Wednesday, March 18, 2020
The Value of Fiction - The uses of fiction in bringing history to life
The Value of Fiction - The uses of fiction in bringing history to life We history buffs are a rare breed. Happy are the hours we spend poring through pages of dusty old books, wandering through museums full of armor and tapestries, and deciphering forgotten languages in primary sources. Those who have never been bitten by the history bug find it hard to understand what attracts us until they are bitten themselves. There are many different ways history lovers have been drawn into the fascinating world of the past, but perhaps the most common is through a good story. The moment we begin viewing history as stories about real human beings with human motivations instead of mere dates, places and statistics, history can take on a whole new luster. Period literature can help bring the past alive with an epic tale, and so can modern historical fiction. If you are a history buff hoping to get a friend to share your passion for the past, or if you are new to history as a hobby and are trying to understand what others see in it, the best introduction may very well be a historical novel or film. Entertainment has ways of opening the mind to ideas that even the friendliest or most erudite of straight historical texts can never hope to achieve. It helps, of course, when the book is well-written or the film well-directed, and unfortunately historical fiction, just like any other genre, has many more mediocre examples than it does splendid ones. Yet once you find a truly excellent piece of historical fiction, the results can be highly rewarding. However, the trouble with getting your history from fiction is that its, well, fiction. This may seem excruciatingly obvious, but its surprising how many intelligent, educated, well-read individuals take what they read in a historical novel or see in a period film as fact. The Trouble with Fiction When done really well, fiction leaves its audience thinking they know what the medieval world was really like. If the work is accurate, thats wonderful; but alas, novels and films have been known to present a skewed version of events and to perpetuate common misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Of course, most readers realize that much of the dialogue and the private moments of real historical figures that are captured in text or on film are only speculation. They may be aware on some level that events are open to interpretation, and that what they read or see is just one of many versions of what might have happened. Yet even readers who are acutely aware of these facets of historical fiction often ignore any question of accuracy concerning general historical background, settings and costumes, and the details of daily life, accepting as given that this much, at any rate, is authentic. This may be the most dangerous pitfall of using fiction as a doorway to the past. In order to enjoy the experience of fiction, we can (and should) suspend disbelief, and suspend as well any analysis of its veracity as history while reading the story or watching the film. But once you close the book or leave the theater, its time to think again. Even the most carefully-researched historical novel can contain errors of fact, and the sad truth is that many such novels arent carefully researched to begin with. Unlike a historian writing a scholarly treatise, novelists dont have to support every assertion with documentary, archaeological or even secondary evidence in order to get their work published;* they just have to write a good story. And films are so notorious for lacking accuracy that some moviegoers take particular delight in counting the mistakes. Furthermore, scholarly views of the medieval world are constantly evolving; what was considered a fairly accurate picture of the Middle Ages in, for example, the 1970s may be rendered much less authentic by the research and new evidence uncovered in the last few decades. You will sometimes find authors standing on the shoulders of earlier writers and passing along the erroneous or outdated details of their predecessors, with very few readers ever the wiser. Evaluating Fiction Fortunately, historical fiction doesnt always misrepresent the past. There is excellent fiction available, works that bring the Middle Ages to life in a wealth of accurate detail (and tell a good story, too). And more and more, modern historical novelists are making serious efforts to provide an accurate version of medieval times. But how do you know how much of whats presented in fiction is true to life? Do you take the word of the blurb on the back cover? Can film reviewers really tell you when a picture of the past is realistic? Theres only one way to know for sure: find out for yourself. Pick up a factual history book, visit some websites, go to a museum, join a discussion list, and start your journey into the fascinating world of historical discovery. If fiction is the trigger that launches you into the past, its value cannot be denied. Review a Medieval NovelShare your thoughts on a medieval-set historical novel good or bad at this review page. Note *Unfortunately, the same could be said of much popular history that gets published, as well. Guide Note: This feature was originally posted in May of 2000, and was updated in August of 2010.
