Missionary Farewell Talk

If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d be standing here in front of you talking about going on a mission, I’d have laughed at you. Well, here I am. It has been a long and interesting journey in getting me here today, but, as a popular Kenny Chesney song professes â€Å"The laughs, the smiles, the trials, the tears, it’s hard to hate what got me here. † Well, I’m here and am very excited to move on to this next chapter in my life. I’d be a fool to think that the coming years, though filled with joy and enlightenment, won’t bring with them my fair share of hard times and adversity.I think the most frightening part of everything leading up to my mission lies in the fact that I’m not exactly sure when those hard times will present themselves, nor how they will present themselves. Joseph B. Wirthlin once compared life to running a marathon. At some point in the marathon of life, we will all â€Å"hit the wall,† which Elder Wirthlin defined as â€Å"feeling a sudden urge to quit, encountering an almost tangible barrier that requires a tremendous effort to overcome. Farewell to Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Japanese American, and James D. Houston. The harsh reality of life is that we will all hit at least one of these walls at some point in our lives. So what will each of us do when we stand at the base of our own personal walls? Will we rise to the occasion and break through? Or will we crumble in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds? What we do when we get to these proverbial walls is what will ultimately define us as people. Being one who enjoys the study of history, I have often looked to those who have come before me to find the strength I need to press on. I think about those who have been disowned by their own families because of personal beliefs, the pioneers that crossed the plains despite the harshest of conditions, those families who have ever sent a loved one overseas in support of the freedom we all hold so dear, and the horrible persecutions suffered by those early members of the church. After remembering them I think to myself, â€Å"Do I really have it all that bad? † In sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants, it highlights the revelations given to Joseph Smith as he was incarcerated at Liberty Jail. It was one of the coldest winters on record in Missouri and they weren’t given blankets sufficient enough to keep them warm. Their food was often dirty and unclean, sometimes even poisoned. Even Joseph himself spoke of the jail as a â€Å"hell surrounded by demons. † I doubt most of us here will ever have to endure something as extreme as those suffered by the Prophet Joseph and his companions during the winter of 1838-1839. The best example we should all look to when faced with trying times, however, is that of our Savior Jesus Christ. So great was his suffering that he bled from every pore in Gethsemane. Later, a crown of thorns was placed upon his head and he was severely scourged. So extreme were the events leading up to the actual crucifixion that he couldn’t even carry his own cross to Calgary, as was customary. In my studies, I’ve come across literature that discusses in detail the medical aspect associated with crucifixion. Crucifixion was arguably the cruelest form of punishment ever devised by man. To sum it all up, those who were crucified suffered through an unequivocal amount of pain. Where do you think the word excruciating comes from? So, I ask again, is it really that bad? The answer is NO. â€Å"The Son of Man hath descended below them all,† (D&C 122: 8) and nobody that has ever lived or ever will live has suffered as much as He did. No matter what this life throws at us, we can all find comfort in knowing that there is always someone who knows exactly how we feel, because Christ suffered for all of that so that we could one day stand before God and live with Him again. Some will always ask â€Å"Why me? † when troubling times come upon them. It is important to remember that just because trials and tribulations are heaped upon us, it doesn’t mean we have somehow strayed from the straight and narrow path. All of the prophets have faced some sort of persecution in their lives. Jesus Christ suffered more than any other being that has ever lived, even though he was the most worthy individual to have ever walked upon the face of this earth. All of the troubles are simply trials of our faith, and God will never, ever, put a trial before us that he knows we cannot overcome. He will always provide a way for us to rise above any trial or temptation that may come our way. A true test of our faith can only be measured if we use that faith during the times when things aren’t going according to plan. Back in Liberty Jail, the Lord tells Joseph that all of these trials are for our own benefit, saying â€Å"If thou art called to pass through tribulation†¦know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. † (D&C 122: 5, 7). In Jackson County, Missouri, the Lord tells Joseph that glory follows these trials, â€Å"For after much tribulation come the blessings†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (D&C 58: 3-4). Adversity exists in the world today to provide the much needed contrast that helps us to discern right from wrong, after all, â€Å"†¦it must be needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. † (2 Nephi 2: 11). If it weren’t for pain, we would feel no pleasure. If not for sadness, we could have no joy. We’ve all felt the great sense of accomplishment that accompanies the completion of a large project, even though these projects can be very stressful at times. If life weren’t hard from time to time, then the fruits of our labors would cease to be sweet. Elder Neal A. Maxwell once counseled that â€Å"Rather than passing through trials, we must allow trials to pass through us in ways that sanctify us. † It isn’t enough to merely experience trials, but we must go through them in such a way that we can learn from each individual experience so that we can grow closer to our Father in Heaven. I think it is most unfortunate when someone is going through an extended trial and the idea starts to creep into their mind that God no longer rests with them and has ceased to answer their prayers because He doesn’t love them anymore. We must always remember that God loves each of us unconditionally and will never abandon any of us. To reassure those who may have doubts, Jeffrey R. Holland provided these inspiring words, (Quote—Chariots of Fire). He will answer your prayers in His own due time. It truly pains Him to put each of us through our own trials, but we must remember that He doesn’t put us through them to punish us, He does it because He loves us and knows that this is the only way which we can grow to become like Him. When it is all said and done, God just wants us to be happy, for â€Å"†¦men are, that they might have joy. (2 Nephi 2: 25). President Monson once counseled that we must â€Å"†¦find joy in the journey†¦Ã¢â‚¬  of life. The Lord even counseled Joseph Smith of this as he was imprisoned in Liberty Jail, saying â€Å"Therefore†¦let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed. † (D&C 123: 17). Even during the darkest of times, the Lord still wants all of us to ultimately find happiness. The Lord promises everyone that if we will endure to the end, He will give us eternal life. A common misconception, though, is that enduring to the end means to simply â€Å"hang in there† when trials come our way. Elder Wirthlin sees it as being much more than that. Rather than simply suffering through life’s challenges, he sees it as a process in which we use these challenges to come unto Christ and become perfected in Him. If we remain faithful during our own dire circumstances and use them as learning experiences to become more Christ-like, God cannot deny you a spot with Him in the Celestial Kingdom.

Overview of eZediaMX Essay

The main objective of eZediaMX is to allow both Windows and Micorsoft users to author, edit and publish multimedia content with a UI that caters without discrimination to general and expert users. The development of the program is considered as another indication of the market’s demand of ease in migrating and publishing between platforms. The UI of eZediaMX tries to create a common ground for both Windows and Mac users by combining functions and commands and at the same time functioning as an independent interface between the two operating systems. The setup of the buttons and layout of the workspace borrows elements arbitrarily and at the same time, there is use of elements or functions unique to the eZediaMX either as means or resolving conflicts between sytems or to establish features unique to the program. Mersereau (2002) points out that eZediaMX do not require any significant technology literacy and is very flexible. However, Hanno (2003) implies that there should the need for familiarity in media production and interface distinctions between platforms available. Figure modeling for example can be done through time sequence or the use coding and macros. According to the company’s website, the objective is not to position eZediaMX as a substitute programs for franchise media programs but allow users the opportunity publish arbitrarily between operating systems. Thus, the focus is on the media produced rather than the process (eZedia, 2007). In the review done by Roy (2003), there may still be conflicts regarding language both of the media produced and the program itself because of macro and security issues, there has not been any significant issues raised by users.

Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination Essay

Most people have experienced prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination at some time in his or her life. There is no doubt social discrimination, prejudice, and hostility still create serious problems and challenges, even in today’s apparently more and more individualized and â€Å"enlightened† society. This paper will discuss prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination in the context of social psychology; what the consequences of stereotyping and discrimination are; and strategies to improve attitudes, judgments, and behaviors. Social psychologists recognize prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination â€Å"by focusing on whether they involve feelings (affect), cognition, or behaviors. † (Feenstra, 6. 1 Prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, para 1). Prejudice is a negative belief or feeling (attitude) about a particular group of individuals. Prejudices can be passed on from one generation to the next. Cognitive schemas can cause stereotyping and contribute to prejudice. Stereotypes are beliefs about individuals involving their membership in a particular group. These beliefs can be positive, negative, or unbiased. Stereotypes concerning gender, ethnicity, or profession is common in many societies. â€Å"Discrimination is negative behavior toward individuals or groups based on beliefs and feelings about those groups. A group you are a part of is called your ingroup. Ingroups might include gender, race, or city or state of residence, as well as groups you might intentionally join. A group you are not a part of is called your outgroup. † (Feenstra, 6. 1 Prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, para 1). Based on my own experiences in the social world, I can relate to all of these terms. The era in which I grew up ushered in the civil rights movement, anti-war protests, hippies, the Cuban missile crisis, and political and feminist activists. The world was a changing place; many times, we saw and heard prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination at its worst. Unfortunately, we are seeing the same types of prejudices, stereotyping, and discrimination going on today; especially since the â€Å"9-11† attacks and with the â€Å"Occupy or 99%† movement going on today. Social identities depend on the groups to which people belong. Any group a person belongs to is an ingroup, and those that they do not belong to are considered an outgroup. Social cognitive research suggests that outgroup discrimination and prejudice are a result of basic and functional cognitive processes such as categorization and stereotyping. â€Å"Our prejudice and stereotypes come not only from the way our systems process information but also from the world around us. Societal origins of prejudice involve the norms in the world around us, the competition that exists between groups, and the social inequalities that exist in the world. Ingroup favoritism leads to unequal treatment of those we have categorized as in the outgroup. And outgroup homogeneity bias blinds us to the differences within the outgroup. † (Feenstra, 6. 1 Social Cognitive origins of prejudice and stereotypes, para 2). â€Å"Immediate social contexts do shape individual responses to individual outgroup members. This exemplifies a social psychological analysis, that is, how actual, imagined, or implied other people influence and individual’s stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. † (Fiske, 2000, P. 303). Categories help us deal with large amounts of information. They make it possible for us to process more information and save cognitive energy, so we use categories copiously. â€Å"That might not be a problem if all we did was categorize people, but it turns out that along with quickly and easily developing categories, we use them to make later decisions (Tajfel, 1970). † (Feenstra, 2011, 6. 2 Categorization, para. 4). Competition for resources can also create prejudice. This competition could be economic interests, political or military advantage, or threats to the safety or status of the group. People can become angry if they feel that a rival group is taking resources or prestige from their ingroup; and anger is a strong motive for prejudice (Feenstra, 2011). â€Å"Social discrimination results from the generalization of ingroup attributes to the inclusive category, which then become criteria for judging the outgroup. Tolerance, on the other hand is conceptualized as either a lack of inclusion of both groups in a higher order category or as the representation of the inclusive category in such a way as to also include the other group and designate it as normative. † (Mummendey & Wenzel, 1999, P. 158). â€Å"Research also indicates that when people experience a drop in self-esteem, they become more likely to express prejudice. An unfortunate implication of this research is that for some people, prejudice represents a way of maintaining their self-esteem. At the same time, the link between prejudice and self-esteem suggests a hopeful message: it may be possible to reduce prejudice with something as simple as a boost in self-esteem. † (Plous, n. d. , P. 10). Stereotyping and discrimination can powerfully affect social perceptions and behavior. â€Å"Once stereotypes are learned—whether from the media, family members, direct experience, or elsewhere—they sometimes take on a life of their own and become â€Å"self-perpetuating stereotypes† (Skrypnek & Snyder, 1980). One way this can happen is by people experiencing a stereotype threat that lowers their performance. Stereotypes can also become self-perpetuating when stereotyped individuals are made to feel self-conscious or inadequate. † (Plous, n. d. , P. 19). Since all of us are part of a social group, we all have the possibility of having our performance disturbed by stereotype threat. â€Å"The roots of prejudice are many and varied. Some of the deepest and most intensively studied roots include personality factors such a right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, cognitive factors such as the human tendency to think categorically, motivational factors such as the need for self-esteem, and social factors such as uncharitable ingroup attributions for outgroup behavior. Research on these factors suggests that prejudiced attitudes are not limited to a few pathological or misguided individuals; instead, prejudice is an outgrowth of normal human functioning, and all people are susceptible to one extent or another. † (Plous, n. d. , P. 11). The most important question is, what can we do to improve attitudes, judgments, and behaviors in order to reduce prejudice and discrimination? â€Å"The contact hypothesis proposes that contact between members of groups that hold prejudice against one another may reduce prejudice. Contact can reduce prejudice when a number of conditions are satisfied. Common goals, called superordinate goals, are particularly helpful in bringing groups in conflict together. † (Feenstra, Ch. 6 Summary). Looking at the world today with all of the large bank and corporate bailouts, the state of our economy, continued protesting, and the discontent of the majority of the American people; I do believe that we are inadvertently creating self-fulfilling prophecies in our society. In Self-Fulfilling Prophecies, Michael Biggs states, â€Å"A theory of society could, in principle, prove self-fulfilling. Marxism predicts that capitalism is fated to end in revolution; if many people believe in the theory, then they could forment revolution (Biggs, 2009). † It seems that now would be a good time for everyone to learn and practice the Seven Pillars of Mindfulness (Kabat-Zin, 2010). People throughout the world live with prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, and the consequences of the resulting actions every day. There is no doubt social discrimination, prejudice, and hostility still create serious problems and challenges, even in today’s apparently more and more individualized and â€Å"enlightened† society. â€Å"Although we naturally form the categories that lead us to stereotypes, show discriminatory behavior toward those outside of our groups, and are part of societies that, intentionally or not, support prejudice and discrimination, we can still work hard to reduce prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination through our interactions with others. † (Feenstra, Ch. 6 Conclusion). References Biggs. M. (2009). Self-Fulfilling Prophecies. Retrieved from http://users. ox. ac. uk/~sfos0060/prophecies. pdf Feenstra, J. (2011). Introduction to social psychology. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Fiske, S. T. (2000). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination at the seam between the centuries: evolution, culture, mind, and brain. European Journal of Social Psychology (30), 299-322. Retrieved from http://www2. psych. ubc. ca/~schaller/Psyc591Readings/Fiske2000. pdf Kabat-Zinn, J. (2010). Mindful Attitudes. Retrieved from http://mindfulworkshops. com/? tag=non-judging. Mummendey A. & Wenzel, M. (1999). Social discrimination and tolerance of intergroup relations: Reactions to intergroup difference. Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, 158-174. Retrieved from http://dtserv2. compsy. uni-jena. de/ss2009/sozpsy_uj/86956663/content. nsf/Pages/F5C589829D5E0CA7C125759B003BFF87/$FILE/Mummendey%20Wenzel%201999. pdf Plous, S. (n. d. ). The psychology of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination: An overview. Wesleyan University. Retrieved from http://sscholar. google. co. uk/scholar? start=10&q=Prejudice, +stereotype,+discrimination+ingroup+vs. +outgroup&hl=en&as_sdt=0,3.

Public Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Public Management - Essay Example But in recent time, the emphasis on New Public Management/ Public sector management approaches has forced public organizations to pay closer attention to their services delivery as con summers have begun to expect and demand more for their tax dollars". In this instance, no consumer of public goods and services are content with grumbling about poorly- produced goods and services and the under-qualified, untrained employees who render these services to them. Hence, as societies become more critical and litigious, public service organizations must seek all possible avenues for improving their output and providing the satisfaction their clients require and deserve. This couple with the complex nature of governance in contemporary times, where government partakes in nearly every sector of the economy (statism) in service provision (though there is a reduction in this through the privatization policies of must governments), then there is the need to ensure that quality service is delivere d. Strategic management is usually associated with private organizations that operate in a competitive environment, but now it is a noticeable management technique adopted in the New Public Management, as a concept and practice, by public sector organizations. This essay tends to look at the advantages and disadvantages associated with the adoption of strategic management in public sector organizations. Also, the argument on the difference context of strategic management in the private and public sectors would be deliberated upon. CONCEPTUALIZATION OF TERM Strategic Management: strategic management involves a rational planning process directed towards achieving clearly defined coherent goals. According to Armitage (1992), strategic management is a continuous process that works to fit an organization into its changing environment. Strategic management is a broader concept than strategic planning. In the sense that strategic planning (or long- range planning) is traditionally regarded as a period process to develop long-range plans for the organization. On the other hand strategic management encompasses both strategic decisions making and strategic planning. Thus, strategic management focuses on any strategic decision that must be made, regardless of its time frame and the planning necessary to complement that decision. Strategic management is then conceive as "a continuous activity of setting and maintaining the strategic direction of the organization and its business, and making decisions on a day- to day basis to deal with changing ci rcumstances and the challenges of the business results; it is all about people, leadership, technology and processes. Effective combination of these elements will help with strategic direction and successful service delivery (OGC, 2005). New Public Management: the concept of new public management differs from

MBA - Corporate Finance - Capital Budgeting - 6 question Essay

MBA - Corporate Finance - Capital Budgeting - 6 question - Essay Example c. Mutual exclusivity requires a business organization to choose only one project. Consistent with the goal of every company to maximize its wealth, the project with the higher NPV is chosen regardless of the investment cost. Thus, project B is chosen over project A even though its IRR and MIRR is lower. Since the lowest even life cycle of the projects under consideration is 12, the Equivalent Annual Annuity is utilized in order to make the best decision. Thus, the present values of cash flows within the first three years of each project are computed. Afterwards, these are divided by the PVIFA of the projects. For project A, this means dividing it with the PVIFA within 3 years at 8% while for project B a life of 4 years and 8% discount rate is utilized. At the end, the four year alternative is chosen because it has a higher NPV of ($63,100.92). a. Any investment should still be evaluated regardless of the fact that the investment is higher than the cash inflow. It should be noted that the profitability of an investment is not solely based on whether the investment exceeds the cash inflow because of the time value of money. Evaluation of the project using different required rates of return also reveals that NPVs can be positive or negative depending on the discount rate. b. For this project, there are two computed IRRs which is due to the fact that there is a change in the sign of cash flow for the project’s life span. For the first year, there is an outflow (negative cash flow) while in the second year cash flow is positive. During the end of its life, the project again has a negative cash flow. Since, the sign changes twice, two IRRs are expected. As computed by Excel, these IRRs are 10.09% and 20.81% indicating that NPVs are zero in these discount rates. c. Figure 1 in the Appendix shows the computed NPVs at discount rates of 5% (NPV=-$730.16) , 15% (NPV=$215.50), 18% (NPV=$159.44) and 25%

Studio Photography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Studio Photography - Research Paper Example This paper analyzes the steps or processes, which should be followed by photographers, in order to produce quality images that satisfy their clients’ desires. The process described in this article is consistent with Ray Parslow’s design process. Ray Parslow and his team design logos for companies, including other graphic works for companies and individual clients. Parslow suggests that, proper communication and understanding of the clients, is the most crucial step in studio photography (Galer 128). This always gives the photographers confidences for designing a process that will result in incredible results. The customers’ desires should not be satisfied only at the end of the design process, but it should be long-lived even after the creative process is terminated. The photographers should be capable of providing their clients with a variety of solutions, which are researched, to aid understanding of how the design process will be decided and executed to completion. After selecting a design process, the clients should constantly be involved in the process, so as to address any change that need to be made in the design process. This will give both the photographer and the client an opportunity to solve issues that were not taken into consideration at the onset of the process (Galer 128). Photographers must always ensure the final prod ucts delivered to their clients satisfy their needs, and reflects the level of their professionalism in this industry. This will also create a long term relationship between the artist and the client. The timing and service fee of the project should be agreed upon at the onset of the design process. This helps in determining the time and costs required to perform activities such as photography, editing, printing and writing. Other photographers such as Jacob of butterfield photography also agree with Parslow that the service fee and

