Historical And Contemporary Examples Of Moral Panic Criminology Essay

Historical And Contemporary Examples Of Moral Panic Criminology Essay Mods, rockers, teddy boys, Muslims, the Irish, Hoodys, gangster rap, hip hop, raves, ecstasy, Victorian garrotters, muggers, video games, gang culture, the Miners, single mothers, children, benefit scroungers and an infinite more have been victims of moral panics. Fundamentally, the concept of moral panic is a tool that is utilised to maintain the social order. Moral panics are an inaccurate or exaggerated accounts of events that are applied to issues that stand outside of the dominant norms and values of society, in an attempt to shape public opinion about an issue, or a type of individual, or a certain group of people which in turn constructs negative identities and behaviours as being located outside of the moral boundaries. This often results in behaviours being criminalised. It also leads to laws and justice being redefined in the light of a moral panic. The most obvious one in terms of redefining the law is the trial-by-media case of the James Bulger murder by two-ten-year-old boys who through moral panic, shaped opinion which justified and legitimised the age to be tried as an adult be reduced to ten. Drawing first on Stanley Cohens deviancy amplification spiral model I will contextualise moral panic in various contexts to provide evidence that moral panics are nothing new and are still a powerful method for maintaining the social order by stigmatising identities and defining the moral boundaries. On Whitsun bank holiday in the 1960s in Clacton, a journalist observed a minor scuffle between the Mods in their Mo-hair suits and the leather-clad Rockers. However, this minor dispute was a very different event according to the reports the following day that the severity hit filled the headlines of national papers; The Daily Express; Beat Up Town 97 Leather Jacket Arrests, The Daily Mirror; Wild Ones Invade Seaside 97 Arrests, in Belgium; West Side Story on the English Coast as the story took the mass media by storm on a global scale (Cohen, 2002:18). Such deviancy was amplified as what was fast becoming a youth subculture spiralled out of control thus leading to this initial myth becoming a reality providing justification for the negative label attached as these skirmishes turned to riots on the beaches thereby becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy in the media and subsequently saw the subcultural gangs increasing rivalry. Similarly, the 1970s produced moral panics surrounding race and ethnicity as the negative stigma attached to Irishmen began to be linked with terrorism and subsequently treated disproportionately in the media. This occurs today towards Muslims who are the focus of intrigue, suspicion and fear following 9/11 attacks in the U.S.A. This is discursively rooted in the fear of the Other from the early 1970s which defined and constructed a new crime mugging and the falsified criminal identity of mugger which were young black men (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson and Clarke, 1978:74). The headline A Judge Cracks Down on Muggers In City of Fear led Hall et al. to argue that the only actors privy to information are the police, the media and the ventriloquist of a Judge upholding the moral framework thus the primary definers are the first-hand and only eye-witness to the said crime (The Daily Mirror, 26 September, 1972 in Hall et al. 1978:75). In sentencing the three (innocent) black youths to three y ears the judge said it was in the public interest as a deterrent measure. The Daily Mirrors editorial supported this claiming that Judge Hines is right if mugging is not to get out of hand as it has in America, punishment must be sharp and certain. This moral panic justified new policies giving police the right to stop and search young black men without due reason. In protest, this spiralled into riots which justified the moral panic as a reality and legitimised the subsequent disproportionate black male over-representation in prison. Thompson claimed the underlying reason for this false construction was to distract public attention away from Britains serious economic downturn which was said to be on the edge of bankruptcy (Thompson, 1997:46).Thus moral panics became attributed to a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests (Cohen, 1972:9, cited by Hall et al, 1978:16). The underpinning of moral panic as the articulation of the political, the judicial and the media was toward social control of anything that fell out of alignment with the dominant norms. Britains exceptionally high rate of moral panic is therefore a political and moral programme created to re-regulate social change specific to social pluralism and fragmentation of identity. Furthermore, moral panics are created when a serious national, political or economic issue needs to be masked as in the stereotyping of black youths and more recently Muslims. Trial by media notably increased in the 1980s and 1990s highlighting the enormity of political implications in terms of the Othering of diverse identities, aided by global media moguls like Rupert Murdoch. However, the tensions between enterprise and heritage undermined the extent to which audiences interpret representations of news or entertainment. While many would be happy to disagree, Thompson argues from the right-wing stance the positi ves of The Sun newspaper, which represents white working class Britain, overtly supported the ideologies of the New Right thus manipulating its readers to re-elect the Conservative party until 1997 (Thompson, 1997:47). Parents who act god like with their childrens life underpins parents moral panic of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) when torn between the damage caused by measles, and the autism said to be inherent in the MMR vaccine. Similarly, moral panic surrounds the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination to prevent a type of cervical cancer in women. Anxiety was exacerbated following the death of a fourteen-year-old who health experts say had a major underlying complication. Yet the alternative is allowing a daughter to contract cancer. Whatever stands outside of the dominant norms that define natural, normal and moral is vulnerable to moral panic (Thompson, 1998:72). Homosexuality is no exception and the moral panic surrounding HIV and Aids threw aside all taboos when mediating exaggerated tales that blamed a highly promiscuous gay culture. Prostitutes and drug addicts sharing needles posed an equal threat as by 1995, 75 per cent were infected via heterosexual transmission (World Health Organisation; in Benson, 1997:152). Benson argues that although stigma of HIV and AIDs is prevalent everywhere, in western societies it attaches to a particular stigmatised identity such as an addict, a prostitute or a gay man which is subsequently classified as symbolic by association and not accidental as in other locations such as Africa. Ultimately, it elevated anxieties as the risk of partners being secretly bisexual, unfaithful or gay. These anxieties were imbedded in media portrayals of the disease thereby creating an epidemi c of signification (Treichler, 1987, in Benson, 1997:153). This anxiety was well-founded as by the end of 2008, women represented 50% of the 33.1 million infected adults worldwide (http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm). Again, moral panic surrounding sexual deviance is not a new phenomenon as syphilis was rife in the Victorian era alongside the Victorian gin drinkers which can be likened to the binge drinkers of today. Drugs also form contemporary moral panics, this time Ecstasy which emanated from the death of Leah Betts, daughter of a police officer. As Daly (1997) reports the campaign that emerged took form in giant posters with a smiling Leah and the words Sorted as well as a picture of Leah on her deathbed. This circulated to all the national press to convey the harms of ecstasy, despite coroners reports claiming ecstasy was not a cause to her death. Soon after, musician Brian Harvey became the scapegoat when claiming he enjoyed Ecstasy which promptly saw to the demise of the musical band East 17. This was despite research by BBCs Horizon team proving that alcohol, tobacco and even aspirin are more dangerous than ecstasy and that if these were rated within the ABC classification, alcohol would become a Class A drug (Horizon, 2008, Ecstasy or Alcohol www.bbc.co.uk). Alcohol underpins moral panics surrounding the Street Rats, as defined by one teenagers description of the Bluewater shopping centres stereotypical drinking, smoking, swearing Hoody (Barkham, The Guardian, 14th May 2005). Britains youth are constantly demonised and alienated by ongoing moral panics that have justified the installation of pigeon alarms in shopping centres which send out a low frequency noise that only the under-25s can hear thus driving youths out of the area, in which they once congregated (Barnett, 2006, in Mooney and Talbot, 2010:49). The demise of youth clubs, recreation centres and prohibition from parks renders young people with nowhere to go. There is no coincidence therefore that moral panic coupled with increasing policing and surveillance has justified the current incarceration of 60,000 children throughout Britain (Goldson and Coles, 2005:1). Alongside stern penalties for the parents of truanting children and antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) are the demonization of parents of teenage mothers. The Williams sisters all got pregnant during school, with the first being just twelve (The Evening Standard, 23rd May, 2005). The other two daughters were fourteen and sixteen respectively followed suit and all shared the three bedroom house with their divorced mother who blamed school-based sex education. The moral panic focused on their collective annual receipt of thirty thousand pounds in benefits and absence of financial support from the fathers. Currently in todays society the mediating of moral panics have taken on new forms like TV chat shows such as Jeremy Kyle and Trisha. Ultimately, moral panics are deployed in an attempt to divert attention from the inequalities both structural and material that are inherent within neo-liberal societies such as the UK (Drake, Muncie Westmarland, 2010:27). Thus they target on the less privileged in society and seem to ignore the seemingly untouchable elite members of parliament who are proven to have transcended moral boundaries when stealing tax payers hard-earned money when fiddling their expenses as revealed through much publicised unravelling throughout 2009. In conclusion, the evidence above reveals that moral panics are not a new phenomena as they have been a tool utilised to negatively construct stigmatised identities in conjunction with media and political rhetoric that shapes public opinion, that justifies the subsequent policies that discursively marginalise such social groups to prevent the normalisation of such deviance that would drain society. Many think it is a strange world that prefers children and young people to be cold and no longer wrap up warm to avoid being demonised or arrested for loitering in charge of a Hoody an item of clothing. It is dangerous when making parents gamble on their childrens lives. Nevertheless, when analysing society in relation to moral panic, it just goes to show that the deregulated press are able to write anything about minority groups in society that demonises, targets, punishes and criminalises discursively according to class, race, gender, age, religion and sexuality. Overall it would appear that moral panic is not a new concept; it has been around for centuries with people accepting it as societys aberrant ways. Today we have given it a name, but it does not alter the fact that it is nothing new. Bibliography-Moral Panic is nothing new. Discuss this statement using historical and contemporary examples of moral panic. Word Count 1,843 Barnett, L, 2006 We Are Not Pigeons in the Borehamwood Elstree Times, 9th March, 2006 Benson, S, 1997, The Body, Health and Eating Disorders in Woodward, K. 1997 Identity and Difference, London, Routledge. Cohen, S, 2002, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, 2nd Edition 2002, London, Routledge. Drake, D., Muncie, J. Westmarland, L, 2009, Criminal Justice: Local and Global, Devon, Willan Publishing Goldson, B. Coles, D, 2005, In the Care of the State, London, Inquest. Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J. Roberts, B, 1978, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-18811322-teenage-mothers-on-30000-of-benefits.do http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ecstasy-and-leah-betts-the-bouncers-tale-1266192.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/may/14/ukcrime.immigrationpolicy Mooney, G. Talbot, D, 2010 Global Cities, Segregation and Transgression, in Muncie, J., Talbot, D. Walters, R Crime: Local and Global, Devon, Willan Publishing Thompson, K, 1998, Moral Panics, London, Routledge. Treichler, P, 1987, AIDS, Homophobia and Biomedical Discourse: An Epidemic of Signification, Cultural Studies Vol.1, No.43, pp.31-70

Antigone Essay :: essays research papers fc

All true Greek tragedies were written using the same basic set of characteristics. One such characteristic was that all the characters were of nobility. This was to ensure that their fall from grace would be greater to those watching the play in action. Another characteristic of all Greek tragedies is that they were written in poetic form, as this was the style of writing at the time. There were also always almost constant references to the gods and to matters of fate. And it was the ever-present chorus who made a great deal of these references. One of the most important characteristics of the Greek tragedy was that the hero of the play always had a fatal flaw which proved not only to be their downfall but the cause of destruction of all those around them. Sophocles play â€Å"Antigone† is a wonderful example of the Greek tragedy because it encompasses all these characteristics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The major characters in the play are all nobility in some form or another. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Iocaste the former king and queen which makes her a princess (Scene 2, Lines 1-2) (Scene 4, Lines 36-44). She is also the sister of Ismene (Prologue, Lines 1&7) which makes her a princess as well. The ruling king of Thebes at the time is King Creon (Prologue, Line 6). He has a wife Eurydice who is queen (Exodus, Line 25-26) and a son Haimon who is the prince (Exodus, Lines 64-68). The reason that the characters were all forms of nobility is to make their fall from grace and or powers seem even greater and harder for them to bear. This was designed to be uplifting to the common peoples of ancient Greece.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like other play that were written at this point in time Sophocles wrote his play â€Å"Antigone† in poetic form. This can be seen in various places throughout the play (Parados, Line 1-7). And although some of its poetic form is lost in the translation of the play from ancient Greek to Modern English, it is still evident primarily when the chorus is explaining the passage of time (Scene 4, Lines 33-36). Or describing a battle to the audience (Parados, Lines 34-38).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Antigone is also full of references to the gods and to fate (Exodus, Lines 3-6) and how it has affected specific character’s lives. The chorus made a large amount of these references themselves, when talking about the gods (Ode 2, Lines 13-18) and to fate (Ode 2, Lines 25-28).

