Hostile Environment Essay Example

Hostile Environment Essay Hostile Environment Harassment occurs when unwanted sexual conduct interferes with a persons work. This interference doesnt necessarily have to be of a material nature which can be valued in monetary terms but it can be anything which makes the work environment intimidating. Hostile Environment Harassment is also often associated with verbal misconduct which embarrasses or humiliates a victim, which in turn could lead to lower job satisfaction and performance. (Barry Shaw, 1998) Quid-Pro-Quo Harassment is when a person uses his authority in the workplace to seek sexual favors from other employees. In this case rewards and punishments are associated with the compliance the victim (Barry Shaw, 1998). This again leads to a very negative outlook towards job motivation because here the way to the top is not portrayed to be hard work but rather the sexual favors one can do for their supervisors or managers. Besides lower job satisfaction and reduced productivity, sexual harassment hampers the target mentally as well. They lose their self-esteem and blame themselves for what has happened to them (Ackroyd Thompson, 1994). In Pakistan, considering the patriarchal social structure where most companies do not even have policies regarding sexual harassment and some which do, are not implemented or observed properly, women do not even come forward with their problems. They feel shame for what has happened, and might fear seclusion from the society which blames the woman for what has happened and ostracizes her. We will write a custom essay sample on Hostile Environment specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Hostile Environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Hostile Environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer There is always the matter of honor which is one of the leading causes for suicide in Pakistan. The biggest problem in our society is that we dont accept the fact that sexual harassment exists. Pakistani society, being an Islamic society should be more concerned about this because of the rights and the status Islam gives to women. In Islam women and men are given similar rights and duties. Women are allowed to own property, earn money and to express their opinion. What our society needs is for companies to have strict policies regarding sexual harassment. Sexual harassment should be clearly defined and the ways to proceed with a complaint should also be outlined. Most importantly the policy should also respect the privacy of the victim so that people dont have too much trouble coming forward with their complaints. Mentorship in organizations A mentor is an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives a junior person special attention, such as giving advice and creating opportunities to assist him or her during the early stages of his or her career (Johns Saks, 1996). From an organizations point of view mentoring makes sure that the company culture and beliefs are transferred from one generation of employees to the next. It provides new employees with the information he needs to know so as to excel within the organization and in the process be an important asset to the company. At the same time she/he learns how to deal with his superiors, peers, etc (Vinnicombe Colwill, 1995). Proper mentorship has been linked to lowered levels of job stress (Johns Saks, 1996). Once again this poses a problem for women because most of the senior people in the organization are men. The problem arises as most of the male mentors are inexperienced when it comes to dealing with women. The problems they faced as they moved up through the organizations hierarchy might be quite different from the ones a woman would face thus the mentors would not be able to provide much help. When mentors undertake an apprentice under their mentorship its usually because they can reflect back to the time they had started work in this organization and they see their own past in the new young employee. So if the new employee is a woman, it is difficult for the mentors to identify themselves with the new employee. (Vinnicombe Colwill, 1995) Besides this whenever there is a lot of interaction between a senior man and a young new female employee people start perceiving their relationship as having a sexual nature (Johns Saks, 1996). This hinders the development of a productive working relationship which could benefit the organization and at the same time provide promotion opportunities for the woman worker. Another problem which is quite prevalent in our society is the father-daughter relationship. Females are always considered as Daddys little girl (Vinnicombe Colwill, 1995). They are always pampered and not made independent as is the case with males. This problem creeps up into organizations as well when senior male mentors consider their young female apprentices as their daughters and continue to pamper them and not really make them independent enough to handle the work without the presence of the mentor himself. It is often heard that behind the success of every man, there is a woman. This belief has led to an inherent bias in peoples mind which makes them think that theres a hard working man with a woman assisting him. This is labeled as the the assistant-to effect (Vinnicombe Colwill, 1995). Here if there is a male mentor and a female apprentice, the roles are often seen shifting from a mentor-apprentice relationship to a worker-helper relationship where the apprentice does learn the work, but once again not well enough to take over the work of the mentor when hes no longer there. According to a study it has been proved that mentoring plays a major role in career development of men and women both. Studies have shown that 61% women who have made it to top management positions have had a mentor somewhere along their career path and out of these 99% admit that their mentor played an important role in their progress through the organizational hierarchy. (Johns Saks, 1996) Conclusion Although the participation rate of women in the labor force has increased over the years. Being only 43% in 1970 and rising to 61% in 2003 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fig. 2). The working conditions or the workplace still has to undergo some major changes before they are completely free of gender biased thinking. For the women to be on the same level as men in the workplace they will have to move on from the expressive roles that the functionalists argue as an important function of the society. According to Marx and the conflict perspective, it is the constant struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeois, in this case between the women and the men accordingly, which will lead to the necessary reforms being made in the workplace.