Creating a good system to report medical errors Thesis

Creating a good system to report medical errors - Thesis Example The best solution of the problem is to have comprehensive approach for different aspects of reporting of medical errors and related adverse episodes. The culture of reporting medical errors should be inculcated at all levels including hospitals, clinics, outpatient surgery centers, nursing homes, pharmacies and patients’ home. All the issues associated with reporting should be sorted out. The reporting of medical mistakes can provide invaluable advice to improve medical systems. Building a robust database error reporting system is the step towards delivering quality healthcare. Medical error reporting system should involve both adverse events and close calls nationwide. This will held healthcare providers responsible for any mishap leading to serious injury or even death of the patient. The reporting is automatically going to reduce negligent healthcare errors. This ultimately is going to reflect healthcare system to reach at the highest standard. NYPORTS system of New York de livers information to the state and hospital by identifying, analyzing medical errors and recommends strategies to ameliorate them. IOM has reported that the analysis of errors is very informative. The analysis of deadly mishaps which land up patients to bear life time fatal disabilities might be able to figure out the patterns of system flop. IOM recommends two types of reporting systems: voluntary reporting system and mandatory reporting system. These systems will able to identify potential precursors to errors and it will eventually focus on identifying threats to safety of the patient. The data of the error records should be kept confidential to protect privacy of very individual involved in dealing with particular treatment from patient to healthcare providers. Healthcare providers should be encouraged by their organizations to report committed or observed medical errors during the course of the service to patients. Learning from the mistakes is the

Langston Hughes' Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Langston Hughes' Poem - Essay Example In "Rivers, " Hughes claimed this legacy-vocabulary of place encompassing "downriver, " the term for all the dreaded places in the lower South to which slaves were sold off, "the riverside, " one of the relative safe havens and sites of resistance within the domain of the plantation itself, and "over Jordan, " the beckoning frontier of freedom visible from inside the bounds of enslavement and exile as it was elaborated and interpreted in the nineteenth century in the traditional Negro spirituals and in such classic fugitive slave narratives as Frederick Douglass's and Harriet Jacobs's as sites of meditation, rebellion, and recuperation. (R. Baxter Miller, 2005). By placing that inherited vocabulary of place within a wider geographic perspective, however, Hughes proposed a reconstituted imagery of place for the twentieth century, one associated with a progression across continents in a historic and prophetic language of belonging and entitlement, beyond enslavement.

Rational choice theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rational choice theory - Essay Example Specifically, rational choice theory also claims that the decision maker knows all the potential alternatives and that s/he makes a decision after evaluating them all (Heath 2001). Decision-making process in organizations can be distinguished as automatic— regular decisions made in accordance to established guiding principles—or non-programmed—choices necessitating new and innovative solutions (White 2006). Furthermore, decisions vary with regard to the level of risk present, ranging from those wherein the results of a decision are fairly definite to those wherein results are considerably indefinite. Indefinite circumstances are communicates as probability statements derived from either subjective or objective facts (Heath 2001). Rational choice theory portrays decision makers as systematically rummaging around appropriate and relevant information to make the best possible decision. This essay will discuss the premises of rational choice theory, its implications on managerial decision making, and the validity of the argument that ‘individuals are rational and normally act as maximizing entrepreneurs’. Rationality is revered in the Western world. A rational choice is one that arises in structured procedures and maximizes a value, regardless if it is marketability, controllability, reliability, efficiency, integrity, or any of numerous other values (Goodin 1998). Observance of any value requires upholding one alternative over another. According to rational choice theory there are major steps to making a rational decision (Allingham 2002). The endeavor is as crucial as the ultimate decision, due to the fact that each step affords an opportunity to re-evaluate the minimized and maximized values (Allingham 2002). The first step is problem definition. This entails identifying key variables under consideration and analyzing the

Estimating the Damping in a Single Degree of Freedom System Lab Report

Estimating the Damping in a Single Degree of Freedom System - Lab Report Example The movements include free response and forced response. Free response is made as a result of initial conditions while forced response is made as a result of outgoing input to the system. Free response in this context consists of oscillations at a particular frequency which is natural. When there is no dumping in the situation, the oscillation continues in the system indefinitely. When there is dumping, the 1 Degree of Freedom undergoes decaying oscillations. Forced response in 1 Degree of Freedom consists of vibrations that occur at a frequency which is majorly dictated by the input of force. Force response increases when there is also an increase in input. When there occur an initial transient portion of response, the steady state response contains an oscillation which is at the same frequency as the input. The amplitude and phase in this situation depend on the frequency of input. The main requirements in the experiment include an oscilloscope, a potentiometer, a variable dumping unit, a digital weighing scale, a helical spring and signal amplifier, Experiment can be carried out for a free a free vibration and forced vibration. For this laboratory, a mechanical strip-chart recorder is to be used to capture the free vibration motion of a simple single-degree-of-freedom system. The strip-chart recorder consists of a marking pen a fixed to amass carriage, which is movable in the vertical direction, and a continuous strip of paper which, when driven by a rotating drum, moves in a horizontal direction past the pen. A drawing of the single-degree-of-freedom system, with the strip-chart record The forced vibration will be provided by a shaker, which is driven by a sine wave function generator. The system is attached to the shaker plate and then forced into motion. The motion is sensed using two accelerometers, one attached to the base and one attached to the upper portion of the system.

