Experimental Training Program: Wilderness/Adventure Learning
Training employees is a fundamental element of a corporations success. A company succeeds only as well as the people running it can perform. This training process can cover many skills and go into many areas of expertise. One key element that has only recently come into action is an outdoor- based experiential training program.
Commonly called "ropes courses," wilderness courses or adventure learning programs have been in use in the USA since the early 1980's, and by organizations in the UK since the early 1970's. Outdoor programs have been most beneficial when used to promote effective work teams and used to enhance leadership and management skills in the participants. Outdoor- based training programs seem to accomplish these objectives by allowing participants to develop a high level of trust in their peers, improve their problem-solving ability, and generally improve the level of interpersonal communications between group members. Companies are looking for leaders that can launch them into a new era.
Constant improvement is necessary to meet the growth of challenging competition.
So who defines leadership? What is a leader and how would you raise these skills that may be laying dormant in your subordinates?
Organizations need great leaders to help them successfully survive the many difficulties of this decade. Yet, the very notion of leadership has rapidly degenerated into a cliché, a buzz word. In many people's minds, leadership has become identified with an overly simplistic conception of vision and empowerment.
Although these concepts do play an important role in the leadership process, they only scratch the surface of what an exceptional leader actually does on a day-to-day basis.
What do leaders really do to make an organization work well? In my research
I found that great leaders exhibit nine different kinds of behaviors that enable them to bring out the best in the people around them. Some of the nine behaviors of leadership listed below involve building participatory teams, some involve using "situational management strategies," while others enhance personal resources. Listed separately, the nine behaviors include:
Developing people.
Being able to influence others.
Encouraging teamwork.
Empowering people.
Using multiple options thinking.
Taking intelligent risks.
Being passionate about work.
Having a strong, clear vision.
Stretching one's personal creativity.
While many people think leaders are unique, even born to that state of excellence, I have found just the opposite. With proper experiential training, it is possible for people to learn these leadership behaviors. In other words, leaders can be developed. By all means they should be developed at many levels in an organization because leadership in a hierarchical situation stimulates the best in their followers and thereby increases overall productivity.
The term “Stress” was coined by scientist Hans Selye (1907-1982) in 1936. Selye (1926) defined stress as “the non specific response of the body to any demand for change”. Selye (1926) discovered in several laboratory experiments that animals showed similar symptoms when exposed to severe physical and emotional stimuli i.e. extreme heat or cold, loud disturbing noise, etc. Selye (1935) also noted that patients with different illness showed these same similar biological symptoms ...
Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful. According to the Holmes-Rahe Life Events Scale, which rates levels of stress, many of the most stressful events in life are related to the workplace. Some examples are firings, business readjustments and changes in financial status, altered responsibilities, a switch to a different line of work, trouble with the boss, changes in work hours or conditions, retirement and vacations. Workplace stress costs American employers an estimated $200 billion per year in lower productivity, absenteeism, staff turnover, workers' compensation, medical insurance and other stress-related expenses. However, stress may not always be a bad thing. It can stimulate creativity and productivity. The natural pattern of human behavior is to experience a stress-causing event or situation, react to it with increased tension and then return to a normal, relaxed state. The problem occurs when stress is so overwhelming or constant that this pattern is broken. This overwhelming feeling is usually caused by some lack of communication.
This story “The Fat Girl” by author Andre Dubus, is a heart wrenching story about the all too familiar subjects of obesity, eating disorders, self-consciousness, and the negative impact in which society and even family and friends can have on people suffering from these issues. It seems the young girl at the center of the story, Louise, was doomed to live a tortured existence from nine years old and forward. Her own mother fortified this fate by stating “In five years you’ll be in high school and if you’re fat the boys won’t like you; they won’t ask you out.”(pg. 158.) This is one of several times when her mother, while she thought she was trying to help, was actually slowly submerging Louise into a horrifying existence.
Homework has been an integral part of education since children started to be educated. Recently however, homework has begun to be assigned more and more often to students, especially in the United States, as it has begun to fall further and further behind countries like China, Singapore, and Japan. Homework is anything assigned by teachers to be completed by the students either at home, or just on their own time. The workload for students has gotten to the point where more and more parents are starting to notice the load for their kids has gotten to be too much. Many kids in high school, even 9th and 10th graders, can have 3 or even 4 hours of homework every night. In the past couple years, homework has gotten so out of control that parents are starting to speak out, and protest the amount of homework that students get each night (Marzano). In addition, studies have been done to determine the value of homework, but overall, the results are mixed at best (Kohn). Even studies that show a positive relationship between homework and test scores, among other things, show that homework is only effective when assigned in a moderate amount. Too much homework can be counter-productive, or have adverse effects on students. Students with too much homework can perform worse on tests, and develop serious physical and mental health problems from too much stress or lack of sleep.