Monday, March 2, 2020
Cultural Identity Essay Make Your Motherland Known
Cultural Identity Essay Make Your Motherland Known Cultural Identity Essay: Share Your Emotions about Your Motherland ââ¬Å"Despite the fact I was living in the United States for over five years already, I feel I belong to Chinese culture and its traditions.â⬠This line is the part of a cultural identity essay that can sometimes look like a sentence from a philosophical essay. In case youââ¬â¢ve never dealt with this kind of essay paper, here you will find enough useful tips and guides to help you perform an excellent cultural identity essay. This article is aimed at revealing the main secrets of completing a cultural identity essay, its organization moments, and proper formatting. If you want to get extra useful tips, you can contact an expert writing service online. Cultural Identity Essay: Main Purposes and Definition It is important to find out what the exact meaning of the cultural identity essay is before starting to perform a paper. This type of essay is an exceptional writing piece aimed at expressing personal feelings and experience of belonging to a particular nationality. It is preferable to write down how this nationality has influenced your life choices, the process of becoming an adult, and the way you take your decisions. This paper shows how the person develops with a certain nationality background and reveals its personality traits, customs, and traditions. Cultural identity essay mostly focuses on the following elements: Religion; Location; Native Language; Nationality; Gender; The structure of the essay is similar to the most popular essay types. Thus it is easy to figure out how to organize the main elements of the paper. The main difference between this type of essay and other ones is the need to use the first person when performing a paper. Since in the essay you reveal your personal experiences, feelings, and knowledge, there is no need to provide any sources. There is no need for research work either. You simply have to be good at performing the papers according to the assigned formatting style. For example, MLA style, which is mostly used in this kind of essays, can be easily followed once checking its guidelines and standards. It is great to use famous writersââ¬â¢ quotes in your final paper. In such a case, you need to provide a source of the quote in the reference list. Cultural Identity Essay: Top Ideas to Reveal Choose a concise topic for your essay, and better avoid too broad issues. Use the following five top things to discuss when selecting a topic for an essay: The issue of your own imagination; The real-life experience; Personal memories and memorable events; An authoritative person; Memorable places and traditions. It is great when you have a lot of personal experience, for example working in voluntary groups or helping other people. This can be a great topic to reveal. In case you have no such experience, you can always write about national traditions and customs, and the way you follow them nowadays. You can write an essay about your favorite place in your Motherland or about the people who inspire you the most. You can write about both good and bad experience in your life since even the worst situations can eventually become valuable life lessons. Besides, you can help people to deal with their problems once revealing your own bad situations and their solutions. The cultural identity essay can also be written about people who have influenced your way of thinking and the way you make your life decisions. Show how greatly national traditions and customs inspired you. Reveal other exceptional things, which made you the person you are now. Cultural Identity Essay: How to Start It Properly The best start is the selection of the proper topic for an essay paper. With a good topic, first, write an outline to make the entire writing process more organized. You must present your ideas and personal experience in a simple and clear language. You will be telling a story to people of other nationalities, thus make your story really useful and informative. You can conduct research if you want to describe some people or events in more details. Expert Advice: ââ¬Å"First you must decide on the exact topic of your essay paper. Only after dealing with the topic selection, start to organize your ideas. This is the right order for performing a great final paper. Brainstorming will be very useful in the first stages of the writing process. You need to list every interesting idea. Make sure to perform a paper for a certain target audience. Provide a powerful introduction and a strong thesis statement.â⬠You can use a broad thesis statement for a cultural identity essay. For example: ââ¬Å"The cultural identity influences the way we take the life decisions, and the way we see ourselves in the world.