Evaluating my performance in swimming Essay

Introduction In the assessment I am going to evaluate my performance in swimming, I will be analysing my strengths and weakness and how they contribute to my performance and how in the future I can improve the development of my swimming. Strengths My main strengths in swimming is front crawl, I am good at this stroke as I use the correct muscles and joints effectively allowing me to generate lots of power, which enables me to glide through the water easily. I use my deltoid and trapezius which are located at the top of my back to muscularly pull my body through the water. To start the front crawl I must dive into the water using my hamstrings and quadriceps, I must use these muscles in a short burst to generate lots of power. I also have long arms which means that I have a long arm stroke, this allows me to have less arm strokes per length, and this means that I have more energy in the last fifty metres of a sprint. In the dive I create a streamline position so that I can make a clean entry into the water, this will limit the splash at the point of entry into the water allowing me to swim a faster length. Whilst I wait to dive of the board I must make a specific pose with body so that I can enter the water quickly. The first position should be made before a signal has been called out, I should have my fingertips touching the tip of the board, one heel should be in contact with the board and the other foot should be placed at the back of the board. When a signal has been called to signify the start of the race I should balance my body weight towards the front of the board. I believe that my reaction time to the signal is also one of my strengths as I react very quickly. I excelled in the in the short distance sprints as I generated lots of power from my kicks. When kicking the movement involves all the muscles in my lower body for example, hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteus maximus and calves. The movement begins with the gluteus maximus which the powers the motion all the way down to the legs to the feet. My kicking is efficient as I keep them parallel to each other when alternatively kicking them up and down- known as the flutter kick. I also make the kicks short and quick which generates the mos t power making me quicker in the water. Weaknesses My main weaknesses in swimming is my backstroke. I struggle with this stroke as I tend to have a poor sense of balance, my hips are not pushed up which also causes my legs to drop below the rest of my body. This disallows my legs to kick as fast as they are deeper under the water. I am not streamlined, this slows me down further as I am creating more surface area. Furthermore, in backstroke my fingers are spread out allowing water to pass through, this makes my stroke inefficient. I could stop this by keeping my fingers closer together which would then allow me to pull the water past me making my stroke more efficient. Another weakness of mine is tumble turns. When performing backstroke tumble turns I tumble slightly too far away from the wall this is because I come to close to the wall before I tumble. When I am far away from the wall I generate less power when pushing off the wall causing my head to be raised and my back not horizontal therefore I push off upwards. This stops me fr om staying under the water gliding meaning that I have more strokes making my time much slower. I am also very weak at breast stroke as I struggle with the complexity of the leg movement. When performing the stroke I use the correct technique but I do not push hard enough when kicking out. When sprinting in breaststroke my leg technique is poor as my hips dip below the surface of the water. To compensate for the lack of power in my leg movement I then have to push harder with my arms (unbalanced stroke) meaning that my timing is inconsistent. When coming up to breathe between each arm stroke my head can sometimes face toward the end of the pool making me more resistance in the water, however when taking a breath my head should be facing to decrease the resistance between my head and the water.