Time Management Essay Example for Free

Time Management Essay INTRODUCTION This chapter will begin with a de? nition of time management, and will then discuss common time management problems, and invite you to identify your own issues. It then moves on to examine possible solutions and the guiding principles of time management. To check your understanding there will be a number of scenarios and exercises to practise time management skills, followed by a personal contract aimed at improving your own approach to time management. WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT? Time management involves making the best use of time, and getting more done in the time available. It means not wasting time on irrelevant things, instead focusing on important parts of the job. Ultimately this means working calmly and effectively, avoiding the panic and anxiety of the last-minute rush. In the western world, time is treated as a valuable resource which people spend. Most managers claim that they do not have enough time. Often this is blamed on the organisation and colleagues for making too many demands. However, we all have at least some control over how we spend our time. We can and do make choices. Recognising this is the ? rst step on the path to effective time management. DEFINITION OF TIME MANAGEMENT. Time management means taking more control over how we spend our time and making sensible decisions about the way we use it. 29 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness If good time management is about taking control, it involves ? nding those areas where you do have control, and also ? nding those where you think you don’t, but really you do. For example you may have far too many things to do and this makes you feel helpless, but maybe you have the option of renegotiating some parts of your work, or even delegating some activities. There may still be some areas where you don’t have control – for example if a key part of the job is to be available at a certain time to provide advice to others, you cannot just decide to be absent. Or you may have a coursework assignment to submit – some deadlines are not renegotiable. In these areas it is more sensible not to waste time railing against these commitments; instead concentrate on ? nding those areas you do have the power to change, and make the changes that will help you to become more effective. Exercises 2. 1 and 2. 2 should start to help you identify those problem areas and areas where you would like to make changes. PREPARATION FOR CHANGE Before reading further in this chapter it is helpful for you to have an idea of how effective you are as a time manager. Re? ecting on your own time bandits and traps will make this chapter more useful and relevant to you. Begin by brainstorming three barriers that you think prevent you from being effective at work, or at study, as indicated in Exercise 2. 1. Now go on to Exercise 2. 2 and rate your effectiveness using the list provided. This list has been developed by distilling some of the common problems that have been identi?ed by several hundred staff and students in workshops held over the last ? ve years at Imperial College. Further exercises and selfevaluation checks are provided on the website. The accuracy of this tool depends on you being honest with yourself, so make sure you rate yourself according to how you actually behave, not how you would like to be. Once you have done Exercise 2. 2 you can return to Exercise 2. 1 and see if the barriers you ? rst identi? ed relate to those issues you have rated 3 in Exercise 2. 2, and if necessary add to, or amend, your answers to Exercise 2. 1. EXERCISE 2. 1 BARRIERS TO BEING EFFECTIVE What are the three main barriers you have that prevent you being effective? 30 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Time management EXERCISE 2. 2 PROBLEMS DIAGNOSING YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT Note: assess your behaviour as it is not as you would like it to be Go through the list of time management problems below and rate each one with relation to its frequency as a problem for you and also its severity using the following ratings: 0 this problem does not relate to me 1 this problem partly relates to me, relates some of the time 2 this is a regular problem for me 3 this is a major problem for me, it severely hampers my effectiveness A. Prioritisation and scheduling 1. I am not sure what tasks I have to do each day, I don’t make a to-do list. 2. When I have ? nished one job I just go on to the next without checking on my priorities. 3. I don’t work out which tasks have the biggest gain for me. 4. I have dif? culty in setting priorities. 5. I have dif? culty in keeping to priorities or a schedule I have set. 6. I am a perfectionist and even if I have several tasks to do I allow myself to spend ages on one task to get it right, which can cause problems in completing my work. 7. I often do trivial tasks at my high-energy time of day. 8. I don’t stop to think when my best time of day is for working. B. Persistence, procrastination and focus 9. I ? it from task to task, starting a lot of things but not always ? nishing them. 10. I feel very intimidated by large important tasks, and don’t break them down into smaller ones. 11. I put off dif? cult tasks until the last possible moment. 12. I procrastinate, prevaricate and can’t decide what to do, nor make decisions. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 31 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www.cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness 13. I put thing off until the last minute and then I have to work in a rush and panic. 14. I allow myself to be interrupted from my work, for example by the phone, talking to others, distractions, new e-mails coming in. 15. I spend ages on the telephone, sur? ng the net, or answering e-mails. 16. Once I get started, I cannot stop a task, even if it is taking far too much time and there are other pressing things to do. 17. I don’t have any protected time in the day when I can get on with my priorities. C. Role de? nition 18. I am not sure what my key objectives are. 19. I am unclear of my role de? nitions and lines of responsibility. 20. I’m not sure how long certain tasks take so ? nd it hard to allocate the appropriate time to them. 21. I try and do everything myself, and do not consider whether it would be better to delegate tasks, or ask for more help and support. D. Work environment and organisation 22. My workspace is a mess, I can never ? nd anything at work, and papers pile up around me without being ? led. 23. I don’t know what to do with paper – I just leave it hanging around. 24. I don’t have anywhere where I can work uninterrupted. 25. My work environment is noisy and distracting, and I don’t ? nd ways to deal with this. 26. If I ? nd myself with free time in the day, for example when commuting, waiting for an appointment, I don’t have things with me to do. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 32 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Time management E. Study skills 27. I take ages to read anything, and ? nd it hard to remember what I have read. 28. I’m not sure how to go about academic or work related reading. F. Assertiveness 29. I ? nd it very hard to say ‘no’ to other people. 30. I feel guilty if I am getting on with my own agenda and not focusing on helping others. 31. I spend most of my time doing things for other people, and hardly any time getting on with my own agenda. G. Anxiety, stress and emotion 32. I worry a lot and regularly suffer from work related anxiety and stress. 33. I don’t feel very con? dent so I often worry that I’m not doing well or going about my work in the right way. 34. I never have fun at work, I don’t enjoy my work. 35. I get very bored at work and this slows me down or allows me to get sidetracked. 36. I ? nd it hard to concentrate. H. Life balance 37. I don’t have time for exercise, health, leisure, family, I just work all the time. 38. I get very tired and exhausted at work. Scoring 0–38 Averaging 0s and 1s You are an excellent time manager 39–76 Averaging 1s and 2s You have some areas to work on but overall you are an effective time manager 77–114 Averaging 2s and 3s You have a big problem with time management and need to take action now to get yourself more in control of your time (but don’t worry – that is what this chapter aims to do) 33 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3. 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 Personal Effectiveness Below are some common examples of time management problems. EXAMPLE 2. 1 PROBLEMS EXAMPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT Work -related ‘I work on a project to implement IT in my organisation, but I report to two bosses, the head of the IT Department, and the Project Leader – their demands of me are diverse and sometimes con? icting and very confusing, as a result I get in a mess. ’ ‘I work in an open-plan of? ce. I constantly get distracted by people talking on the phone, chatting across desks, stopping to talk to me. I just cannot concentrate on my work, and I end up frittering my time on super? cial tasks whilst at work, and then working well into the night at home to catch up with the tougher parts of my work. ’ ‘I am a design engineer and each part of the work I do seems to take at least three times longer than we estimate it will take, meaning that I spend a lot of time explaining why the work is late and reorganising schedules and activities. This impacts negatively on people further down the development process. ’ ‘I set myself priorities but because I also work as a support service for other people in the organisation, I get inundated by e-mails and requests from others. I spend all my time meeting other people’s demands and my priorities go out of the window! ’ ‘Last year I spent ages developing a balanced scorecard system for the organisation to performance manage the managerial team, then a new director was appointed and he pulled the plug on months of work and asked me to set up a totally different scheme. It seems like much of my work is a waste of time. Study -related ‘I am engaged in a part-time professional development programme ‘Into Leadership’ where I am attending day release modules, writing coursework assignments both individually and with a group, and am trying to juggle this in between a busy work schedule in my role in the Laboratories of a Government Department. I feel so panicked with all I have to do I end up feeling paralysed. ‘I don’t seem to be able to get going early enough on my distance learning course assignments and so I often end up staying up into the early hours to get it in the following morning. The work is rushed and mediocre as a result, and I am then tired for days after. ’ ‘I have young children and I ? nd it impossible to get on with my studying at home. As a result I feel incompetent when it comes to discussing case studies in course discussion because I haven’t the faintest idea what they are about as I haven’t read them in advance. WHERE DOES ALL MY TIME GO? – THE TIME BANDITS AND TRAPS A time bandit is a work practice, attitude or behaviour that leads to ineffective working practices or your time getting stolen or expropriated away from your core priorities and frittered on less important activities. 34 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co.uk/bookstore. Time management Epicurus and the pleasure principle Think about your own time management bandits and traps, do you see any patterns? One common pattern is to put the fun, exciting, interesting, easy things ? rst, and put off doing the boring, dull, dif? cult tasks until later. It is a kind of pleasure principle – going for the short-term gains, surrendering to wants and desires as they arise – immediately. Epicurus, the philosopher who is attributed with setting up the foundations for a pleasure principle, believed in following desires. However, he is often mistakenly thought to have been a slave to avarice and pleasure, indulging himself in whatever desire arose at a given moment. This is not actually true. Epicurus followed a simple life, one of healthy food, friendship and good company, freedom and thought, not an undisciplined response to every whim and fancy. In relation to your own work or study, following the Epicurian principle will lead you to doing things you enjoy instead of focusing on your priorities. It is a mistake to think that taking the easy route will improve things in the long run. In reality, giving in to the pleasure principle in the short term results in a mess later on, because over time what happens is the accumulation of a whole mountain of tasks that have been ignored. This can lead to misery, anxiety and depression. A lot of thought and planning went into Epicurus’s way of life, and creating time for a balanced, enjoyable life takes planning and selfdiscipline. The last-minute rush and adrenaline junky Some people like to live fast and furiously, and so working in a calm systematic way can seem very boring. Waiting for a burst of energy, or the adrenaline rush that comes with the fear of a deadline looming can become a way of life, but does usually mean that when the job actually gets done, it is done in a haphazard panicky way, leaving the person exhausted after late-night working and long hours in order to ? nish it on time. In the long run health can be affected, as the ? ght or ? ight impulse that triggers adrenaline is intended for moments of danger, not a lifetime of stress. Hamlet: the procrastinator ‘To be or not to be . . . ’ – ‘should I start this paper or go and deal with those statistics, I don’t know! ’ It isn’t noble to play Hamlet unless you are Lawrence Olivier! If it can’t be faced now, it might be worse later! What is more, as well as getting nothing done, the agony is repeated over and over again, and usually by tomorrow