whats good without evil Essay -- essays research papers

Without Evil What’s Good   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"If my devils are to leave me, I am afraid my angels will take flight as well.† Rainer Maria Rilke wrote this to explain the nature of humanity. He expressed his views on human behavior and how humans think. Without evil, one does not know exactly what goodness is. Everyone possesses good and evil qualities. For they are balanced and create stability in everyone. If the one doesn’t exist then humans would not be able to differentiate or comprehend whether their actions are right or wrong. In our nature life always presents two sides of a situation therefore, making us act and think the way we do every day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning of the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, there is a theme of society in which the boys begin to show order. Problems occur based on the sinful nature of man in desperate conditions. Jack and his hunters greatly illustrate the evil in human nature. Most of the story is made of the battle between good and evil through symbolism. While Ralph represented the good of the boys, Jack symbolized evil. Order is a great part of human behavior since it allows people to act upon rules and values. Ralph and Simon conducted order by guiding the boys. They built shelters and fires in order to stay civilized. As the novel began, they had rules and concerns and acted like civilized people who had some sort of governmental atmosphere. Ralph decided to choose a leader and every once in a while they would call assemblies. Ralph always seemed like the calmer on, but as time progressed he began to show his savage side towards Jacks group. At first, Jack woul d never think about killing a baby pig, yet later discover he is the first to turn into a savage hunter. Society was taken away from them and therefore they lost their values and innocent thoughts and began killing the other boys. Without knowing what bad was, none of them would feel guilty of what happened on their stay at the island. There is a great struggle between savage and civilization as the two groups of boys argue and try to live on their own until they are rescued.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the same way, the novel Grendel, by John Gardner, reinforces the fact of evil and good in people. Grendel had both characteristics of human and of monster. He acts like a child and has the heart of one, ye... ...small occurrence could change someone and their bad side will automatically arise within them. Dick experienced inner conflicts within himself with the fact of being a black man and anything was able to strike his inner anger. He began committing crimes and killing people in his town. The mystery of his background and the reason he shot people symbolizes that evil is all around and nothing can stop it once it hits. Dick’s new personality shocked the boys to see how someone so nice and kind could turn out to be so uncivilized after all. No matter how pure and civilized someone seems to be, the â€Å"other† side eternally exists. Inevitably, all people must have the sense of right and wrong, angel and devil, in order to go through life and understand the meaning of it. Without knowing the good, the bad will not exist and vice versa. In humans the quality of dual nature exists. Each work of art will always have these views in characters because it shows how people think. Though Jack and Grendel were perceived as the devilish characters, they both had a sense of pureness. All were created with two consciences for learning through experience and observation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

The History Boys Comedy Essay

The History Boys Essay 13. â€Å"Brilliantly funny†¦. but by the end, tears are as near as laughter. † To what extent can we read The History boys as comedy? One of the key factors that makes the History Boys such an iconic play is its witty comedic effect throughout the entire book. Using various techniques, such as parody, contrasting characters and clever juxtapositions within the plot, intelligent metaphors, bathos and many more.But at first glance the history boys could seem a typical dramatic themed book with a group of characters restricted almost entirely to a single location and a short period of time however looking deeper into the play you begin to notice the comedy reveal before your eyes. Within Hector’s French lesson, the juxtaposition of Hector’s character immediately contrasts that of the headmasters as soon as he walks in.Hector’s strangeness and open-minded character contrasted with the headmaster’s strict adherence to rules, regulations and formality with Hector interrupting the headmaster’s dialogue â€Å"Mr Hector, I hope I’m not. . . † with the informal gesture that is â€Å"an admonitory finger. † The use of the â€Å"admonitory† there comically reverses the power balance between the two characters, with Hector playfully showing that he has authority in his lessons, much to the shock of the headmaster who feels both humiliated and challenged enough to try and speak French and keep up with the students.The Headmaster finds difficulty in speaking French, having to hesitate and show non- fluency features in â€Å"Pourqoui cet garcon . . . Dakin , isn’t it? . . .est sans ses trousers? † having to switch back to English with simple words â€Å"trousers† for lack of knowledge showing low confidence which brings amusement to the boys and to the audience. The headmaster is a subject of mockery because of his unlikable character.This unlikable character is emphasised later in the book with the Headmaster using the word â€Å"silliness† to describe the exercise that Hector had made the boys take part in and then taking back what he had said, saying â€Å"not silliness† showing that he is hypocritical with what he says to the boys in order to encourage them with their studies, which he only says to allow himself to have his school higher up in the league tables â€Å"Yes, yes. I know that, Dorothy. But I am thinking league tables. Furthermore the fact the French scene is allowed to go ahead in lessons demonstrates the boys and Hector are willing to cheekily challenge and mock authority figures with their intelligence, all knowing French to a better degree than the Headmaster. The use of â€Å"ma tante! † creates bathos for the pretend character with â€Å"tante† showing desperation for ideas to keep the lie going. The following questioning â€Å"sa tante? † by the Headmaster and Timms’ repl y of â€Å"la famille entiere† as if the headmaster missed something embarrassingly obvious adds to the comedy because the boys team up with each other to justify and ridicule the headmaster.Irwin’s unexpected input of â€Å"Il est commotionne, peut-etre? † is another example of Bennett’s clever character juxtapositions but also of using unexpected events to contrast what was being done before it, with the stage directions of â€Å"the classroom falls silent† suggesting that the boys’ found it rude and out of place for Irwin to but in. The language â€Å"fall silent† contrasts with the hectic and the loud situation that occurred before it, using Irwin’s awkwardness to change the tone of the scene. Hector not knowing what the word means and using the interrogative â€Å"comment? † adds to this awkwardness.There are many important scenes throughout this book where you can feel the comedy seeping through even though some ma y say it shouldn’t be used while writing about certain topics, including the scene in which Hector and the Head master are discussing the matter of â€Å"a man†¦fiddling. † In this scene I really agree with the question in whether the history boys is seen as a comedy as you can’t help but thinking Bennet may have used some of the characters personality traits to bring a humorous feel to a dark subject but not to make an audience laugh out loud necessary but instead to make them feel uncomfortable with inappropriate laughter. Ah think† Hector once again in the book uses his quick wit and intelligence to frustrate the headmaster giving a sarcastic response to a question the headmaster clearly wants answering and for him not to use his poetry and intelligence to get him out of a situation as he normally would do so. â€Å"I have no idea. What women know or don’t know has always been a mystery to me. † using the word women hector tries to re late to the audience and make a remark about men and women in general, suggesting that does any man know what women do or don’t know which may have been intended to make the audience laugh and leave them wondering hy Hector isn’t taking this matter seriously and is instead making jokes, showing how time and having a modern audience viewing this brings shock to us as issues such as this would been taking much more seriously and probably involved police but the headmaster is more worried about how the school may come across if he has to fire Hector then the actual behaviour that he has displayed â€Å" I do not want to sack you. It’s so untidy. The use of historically details of a war battle is another way Bennett creates humour in the play but is also Bennet showing off how the boys will use their intelligence in almost all situations even sex, using â€Å"around 23:00 hours our forces withdrew† as metaphorical euphemisms for Dakin’s activities wit h Fiona, here bennet uses contrast in showing the not so exciting historical details with the exciting details of his own sex life. Bathos is applied when Dakin breaks off from his metaphor and uses the word â€Å"tits† and then cuts back into using his military jargon such as â€Å"front-line troops† and â€Å"territory. As Dakin goes further and further into detail Scripps makes a final comment on the matter â€Å"I can’t take any more. Enough† adds a final touch of humour to the matter as the audience can tell that Scripp’s is both jealous and disgusted at what he is hearing. Also highlighting the fact that he is deeply religious but also a teenager and the contradiction between the two of wanting to have sex and not wanting to displease God by doing so. The use of a historical metaphor is showing just how the boys will use anything that they can to make an intelligent joke.One of the history boy’s many strengths is its portrayal of the various individuals in the play. Using extremely contrasting personalities emphasizes the individuality and purpose of each character. One character that specifically stands out is Dakin, possibly the most socially dominant boy of the class and one of the most comical characters, helping the history boys to be seen as a comedy rather then a drama. Dakin is popular boy in his class, even in the whole school. He is, extremely witty.He is the most complicated and mysterious character throughout the play and only shows what’s on the surface, he does not show his emotions but his main purpose is to use his wit and desire to entertain and amuse the people around him. Even Mrs. Lintott says that he is â€Å". † Instead of being bad or naughty like normal teenagers, he plays with others and tests the people around him to create a comedic effect. We can see it through his â€Å"love† story. Even though he has a relationship with Fiona, a chool staff, he flirts with Irwin for he thinks that Irwin might be homosexual and would like to go out having some drink with him he might be bisexual yet, he does that just for fun, just for saying thank to Irwin, and just for answering his curiosity about Irwin’s way of life. There is also another funny scene later on in the play where the boys receive a piece of work from Irwin. Dakin is annoyed to find he hasn’t receives a good mark off his teacher which he longs to impress.Scripps comments on how his writing has changed to be like Irwin’s, Dakin denies it but then Posner, who has always had a crush on him, says â€Å"you copy him and I know because I copy you. † It shows another comedic moment in the book because it shows how Posner’s complete obsession with Dakin And how the other boys can just dismiss this behaviour as normal to them suggesting that the environment they grow up in has a lot of unusual behaviour in it.This is fundamentally a very funny book. The level of qu ickness of wit displayed definitely suggest that the history boys is a comedy with no doubt and that Bennets main aim was to show the lifestyle of A level adolescents making their final steps to adulthood before university with many serious and controversial subjects throughout using humour to allow these matters to be downplayed and create a fascinating and a memorable book. WORD COUNT : 1499 (minus the title and question quote)

