticisms of leaders, meaning that desirable change may be limited or even prevented: for instance, Michelle Johnson and Michael Austin have suggested that the organization culture of local social services contained barriers to the creation of evidence-based practice, including the fact that there was â€Å"Little history, culture or expectation that evidence is routinely and systematically used to underpin practice† (Austin and Johnson, 87). This problem is undoubtedly one of leadership culture preventing better evidence-based practice from being developed. A secondary problem is that of communicati ons – as Ramon and Morris noted, official communication was resented, being seen as an imposition from above (page 19), and there was limited value placed within the culture for cross-company consultation. These details may seem to relate only to staff members, but clearly they have a role in the outcome of service provision to clients or residents. The lack of motivation experienced by staff members, including stress and feelings of impotence, impact the service they offer to clients, particularly when the unconscious assumption is that these clients are both ‘independent’ of the care provider, and under the control of that same provider. Leadership issues prevent the adequate solving of problems – the basic assumptions of the group meaning that challenges to senior management are dismissed, or regarded as an affront to the leadership. This assumption has prevented the adoption of beneficial policies within the workplace, and has probably limited schemes which would also have aided service provision. Communication between departments within the social services has been justly criticised in the past, and it is clear that a problematic relationship with senior manage ment is also indicative of problems in communication, data being rejected by staff members if it appears to come from management. All of these actions reveal the unconscious assumptions of social workers, both towards colleagues and towards their clients. The application of organisational culture theory to social care offers an opportunity to better understand the role that basic assumptions and values take in the provision of services to clients. Attempts to create a more evidence-based practice have emphasised the importance of a corresponding change in the culture of social work, offering an alternative to the problematic assumptions which can be found in the current organisation’s culture and practice. Works Cited Anderson-Wallace, Murray, and Chris Blantern (2005) â€Å"Working with Culture† in Organisational Development in Healthcare Peck, Edward (ed) Radcliffe Publishing, 2005. Austin, Michael J, and Jennette Claassen (2008) â€Å"Impact of organizational culture: implications for introducing evidence-based practice† Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work Volume 5 no 1-2 (2008) pp. 321-359 Austin, Michael J, and Michelle Johnson (2006) â€Å"Evidence-based practice in the Social Services: Implications for Organizational Change† Administration in Social Work Volume 30, no 3 (2006) pp 75-104 Brown, Andrew (1998) Organisational Culture Essex, Pearson Education Ltd Schein, Edgar H (1992) Organisational Culture and Leadership San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers. Ramon, Shulamit and Lana Morris (2004) â€Å"Responding to perceived stress in a social services department: applying a participative strategy† retrieved 13/09/2008 from http://www.britsoc.co.uk/user_doc/Morris.pdf Winter, Jane, and Lyn Meehan (2004) â€Å"The value of integrated workforce planning across the local health and social care economy: a case study† Clinical Governance Bulletin Volume 5, no. 2 Jul 2004 pp 6-8