there is no change except the increased anxiety of another day gone by without completing the task. There are different reasons for procrastination and prevarication: not having the energy (which is represented by the adrenaline junky above), not having a starting point or the right information (but will you have the information tomorrow?), or being indecisive over what exactly to get on and do. All that happens is that work piles up. It’s all too much However, for some people, being busy is a way of life. They may ask themselves: – Where does all my time go? – Why are there not enough hours in the day? Typically these people then fool themselves with the thought ‘Well, this is just a busy period, once I’ve got this assignment or deadline over then life will be easier and I can relax’. This is ? ne if true, but often one deadline out of the way can just open someone up to a new 35 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness deadline, as they rush from one hectic task to the next. Sometimes this is self-generated: they can’t help but take on more and more and more. Another way they fool themselves is to say ‘I’m a no-limit person. I can keep on taking on more and more and more’. No one is superman or superwoman, there are only 1,440 minutes in a day, 1,000 when we deduct sleeping, washing, dressing, eating, etc, etc, etc. In our lives we probably spend six months waiting for red traf? c lights to change, two years looking for things, 24 years asleep . . .. There is only so much time left, and time is not in? nitely elastic, we do have limits. After all, no one ever said on their deathbed: I wish I’d spent more time at the of? ce! The headless chicken: action without thought There may be other reasons for taking on too much work, being too busy or feeling driven. Some people may be working hard but without having clear priorities, and without planning. Spending much too much time on things that are not at all important. Giving the illusion of working hard but not working productively. The butter? y: ? itting from task to task Helen arrives at work, puts her coat on the door peg, sits down and turns on the computer. She intends to spend the morning writing the proposal for the new performance appraisal system – a very important part of her job. But ? rst she listens to her telephone messages and realises Gerald wants her to produce some ? gures for a meeting the following week. She accesses her computer to pull out the ? gures, and notices she has 21 e-mails, and begins trawling through these. The ? rst few she just looks at and leaves open to come back to later, the sixth one asks her to give some dates for a meeting and she opens her diary to look at dates, and sees that for one of the dates she has a presentation to give on that day. Oh she must remember to take the ? les home for preparing the presentation so she can do it at the weekend. She gets up and opens her ? ling cabinet to retrieve them . . Oh dear, she is feeling rather giddy, .. . . she hasn’t got anything done and she has been at work an hour already . . .. Oh she feels so confused, she thinks . . . I’d better go and get a coffee .. .. One result of not planning or sticking to priorities can be the ‘butter? y’. This is someone who ? its from task to task in a downward spiral of panic and anxiety, getting in a mess, never getting the boost and closure of completion. Many managers have to be butter? ies, for example Mintzberg (1973) and Kotter (1982) showed that managers spend nine minutes or less on 50 per cent of their activities, are subject to constant interruptions and that management is a very fragmented activity. Good time management brings order to this fragmentation, rather than exacerbates it. Interruptions, interruptions There are two types of interruptions: interruptions from others that distract us from our work, and ‘self’ interruptions, ways in which we distract ourselves from our intended activities. What is your working environment like – quiet and easy to concentrate in, or noisy and busy? Some people work in open-plan of? ce environments where they cannot help but get drawn into conversations with others. Think how you manage your interruptions, what happens if you are concentrating on something really important and somebody starts casually chatting to you as they pass your desk or door? 36 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co.uk/bookstore. Time management The proliferation of communication technologies has meant there are a myriad of ways in which we can be interrupted at any time of day. The ding of a new e-mail arriving in the computer, the ringing telephone, the mobile phone, just ensure you are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Take the telephone – this is designed for people to contact you when it is convenient for them, not necessarily for you. Some people spend a long time on the phone, not getting to the point, getting sidetracked into idle talk. How long are your phone calls, could they be shorter? E-mail is also a tempter. In some roles people are receiving 50–100 e-mails a day and if every time one arrives on the computer they stopped what they were doing to look at it, it would never be possible to concentrate. The escapologist: IT and other escapes However, it isn’t just the requirements of others that interrupt us – we also interrupt ourselves. For example, maybe by not being able to resist sur? ng the Net for another couple of hours, just having a look at a couple more search paths for a holiday or outing. Some are self-interrupters, maybe ? nding it dif? cult to concentrate they just have to go off for another coffee or go and chat to someone else, because they can’t quite get down to it. This can be even worse at home – when you spot the washing or ironing or vacuuming out of the corner of your eye. It is amazing how you can suddenly feel the urge to do a bit of gardening or even jobs you normally hate like cleaning the cooker suddenly seem compelling when you are trying to get down to work on a challenging report. The doormat: yes, yes, yes. One problem can be unassertiveness, or unwillingness to say ‘no’: This may be because of low internal self-esteem, wanting to ‘please others’ in order to feel good, or even being too scared to say no. Ironically always saying ‘yes’ may just mean a person is taken for granted, not necessarily respected and liked. In the end, they can cause more problems for other people, because they become ill or are too busy to do everything to which they have committed, which can be very irritating for others. Presenteeism Sam was always ? rst into the of? ce every day and last to leave in the evening. Everyone commented on how committed he was, what a hardworking member of staff. One day Sarah wondered what Sam was actually working on all day at the computer screen, she wandered up to his desk and looked over his shoulder, and found he was playing solitaire! Being at a desk doesn’t mean the same as working – it is passing time instead of spending time. Sometimes the most effective people are those you don’t see, maybe they ? nd somewhere quiet to work where they don’t get interrupted. Effective people don’t necessarily need to impress on others how hard they work – their output is more important than the appearance of work. Some of? ce environments, however, encourage presenteeism – focusing performance evaluation on time spent at the desk, clockwatching, rather than on the quality of work. Wasted spaces It has been calculated that people lose up to 20 per cent of their time waiting. All that time spent sitting on the train into work, or waiting for the printer to ? nish, or a lecture or meeting to start are wasted periods that could have been used to complete a small task, or even begin a bigger one. Do you sit and stare realising you don’t have any work at hand for such 37 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Personal Effectiveness occasions, or does it even occur to you in the ? rst place to ? ll these spaces? Sometimes a commuter journey is the ideal space in which to plan the day, write out a schedule, or maybe even concentrate on reading an article or report. Finishing a small task, such as ? lling in a form, or even beginning a larger task can be slotted into these moments. Perfectionist The perfectionist pays attention to detail, agonises over every decision, every word in a report. They must get it right. But what is the point if it is too late, or they have ignored several other things – is it all really necessary? Not all tasks have to be done to the same high standard: writing a routine e-mail for example – does it really matter if the grammar is correct? Paper mountains Some people allow a mountain of paper to pile up on their desk, around their ? oor – a trail of paper that doesn’t allow them to be able to ? nd anything they need. They can waste lots of time trying to ?nd things, and the paper mountain doesn’t make for good of? ce sculpture, it festers and exudes stress and incompetence. I’m in a meeting! Consider the costs of 10 people in a one-hour meeting at ? 50 per hour each plus all the overheads and opportunity costs, the time spent travelling, preparation – is it worth it? Worse still are those meetings where people are unprepared, there is no agenda; the chair allows the discussion on trivial items to go on for ages without coming to any decisions. Heather was chairing a students union General Purposes Committee meeting. The meeting discussed for an hour the subject of what colour the new minibus should be – the Labour Society rep suggested red, the Conservative Group rep blue, the Liberal democrat member orange, and the chap from the Greens said they shouldn’t have a minibus at all! Eventually the meeting ran out of time and the main item on the agenda – what to do about the student debt situation never got discussed! Poorly run meetings are not only a waste of time, but also very demoralising. D-I-Y enthusiast. The D-I-Y enthusiast thinks they can do everything themselves, never giving a thought to delegation or sharing the work with others. Moreover, when they get into trouble, they don’t go and ask for help, they soldier on miserably, not getting anywhere except lost and desperate. If you have too much to do, or are stuck, do you look to see how the work can be allocated differently, do you call in for help or the support of others? Why oh why do D-I-Y? Refusing to ask for help may be due to lack of assertiveness, but it may also be arrogance – the belief that no one can do it as well, so it is better done singlehanded. Other people will never learn the skills if they are not given a chance to start. Delegation is not just a downward action, it can also move upwards, for example where something really isn’t a person’s job maybe they need to refer it back. THE CONSEQUENCES Poor time management is one of the greatest sources of managerial stress. It leads to feelings of incompetence and anxiety. The debilitating symptoms and consequences of stress 38 A free sample chapter from Personal Effectiveness by Diana Winstanley. Published by the CIPD. Copyright  © CIPD 2005 All rights reserved; no part of this excerpt may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. If you would like to purchase this book please visit www. cipd. co. uk/bookstore. Time management are discussed more fully in Chapter 9. It also leads to crisis management – where someone responds to whoever is pushing hardest or shouting the loudest. The working environment is likely to be cluttered, with piles of papers on the desk which heaves with awful tasks represented by bits of paper and post-its that decompose or fall off onto the ? oor. It doesn’t just inconvenience the person creating this muddle – it inconveniences others who have to wait for work that is late, or shoddy work that has been done in a rushed way, or invitations that haven’t been responded to. Poor time managers may also feel indispensable; so they can’t take a holiday or a break, because no one can manage without them. Given the choice it is unlikely you would decide to work in this way. But you are always given the choice, and the trick is to take back control and make choices that will make you better time managers. But why don’t you do that already? It is because poor time management is a habit. ARISTOTLE AND THE HABIT OF THE GOOD LIFE It is quite likely that in identifying your own time bandits, you already had an idea what they were. You may even have a good idea of what you should be doing differently. This chapter is not about knowing what to do, it is about putting thought into action, and this requires behavioural change which is a bit trickier to effect. Aristotle talked about the habit of the good life. The good life is not an abstract idea, it is a habit that is nurtured and acted upon over a period of time. Time management is a habit. It is likely you are accustomed to your habits, may even be comfortable with the way you do things, and they won’t be easy to change, because that requires effort and persistence. Therefore it won’t be enough if this chapter merely identi? es for you what you should be doing differently. You have to break a habit, create a habit, and persevere to maintain it. Below are some good habits, but for them to work and guarantee you more time, you will need to put them into practice. When we start something new, it is easier to take one step at a time, building up competence and new habits gradually. The personal contract at the end of this chapter will enable you to plan your behaviour change. Glance at this contract now, and you will see it requires you to identify three changes you intend to make, and to put the ? rst step into practice in the following week. As you read through the good habits think which one would be most relevant for you to start with, which will give you the biggest gain, and which relates most closely to the problems you identi?