After studying the issue of homework, and the teacher’s influence upon it, I’ve come to realize homework may be overused in today’s educational system. I feel teachers are depending too much on outside education and not enough on in-class learning. Also, I believe the United States Government needs to develop a "homework standard". Educators in general need to come together and encourage students to learn in the classroom, and spend less time out of school doing countless hours of busy work. Teachers must look at the best interests of the students and base learning on communication in the classroom.
Leadership is the procedure of influencing others to comprehend and concur about what should be done and how to do it, and the procedure of encouraging individual and aggregate endeavors to achieve shared targets/goals.
Leadership... What is leadership?... Leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization. But that isn’t all that comes with being a leader. To me a leader is someone caring’[, fair, and compassionate. John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the united states and John Bergmann, the founder of the popcorn park zoo are two leaders that possess these traits.
Some effects that can result from stress in the work place are; poor job performance, low morale in the office, and insalubrious employees. Reciprocally, elevated stress levels in an organization are associated with increased turnover, absenteeism; sickness, and reduced productivity. At a personal level, work stressors are related to depression, anxiety, general mental distress symptoms, heart disease, ulcers, and chronic pain (Sauter, Hurrell, & Cooper, 1989).
I define Leadership as a person’s ability to guide or shepherd a herd through/to a common destination – a destination of common beliefs. The leader possesses qualities/traits that can persuade others to follow them because they believe and trust them – regardless of their “human” traits and imperfections. The herd trusts that they will stay on course to the common destination.
How do you define leadership? To me, leadership is leading a person, persons, or an organization; usually done with selflessness and the desire to achieve. Being a leader should be an honor and it should be something that somebody should have to earn. Throughout Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the qualities for leadership were both shown, and not shown, by Napoleon and Snowball. Both Snowball and Napoleon displayed some pros and cons of their leadership style.
Everyone is sinful or guilty in a way, weather it is lying or doing Adultery. “Guilt is through the spirit and Pain is the body.” It is mistakes that are caused by people. Because you will have to be guilty first, in order to suffer the pain that was caused by their sin. Mr. Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he had to suffer his own sin, because he committed adultery with Hester and had a child called Pearl. Hester has to suffer from her own sin, because of adultery and she has to fight the society with no one helping and no one by her side. This is the same situation in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor had to suffer the sin of his own, because the affair between him and Abigail Williams. But all the people
Leadership is defined as the action of leading a group of people or organization in order to accomplish certain goals. A leader must possess certain power or ability to hold a leadership position (Al-Sawai, 2013). There are several leadership styles identified over the years. Regardless of his leadership type, a leader must be able to influence his organization and be aware what motivates his team members, so that the goals can be accomplished.
The potential ramifications for the employer can be costly when employees succumb to internal and external stressors. To effectively combat job stress and develop a comprehensive stress management program, organizations must be cognizant of several areas that may be contributing factors to an employee’s stress level. Internally, organizations should review the employee’s workload and ensure that they have the necessary skills to complete the tasks they are expected to complete (Ornelas & Kleiner, 2003). They must also work to “motivate, challenge and take full advantage of the employee’s skills and abilities” (Ornelas & Kleiner, 2003). Employee’s job stress can also be decreased by allowing them take an active part in decisions, creating an atmosphere that facilitates a support network, and offering flexibility in their schedules that allows them to address responsibilities outside the workplace (Ornelas & Kleiner, 2003).
Leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization. In this day and age we as a world need more leaders. Leaders can be innovators, entrepreneurs, workers, and just normal everyday people. A leader doesn 't have to be the president of an organization, but has to have the ability to motivate and lead people to be their best selves. Leaders always have great qualities and they love helping those in need.
Work place or occupational stress refers to any form of restrain that is experienced when there is no match between job demands and the output of the worker. The article ‘Occupational stress’ aims at showing ways in which stress people get from their work place affect them and what causes the stress. This condition may encompass many conditions that include maladaptive behavior, psychological disorders, cognitive impairment, as well as emotional strain. These conditions lead to poor performances at work, injuries, or biological reactions that in turn may compromise the health of the employee.