Motivation and Leadership Effect on Job Performance Essay

Introduction Leadership and motivation traditionally play a very important role in the functioning of organizations. Nowadays, the role of leadership and motivation increases even more significantly because of the growing competition and the increasing significance of human resources for the progress of organizations. In fact, it should be pointed out that leadership and motivation are closely entangled concepts which constitute an important part of the success of an organization. It is obvious that the effective leadership and motivation can contribute to the progress of an organization, while poor leadership and the lack of motivation can weaken the normal functioning of an organization and lead to the crisis within an organization that will naturally affects its performance. In this respect, it is important to underline the fact that leadership and motivation affect considerably the organizational behavior and culture and they define the formation of the effective relationships between the personnel of an organization. In such a situation, it is necessary to fully reveal the significance of leadership and motivation in the current business environment in order to assess adequately perspective of the improvement of the effectiveness of leadership and motivation within an organization. At the same time, the analysis of theoretical framework only, it appears that insufficient for the understanding of the significance of leadership and motivation for the performance of an organization. Consequently, it is also necessary to pay a particular attention to the practical aspects of leadership and motivation  that means that it is necessary to analyze some practical examples that could reveal the significance of leadership and motivation for the performance of a n organization Review of Literature Motivation and Job Performance * The level of performance of employees relies not only on their actual skills but also on the level of motivation each person exhibits (Burney et al., 2007). * Motivation is an inner drive or an external inducement to behave in some particular way, typically a way that will lead to rewards (Dessler, 1978). * Over-achieving, talented employees are the driving force of all firms so it is essential that organizations try hard to motivate and hold on to the best employees (Harrington, 2003). * The quality of human resource management is a critical influence on the performance of the firm. Concern for strategic integration, commitment flexibility and quality, has called for attention for employee’s motivation and retention. Financial motivation has become the most concern in today’s organization, and tying to apply Maslow’s basic needs, non-financial aspect only comes in when financial motivation has failed. * According to Greenberg and Baron (2003, 2000) definition of motivation could be divided into three main parts. The first part looks at arousal that deals with the drive, or energy behind individual (s) action. People turn to be guided by their interest in making a good impression on others, doing interesting work and being successful in what they do. The second part referring to the choice people make and the direction their behavior takes. The last part deals with maintaining behavior clearly defining how long people have to persist at attempting to meet their goals. * Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation concerns behavior influenced by obtaining external rewards (Hitt, Esser, & Marriott, 1992). Praise or positive feedback, money, and the absence of punishment are examples of extrinsic or external rewards (Deci, 1980). Intrinsic motivation is the motivation to do something simply for the pleasure of performing that particular activity (Hagedoorn and Van Yperen, 2003). Examples of intrinsic factors are interesting work, recognition, growth, and achievement. *  Several studies have found there to be a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and job pe rformance as well as intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction (Linz, 2003). This is significant to firms in today’s highly competitive business environment in that intrinsically motivated employees will perform better and, therefore, be more productive, and also because satisfied employees will remain loyal to their organization and feel no pressure or need to move to a different firm. * Deci and Ryan (2000) conducted and replicated an experiment that showed the negative impact of monetary rewards on intrinsic motivation and performance. A group of college students were asked to work on an interesting puzzle. Some were paid and some were not paid for the work. The students that were not being paid worked longer on the puzzle and found it more interesting than the students being paid. When the study was brought into a workplace setting, employees felt that their behavior was being controlled in a dehumanizing and alienating manner by the rewards. It was discovered that rewards would seriously decrease an employee’s motivation to ever perform the task being rewarded, or one similar to it, any time in the future. Another observation of the study was that employees would expect a reward every time the task was to be completed if the reward was offered at one time. Employees would require the reward in order to perform the job and would probably expect the reward to increase in amount. If the rewards were not increased or if they were taken away they actually served as negative reinforcement. * Deci and Ryan (2001), in collaboration with two of their colleagues, conducted a study to examine the effects of performance-contingent rewards on an employee’s intrinsic motivation. * (Cameron, Deci, Koestner, and Ryan, 2001). These types of rewards are very controlling since these rewards are directly associated with an employee’s performance of some task. In that respect, performance-contingent rewards undermine intrinsic motivation; however, if the reward given to the employee conveys that the employee has performed on a truly outstanding level, the reward would serve to solidify that employee’s sense of competence and decrease the negative effect on that employee’s intrinsic motivation. Also significant in the study was the importance of the interpersonal atmosphere within which the performance-contingent rewards were distributed. * When Cameron et al. (2001) compared the administering of rewards in a controlling climate and in  a non-controlling climate, they discovered that the performance-contingent rewards given in the more controlling interpersonal climate undermined intrinsic motivation. To prevent the decrease in employees’ intrinsic motivation, the interpersonal climate when distributing performance-contingent rewards should be more supportive. * Vroom (1964) proposes that people are motivated by how much they want something and how likely they think they are to get it he suggest that motivation leads to efforts and the efforts combined with employees ability together with environment factors which interplay’s resulting to performance. This performance interns lead to various outcomes, each of which has an associated value called Valence. * Adams (1965) on his part suggests that people are motivated to seek social equity in the rewards they receive for high performance. According to him the outcome from job includes; pay recognition, promotion, social relationship and intrinsic reward. To get these rewards various inputs needs to be employed by the employees to the job as time, experience, efforts, education and loyalty.He suggests that, people tend to view their outcomes and inputs as a ratio and then compare these ratios with others and turn to become motivated if this ratio is high. Leadership Effectiveness and Job Performance Leadership, or more specifically effective leadership, is every bit as crucial (if not more so) in African Organizations as it is throughout the world. African organizations are no different from others Worldwide in terms of striving for performance in order to be globally competitive. The South African situation, however, is incredibly complex as many organizations are caught in the middle of a web of authoritarian hierarchies and traditional leadership approaches, as well as bureaucratic hierarchies mixed with modern approaches to leadership * (Grobler, Wà ¤rnich, Carrell, Elbert and Hatfield, 2002). It is argued that effective leadership has a positive influence on the performance of organizations (Maritz, 1995; Bass, 1997; Charlton, 2000). Ultimately it is the performance of many Individuals that culminates in the performance of the organization, or in the achievement of organizational goals. Effective leadership is  instrumental in ensuring organizational performance. * (Cummings and Schwab, 1973; Hellriegel, Jackson, Slocum, Staude, Amos, Klopper, Louw and Oosthuizen, 2004). As a result, many leadership theories have been proposed in the last fifty years which are claimed to have influenced the overall effectiveness of the organizations where they have been employed. In the competitive world business environment it is vital that organisations employ leadership styles that enable organisations to survive in a dynamic environment. * (Maritz, 1995; Bass,1997) Performance has been defined by Hellriegel, Jackson and Slocum (1999) as the level of an individual’s work achievement after having exerted effort. * Cummings and Schwab (1973) and Whittenand Cameron (1998) believe that performance is ultimately an individual phenomenon with environmental variables influencing performance primarily through their effect on the individual determinants of performance – ability and motivation. * Behling and McFillen (1996) confirmed the link between high performance and leadership in the United States by developing a model of charismatic/transformational leadership where the leaders’ behaviour is said to give rise to inspiration, awe and empowerment in his subordinates, resulting in exceptionally high effort, exceptionally high commitment and willingness to take risks. It has been widely accepted that effective organizations require effective leadership, and organizational performance will suffer in direct proportion to the neglect of this (Maritz, 1995; Ristow, Amos and Staude, 1999).