Crucible- Abigail Williams Essay Example for Free

Crucible- Abigail Williams Essay Due to our nature, the human race will do astonishing things in the name of love and fear. Abigail Williams in â€Å"The Crucible† is a fantastic example of this. Not only are her actions absurd to try and gain John Proctor’s whole hearted affection, who was her lover, but also to gain submission of an ample portion of Salem due to fear. A large part of the submissiveness was gained by her ability to manipulate others, especially those she knows well. She starts the fire of hatred, for witches and the townspeople, within Salem. The fuel was already there; all that was needed was the last spark to get the flame going. Abigail was this spark, created by her insatiable lust for John Proctor. She instigated the witch trials, and used the produced hysteria in an attempt at personal gain, using a step by step plan. This plan developed through the play, feeding Abigail’s ambition and power. Step 1. Manipulate the town’s girls into doing witchcraft in the woods. Abigail convinced some of the teenage girls in Salem to join her in the woods. Being unmarried teenage women in this time period, they had little to do, minimal social status, and undoubtedly yearned for adventure. There were only two people lower than them in status, and that would be Abigail and Tituba because Abigail was an orphan, and Tituba a black slave. She convinced Tituba, to sing songs from Barbados about witchcraft. Abby then persuaded Ruth Putnam to believe that Tituba would be able to conjure up the spirits of her dead siblings. If it worked then she could bring to light the mystery behind all of her dead siblings. In getting others to do it with her, she will not be the only one to be punished, therefore spreading the blame across many, and if caught the blame could be transferred to the one with the least status, the slave- relieving Abby of punishment. Step 2. Drink a potion to acquire John. While in the woods Abigail drank a charm in an attempt to kill Mrs. Proctor, which in her eyes is the only person between her and John. â€Å"You drank blood, Abby! You didn’t tell him that!† (Betty, A.1, p.1244). This quote begins to give the reader an idea of what Abigail will do to gain Proctor. It would take quite a drive for someone to willingly drink blood, and in drinking it, wish death upon another person. This was a very Puritan society, and all of her actions would be looked down upon by the townspeople. First she entered the forest (the place of the Devil), then she danced (unacceptable for women of that age), then she drank a charm of blood (not accepted by society), and lastly in drinking that charm she is wishing ill upon her ‘neighbor’ which is going against one of the Commandments. The Bible was the law at the time, and going against its foundation was disgraceful. Step 3. When discovered, blame Tituba. When Abigail is being questioned by Parris, the day after being caught, about the girls’ doings in the woods, she gives away little. She reveals â€Å"We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it.†(Abigail, A.1, p.1238). This sentence shows an insight to Abby’s manipulative power over Parris. Fainting from fright from being caught by her father doing an illegal activity could be an explanation for Betty’s inactivity. Abigail admits to what he saw, but makes it hard for him to push the question further when she says the finalized statement ‘there’s the whole of it’. The affirmation also denies any other doings, saying the girls are innocent. Parris then grasps at another chance to question Abby, this time about possible rumors of her in the town. She skillfully maneuvers around the interrogation, and then is saved by the entrance of Mrs . Putnam. Goody Putnam reveals her and her daughter (Ruth)’s desires to figure out what caused her children to die in infancy. Step 4. Exploit Tituba’s weaknesses, while hiding behind lies. When questioned Abigail turns the accusation to Tituba saying she was alone in conjuring the spirits of Ruth’s siblings. This brings the pressure off of Abigail and onto two other people. She can then sink into the background, becoming invisible while Parris and Hale interrogate Tituba. Tituba is the unhappy slave, with witchery songs, low status, and desiring to be free and return home. Due to this, Parris and Hale break Tituba down till she admits to contracting with the devil. In a frenzy to bring pressure off herself and avoid hanging, Tituba then goes on to state names of women in the community. Sarah Good and Goody Osburn are first. Then Abigail stands up from the shadows seizing the chance of being able to accuse people and bring the attention to her in a positive way by saying â€Å"I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I dance for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!† (Abigail, A.1, p.1263). These exclamations go against what she has previously sworn, yet no one seems to notice anything besides her confession and the names she says. Abby repeated the names Tituba already said, along with another, therefore strengthening the accusations while playing on the slave’s incompetence of missing one of the people, which strengthens her own position. Step 5. Use newfound status to demolish those who oppose her. Since there are so many people being accused, the town gets an aura of being unsafe and corrupt by the Devil. This causes the accused to accuse others, from old rivalries and suddenly having a chance to comeback, or from being interrogated till they give up names, multiplying the numbers, while they also believe the accusations out of fear. Fear of being accused, of being witched, or of getting hung for disbelieving the court and the Bible. In Act II sixteen people had warrants sent out for their capture. Abigail continuously accuses people who confess, adding to her credibility. She also has fainting incidents, trances, and other public displays which she credits to others using demonic powers on her, sending the message that she is an innocent orphan being harmed by the Devil because she is standing against him. This helps her gain pity, and brings more citizens to her side. An example is when Mary Warren tries to testify against Abigail, Mercy, and Susanna. The girls exclaim that Mary has sent her spirit out in a wind to make them cold. This is proven by their exclamations. Mercy: â€Å"Mary, do you send this shadow on me?† Susanna: â€Å"I freeze, I freeze!† Abigail: â€Å"It is a wind, a wind!† Danforth: â€Å"Mary Warren, do you witch her? I say to you, do you send your spirit out?†(A.3, p.1307) Danforth’s question seems to state what the other girls were implying. This goes to show what some acting can bring upon a girl and a town. By faking a wind, the girls make Mary’s testament against them invalid, therefore increasing Abigail’s power within the court, and getting rid of another challenger. Step 6. Secure Goody Proctor as a witch using credibility established within the court. After accusing Elizabeth in Act 2 because of alleged use of poppets, Abigail has to make sure there is no way out for her. When this is done and she is hung she can finally have her love, John Proctor. The townspeople generally ignore evidence and support her claims of witchery, most likely out of fear of her power. John Proctor is one of the few willing to stand against her. After many attempts, all of which failed, John resorts to drastic measures. He admits to committing adultery. â€Å"I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name- you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one!†(Proctor, A.3, p.1309) In this statement, Proctor not only admits to adultery, and tries to protect his wife; he also calls Abigail a harlot. Abigail is astounded by his reveal, and undoubtedly worked up by his language towards her. This is the point where Abby seems to realize that Proctor does not love her and that she won’t ever be with him, even if Elizabeth dies. Her plan has failed, and everything she has done was for nothing. Her astonishment turns to resentment, for she then makes no attempt to same John when he is sentenced to hang. Her only thoughts now seem to be of self preservation. She was the ring leader of the witch trials, and with them coming to the end, and no chance of being with John, her power will soon be gone. She steals her uncle’s savings then flees the city. She lost a love she never truly had, and in the process left behind a broken, manipulated town. Love and fear are two of the most influential emotions, and in â€Å"The Crucible† both are experienced firsthand through Abigail. The author, Arthur Miller, uses this to his advantage making the play and characters relatable to the audience. These universal themes are relevant at all times in history which is why the play is still shown to this day. Abigail is not only a great example of those traits, but also reflects a maniacal manipulator existing in many societies. This along with other traits makes her the most important character to the play, along with the witch trials which she helped instigate for personal gain. It’s amazing what a teenage girl in a small town can do with a few words and manipulation.