A Game of Thrones Chapter Twenty-four

Bran In the yard below, Rickon ran with the wolves. Bran watched from his window seat. Wherever the boy went, Grey Wind was there first, loping ahead to cut him off, until Rickon saw him, screamed in delight, and went pelting off in another direction. Shaggydog ran at his heels, spinning and snapping if the other wolves came too close. His fur had darkened until he was all black, and his eyes were green fire. Bran's Summer came last. He was silver and smoke, with eyes of yellow gold that saw all there was to see. Smaller than Grey Wind, and more wary. Bran thought he was the smartest of the litter. He could hear his brother's breathless laughter as Rickon dashed across the hard-packed earth on little baby legs. His eyes stung. He wanted to be down there, laughing and running. Angry at the thought, Bran knuckled away the tears before they could fall. His eighth name day had come and gone. He was almost a man grown now, too old to cry. â€Å"It was just a lie,† he said bitterly, remembering the crow from his dream. â€Å"I can't fly. I can't even run.† â€Å"Crows are all liars,† Old Nan agreed, from the chair where she sat doing her needlework. â€Å"I know a story about a crow.† â€Å"I don't want any more stories,† Bran snapped, his voice petulant. He had liked Old Nan and her stories once. Before. But it was different now. They left her with him all day now, to watch over him and clean him and keep him from being lonely, but she just made it worse. â€Å"I hate your stupid stories.† The old woman smiled at him toothlessly. â€Å"My stories? No, my little lord, not mine. The stories are, before me and after me, before you too.† She was a very ugly old woman, Bran thought spitefully; shrunken and wrinkled, almost blind, too weak to climb stairs, with only a few wisps of white hair left to cover a mottled pink scalp. No one really knew how old she was, but his father said she'd been called Old Nan even when he was a boy. She was the oldest person in Winterfell for certain, maybe the oldest person in the Seven Kingdoms. Nan had come to the castle as a wet nurse for a Brandon Stark whose mother had died birthing him. He had been an older brother of Lord Rickard, Bran's grandfather, or perhaps a younger brother, or a brother to Lord Rickard's father. Sometimes Old Nan told it one way and sometimes another. In all the stories the little boy died at three of a summer chill, but Old Nan stayed on at Winterfell with her own children. She had lost both her sons to the war when King Robert won the throne, and her grandson was killed on the walls of Pyke during Balon Greyjoy's rebellion. Her daughters had long ago marr ied and moved away and died. All that was left of her own blood was Hodor, the simpleminded giant who worked in the stables, but Old Nan just lived on and on, doing her needlework and telling her stories. â€Å"I don't care whose stories they are,† Bran told her, â€Å"I hate them.† He didn't want stories and he didn't want Old Nan. He wanted his mother and father. He wanted to go running with Summer loping beside him. He wanted to climb the broken tower and feed corn to the crows. He wanted to ride his pony again with his brothers. He wanted it to be the way it had been before. â€Å"I know a story about a boy who hated stories,† Old Nan said with her stupid little smile, her needles moving all the while, click click click, until Bran was ready to scream at her. It would never be the way it had been, he knew. The crow had tricked him into flying, but when he woke up he was broken and the world was changed. They had all left him, his father and his mother and his sisters and even his bastard brother Jon. His father had promised he would ride a real horse to King's Landing, but they'd gone without him. Maester Luwin had sent a bird after Lord Eddard with a message, and another to Mother and a third to Jon on the Wall, but there had been no answers. â€Å"Ofttimes the birds are lost, child,† the maester had told him. â€Å"There's many a mile and many a hawk between here and King's Landing, the message may not have reached them.† Yet to Bran it felt as if they had all died while he had slept . . . or perhaps Bran had died, and they had forgotten him. Jory and Ser Rodrik and Vayon Poole had gone too, and Hullen and Harwin and Fat Tom and a quarter of the guard. Only Robb and baby Rickon were still here, and Robb was changed. He was Robb the Lord now, or trying to be. He wore a real sword and never smiled. His days were spent drilling the guard and practicing his swordplay, making the yard ring with the sound of steel as Bran watched forlornly from his window. At night he closeted himself with Maester Luwin, talking or going over account books. Sometimes he would ride out with Hallis Mollen and be gone for days at a time, visiting distant holdfasts. Whenever he was away more than a day, Rickon would cry and ask Bran if Robb was ever coming back. Even when he was home at Winterfell, Robb the Lord seemed to have more time for Hallis Mollen and Theon Greyjoy than he ever did for his brothers. â€Å"I could tell you the story about Brandon the Builder,† Old Nan said. â€Å"That was always your favorite.† Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head. â€Å"That's not my favorite,† he said. â€Å"My favorites were the scary ones.† He heard some sort of commotion outside and turned back to the window. Rickon was running across the yard toward the gatehouse, the wolves following him, but the tower faced the wrong way for Bran to see what was happening. He smashed a fist on his thigh in frustration and felt nothing. â€Å"Oh, my sweet summer child,† Old Nan said quietly, â€Å"what do you know of fear? Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods.† â€Å"You mean the Others,† Bran said querulously. â€Å"The Others,† Old Nan agreed. â€Å"Thousands and thousands of years ago, a winter fell that was cold and hard and endless beyond all memory of man. There came a night that lasted a generation, and kings shivered and died in their castles even as the swineherds in their hovels. Women smothered their children rather than see them starve, and cried, and felt their tears freeze on their cheeks.† Her voice and her needles fell silent, and she glanced up at Bran with pale, filmy eyes and asked, â€Å"So, child. This is the sort of story you like?† â€Å"Well,† Bran said reluctantly, â€Å"yes, only . . . â€Å" Old Nan nodded. â€Å"In that darkness, the Others came for the first time,† she said as her needles went click click click. â€Å"They were cold things, dead things, that hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every creature with hot blood in its veins. They swept over holdfasts and cities and kingdoms, felled heroes and armies by the score, riding their pale dead horses and leading hosts of the slain. All the swords of men could not stay their advance, and even maidens and suckling babes found no pity in them. They hunted the maids through frozen forests, and fed their dead servants on the flesh of human children.† Her voice had dropped very low, almost to a whisper, and Bran found himself leaning forward to listen. â€Å"Now these were the days before the Andals came, and long before the women fled across the narrow sea from the cities of the Rhoyne, and the hundred kingdoms of those times were the kingdoms of the First Men, who had taken these lands from the children of the forest. Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch. So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog, and a dozen companions. For years he searched, until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him, and came silen t on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—† The door opened with a bang, and Bran's heart leapt up into his mouth in sudden fear, but it was only Maester Luwin, with Hodor looming in the stairway behind him. â€Å"Hodor!† the stableboy announced, as was his custom, smiling hugely at them all. Maester Luwin was not smiling. â€Å"We have visitors,† he announced, â€Å"and your presence is required, Bran.† â€Å"I'm listening to a story now,† Bran complained. â€Å"Stories wait, my little lord, and when you come back to them, why, there they are,† Old Nan said. â€Å"Visitors are not so patient, and ofttimes they bring stories of their own.† â€Å"Who is it?† Bran asked Maester Luwin. â€Å"Tyrion Lannister, and some men of the Night's Watch, with word from your brother Jon. Robb is meeting with them now. Hodor, will you help Bran down to the hall?† â€Å"Hodor!† Hodor agreed happily. He ducked to get his great shaggy head under the door. Hodor was nearly seven feet tall. It was hard to believe that he was the same blood as Old Nan. Bran wondered if he would shrivel up as small as his great-grandmother when he was old. It did not seem likely, even if Hodor lived to be a thousand. Hodor lifted Bran as easy as if he were a bale of hay, and cradled him against his massive chest. He always smelled faintly of horses, but it was not a bad smell. His arms were thick with muscle and matted with brown hair. â€Å"Hodor,† he said again. Theon Greyjoy had once commented that Hodor did not know much, but no one could doubt that he knew his name. Old Nan had cackled like a hen when Bran told her that, and confessed that Hodor's real name was Walder. No one knew where â€Å"Hodor† had come from, she said, but when he started saying it, they started calling him by it. It was the only word he had. They left Old Nan in the tower room with her needles and her memories. Hodor hummed tunelessly as he carried Bran down the steps and through the gallery, with Maester Luwin following behind, hurrying to keep up with the stableboy's long strides. Robb was seated in Father's high seat, wearing ringmail and boiled leather and the stern face of Robb the Lord. Theon Greyjoy and Hallis Mollen stood behind him. A dozen guardsmen lined the grey stone walls beneath tall narrow windows. In the center of the room the dwarf stood with his servants, and four strangers in the black of the Night's Watch. Bran could sense the anger in the hall the moment that Hodor carried him through the doors. â€Å"Any man of the Night's Watch is welcome here at Winterfell for as long as he wishes to stay,† Robb was saying with the voice of Robb the Lord. His sword was across his knees, the steel bare for all the world to see. Even Bran knew what it meant to greet a guest with an unsheathed sword. â€Å"Any man of the Night's Watch,† the dwarf repeated, â€Å"but not me, do I take your meaning, boy?† Robb stood and pointed at the little man with his sword. â€Å"I am the lord here while my mother and father are away, Lannister. I am not your boy.† â€Å"If you are a lord, you might learn a lord's courtesy,† the little man replied, ignoring the sword point in his face. â€Å"Your bastard brother has all your father's graces, it would seem.† â€Å"Jon,† Bran gasped out from Hodor's arms. The dwarf turned to look at him. â€Å"So it is true, the boy lives. I could scarce believe it. You Starks are hard to kill.† â€Å"You Lannisters had best remember that,† Robb said, lowering his sword. â€Å"Hodor, bring my brother here.† â€Å"Hodor,† Hodor said, and he trotted forward smiling and set Bran in the high seat of the Starks, where the Lords of Winterfell had sat since the days when they called themselves the Kings in the North. The seat was cold stone, polished smooth by countless bottoms; the carved heads of direwolves snarled on the ends of its massive arms. Bran clasped them as he sat, his useless legs dangling. The great seat made him feel half a baby. Robb put a hand on his shoulder. â€Å"You said you had business with Bran. Well, here he is, Lannister.