â⬠The body paragraphs need to provide a detailed meaning of the main thesis statements. Cultural Identity Essay Body Paragraphs It is preferable to provide a standard essay of five paragraphs. Therefore, write a powerful introduction, three detailed main body paragraphs, and a practical conclusion. Make the body paragraphs of the same length. The outline will help you to organize the entire writing process. Use the list of your interesting ideas and experiences. The following guides will help you to deal with writing process successfully: Use unified arguments to start every new paragraph. Use real-life experience once providing evidence. Use transitions to connect the interesting ideas in one piece. Try to organize the writing process properly and you will get a perfect essay paper eventually. Essay Example Extract of a Cultural Identity Essay ââ¬Å"My mother is Indian, and she belongs to a very educated Indian family. My motherââ¬â¢s religion is Hinduism. My dad is Spanish who has been living in the US for the biggest part of his life. My mother and my dad met in India. Their decision to move to the United States was mostly based on the importance of my dadââ¬â¢s work in the US. In spite of the fact that my dad is an atheist, my parents rarely have conflicts on their religions. It is great they let me become a part of any religion, or remain an atheist as my dad is. I adore their cultural differences since they both give me exceptional experience and knowledge I can use in my own life.â⬠Using this essay example, you can realize better how to perform your cultural identity essay. Yes, it will not be easy to write an inspiring essay. If you want to get a brilliant cultural identity essay, you can order a paper at an expert writing service. This way you will get your essay written by the best writers who know and appreciate the exceptional academic writing.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6
Final paper - Essay Example Additionally, around 6% of the Palestinians are Christians and only 1% of the Palestinians are represented by other small religious groups. Israel is an official Jewish country and it is situated in the Middle East. Additionally, Palestine comprises of two physically separate groups; the Muslim and Arab territories and they are located alongside the Israelââ¬â¢s West Bank (Gaza and Jordan River). Moreover, all these territories are dependent. Officially, no internationally recognised border separates Palestine and Israel. The lack of a demarcating border has led to the two countries claiming that they own the lands they currently occupy, and this has resulted in disputes for centuries now.1 The decades-long course of action aimed at resolving the border conflict between the two religious factions led to the creation of another overlapping conflict; managing the extremely unpleasant coexistence between the Israelis and Palestinians. The unpleasant coexistence has led to the Israelis military occupation of the Palestinian territory, while at the same time the Palestinian armed groups terrorise the Israelis mercilessly. Those two conflict dimensions were made worse by the long existence history of violence and bitterness between the two groups. Essentially, it is not the existence of distrust and resentment that usually make reconciliation between these two groups ineffective, but the existence of extremists who usually oppose any negotiation and want to subjugate or even destroy the other side. Moreover, when these extremists control the peace conversation and process, they usually ensure that they derail the whole process.2 In other words, the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis has advanced into a horrible cycle of conflict and the peace process continues to look less possible each breaking day. In most cases, these two groups are blamed equally for perpetuating conflict because many people, in both sides, enjoy squandering peace as well
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Proposal (Subject-Mental Health and Criminal Justice) Research Paper
Proposal (Subject-Mental Health and Criminal Justice) - Research Paper Example Here, we develop a proposal on behalf of a community mental health support group. This proposal is developed using empirical evidence from previous methods. Issues of public safety and ethics are paramount. As such, we analyze the process of law enforcement as applied to the mentally ill, and in so doing, we delineate strengths and weaknesses of traditional methods of dealing with these problems. Our population of interest is those who have not responded well to conventional clinical-legal methods. These are the people who have been traditionally called lost causes or incorrigibles. Our proposal builds upon previously successful models as a consolidated inter-disciplinary method. Briefly, our proposal is one of laissez faire. Forced participation in mental health and substance abuse programs are most often not appropriate especially for people who have the ability to independently improve their own lives (Chandler et. al., 2004). Ultimately, it is a profoundly human endeavor to help others live down their own shortcomings. This is a certainty upon which any method should operate. Although their presence is becoming much more significant, offenders with mental illnesses are still some of the most disenfranchised groups in society. Here, we propose improved methods of dealing with this population in a criminal justice setting. As such, we present the background and rationale for our proposal as well as its details and predicted outcomes. As we explore relevant information with respect to mental health and criminal justice, we are faced with certain questions. Do we include alcohol and drug abuse as a mental illness? How much is the system itself responsible for aggravating mental illnesses in the population? Does punishment (particularly confinement and isolation) make matters worse or maybe even create a lasting state
Friday, January 24, 2020
Psychotherapy as a Treatment for Schizophrenia :: Schizophrenia, mental illness, psychology,