Women And Personal Status Law In Iraq Politics Essay

Women And Personal Status Law In Iraq Politics Essay Personal Status law is the term applied to those provisions in a states constitution that refer to the areas of marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance. In many countries these laws are constructed as part of a secular, civil code, with independent courts adjudicating disputes. Historically women have been much more sensitive to personal status laws, also referred to as family law, because of their position in the household as caregivers and matriarchs. The laws that pertain to personal status in Iraq have undergone three main periods of transformation; in pre-Gulf War Iraq, the original law of personal status was set in place on December 30, 1959; several of the provisions (articles) were then amended, a few dropped, and several more added throughout the 1970s; post-Gulf War Iraq was a crucial turning point in the transformation of the code when women began to see a decline in their personal status rights; the laws were altered yet again as a consequence of the U.S. led invasion in 2003 and the drafting of a new Iraqi Constitution. By looking at these three time periods and the prevailing political atmospheres, we can then see the negative transformation and state manipulation of the personal status law. The future of the status of women in Iraq and their rights as recognized in a personal status code will also be discussed. It will be clear from this examination that while women have been successful in exerting some influence on laws of personal status in Iraq, more often than not the laws have been manipulated as a political tool by those in power, irreverent of the needs or wants of the countrys female population. It is important to consider the development of international human rights perceptions in relation to the current debate in the Middle East. The purpose of this framework is to provide a foundation from which we can understand the source of significant tension between Sharia Law and Personal Status Law. Human rights formed in the West during the European Enlightenment. The idea that the rights of the individual should be of paramount importance in a political system emerged and the emphasis on individualism, humanism, and rationalism (Mayer, 44) is the basis for contemporary international human rights principles. These Western foundations do well to explain the cause of tension between the West and Islam over human rights but to understand where the source of tension lies, we must look at Islam as an institution. Islam is the cornerstone of Middle East culture and tradition. Regardless of modernization efforts, Islamic primacy still remains. The dominance of religion affects all aspects of life including the human rights discourse and, as a result, the Muslim position on human rights is complex. Muslims do not have a common belief about what the Islamic position on human rights is or the relationship of their cultural tradition to international human rights norms (Mayer, 11). The Middle East, by nature, is a deeply penetrated region dealing with the impact of Western persuasion throughout its history. Human rights concepts are just another standard that the Middle East has had to assimilate and apply to their countries. However, these concepts are also part of accepted international law and by acknowledging international law as the law of nations (Mayer, 12), Muslims are bound to these norms. Thus, Muslim rejection to international human rights on the basis of Islam is contradictory. Historically, there is no human rights tradition in Islamic civilization (Mayer, 73) and no existing criteria as to how Islamic institutions limit international human rights or is there any detail of what these restrictions would be. International law recognizes many rights protections are not absolute and may be suspended or qualified in exception circumstance such as wars or public emergencies or even in normal circumstances in the interests of certain overriding considerations  [1]  However, there are certain kinds of rights that cannot be limited. These include freedom and equality, equality before law, equal protection, fair and public hearing, freedom of religion, and equal rights in marriage, all of which are listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In addition to these absolute rights, the UDHR also includes definite standards regarding what constitutes permissible reasons for curbing human rights protections (Mayer, 76). For example, Article 29.2 states: In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.  [2]   A similar stipulation is also expressed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in Article 4: The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, in the enjoyment of those rights provided by the State in conformity with the present Covenant, the State may subject such rights only to such limitations as are determined by law only in so far as this may be compatible with the nature of these rights and solely for the purpose of promoting the general welfare in a democratic society.  [3]   It is clear that there are specific guidelines to restricting limits put on human rights exist; so then how does Islam seem to infringe upon these principles? Under international law, Muslims and non-Muslims cannot be deprived of their rights. However, there is no regulation that states that fundamental human rights may be curtailedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦by reference to the requirements of a particular religion (Mayer, 76). Nevertheless, human rights in the Middle East are being controlled under Sharia law and as a result, the rights that are established under international law are being qualified by standards that are not recognized in international law as legitimate bases for curtailing rights (Mayer, 77). Thus, it can be concluded that Sharia law is in direct conflict with democracy and human rights. More importantly, the overall conflict lies in the relationship between culture and human rights (An-Naim, 142). Sharia law is an integral part of Muslim society as it is the personal law of Islamic society. Most of the human rights violations related to Islam are inflicted on women especially regarding Personal Status law. Women in Pre-Gulf War Iraq CONDITIONS IN 1959 The late 1950s were a time of great change for Iraq. After years of living under the British mandate system and the subsequent rule of a pro-British monarch, a revolutionary new regime came to power on July 14, 1958. Led by Colonel Abd al-Salam Arif and Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim, the forces that overthrew the monarchy were united more by their distaste of the ruling regime, rather than by ideological means (Tripp, 149). Qasim quickly took advantage of his new position, consolidating power at the top of the state, and appointing himself Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Commander in Chief (Tripp, 152). The Iraq he took over was poor and underdeveloped, but under Qasim progressive laws were passed and early on groups were allowed to organize (including the Communist Party) to address the concerns and needs of what had previously been neglected aspects of society. These organizations, though allowed to operate openly were nevertheless still beholden to the state. One such grou p was the League for the Defense of Womens Rights, or al-Rabita, officially recognized by the government in 1958 though it had been active underground since 1952 (Efrati, 2). Al-Rabita was funded by the Communist Party, but established by professional Iraqi women to create widespread access to the kinds of opportunities which their own more privileged backgrounds had granted them (Tripp, 154). In this spirit the group focused on educational opportunities and political participation. They were also active in helping to draft and pass the Personal Status Code of 1959. Before 1959, Iraq had no civil code that addressed matters of personal status, which are of particular concern to women. The 1940s saw the first wave of educated women in Iraq, as female doctors and lawyers graduated from state universities (Tripp, 155). The women who had started organizing in 1952 were committed to combating issues of child marriages, polygamy, and the difficulty of divorce for women compared to the relative ease of divorce for men. These women were active in helping to draft the 1959 law and their president, Naziha al-Dulaymi, used her position as the Minister of Municipalit ies (and the first woman cabinet member in Iraq) to sit on the panel of specialists who prepared the law. Resistance was strong among the Sunni and Shia ulama; the Sunni were afraid that the income and prestige of the ulama would suffer, while the Shia clerics saw possible codification of a civil personal law as an encroachment on the realm of their mujtahids (Efrati, 3). It is unclear why Qasims government pushed through with the groundbreaking Personal Status Law No. 188 on December 30, 1959 (Efrati, 3). A possible reason for the ruling could have been Qasims was interest in unifying Iraq, not because he was necessarily an egalitarian, but because consolidation of the state made control easier, thereby increasing and protecting his power base. THE LAW OF 1959 The Personal Status Law was issued by decree in 1959 and contained two distinct innovations: It unified personal status law for Sunnis and Shia. Personal status law was now codified and written into law. Judges could no longer determine the law according to their own religious training; they simply had to apply the new code (Brown, 5). The new law had its basis in Sharia but made expert religious opinion unnecessary, taking control over personal status and the fate of women out of the hands of the religious leaders and putting it into the hands of the state. Underscoring how important a rift this caused among the emerging secular state and the religious clerics, author Michael Eppel writes that Shiite religious leaders opposition to this law was a catalyst in the Shiite awakening in Iraq (158). This uniform law was enacted to erase sectarian divisions and subject everyone to the same rules of the state. Important provisions of the law included: A marriage age of 18 (article 8). In special cases this could be lowered to 16. Required a womans consent to her marriage (articles 4 and 6). Set forth sanity and puberty as essential to the capacity to marry (article 7). Prohibited arbitrary divorce. Set strict limitations on polygamy, requiring the permission of a judge which could only be granted on two conditions: 1) the husband was financially able to support more than one wife (article 4a) or 2) that there was some lawful benefit involved (article 4b). Stipulated that mothers had the preferential right to custody of their children. Custody was granted until the age of seven, with an opportunity for the court to extend the age if necessary (article 57). Required that men and women be treated equally in matters of inheritance. Considered talaq to be invalid if spoken by a man whose mental capabilities were lacking (i.e. in cases of intoxication or anger). Allowed women to seek divorce through judicial means on grounds of injury or familial discord (Efrati and Coleman). The law was not perfect and did in fact contain many loopholes. Women activists wanted tougher punishments for forcing women to marry, a ban on polygamy and temporary marriages, as well as protection against marriage by proxy, which could undermine a womans right to consent by substituting a male guardian. Activists were also upset that men retained the right of no-fault divorce, where women had to prove injury, and that a womans consent was not necessary to resume a marriage after a talaq divorce. At the same time, however, the law contained many provisions considered extremely liberal and progressive. The inheritance law was considered a radical departure from Islamic teachings. Womens groups argued that differentiating between men and women in the issue of inheritance was not suitable for a progressive society (Efrati, 12). Women were now entering the workforce and helping to provide for the family; therefore they should be allowed an equal opportunity to support their income with inheritances. When clerics decried this move, Qasim defended the provision by saying that the verse in the Koran calling for a daughters inheritance to be half that of a sons was a recommendation, and not a requirement (Coleman, 3). Whatever the reason for the creation of the 1959 uniform personal status law, its creation gave Iraqi women a vast amount of secular rights, and gave them the most progressive rights for their sex in the Arab world. CHANGES OVER TIME 1963-80 The decades of the 1960s and 1970s were characterized by coup detats and political unrest in Iraq, as well as by fluctuating economic wealth and development, all of which contributed to a redefinition of womens rights. On February 8, 1963 Abd al-Salam Arif lead a coalition of nationalist Nasserite army officers and Bath party members in a successful coup against the Qasim government, bringing a new regime into power (Eppel 202). The Arif government, comprised of Bathist and Arab nationalists, was not united on ideological grounds, and factions within the parties were quickly at odds with each other. In March of 1963 they fought to amend the personal status law, instituting slight changes regarding polygamy and repealing the provisions applicable to inheritance, replacing them with rules more consonant with the Sharia (Efrati, 4). Both Arif and Prime Minister Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr wanted to repeal the law completely which they saw as irreconcilable with Islamic law, but were prevented f rom doing so due to infighting (Eppel, 216). These changes to the law proved to be temporary and were later amended in the 1970s. In 1968 yet another coup was launched, this time by the Bath party against Arifs brother, who had gained control of Iraq upon his brothers death. The Bath party stood for the power and unity of the Arab nation, and they rejected the Sunni/Shiite rift as an obstacle to this unity (Eppel, 232). In this vein they did not move to repeal the 1959 status law, in part because of its secular nature and also because they needed women to contribute to a stronger Iraq. The idea was that by empowering women personally it would encourage them to participate economically and politically. To facilitate their agenda the Bath introduced many state funded organizations aimed at redevelopment. Much like al-Rabita was created as a state controlled channel for womens participation in society, so too was the General Federation of Iraqi Women (GFIW) created when the Bath regime came to power in 1968 (Joseph, 182). The womens groups of the 1970s and early 80s had a reciprocal relationship with the Bath leadership. GFIW members were taught that they must serve and be loyal to the party and the state, and were encouraged to participate in a expanding public domain of social, cultural, political, and economic activities, helping to build a more solid and economically viable state (Joseph, 183). Joseph also writes that GFIW staff spent considerable time encouraging, among the membership, affection and loyalty to the head of the party and state, Saddam Hussein (183). In exchange for their loyalty to the state, the GFIW was given the role of implementing the changes in the laws of personal status, were allowed to host conferences of activist women, and were elevated in the public eye by Saddam Husseins frequent pronouncements and public appearances