† Bran was uncomfortably aware of Tyrion Lannister's eyes. One was black and one was green, and both were looking at him, studying him, weighing him. â€Å"I am told you were quite the climber, Bran,† the little man said at last. â€Å"Tell me, how is it you happened to fall that day?† â€Å"I never,† Bran insisted. He never fell, never never never. â€Å"The child does not remember anything of the fall, or the climb that came before it,† said Maester Luwin gently. â€Å"Curious,† said Tyrion Lannister. â€Å"My brother is not here to answer questions, Lannister,† Robb said curtly. â€Å"Do your business and be on your way.† â€Å"I have a gift for you,† the dwarf said to Bran. â€Å"Do you like to ride, boy?† Maester Luwin came forward. â€Å"My lord, the child has lost the use of his legs. He cannot sit a horse.† â€Å"Nonsense,† said Lannister. â€Å"With the right horse and the right saddle, even a cripple can ride.† The word was a knife through Bran's heart. He felt tears come unbidden to his eyes. â€Å"I'm not a cripple!† â€Å"Then I am not a dwarf,† the dwarf said with a twist of his mouth. â€Å"My father will rejoice to hear it.† Greyjoy laughed. â€Å"What sort of horse and saddle are you suggesting?† Maester Luwin asked. â€Å"A smart horse,† Lannister replied. â€Å"The boy cannot use his legs to command the animal, so you must shape the horse to the rider, teach it to respond to the reins, to the voice. I would begin with an unbroken yearling, with no old training to be unlearned.† He drew a rolled paper from his belt. â€Å"Give this to your saddler. He will provide the rest.† Maester Luwin took the paper from the dwarfs hand, curious as a small grey squirrel. He unrolled it, studied it. â€Å"I see. You draw nicely, my lord. Yes, this ought to work. I should have thought of this myself.† â€Å"It came easier to me, Maester. It is not terribly unlike my own saddles.† â€Å"Will I truly be able to ride?† Bran asked. He wanted to believe them, but he was afraid. Perhaps it was just another lie. The crow had promised him that he could fly. â€Å"You will,† the dwarf told him. â€Å"And I swear to you, boy, on horseback you will be as tall as any of them.† Robb Stark seemed puzzled. â€Å"Is this some trap, Lannister? What's Bran to you? Why should you want to help him?† â€Å"Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.† Tyrion Lannister placed a hand over his heart and grinned. The door to the yard flew open. Sunlight came streaming across the hall as Rickon burst in, breathless. The direwolves were with him. The boy stopped by the door, wide-eyed, but the wolves came on. Their eyes found Lannister, or perhaps they caught his scent. Summer began to growl first. Grey Wind picked it up. They padded toward the little man, one from the right and one from the left. â€Å"The wolves do not like your smell, Lannister,† Theon Greyioy commented. â€Å"Perhaps it's time I took my leave,† Tyrion said. He took a step backward . . . and Shaggydog came out of the shadows behind him, snarling. Lannister recoiled, and Summer lunged at him from the other side. He reeled away, unsteady on his feet, and Grey Wind snapped at his arm, teeth ripping at his sleeve and tearing loose a scrap of cloth. â€Å"No!† Bran shouted from the high seat as Lannister's men reached for their steel. â€Å"Summer, here. Summer, to me!† The direwolf heard the voice, glanced at Bran, and again at Lannister. He crept backward, away from the little man, and settled down below Bran's dangling feet. Robb had been holding his breath. He let it out with a sigh and called, â€Å"Grey Wind.† His direwolf moved to him, swift and silent. Now there was only Shaggydog, rumbling at the small man, his eyes burning like green fire. â€Å"Rickon, call him,† Bran shouted to his baby brother, and Rickon remembered himself and screamed, â€Å"Home, Shaggy, home now.† The black wolf gave Lannister one final snarl and bounded off to Rickon, who hugged him tightly around the neck. Tyrion Lannister undid his scarf, mopped at his brow, and said in a flat voice, â€Å"How interesting.† â€Å"Are you well, my lord?† asked one of his men, his sword in hand. He glanced nervously at the direwolves as he spoke. â€Å"My sleeve is torn and my breeches are unaccountably damp, but nothing was harmed save my dignity.† Even Robb looked shaken. â€Å"The wolves . . . I don't know why they did that . . . â€Å" â€Å"No doubt they mistook me for dinner.† Lannister bowed stiffly to Bran. â€Å"I thank you for calling them off, young ser. I promise you, they would have found me quite indigestible. And now I will be leaving, truly.† â€Å"A moment, my lord,† Maester Luwin said. He moved to Robb and they huddled close together, whispering. Bran tried to hear what they were saying, but their voices were too low. Robb Stark finally sheathed his sword. â€Å"I . . . I may have been hasty with you,† he said. â€Å"You've done Bran a kindness, and, well . . . † Robb composed himself with an effort. â€Å"The hospitality of Winterfell is yours if you wish it, Lannister.† â€Å"Spare me your false courtesies, boy. You do not love me and you do not want me here. I saw an inn outside your walls, in the winter town. I'll find a bed there, and both of us will sleep easier. For a few coppers I may even find a comely wench to warm the sheets for me.† He spoke to one of the black brothers, an old man with a twisted back and a tangled beard. â€Å"Yoren, we go south at daybreak. You will find me on the road, no doubt.† With that he made his exit, struggling across the hall on his short legs, past Rickon and out the door. His men followed. The four of the Night's Watch remained. Robb turned to them uncertainly. â€Å"I have had rooms prepared, and you'll find no lack of hot water to wash off the dust of the road. I hope you will honor us at table tonight.† He spoke the words so awkwardly that even Bran took note; it was a speech he had learned, not words from the heart, but the black brothers thanked him all the same. Summer followed them up the tower steps as Hodor carried Bran back to his bed. Old Nan was asleep in her chair. Hodor said â€Å"Hodor,† gathered up his great-grandmother, and carried her off, snoring softly, while Bran lay thinking. Robb had promised that he could feast with the Night's Watch in the Great Hall. â€Å"Summer,† he called. The wolf bounded up on the bed. Bran hugged him so hard he could feel the hot breath on his cheek. â€Å"I can ride now,† he whispered to his friend. â€Å"We can go hunting in the woods soon, wait and see.† After a time he slept. In his dream he was climbing again, pulling himself up an ancient windowless tower, his fingers forcing themselves between blackened stones, his feet scrabbling for purchase. Higher and higher he climbed, through the clouds and into the night sky, and still the tower rose before him. When he paused to look down, his head swam dizzily and he felt his fingers slipping. Bran cried out and clung for dear life. The earth was a thousand miles beneath him and he could not fly. He could not fly. He waited until his heart had stopped pounding, until he could breathe, and he began to climb again. There was no way to go but up. Far above him, outlined against a vast pale moon, he thought he could see the shapes of gargoyles. His arms were sore and aching, but he dared not rest. He forced himself to climb faster. The gargoyles watched him ascend. Their eyes glowed red as hot coals in a brazier. Perhaps once they had been lions, but now they were twisted and grotesque. Bran could hear them whispe ring to each other in soft stone voices terrible to hear. He must not listen, he told himself, he must not hear, so long as he did not hear them he was safe. But when the gargoyles pulled themselves loose from the stone and padded down the side of the tower to where Bran clung, he knew he was not safe after all. â€Å"I didn't hear,† he wept as they came closer and closer, â€Å"I didn't, I didn't.† He woke gasping, lost in darkness, and saw a vast shadow looming over him. â€Å"I didn't hear,† he whispered, trembling in fear, but then the shadow said â€Å"Hodor,† and lit the candle by the bedside, and Bran sighed with relief. Hodor washed the sweat from him with a warm, damp cloth and dressed him with deft and gentle hands. When it was time, he carried him down to the Great Hall, where a long trestle table had been set up near the fire. The lord's seat at the head of the table had been left empty, but Robb sat to the right of it, with Bran across from him. They ate suckling pig that night, and pigeon pie, and turnips soaking in butter, and afterward the cook had promised honeycombs. Summer snatched table scraps from Bran's hand, while Grey Wind and Shaggydog fought over a bone in the corner. Winterfell's dogs would not come near the hall now. Bran had found that strange at first, but he was growing used to it. Yoren was senior among the black brothers, so the steward had seated him between Robb and Maester Luwin. The old man had a sour smell, as if he had not washed in a long time. He ripped at the meat with his teeth, cracked the ribs to suck out the marrow from the bones, and shrugged at the mention of Jon Snow. â€Å"Ser Alliser's bane,† he grunted, and two of his companions shared a laugh that Bran did not understand. But when Robb asked for news of their uncle Benjen, the black brothers grew ominously quiet. â€Å"What is it?† Bran asked. Yoren wiped his fingers on his vest. â€Å"There's hard news, m'lords, and a cruel way to pay you for your meat and mead, but the man as asks the question must bear the answer. Stark's gone.† One of the other men said, â€Å"The Old Bear sent him out to look for Waymar Royce, and he's late returning, my lord.† â€Å"Too long,† Yoren said. â€Å"Most like he's dead.† â€Å"My uncle is not dead,† Robb Stark said loudly, anger in his tones. He rose from the bench and laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. â€Å"Do you hear me? My uncle is not dead!† His voice rang against the stone walls, and Bran was suddenly afraid. Old sour-smelling Yoren looked up at Robb, unimpressed. â€Å"Whatever you say, m'lord,† he said. He sucked at a piece of meat between his teeth. The youngest of the black brothers shifted uncomfortably in his seat. â€Å"There's not a man on the Wall knows the haunted forest better than Benjen Stark. He'll find his way back.† â€Å"Well,† said Yoren, â€Å"maybe he will and maybe he won't. Good men have gone into those woods before, and never come out.† All Bran could think of was Old Nan's story of the Others and the last hero, hounded through the white woods by dead men and spiders big as hounds. He was afraid for a moment, until he remembered how that story ended. â€Å"The children will help him,† he blurted, â€Å"the children of the forest!† Theon Greyjoy sniggered, and Maester Luwin said, â€Å"Bran, the children of the forest have been dead and gone for thousands of years. All that is left of them are the faces in the trees.† â€Å"Down here, might be that's true, Maester,† Yoren said, â€Å"but up past the Wall, who's to say? Up there, a man can't always tell what's alive and what's dead.† That night, after the plates had been cleared, Robb carried Bran up to bed himself. Grey Wind led the way, and Summer came close behind. His brother was strong for his age, and Bran was as light as a bundle of rags, but the stairs were steep and dark, and Robb was breathing hard by the time they reached the top. He put Bran into bed, covered him with blankets, and blew out the candle. For a time Robb sat beside him in the dark. Bran wanted to talk to him, but he did not know what to say. â€Å"We'll find a horse for you, I promise,† Robb whispered at last. â€Å"Are they ever coming back?† Bran asked him. â€Å"Yes,† Robb said with such hope in his voice that Bran knew he was hearing his brother and not just Robb the Lord. â€Å"Mother will be home soon. Maybe we can ride out to meet her when she comes. Wouldn't that surprise her, to see you ahorse?† Even in the dark room, Bran could feel his brother's smile. â€Å"And afterward, we'll ride north to see the Wall. We won't even tell Jon we're coming, we'll just be there one day, you and me. It will be an adventure.† â€Å"An adventure,† Bran repeated wistfully. He heard his brother sob. The room was so dark he could not see the tears on Robb's face, so he reached out and found his hand. Their fingers twined together.