TIBET AND THE DALAI LAMA NO 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TIBET AND THE DALAI LAMA NO 2 - Essay Example The figurehead for the religion is the Dalai Lama who has been attempting to negotiate some sort of autonomy for Tibet that would allow them to keep their culture intact. This force for continuity is in direct conflict with the changes in farming, education, and politics that the Chinese government has implemented since its invasion of the area. The efforts that the Dalai Lama finds himself with to act as a force of continuity are limited. Being in exile in India, the Dalai Lama is unable to directly affect any sort of policy change in regards to the Tibetan people, so he must appeal to western powers and point out human rights abuses in hopes that something will be done: â€Å"The exiled Dalai Lama finds himself standing on the sidelines unable to impede or reverse changes in his country that he deplores, and the frustration engendered by this impotence has seriously heightened the danger of violenceâ€Å" (Goldstein, 1998). For instance, the Chinese government initially implemented agricultural policies that lead to widespread famine and deaths throughout Tibet: The Chinese Communist Party restructured Tibets farming and nomadic pastoral areas into communes, and†¦placed Tibetan traditional culture and religion under severe attack. Between the rebellions, food shortages, and struggle sessions against "class enemies," Tibet suffered substantial privation. The full loss of life is still not clearly known, but the damage to Tibets culture was substantial (Goldstein, 1997, pg. 59). In response to the Dalai Lama’s pleads to the western media, China responded with modernisation efforts meant to improve the quality of life for Tibetans. There were many different aspects to China’s modernisation efforts, which was known as the China Western Development plan. Part of this effort was to build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Along with economic reforms, China instituted agricultural reforms, as many of the deaths were a result of the lack of food that could