lauding the work and leaders of their organization (183). The Bath never let the GFIW go unchecked; women leaders were appointed by their party and its bu dget was derived from the state (Joseph, 182). What is most interesting is that it was men at the top of the Bath partys power structure that set forth the goals of the GFIW. One of these goals was to ensure the equality of Iraqi women with men in rights, in the economy and in the state (182). While other womens groups still operated, the GFIW took over as the main catalyst for the expression of female goals. With the creation of this group, women activists again channeled their energy into rectifying the changes made in 1963 to the personal status law, and to closing the loopholes resulting from the 1959 version. THE NEW PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION In 1970, members of the General Federation of Iraqi Women decided the time was right to push for a new personal status law to replace the 1959 code and more importantly the restrictive amendments introduced in 1963. They pushed for greater reforms, and formulated a draft for a new family law that was presented to the regime in 1975 (Efrati, 4). While not all of their demands were met, several amendments to the personal status code were included in Iraqs Provisional Constitution in 1970 and 1978. Among the important changes: Article 19 declared all citizens equal before the law (regardless of sex). Divorce was permitted by judicial proceedings if the marriage took place before 18 years of age or without a judges approval. Forced marriages were nullified if not consummated, and divorce was allowed where the marriage was not consummated. New punishments were set for forcing marriage and for preventing marriage. Punishments were set for marriages contracted outside of the court A man who contracted a second marriage (without judicial permission) could be imprisoned for 3-5 years. A wife now had legal grounds for demanding a divorce if her husband took a second wife without permission by a judge. A woman could now have a no-fault divorce if the marriage was not yet consummated and the marriage expenses were returned to the husband. Situations under which a woman could obtain a judicial divorce were clarified and expanded, ex) adultery. Maternal custody was extended to the age of 10. At age 15 the child could choose whom to live with (Efrati, HRW and Joseph). The law still registered several shortcomings. It did not forbid marriages by proxy, did not go far enough with the maternal age of custody, and lowered the possible marriage age to 15 (from 16) if a judge saw that special circumstances prevailed. Another major blow to the hopes of womens groups was that no ban on polygamy was included. Activists still opposed article 3(5) which allowed a judge to decide whether wives could be treated equally (Efrati, 7). They contended that judges were ill-equipped to make such a decision, and that equal treatment was an impossibility, citing as reinforcement the Quranic verse which states Ye will not be able to deal equally between [your] wives, however much you wish [to do so]' (7). Other articles that remained unchanged from the 1959 version included articles 34, 38, and 39, which allowed for divorce outside of the court, and ensured that equal rights to divorce were not granted to women (9). Still the changes in the 1970s, though slight, did enc ourage the womens movement. Also, in January of 1971, Iraq ratified the International Covenants on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR) and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), both of which provided equal protection to women under international law (HWR, 2). The central question here is why did the Bath party pay attention to womens demands for greater opportunities and rights? Women activists had been vocal about instituting change since the 1920s, and though successful in seeing the 1959 law passed, they had not encountered many reforms since. Womens groups were partly responsible for the additions, but their activities alone do not explain the shifts in policy put into place by the Bath government. Among the new initiatives were Labor and Employment laws which passed, allowing women opportunities to participate in the civil service sector, maternity benefits that were introduced, as well as other legislation (HRW, 2). According to Human Rights Watch, the Iraqi Bureau of Statistics reported that in 1976, women represented about 38.5 percent of those in the education sector, 31 percent in the medical field, 15 percent of civil servants and 25 percent of lab technicians. Women were also accorded the right to vote in 1980. When one consid ers that the first female graduates of educational institutions didnt emerge until the 1940s, this participation is highly accelerated. This increased economic participation then paved the way for slight changes to the personal status law. As Joseph writes, In so far as freeing women from familial controls to participate in the labour force and the polity was needed for the state-building programme, some revision of the personal status laws became necessary and useful (184). Thus, during this time period, due to the economic expansion of the state, the regime saw fit to expand womens participation and facilitated this through political means, by amending the personal status law. WAR YEARS The 1980s and 90s were a hard time for all Iraqis, and women were no exception. Two wars and a decade of U.N. sanctions ensured that womens groups had other more pressing concerns than the continued fight to amend the personal status code. In 1972, with the nationalization of Iraqs main commodity, oil, the states wealth increased and an economic boom contributed to advancement in education and the workforce for women. By the 1980s and 90s a slow-down occurred as these resources were diverted to pay for the Iran-Iraq war and later to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf war that followed. Throughout these decades women again became a tool of the state. Whereas before they had been co-opted with political reforms, now women, under threat of personal or familial harm, were urged in the 1980s and 1990s to put the state first and family second. Loyalty to the state was absolute. Divorce was now used as a weapon of the regime. Noga Efrati writes, women were encouraged to seek judicial divorce if their husbands evaded or deserted military service, defected to the enemy side, were convicted of treason, or held foreign citizenship and refrained from returning to Iraq for more than three years (10). During these years the GFIW did manage to convince President Saddam Hussein to pass a few resolutions, in special cases, but to the advantage of only a small number of women. Women in Post-Gulf War Iraq Beginning in the 1990s women started to see a dramatic reversal in their personal status rights. Joseph writes that the modest legal advances for women would be precariously balanced against the costs the Bath would incur by antagonizing other constituencies (184). The constituencies he speaks of are those of the religious leaders and the tribal chiefs, the same people whose support Saddam needed to court in order to retain power throughout the wars. Saddam made a decision to embrace Islamic and tribal traditions as a political tool in order to consolidate power (HWR, 3). In this vein Saddam manipulated and created law wherever it served his political purposes. In 1988 he legalized honour killings in Iraq, permitting men to kill their wives or female relatives if they were judged to have dishonoured the family name by committing adultery, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Iraqi women and girls (Tripp, 227, HWR). This reversal was a concession to Shia clerics. Womens access to the public and private sectors (including education) were also cut in order to ensure jobs for men during wartime and to help appease conservative religious and tribal groups (HWR). A combination of depressed economic and political factors in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to a regression of womens status and rights in Iraq, taking them back to traditional roles in the family. The 2003 Invasion and the New Iraqi Constitution With the U.S. led invasion in 2003, many activists both in and outside of Iraq expected a positive change in the status of women and hoped for the restoration of a progressive personal status code. The hope was that after removing Saddam from power, a new government, guided by an egalitarian Western power (the United States) would be able to resurrect and strengthen the original personal status law of 1959, ensuring more equal rights for women. Unfortunately it has been a bumpy road for female activists. The war and its aftermath have greatly reduced personal freedoms for all Iraqis, and attempts at preserving the personal status code have taken a back seat to preservation and personal safety. Progressives and women activists initially suffered a setback when in December 2003 the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), under the control of Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, the Shia cleric who leads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), passed Order 137 which seemed to set aside the 1959 personal status law (Brown, 6). Hakim had long been in opposition to the progressive personal status code, and used his opportunity as head of the rotating governing council to pass a measure that instilled Sharia and nullified the old code. According to Noga Efrati, women moved aggressively to fight Order 137, organizing a series of protests (1). One such protest drew activists representing 80 womens organizations, who carried placards that with slogans such as We Reject Decree 137 Which Sanctifies Sectarianism and Division in Iraqi Society and Family (1). Womens groups also held press conferences and high-level meetings with American provisional authorities to voice their concerns ov er the law, which in addition to nullifying an important code, was ambiguous and dangerous in its wording (Coleman, 3). Paul Bremer, leader of the Coalitional Provisional Authority, ended up vetoing Order 137, but the move by the Shia cleric foreshadowed the uphill fight women would have to face in a new, sectarian Iraq. In the final draft of the Constitution womens status in the new Iraq has not been clarified. In the October 2005 document, article 14 states that Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination because of sex, but it also states that no law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam (Pollitt, 1). Whose version of Islam will govern is still up for debate. The law seems to indicate that Sunnis and Shia would be free to follow their own doctrine, and because it does not explicitly repeal or reference the 1959 law, scholars say the Constitution would appear to allow the continuation of the 1959 code of personal status for those who wanted to use it (Brown, 5). Sharia law could mean the return of unrestricted polygamy, divorce by talaq, honour killings, and a public death for perpetrators of adultery (Weinberg, 1). The picture becomes even more unclear when one looks at the Supreme Federal Court, also established by the Constitution. This Court will be made up of a number of judges and experts in Sharia and law (Pollitt, 1). It is unclear at this stage where there would be room for a civil court system. While the women of Iraq and the National Assembly managed to be successful in keeping the 1959 law intact, it seems that the country is destined to be divided along religious lines. Even if Iraq remains a unified country, the religious and sectarian splits in law could make adjudicating disputes incredibly difficult. What would happen in the case of a Sunni woman who is married to a Shia man? Would she have the right to visit a Sunni or secular court, or if the country reverts back to its patrimonial past, will she be forced to go to a Shia court. Perhaps she could pick whichever court is most advantageous to her cause. A Supreme Federal Court adjudicating on the basis of Sharia is also problematic for non-Muslims residing in Iraq. If Sharia is the law of the land, will non-Muslims also be subjected to it even though the constitution guarantees freedom of religion? The two main sects of Islam will most likely interpret family law differently, and women have gone from an even footing under secular law, to an unknown system that could test their resilience and forfeit their accustomed rights. Possible Transformations The fact is that the new Iraqi government has laid out a constitution which gives Islam a central role and which names the religion as a basic source of legislation (Pollitt, 1). Sharia has been recognized as a legitimizing factor, and therefore if women and moderates hope to advance the cause of womens rights in the new Iraq, they will probably have to do so within an Islamic framework. In the recent past women in other nations have also faced a change in their status, with different outcomes. One fear is the possibility of Iraq following in Irans footsteps, which would be a disastrous blow to the womens movement and to the hopes of those that wish to see Iraq modernize. With the coming of Irans revolution in 1979 and the attainment of power by religious clerics, the countrys progressive family law was suspended and within a few months new Sharia rulings lowered the marriage age to nine, permitted polygamy, gave fathers the right to decide who their daughters could marry, permitted unilateral divorce for men but not women, and gave fathers sole custody of children in the case of divorce (Coleman, 5). While a distinct possibility, this seems to be a fate Iraq has avoided with clauses in their Constitution that guarantee women an equal footing with men. Hopefully, Iraq will follow the letter of the law and will not suffer the same fate as Irans family law codes. Fortunately, there is precedent for a successful path to a change in womens status. Morocco and Indonesia have both seen extensive dialogue concerning their personal status codes, and each has discussed changes using Islam as a large part of their rationale. Morocco benefits from a large network of progressive nongovernmental organizations, which pushed to raise the marriage age from 15 to 18, abolish polygamy, equalize the right to divorce, and give women the right to retain custody of their children (Coleman, 5). As with Iraq, these progressive organizations were opposed by a large and vocal religious block within the country. In this case, the changes in the Sharia-based personal status laws were facilitated by a modernizing monarch, King Muhammad IV. He backed the reformers and in October 2003 presented Moroccos parliament with revisions to the law, defending his changes with references to the Koran and thereby placing the new law above reproach from religious leaders (Weitzman, 394). Iraq may not have the NGO strength of Morocco, but with the emergence of a charismatic, forward-thinking leader, as well as pressure from womens organizations and others from below, a reform along the lines of Moroccos experience could be achieved. In the case of Indonesia, grass-roots groups have started schooling women on Islamic jurisprudence so that they may hold their own religious debates. In 2004, Musdah Mulia, the chief researcher at Indonesias Ministry of Religious Affairs, proposed changes to the existing Sharia in the areas of marriage, polygamy, and the wearing of the hijab (Coleman, 5). She defended these changes in much the same way that King Muhammad of Morocco did, through references to