How to Edit a Book The Ultimate Free 21-Part Checklist

How to Edit a Book The Ultimate Free 21-Part Checklist How to Edit a Book: Your Ultimate 21-Part Checklist So you want to get published? If you want people to actually read what you’ve written, you must master the art of ferociously self-editing your book. These days, anyone can get anything printed. It doesn’t even have to be good. If you have the money, you can find someone who  will print whatever you submit, as is. That’s not necessarily underhanded. Almost any independent publisher would be happy to offer all the services you’re willing to pay for to make your manuscript as publishable as possible. But you’re the boss. So if you want them to print your unedited book in the exact form you give it to them, they’ll say, â€Å"As you wish. And if they wont, you can easily find someone who will. On the Other Hand Ideally, you’d rather be discovered by a traditional publisher who takes all the risks and pays you an advance against royalties and then royalties on your sales. But the odds of landing a traditional publishing contract are slim. So you must separate yourself from the competition by ensuring your manuscript is the absolute best it can be. Yes, a traditional publisher will have its own editors and proofreaders. But to get that far, your manuscript has to be better than a thousand other submissions. And if you’re self-publishing, the only way to stand out against even more competition is by ferociously editing your own book until its as crisp and clean as possible. There’s little worse than an independently published book that looks like one. So, You Must  Learn How to Edit a Book Whether you’re going to hire an editor, or be assigned one by a traditional publisher, your responsibility is to get your book manuscript to the highest level it can be before you pass it on. Never settle for, â€Å"That’s the best I can do; now fix it for me.† Why? Because sadly, if you attempt the traditional publishing route, could pour your whole life into a manuscript and get just five minutes of an editor’s time before your book is rejected. Sounds unfair, doesn’t it? But as one who has been on both sides of the desk for more than four decades, let me tell you there are reasons for it: Why Publishers Reject Your Manuscript After Reading Just Two Pages Editors can tell within a page or two how much editing would be required to make a manuscript publishable; if it would take a lot of work in every sentence, the labor cost alone would disqualify it. An editor can tell immediately whether a writer understands what it means to grab a reader by the throat and not let go. Have too many characters been introduced too quickly? Does the writer understand point of view? Is the setting and tone interesting? Do we have a sense of where the story is headed, or is there too much throat clearing? (See below for an explanation.) Is the story subtle and evocative, or is it on-the-nose? Yes, a professional editor can determine all this with a quick read of the first two to three pages. If you find yourself saying, â€Å"But they didn’t even get to the good stuff,† then you need to put the good stuff earlier in your manuscript. So today, I want to zero in on tight writing and self-editing. Author Francine Prose says: For any writer, the ability to look at a sentence and see what’s superfluous, what can be altered, revised, expanded, or especially cut, is essential. It’s satisfying to see that sentence shrink, snap into place, and ultimately emerge in a more polished form: clear, economical, sharp. If you’re ready to learn how to edit a book, here’s what you need to do: The  Ultimate Checklist for Editing a  Book Want to keep these 21 self-editing tips handy next time youre writing?  Click here to download the checklist. 1. Develop a thick skin. Or at least to pretend to. It’s not easy. But we writers need to listen to our editors- even if that means listening to ourselves! 2. Avoid throat-clearing. This is a literary term for a story or chapter that finally begins after a page or two of scene setting and background. Get on with it. 3. Choose the normal word over the obtuse. When you’re tempted to show off your vocabulary or a fancy turn of phrase, think reader-first and keep your content king. Don’t intrude. Get out of the way of your message. 4. Omit needless words. A rule that follows its own advice. This should be the hallmark of every writer. 5. Avoid subtle redundancies. â€Å"She nodded her head in agreement.† Those last four words could be deleted. What else would she nod but her head? And when she nods, we need not be told she’s in agreement. â€Å"He clapped his hands.† What else would he clap? â€Å"She shrugged her shoulders.† What else? â€Å"He blinked his eyes.† Same question. â€Å"They heard the sound of a train whistle.† The sound of could be deleted. 6. Avoid the words up and down unless they’re really needed. He rigged [up] the device. She sat [down] on the couch. 7. Usually delete the word that. Use it only for clarity. 8. Give the reader credit. Once youve established something, you dont need to repeat it. Example: â€Å"They walked through the open door and sat down across from each other in chairs.† If they walked in and sat, we can assume the door was open, the direction was down, and- unless told otherwise- there were chairs. So you can write: â€Å"They walked in and sat across from each other.† And avoid quotation marks around words used in another context, as if the reader wouldnt â€Å"get it† otherwise. (Notice how subtly insulting that is.) 9. Avoid telling what’s not happening. â€Å"He didn’t respond.† â€Å"She didn’t say anything.† â€Å"The crowded room never got quiet.† If you don’t say these things happened, we’ll assume they didn’t. 10. Avoid being an adjectival maniac. Good writing is a thing of strong nouns and verbs, not adjectives. Use them sparingly. Novelist and editor Sol Stein says one plus one equals one-half (1+1=1/2), meaning the power of your words is diminished by not picking just the better one. â€Å"He proved a scrappy, active fighter,† is more powerful if you settle on the stronger of those two adjectives. Less is more. Which would you choose? 11. Avoid hedging verbs like smiled slightly, almost laughed, frowned a bit, etc. 12. Avoid the term literally- when you mean figuratively. â€Å"I literally died when I heard that.† R.I.P. â€Å"My eyes literally fell out of my head.† There’s a story I’d like to read. â€Å"I was literally climbing the walls.† You have a future in horror films. 13. Avoid too much stage direction. You dont  need to tell every action of every character in each scene, what they’re doing with each hand, etc. 14. Maintain a single Point of View (POV) for every scene. Failing to do so is one of the most common errors beginning writers make. Amateurs often defend themselves against this criticism by citing classics by famous authors who violated this. Times change. Readers’ tastes change. This is the rule for today, and it’s true of what sells. 15. Avoid clichà ©s. And not just words and phrases. There are also clichà ©d situations, like starting your story with the main character waking to an alarm clock; having a character describe herself while looking in a full-length mirror; having future love interests literally bump into each other upon first meeting, etc. 16. Resist the urge to explain (RUE). Marian was mad. She pounded the table. â€Å"George, you’re going to drive me crazy,† she said, angrily. â€Å"You can do it!† George encouraged said. 17. Show, don’t tell. If Marian pounds the table and chooses those words, we don’t need to be told she’s mad. If George says she can do it, we know he was encouraging. 18. Avoid mannerisms of attribution. People say things; they don’t wheeze, gasp, sigh, laugh, grunt, snort, reply, retort, exclaim, or declare them. John dropped onto the couch. â€Å"I’m beat.† Not: John was exhausted. He dropped onto the couch and exclaimed tiredly, â€Å"I’m beat.† â€Å"I hate you,† Jill said, narrowing her eyes. Not: â€Å"I hate you,† Jill blurted ferociously. Sometimes people whisper or shout or mumble, but let your choice of words imply whether they are grumbling, etc. If it’s important that they sigh or laugh, separate the action from the dialogue: Jim sighed. â€Å"I just can’t take any more,† he said. [Usually you can even drop the attribution he said if you have described his action first. We know who’s speaking.] 19. Specifics add the ring of truth. Yes, even to fiction. 20. Avoid similar character names. In fact, avoid even the same first initials. 21. Avoid mannerisms of punctuation, typestyles, and sizes. â€Å"He†¦was†¦DEAD!† doesn’t make a character any more dramatically expired than â€Å"He was dead.† Your Assignment Apply as many of these book editing hints as possible to the first page of your work-in-progress. Itll make a huge difference. I’ve added a downloadable self-editing checklist below to help you master these 21 tips. The more boxes you can check for your manuscript, the leaner, meaner, and more ready it will be for submission to a publisher. Click here  or below to download it free: What other questions do you have about how to edit a book? Ask me below.