OPERATION MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

OPERATION MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Conclusively, it can be stated that operations management or management of operations is dependent on not just the production process but also the internal process that take place within an organization, thereby, including the various processes and their structures (Heizer and Render, 2004). In order to define the term Operations Management at Intel, we can consider the two words separately; Operation, at the most basic level at Intel, is all about the transformation or conversion of inputs into different kinds of outputs. Inputs can be the traditional resources such as equipment, labor, various facilities, the raw materials, all the processed components, time, and also the non-traditional resources in the form of skills, knowledge and customer relationships and also the Intels reputation. Where as the outputs can be the services, products, information and also the experiences. Where as the term management means that how the work is done. Intel is a leading company which produces goods and services in order to make their customers happy. If their managing style is good, then only they can produce better outcomes. Management means how to manage things, how to manage production and also how to manage development. Intels managing power is much strong, because the aim is to generate better results. Various strategies are being implemented in this company in order to conduct or to take implementing, drafting and also the evaluating cross-functional decisions which really help this company in order to achieve their long-term objectives. With the help of various strategies Intels mission, objectives, vision, various developing policies and different plans which are either in terms of programs or projects can be very easily specified. (Heizer and Render, 2004) Intels strategic management is basically a level of managing various activities under setting different tactics and goals. It also provides an overall direction to the company and it is

Barry Humphries and Patrick White Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Barry Humphries and Patrick White - Essay Example He was not only an actor but also a script writer, a film producer, an award winning writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, and a landscape painter. Another noted name in Australian theatre was Patrick Victor Martindale White, also known as Patrick White. White was an author who was considered a major English-language novelist. During his career he published eight plays, twelve novels and two short story collections. "His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantagepoints and a stream of consciousness technique" (Wikipedia 2007). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973. Barry Humphries was born on 17 February 1934 in Melbourne, Australia. He is a noted Australian actor and comedian. Humphries nick name was 'Bazza'. Other than acting Barry Humphries also wrote comic strips. His comic strip Barry McKenzie about Australian living in London appeared in the magazine Private Eye. His nick name Bazza gave Australian slang wide distribution, particularly jokes on drinking and its results, much of which was created by Humphries himself. His childhood set the stage for his eventual career of an actor. Barry's father spent little time with him so he spent a lot of his time playing disguise in his backyard. His parent called him Sunny Sam. During his teens he began to go against the constraints of conservative suburban life and became artistic. When he was nine Humphries' mother gave all his books to the Salvation Army. This event led him to becoming a collector of rare books, a reader, a theatre fan and a painter. He dressed in a black cloak and black homburg and invented his first character, "Dr Aaron Azimuth". Barry was educated at Camberwell Grammar School. He was also sent to Melbourne Grammar School where he matriculated with excellent results in Art and English. Later he spent two years studying law, fine arts and philosophy at the University of Melbourne. During this time he became a part of Dada, the deconstructive and absurdist art movement. The Dadaist performances and pranks have become a part of Australian folklore. After leaving university he joined the newly formed Melbourne theatre company. It was now that he created the first version of his most famous character Edna Everage. The old fashioned housewife originally created as a character of Australian suburban narrow-mindedness, evolved over forty years to become a flamboyantly dressed, internationally acclaimed star, Dame Edna Everage. Humphries' other humorous characters include, nephew of Dame Edna, Barry McKenzie which went on to become a legendary comic strip hero. Sir Les Patterson, who has not only contributed to the Australian vernacular but also borrowed from it. An underground film-maker from the 1960's Martin Agrippa, a trade union official Lance Boyle, a failed tycoon Owen Steele and an art salesman Morrie O'Connor. Later, Humphries moved to Sydney and joined Sydney's Philip Street Revue Theatre. He appeared in Australia's first ever production of Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, as Estragon. In the 1960s Humphries settled in London, where he became friends with leading artists from the British comedy scene including Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Willie Rushton and the like. While in London he