Leadership and Management

ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management: |Centre Number: |R31609 | |Centre Name: |Leeds Metropolitan Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Centre | |Student Name: |Alexandra Hunt | |Leeds Met Student ID: |33251825 | |Student Date of Birth: |15/01/1991 | |Student Email Address: |a. [email  protected] leedsmet. ac. uk | |Gender: |Female | |Assessment Summary | | | |This task requires you to develop and demonstrate your skills or potential skills in leading and building an effective team.In order to gain the ILM 3 | |Award in Leadership and Management you will need to complete and pass a number of questions in this short question test. | | | |Note: To complete the task you will need to draw upon your personal experiences in, for example; a part-time job, voluntary work, other groups (e. g. sports| |teams), and leadership you have observed, are familiar with or have read about. |Understanding Leadership Styles | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the factors that will infl uence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations | |Question 1: |Describe 2 factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations (approximately 100 | | |words) | |If the person is in a situation where a decision needs to be made fast for example a paramedic may use an autocratic leadership style due to being in an | |emergency and needing to work objectively and quickly. | |During my 12 months placement I was working as recruitment consultant, a paternalistic leadership style on reflection was what I used when speaking to | |potential candidates, as it involved me using a lot of enthusiasm and persuasion. I need to use perceptive skills in order to pick up how the candidate was| |reacting and if it was a warm lead or a dead cold call. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or negative effect on individual and group behaviour | |Question 2: |Following on from the previous question, please explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or | | |negative effect on individual or group behaviour (approximately 100 words) | |A con of using autocratic leadership style would mean that you may miss good ideas, and does not encourage team work, so often taking on a heavier work | |load yourself as you put the team in a position where they are needing constant supervision and approval from the autocratic leader. |A con of paternalistic leadership is that the selling only lasts as long as you are on the phone or are around for, and some candidates/people are not easy| |selling targets, you also may waste your time persuading them without gaining any commitment – which came across me time and time again when working as a | |recruitment consultant. | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Assess own leadership behaviours and potential in the context of a particular leadership model, using feedback from others | |Question 3: |Assess your own leadership behaviours and potential in relation to a leadership model discussed on the programme.Your reflection | | |should be based on what previous team members have fed back to you (approximately 100 words) | |At university currently we are participating in a module called consultancy project, whereby as group we have to write a report, research and offer | |recommendations to a real life client. Over the 4 months we have had 2 peers assessments and my feedback fits into the empowering leadership style, I have | |gained 100% commitment from the client and my team, I have motivated all my team members giving them guidance and reassurance when writing the report and | |they do trust my decisions that I have made. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe appropriate actions to enhance own leadership behaviour in the context of the particular leadership model | |Question 4: |Describe at least 2 appropriate actions to enhance your own leadersh ip behaviour in the context of a leadership model discussed on | | |the programme (approximately 100 words) | |To enhance my leadership skills I think I firstly need to take a more asking approach instead of getting so stressed myself without even consulting the | |other group members. Sometimes I tend to take it all upon myself without building the rest of the teams effort. | |Sometimes also using an autocratic style might be worth it, due to recently working with a team member who does not seem to put as much effort in as the | |others, to improve the group and work on my leadership styles he may respond to getting things done and meet objectives if I set them for him, this is | |something I will take with me and use to improve my group work with. | | | | | | | | |Understanding the Communication Process in the Workplace | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the importance of effective communication in the workplace | |Question 1: |Explain the importance of effective communication in the workplace (approximately 100 words) | |If communication in the workplace is bad it can have several effects such as decreased productivity, low morale and mistakes made. Communication is the key| |to running a successful business or project, it dismisses the pportunity for any important project to jeopardised (Allen Webster) | |High Productivity: the goal of any business, poor communication causes a breakdown in productivity resulting in profit loss or time loss. | |Morale: Not understanding a task causes low morale, as it makes employees feel confused and question wether they can contribute to the job role or not | |which leads to low self esteem. Tasks must be received in a clear concise manner focusing on the manager or the leaders communicative skills when | |surpassing important information. | |Mistakes: Written communication is essential and when writing emails which are now such a frequent task, you must be careful in choice of wording to ensure| |the email is not mi sunderstood or it can lead to unnecessary mistakes in the workplace. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the stages in the communication cycle | |Question 2: |Describe the stages in the communication cycle (approximately 100 words) | |The basic flow of communication: | |Sender –> Message –> Transmission –> Recipient –> Receiver | | | | | |In this flow the sender sends a message to the receiver and then they can share feedback on the communication process. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Identify possible barriers to communication in the workplace | |Question 3: |Describe two possible barriers to communication in the workplace (approximately 100 words) | |Environmental Barriers: The things that surround us, which prevent us from receiving the speaker’s message for example, other peoples conversation, time | |pressures, the weather, physical discomfort in the room you are sat in. – External barriers. | |Environmental barriers are related to the listener such as how the listener is feeling at the time. |Attitudinal Barriers: The thoughts and feelings going on inside our heads which prevent us from listening, for example boredom, you do not like the person | |who is speaking, – internal barriers. | |Attitudinal Barriers have a lot to do with the mood and beliefs of the listener. | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain how to overcome a potential barrier to communication | |Question 4: |Explain how to overcome a potential barrier to communication (approximately 100 words) | |Effective communication requires listening and strong concentration.So it is important when receiving information, to ensure that the conditions are | |conducive to listening. ILM 3 has taught me that when important conversations are taking place and you are not in the right frame of mind due to | |attitudinal barriers be prepared to take them offline. You can also use the 6 steps to hearing attention, to improve your communication when needed m ost. | |For example an improved step I should take is be aware when it is getting to deep for me, and I tend to switch off when it gets to complicated or complex. | |This is something I need to work on to improve my communication skill set and follow through on challenging tasks that I need to complete. | | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the main methods of written and oral communication in the workplace and their uses | |Question 5: |Describe the main methods of written and oral communication in the workplace and their uses (approximately 100 words) | |Written Communication: This should be used when needing to provide detailed information, such as figures and facts. Written communication is useful during | |briefs, it is useful when conducting a presentation to send extra written information out, the main use is when needing to refer back to it throughout a | |project or at a later date you can do, without having to ask the same questions again or repeat yourself. | |Or al Communication: This can be used during presentations, over the phone and is main form off communication. It is verbal, vocal and visual. You can | |convey the information you want to surpass on with passion and conviction and can be sure to get your message across clearly without any errors by using | |the tones in your voice. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of written methods of communication | |Question 6: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of written methods of communication (approximately 100 words) | |Advantages: Can store and be used at a later date. | |Easy to provide detailed information such as facts and figures | |Easy to pass on information from a third party. | | | |Disadvantages: Do not know if the information as been received unless a reply is needed. | |Writing skills are often difficult develop | |Poorly written documents can cost money. | | | | | | | | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of oral communication | |Question 7: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of oral communication (approximately 100 words) | |Advantages: Easy and quick | |Can communicate your point without much room for misunderstanding. |Can be given constructive feedback after a presentation from managers or vies versa | | | |Disadvantages: Need effective listening to be active and cannot always predict | | | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain how non-verbal communication can influence the effectiveness of oral communication | |Question 8: |Explain how non-verbal communication can influence the effectiveness of oral communication (approximately 100 words) | |A mixed message can occur when a persons body maybe ‘talking’, and when people do speak their bodies sometimes can say different things. For example eye | |contact is sign of confidence which much be used when attending interviews. | |At times a persons body maybe talking wh en they are actually sitting in silence. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the value of feedback in ensuring effective communication | |Question 9: |Explain the value of feedback in ensuring effective communication (approximately 100 words) | |Constructive feedback is a positive way to improve somebodies skill set. When feedback is communicated effectively it can keep some goal orientated. When | |feeding back you must focus on specific behaviours rather than making general statements however still aiming to keep it impersonal. Always ask questions | |to ensure the person understands the feedback and make sure they do not feel like that have been attacked in a negative way. The value of constructive | |feedback is the key to improvement. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Assess own performance in a frequently used method of communication. Outline actions to improve own performance in communicating | |Question 10: |Assess your own performance (identifying your strengths and weaknes ses) in one frequently used method of communication. Possible | | |methods include; verbal communication, e-mail, telephone etc. Then state two ways in which you could improve your performance as a | | |communicator when using this method. |Written Communication | | | |Strengths – I have managed to establish relationships over email a varied amount of time throughout my 12 month placement, and I have managed to keep a | |professional working relationships with these people, via Linked In, and I feel confident that if I needed there support I would be able to rely upon them | |for advice and support even 12 months later. This shows I have conveyed my personality through email and have managed to be personable and approachable | |through my writing skills. | | |Weaknesses | |My spelling and grammatical errors I something I need to be aware off, I tend to rush many emails, and this cannot look when speaking to a professional | |body as it undermines the content of my email. | |Due to emailing tutors and friends from all over the world, I need to make sure I distinguish the difference between a friendly more informal email to a | |formal email, for example ending an email with Kind Regards and Many thanks, can change the way you want your whole email to come across. So being specific| |with my language is key. | |I have learnt during the ILM course to use the P. O. W. E.R | |Understand How to Establish an Effective Team | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the benefits of effective working relationships in developing and maintaining the team | |Question 1: |Explain the benefits of effective working relationships in developing and maintaining the team (approximately 100 words) | |Bellman and Ryan define an extraordinary group as on which: | |‘Achieves outstanding results while members experience a profound shift in how they see their world’. | |Extraordinary groups are not only productive as employees, but also develop personally during there p articipation. |Authors suggest that effective team work can exhibit these common factors, | |Full engagement, shared leadership, embracing differences etc | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe behaviours which could develop and maintain trust at work | |Question 2: |Describe behaviours which could develop and maintain trust at work (approximately 100 words) | |During team work you spend many hours in creative and energised environment – you get to know each others strengths and weaknesses and become a small | |support network for each other. This enables the employees to form connections which go deeper than usual work relationships. Through my own experience of | |working in a team this year, it has evolved into a long term friendship on a personal level outside of the group work at university. |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the role of communication in developing effective team working | |Question 3: |Explain the role of communication in developing effective team working (ap proximately 100 words) | |Strong communication during team work can ensure that the team know and understand your visions and goals, and how you see the project going. This can make| |it easier when needing to combine an overall aim and setting various objectives. It means that you can achieve something together with no confusion and a | |mutual agreement. |Communication and personable behaviour can lead to strong support networks around, and creating a more confident and friendly environment to work in. | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the differences between a group and a team | |Question 4: |Explain the differences between a group and a team (approximately 100 words) | |A team is internally organised, with specific goals and usually specific roles for different members of the team. A group is a collection of people with | |something in common something as simple as being in the same place or having a shared interest. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the stages of an esta blished model of group formation | |Question 5: |Describe the stages of Tuckman’s model of group formation (approximately 100 words) | |Tuckman believes that all teams pass through four stages of development, gradually becoming more effective as the dynamics of the team change dramatically | |from periods of inefficiency and uneasiness through to a high period of performance. | |The four stages are as follows. |Forming: Uncertainty about roles, looking outside for guidance. | |Storming: Growing confidence in team, rejecting outside authority | |Norming: Concern about being different, wanting to be part of a team | |Performing: Concern with getting the job done | | | |He believes that a team will not be fully effective unless it reaches he stage of performing. Unless the four stage process is completed teams may | |degenerate too back into storming. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain how a manager could benefit from knowing team members’ preferred roles as defined i n an established team role model | |Question 6: |Explain how a manager could benefit from knowing team members’ preferred roles as defined in an established team role model, such as | | |Belbin’s model (approximately 100 words) | |If a manager can determine what roles are preferred by each team member they are able to have a strong insight into what is going on and who to go to for | |certain questions. For example if somebody is strong and enjoy financial analysis it makes it easier for the manager to delegate this to the team rather | |them than having to form together and get to know each other before assigning each other roles. Also if something goes the wrong the manager knows who to | |go to. | | |Belbin believes that new team members should be selected so that there is a balance both in terms of skill sets and team roles – if the manager knows what | |is missing he will be able to make an outside confirmed choice of what is needed in the team. | |Also ea ch role has its weaknesses. Knowing these weaknesses is useful for planning to avoid potential difficulties and for helping individuals develop – I | |personally feel this is the managers role. | | | | | Leadership and management Leadership has been the subject for quite some time now. Management experts have shown how leadership is important for organisations and how leaders emerge. There has been a debate on whether leaders are born or are trained to take on leadership roles. It has also been argued whether leaders are charismatic individuals or those who are highly skilled. Gibbons 1992 discusses how organisational roles shape the nature of leadership. Those in entrepreneurial positions are leaders who are risk takers; where as those who are in the supervisory roles tend to be those who conform to rules. George 1992 however takes the view that personality shapes leadership more than other traits. Leaders have been known to be persuasive, committed and visionary people and examples like Napoleon, Lincoln and Gandhi are often chosen to show how personality matters in Leadership roles. Management on the other hand is the ability to reach defined objectives using resources available. Managerial roles have not been seen as charismatic roles, they are more often than not logistical roles that skilled people occupy to be able to take the organisation toward its defined goals. Alvesson and Sveningsson 2003 examine the role of managers in providing leadership. In the modern context, managers are often asked to bear the responsibility of providing leadership in organisations. Today’s corporate manager is seen as a strategist and not someone who necessarily has all the traditional traits of being a leader. Management and Leadership: Similarities Management today is responsible for all the original roles that leadership played. Ohmae 1999 explains how today’s globalized world places different demands on those in power and occupying strategic roles in organisations. Management is responsible for hiring, training and nurturing talent by way of organising and supporting human resources. The manager is also someone who defines company policy in the context of laws and regulations that exist. Also managers are responsible for a long-term business plan that ensures the organisation keeps growing. In modern firms where a large number of employees work together across the globe, the dividing line between managers and leaders gets blurred and modern technology helps all managers communicate as effectively as leaders would have. Therefore today, the gap between leaderships and management is closing because of these growing similarities. Management and Leadership: Differences However there continue to be differences. Leadership is often a position that is acquired through informal developments that give certain people power. Management gives responsibility and authority. Leadership is what defines the long-term mission of organisations while management ensures that these goals are reached most effectively. Management requires specific skills and tools while leadership requires a set of traits that enable the leader lead from the front and do so in a manner that appeals to the entire team. Management is responsible for team building while leadership ensures that the team stays motivated and passionate about its tasks. Management is responsible largely to the shareholders while leaders must take into consideration all stakeholders. In today’s world where firms face pressure from voters, civil society organisations, the media and consumers, it is critical that top management take on a role where they act as spokespersons and ensure that such pressures do not act detrimentally to the interests of the firm. Leadership is often seen as a trait that is a function of the specific time and place and leaders bring special traits that enable them to operate successfully in the given context. Management however is a science that allows managers to operate efficiently anytime and in the globalized context, at any place where they apply the principles of management to generate efficiency. Leaders necessarily need to be good communicators, writers and speakers. Managers need to be clear in what they articulate not necessarily spectacular. Leaders inspire where as managers report. However any growing organisation today requires both leaders and managers. Those firms where managers take the leadership role find the going easier than others. But there are clear roles that both occupy. For firms to grow, in different markets and ensure that growth is sustainable, there is an active involvement from both managers and leaders in defining and implementing strategy. It is firms that are able to generate leaders and nurture managers who would perform well in the marketplace. Reference: Alvesson M and Sveningsson S, 2003, Managers Doing Leadership: The Extra-Ordinarization of the Mundane, Human Relations Gibbons P T, 1992, Impacts of Organizational Evolution on Leadership Roles and Behaviors, Human Relations J. M. George J M, 1992, The Role of Personality in Organizational Life: Issues and Evidence, Journal of Management Ohmae, K. 1999. ‘The Borderless World: Power and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy’. New York: Harper Business. Leadership and Management There are several subtle differences between the concepts of leadership and management. The functions and actions of each title differ in their foundation, expectation and execution. Those positions which exist under each title also differ – in their expectations, and motivations.   