My Christian Worldview Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

My Christian Worldview - Research Paper Example Although other belief systems may differ significantly from Christian Theism, it is worth looking at the Christian worldview of life, human beings, right and wrong, human history, cosmos, and death in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the Christian worldview. According to the Bible, the prime reality is the omnipresent and infinite God who watches over the world from the high heavens. God is not only infinite, but also he is also personal in the sense that he communicates with man through prayers and he is an omniscient God. As revealed in the Holy Scriptures, God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, meaning that he has control over the entire universe (Ekstrand, 2008). No other place can one learn about the triune God except by reading the Holy Scriptures because he reveals himself to humans through the Bible. Owing to His transcendent nature, God is sovereign over all matter and living things and he uses his power for the goof of all. In essence, the Goodness of God is means to save humankind from his sins that have been deeply rooted in man since the days of Adam. Christianity takes the belief that only one omnipotent God exists and Hi works closely with His Angels for the good of all human beings. It implies that God ranks hu mankind above all other living and non-living things within the cosmos (Edwards, 2010).   When it comes to the nature of external reality, Deism and naturalism agree to some extent with the Christian worldview that God created the cosmos. Perhaps the major differences surface among various theisms when one analyzes the motive of God in creating the open space. As for Christianity, God created the universe out of nothing, meaning that he created the cosmos ‘ex nihilo.’ In as much as other belief systems would like to disagree with the Christian perspective, there is a reason to believe in Christianity since such belief systems derive vast