Personal Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Personal Philosophy - Essay Example It is an imperative effort to ensure a keen and meticulous understanding of the behaviour and inclinations of infants and toddlers in order to come up with more effective and profound methods and approaches of providing learning and care to infants and toddlers. This piece of article shall present a personal philosophy that will concentrate more on the different topics related to infant and toddler learning and care. It shall provide relatively intended recommendations on how to improve the existing methods of training up infants and toddlers. This shall discuss on the manifold factors that affect and influence the learning process and care involving infants and toddlers. Also, an elaboration on child’s important participation in carrying out the steps drawn out from the personal philosophy will be provided as well. It is my ardent belief that early childhood development learning and care should be provided at places wherein these young individuals will be given the ability to hook up with the world and would trigger their earliest possible environmental consciousness that will help them to grow and improve their learning process. It is highly important that while infants and toddlers need to make a connection with the natural world most on their own, it is likewise important to make sure that training centers for infants and toddlers should provide an environment that is safe, amicable and full of love and care. They should be exposed in an environment where they can feel that they are loved and cared. The eventual or future personality and attitude of our children is heavily contingent to how they were trained when they were still young. Seen this way, it would be a significant step to employ a type of teaching that would help them develop their self-confidence that will surely help them beco me active learners. It is my

Social Networking Sites Privacy does not exist anymore Essay

Social Networking Sites Privacy does not exist anymore - Essay Example The employers in some organizations monitor the postings related to the workplace that the employees post in the online forums. The employers do this in order to discipline their staff and make them abstain from any immoral behavior. It is a practice in some companies that the articles or the photographs are checked with the senior management staffs before being posted online. If after screening they are considered unfit for public sharing, then they are not put up on the social sites and other online forums. In this process, it is ensured that the company’s image and reputation are maintained while it makes promotions to fuel its performance. The negativities.The users should be cautious while putting any information on the social networking sites. Often, the employers make a detailed search for the candidate they are going to hire. Here a debate is existent about whether it is ethical to learn details about a prospective candidate by going through the profiles of the candida te on the social sites, such as the Facebook or the MySpace. However, the users should be aware of the possibility of their profiles being vied by their prospective recruiters. The contents posted online reveal lots of information about the person which a purposefully crafted resume does not contain.Besides, the employees face problems in their job front for behaving injudiciously on the online communities. In an incident, the hospital staff has been found to post obscene pictures on the social sites.... Here a debate is existent about whether it is ethical to learn details about a prospective candidate by going through the profiles of the candidate in the social sites, such as the Face book or the MySpace. However, the users should be aware of the possibility of their profiles being vied by their prospective recruiters. The contents posted online reveal lots of information about the person which a purposefully crafted resume does not contain. Besides, the employees face problems in their job front for behaving injudiciously on the online communities. In an incident the hospital staff has been found to post obscene pictures in the social sites. The management of the organization in which they worked found the incident and suspended all the employees involved in the incident. Confidentiality issues with the social networking sites Every day several news appear in the media channels revealing the unscrupulous use of the internet. The social networking sites provide the people with the opportunity of sharing the updates of their daily activities with their friends and close ones. They can upload pictures, put status updates and can comment on the posts of the other connections. This apparently is harmless and is done with the sole intention of communicating with the known people. But these on the other hand lead to misuse of the social platform. Face book and privacy issues The face book grew in popularity initially due to the privacy it offered and the professional looking visual effect (Golden, 2010). The posts made on the Face book contain various kinds of information that are visible to the contacts. The people can tag their friends on the pictures uploaded to the albums in the account. Some of these contacts are