It is my goal, through achieving an MBA to develop a cohesion between these two roles in my work, and career endeavors. Leadership is less like a role, than it is an occasional action. (McCrimmon) It is the intention of a leader to inspire his or her followers to achieve their common goals. The focus of a leader is on the entirety of a project or goal. The followers, under the guides of leadership, assume the responsibility of carrying out the necessary actions required to achieve whatever goal is at hand. (CM) Management, on the other hand, handles the delegation of authority differently. Managers are concerned with all levels in the chain of command. Unlike the leaders, managers have subordinates – which, differing from followers, have much less personal inspiration for the work at hand. Managers have to overcome their subordinates’ personal desires with incentives. â€Å"Management requires efficiency, profitability, and depends on minimal inputs for maximum returns†. (McCrimmon) These two roles share a base theory – achieve a goal through the delegation of authority. It is in the manner and execution of this, in which they differ. The effectiveness of each has been proven, and while certain situations lend themselves to a particular set of expectations, both roles can achieve most any goal. Team work, in the American culture, derives from a centralized leader, and his or her subordinates. In the business setting, this would be the group manager. A properly organized team will consist of members which are chosen for their ability to execute certain aspects of a goal with efficiency. While it can be possible for a single person to be good a multiple tasks, if the situation allows, each person would be serve the group with only one responsibility. Conflict within the group setting can offer incentive to work harder, or, reciprocally, create tension. There are two main types of conflicts: affective and substantive. (Jehn 532) Substantive conflict arises through the competition of a task assigned to the group – and often works out through group communication. Affective conflict is far more disruptive. Affective conflict arises through differences in the members of the group – be it ethnic, cultural or other difference – and can stall group production completely. It is the responsibility of leaders and managers to address and – if possible – end conflict within a group. Without the cooperation within a group, it cannot complete the tasks at hand. Therefore, effective leadership and management must be able to identify and remove the sources of conflict. Through my experience as a manager and team leader in various situations including job responsibilities, and other school functions, and responsibilities in a group (i.e. organizational meetings in which I was a leader) I had to prove myself to others that I was up for the task of being a leader.   In order to manage effectively a certain amount of conflict resolution must be incorporated into any situation. I found that the conflict resolution texts that I have read in the past (centering around Gandhi and other peaceful leaders) gave me a certain edge of understanding when it came to difficult situations.   One particular incident in which I had to utilize my conflict resolution, and leadership skills was when I was working at my first job. Although I did not hold the title of manager yet, I was a well liked fellow employ at the local video shop.   Our goal was complete and total customer satisfaction:   the policy being that the customer is typically always right and that the employee must cater to the customer’s needs.   one day, I was just clocking in for my shift.   I went to the back of the store to ask the manager what station she wanted me on that day. She said to go ahead and go up front and handle customers since she was doing inventory in the back.   I went to the front of the store where a customer was already waiting impatiently for me.   He gave me his movies to rent and I asked for his membership card.   When his account came on my screen I informed him that he owed late fees amounting to over twenty dollars.   He was irate.   He said that he did not owe any late fees, because he turned those movies in on time.   The computer held testament that he was in fact late.   The tirade continued with a slew of swearing and the customer was obviously very upset about this. I knew that in situations like this it is much easier to react harshly, and yell back at the customer because he was definitely out of line with what he was calling me, and the emotions he was displaying.   However, I had to keep my job, and keep my head in this situation.   I took a moment in myself and realized that to react with the same negativity would only incite danger, and that this person was probably upset about something else in their life and was only letting it out on me because I was easy and he didn’t have to pay the consequences of his actions with me. With the utmost strength I had in self-control, and leadership, I asked the man kindly if he would like to take advantage of our promotion which was if a person donated canned goods then they only had to pay half of their late fees.   The man physically took a step back:  Ã‚   he did not expect this reaction I could tell.   I further informed him that if he wanted to leave and come back for the movies he wanted to rent, while getting canned goods I could hold the movies for him until his return. He took me up on the offer and came back with several cans of green beans, and cream corn, rented his movies, and even stuttered over his thank you when he left.   I feel that in this situation I took a leadership role in taking charge of the direction of the conversation and reflecting a cool demeanor without upsetting the customer.   This type of reaction was the necessary course in a business setting.   With an MBA degree I feel that I could enhance my leadership qualities and become a creative, manager utilizing conflict resolution. WORK CITED Jehn, Karen A. â€Å"A Qualitative Analysis of Conflict Types and Dimensions in Organizational  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Groups†. Administrative Science Quarterly. Vol. 42, No. 3. September 1997. p. 530-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   557. McCrimmon, Mitch. â€Å"Leaders or Managers†. Leadersdirect.com. Self Renewal Group. 2006.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Date of Access: June 29, 2007. URL:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.leadersdirect.com/mgevslead.html â€Å"Leadership vs. Management†. Changingminds.org. 2006. Date of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Access: July 22, 2006. URL: Leadership and Management ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management: |Centre Number: |R31609 | |Centre Name: |Leeds Metropolitan Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Centre | |Student Name: |Alexandra Hunt | |Leeds Met Student ID: |33251825 | |Student Date of Birth: |15/01/1991 | |Student Email Address: |a. [email  protected] leedsmet. ac. uk | |Gender: |Female | |Assessment Summary | | | |This task requires you to develop and demonstrate your skills or potential skills in leading and building an effective team.In order to gain the ILM 3 | |Award in Leadership and Management you will need to complete and pass a number of questions in this short question test. | | | |Note: To complete the task you will need to draw upon your personal experiences in, for example; a part-time job, voluntary work, other groups (e. g. sports| |teams), and leadership you have observed, are familiar with or have read about. |Understanding Leadership Styles | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the factors that will infl uence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations | |Question 1: |Describe 2 factors that will influence the choice of leadership styles or behaviours in workplace situations (approximately 100 | | |words) | |If the person is in a situation where a decision needs to be made fast for example a paramedic may use an autocratic leadership style due to being in an | |emergency and needing to work objectively and quickly. | |During my 12 months placement I was working as recruitment consultant, a paternalistic leadership style on reflection was what I used when speaking to | |potential candidates, as it involved me using a lot of enthusiasm and persuasion. I need to use perceptive skills in order to pick up how the candidate was| |reacting and if it was a warm lead or a dead cold call. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or negative effect on individual and group behaviour | |Question 2: |Following on from the previous question, please explain why these leadership styles or behaviours are likely to have a positive or | | |negative effect on individual or group behaviour (approximately 100 words) | |A con of using autocratic leadership style would mean that you may miss good ideas, and does not encourage team work, so often taking on a heavier work | |load yourself as you put the team in a position where they are needing constant supervision and approval from the autocratic leader. |A con of paternalistic leadership is that the selling only lasts as long as you are on the phone or are around for, and some candidates/people are not easy| |selling targets, you also may waste your time persuading them without gaining any commitment – which came across me time and time again when working as a | |recruitment consultant. | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Assess own leadership behaviours and potential in the context of a particular leadership model, using feedback from others | |Question 3: |Assess your own leadership behaviours and potential in relation to a leadership model discussed on the programme.Your reflection | | |should be based on what previous team members have fed back to you (approximately 100 words) | |At university currently we are participating in a module called consultancy project, whereby as group we have to write a report, research and offer | |recommendations to a real life client. Over the 4 months we have had 2 peers assessments and my feedback fits into the empowering leadership style, I have | |gained 100% commitment from the client and my team, I have motivated all my team members giving them guidance and reassurance when writing the report and | |they do trust my decisions that I have made. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe appropriate actions to enhance own leadership behaviour in the context of the particular leadership model | |Question 4: |Describe at least 2 appropriate actions to enhance your own leadersh ip behaviour in the context of a leadership model discussed on | | |the programme (approximately 100 words) | |To enhance my leadership skills I think I firstly need to take a more asking approach instead of getting so stressed myself without even consulting the | |other group members. Sometimes I tend to take it all upon myself without building the rest of the teams effort. | |Sometimes also using an autocratic style might be worth it, due to recently working with a team member who does not seem to put as much effort in as the | |others, to improve the group and work on my leadership styles he may respond to getting things done and meet objectives if I set them for him, this is | |something I will take with me and use to improve my group work with. | | | | | | | | |Understanding the Communication Process in the Workplace | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the importance of effective communication in the workplace | |Question 1: |Explain the importance of effective communication in the workplace (approximately 100 words) | |If communication in the workplace is bad it can have several effects such as decreased productivity, low morale and mistakes made. Communication is the key| |to running a successful business or project, it dismisses the pportunity for any important project to jeopardised (Allen Webster) | |High Productivity: the goal of any business, poor communication causes a breakdown in productivity resulting in profit loss or time loss. | |Morale: Not understanding a task causes low morale, as it makes employees feel confused and question wether they can contribute to the job role or not | |which leads to low self esteem. Tasks must be received in a clear concise manner focusing on the manager or the leaders communicative skills when | |surpassing important information. | |Mistakes: Written communication is essential and when writing emails which are now such a frequent task, you must be careful in choice of wording to ensure| |the email is not mi sunderstood or it can lead to unnecessary mistakes in the workplace. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the stages in the communication cycle | |Question 2: |Describe the stages in the communication cycle (approximately 100 words) | |The basic flow of communication: | |Sender –> Message –> Transmission –> Recipient –> Receiver | | | | | |In this flow the sender sends a message to the receiver and then they can share feedback on the communication process. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Identify possible barriers to communication in the workplace | |Question 3: |Describe two possible barriers to communication in the workplace (approximately 100 words) | |Environmental Barriers: The things that surround us, which prevent us from receiving the speaker’s message for example, other peoples conversation, time | |pressures, the weather, physical discomfort in the room you are sat in. – External barriers. | |Environmental barriers are related to the listener such as how the listener is feeling at the time. |Attitudinal Barriers: The thoughts and feelings going on inside our heads which prevent us from listening, for example boredom, you do not like the person | |who is speaking, – internal barriers. | |Attitudinal Barriers have a lot to do with the mood and beliefs of the listener. | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain how to overcome a potential barrier to communication | |Question 4: |Explain how to overcome a potential barrier to communication (approximately 100 words) | |Effective communication requires listening and strong concentration.So it is important when receiving information, to ensure that the conditions are | |conducive to listening. ILM 3 has taught me that when important conversations are taking place and you are not in the right frame of mind due to | |attitudinal barriers be prepared to take them offline. You can also use the 6 steps to hearing attention, to improve your communication when needed m ost. | |For example an improved step I should take is be aware when it is getting to deep for me, and I tend to switch off when it gets to complicated or complex. | |This is something I need to work on to improve my communication skill set and follow through on challenging tasks that I need to complete. | | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the main methods of written and oral communication in the workplace and their uses | |Question 5: |Describe the main methods of written and oral communication in the workplace and their uses (approximately 100 words) | |Written Communication: This should be used when needing to provide detailed information, such as figures and facts. Written communication is useful during | |briefs, it is useful when conducting a presentation to send extra written information out, the main use is when needing to refer back to it throughout a | |project or at a later date you can do, without having to ask the same questions again or repeat yourself. | |Or al Communication: This can be used during presentations, over the phone and is main form off communication. It is verbal, vocal and visual. You can | |convey the information you want to surpass on with passion and conviction and can be sure to get your message across clearly without any errors by using | |the tones in your voice. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of written methods of communication | |Question 6: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of written methods of communication (approximately 100 words) | |Advantages: Can store and be used at a later date. | |Easy to provide detailed information such as facts and figures | |Easy to pass on information from a third party. | | | |Disadvantages: Do not know if the information as been received unless a reply is needed. | |Writing skills are often difficult develop | |Poorly written documents can cost money. | | | | | | | | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of oral communication | |Question 7: |Identify the main advantages and disadvantages of oral communication (approximately 100 words) | |Advantages: Easy and quick | |Can communicate your point without much room for misunderstanding. |Can be given constructive feedback after a presentation from managers or vies versa | | | |Disadvantages: Need effective listening to be active and cannot always predict | | | | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain how non-verbal communication can influence the effectiveness of oral communication | |Question 8: |Explain how non-verbal communication can influence the effectiveness of oral communication (approximately 100 words) | |A mixed message can occur when a persons body maybe ‘talking’, and when people do speak their bodies sometimes can say different things. For example eye | |contact is sign of confidence which much be used when attending interviews. | |At times a persons body maybe talking wh en they are actually sitting in silence. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the value of feedback in ensuring effective communication | |Question 9: |Explain the value of feedback in ensuring effective communication (approximately 100 words) | |Constructive feedback is a positive way to improve somebodies skill set. When feedback is communicated effectively it can keep some goal orientated. When | |feeding back you must focus on specific behaviours rather than making general statements however still aiming to keep it impersonal. Always ask questions | |to ensure the person understands the feedback and make sure they do not feel like that have been attacked in a negative way. The value of constructive | |feedback is the key to improvement. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Assess own performance in a frequently used method of communication. Outline actions to improve own performance in communicating | |Question 10: |Assess your own performance (identifying your strengths and weaknes ses) in one frequently used method of communication. Possible | | |methods include; verbal communication, e-mail, telephone etc. Then state two ways in which you could improve your performance as a | | |communicator when using this method. |Written Communication | | | |Strengths – I have managed to establish relationships over email a varied amount of time throughout my 12 month placement, and I have managed to keep a | |professional working relationships with these people, via Linked In, and I feel confident that if I needed there support I would be able to rely upon them | |for advice and support even 12 months later. This shows I have conveyed my personality through email and have managed to be personable and approachable | |through my writing skills. | | |Weaknesses | |My spelling and grammatical errors I something I need to be aware off, I tend to rush many emails, and this cannot look when speaking to a professional | |body as it undermines the content of my email. | |Due to emailing tutors and friends from all over the world, I need to make sure I distinguish the difference between a friendly more informal email to a | |formal email, for example ending an email with Kind Regards and Many thanks, can change the way you want your whole email to come across. So being specific| |with my language is key. | |I have learnt during the ILM course to use the P. O. W. E.R | |Understand How to Establish an Effective Team | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the benefits of effective working relationships in developing and maintaining the team | |Question 1: |Explain the benefits of effective working relationships in developing and maintaining the team (approximately 100 words) | |Bellman and Ryan define an extraordinary group as on which: | |‘Achieves outstanding results while members experience a profound shift in how they see their world’. | |Extraordinary groups are not only productive as employees, but also develop personally during there p articipation. |Authors suggest that effective team work can exhibit these common factors, | |Full engagement, shared leadership, embracing differences etc | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe behaviours which could develop and maintain trust at work | |Question 2: |Describe behaviours which could develop and maintain trust at work (approximately 100 words) | |During team work you spend many hours in creative and energised environment – you get to know each others strengths and weaknesses and become a small | |support network for each other. This enables the employees to form connections which go deeper than usual work relationships. Through my own experience of | |working in a team this year, it has evolved into a long term friendship on a personal level outside of the group work at university. |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the role of communication in developing effective team working | |Question 3: |Explain the role of communication in developing effective team working (ap proximately 100 words) | |Strong communication during team work can ensure that the team know and understand your visions and goals, and how you see the project going. This can make| |it easier when needing to combine an overall aim and setting various objectives. It means that you can achieve something together with no confusion and a | |mutual agreement. |Communication and personable behaviour can lead to strong support networks around, and creating a more confident and friendly environment to work in. | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain the differences between a group and a team | |Question 4: |Explain the differences between a group and a team (approximately 100 words) | |A team is internally organised, with specific goals and usually specific roles for different members of the team. A group is a collection of people with | |something in common something as simple as being in the same place or having a shared interest. | | | | |Assessment Criteria: |Describe the stages of an esta blished model of group formation | |Question 5: |Describe the stages of Tuckman’s model of group formation (approximately 100 words) | |Tuckman believes that all teams pass through four stages of development, gradually becoming more effective as the dynamics of the team change dramatically | |from periods of inefficiency and uneasiness through to a high period of performance. | |The four stages are as follows. |Forming: Uncertainty about roles, looking outside for guidance. | |Storming: Growing confidence in team, rejecting outside authority | |Norming: Concern about being different, wanting to be part of a team | |Performing: Concern with getting the job done | | | |He believes that a team will not be fully effective unless it reaches he stage of performing. Unless the four stage process is completed teams may | |degenerate too back into storming. | | |Assessment Criteria: |Explain how a manager could benefit from knowing team members’ preferred roles as defined i n an established team role model | |Question 6: |Explain how a manager could benefit from knowing team members’ preferred roles as defined in an established team role model, such as | | |Belbin’s model (approximately 100 words) | |If a manager can determine what roles are preferred by each team member they are able to have a strong insight into what is going on and who to go to for | |certain questions. For example if somebody is strong and enjoy financial analysis it makes it easier for the manager to delegate this to the team rather | |them than having to form together and get to know each other before assigning each other roles. Also if something goes the wrong the manager knows who to | |go to. | | |Belbin believes that new team members should be selected so that there is a balance both in terms of skill sets and team roles – if the manager knows what | |is missing he will be able to make an outside confirmed choice of what is needed in the team. | |Also ea ch role has its weaknesses. Knowing these weaknesses is useful for planning to avoid potential difficulties and for helping individuals develop – I | |personally feel this is the managers role. | | | | |