Schizophrenia is a deep-rooted and mutilating mental illness. This disease can cause you to withdraw from the people and activities in the world around you. Which causes a person to retreat into a world of delusions and fantasies. Since no one knows the cause of this disease its hard to know what type of treatment is right. As of now there are two types of known treatments medication, and Psychotherapy. Only one of these two treatments is more endorsed by Doctors who treat this illness. Medication is the more favored of the two but Psychotherapy has a higher commitment rate. Which means that even when patients start taking prescription medication to treat their illness. In most cases they never stick to medication alone because of the side effects. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center even though drug treatments are the primary treatments, studies have shown that the psychological approach has a higher chance of preventing relapses. Some of these approaches are motivational interviews to encourage patients to commit to change, Community based rehab centers, that also help to train the patients social skills, Family Psychotherapy, and last but not least a cognitive-behavioral therapy that reduces the delusions and hallucinations that patients have. This disease mainly affects a persons ability to do everyday things. For example go into big crowds, shop, eat, cook, clean, do laundry. Basic things that one needs to do to live a normal independent life. So if these are the main things a schizophrenic person needs to learn. It can be accomplished with psychotherapy, or rehab. Instead of pumping a person full of generic prescription medication that isnââ¬â¢t going to do much but hurt them because of unbearable side effects, why not just organize groups or classes that is going to a help a person learn to do small but necessary things that they need for everyday life. Especially if the disease is in the early stages this can be accomplished even quicker.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Alan Mulally’s Restructuring of Ford Motor Company
According to the Nelson & Quick, Manually created one team focusing on ford brand. Ford was accused in the recession time, to keep too many brands under its corporate umbrella so it can't focus on its cash cow ââ¬Å"Fordâ⬠Brand. He sold out Jaguar cars, Land Rover brand and Volvo cars to minimize the corporate losses. (wickeder. Com). Following answers focus more on what extent his managerial and structural change decisions helpful to create profitable brand. 1. What are the key structural issues that Alan Manually encountered as incoming president and CEO of Ford? An automobile has about 10,000 moving parts, right?An airplane has two million, and it has to Stay up in the this is the answer Alan Manually provided when he was being asked a question by a journalist ââ¬Å"How are you going to tackle something as complex and unfamiliar as the auto business when we are in such tough financial shapeâ⬠. It was that tough when Manually came into ford from Boeing. There were sign ificant structural issues were at the Ford. Naming them, financial crisis- while other major car manufacturers filing bankruptcy, according to nelson (2013) ââ¬Å"ford dad to resolve to stand on its own feet and go it alone' (p. 39).Internal culture- when Manually come in ford has a very competitive rivalry culture ââ¬Å"and didn't help much to its profitability. According to Nelson & Quick (2013) ââ¬Ëthose who believe that competitive rivalry brings out the best, others know win lose competition carries costs for everyone involvedâ⬠(p. 64). Additionally, Ford was famous for world car and mass production people didn't buy ford because it is quality car. Ford is inherently face a challenge in a world of cars to build a culture quality. Nelson & Quick, 2013). Too many brands- when Manually come in, ford is more focusing on other attached brands than ford brand name.At the time ford owned Jaguar, Volvo cars, Mazda, Land Rover and Gaston Martin. Which loss the focus of manag ement towards ford brand. Don't have a right products- Manually saw potential of ford focus as a world car and but they didn't market it as it supposed to be and Ford Taurus Was a successful seller and they already discontinued that product How has Alan Manually addressed structural issues identified in the previous question? When Manually came in 2006, financial crisis was at its peak. He decided not to borrow money from government and stand its own feet.It was a right decision, because, overnight sales went up due to many patriotic Americans decided to switch to ford. He borrowed $24 billion from other parties and Stop dividends to shareholders. He sold all the other brands loosely associated with ford. By selling those brand Manually collected some money to get out of recession. Internal culture- when Manually came in, there was competitive culture. It was not helping the good team. Ford was thinking, by competitive culture best come out and actual result was there are bunch of u nhappy internal customers.So Manually created a culture of applauding openness and problem recognition culture. Quality issue- ford ware coincided by the whole worked as a common car. Manually wanted to create a ford as a quality product what exactly customers looking for. Too many brands so entire ford team work as one. According to Nelson & Quick (2013) ford anticipates consumer needs and delivers outstanding products and services that improve people's lives (p. 315). Loss focus- ford has so many brands under its corporate umbrella those did not help them to focus on ford brand.Manually decided to sell them all to get cash to recover the recession. That was increased attention towards ford brand. Bring back right product- first thing Manually did at the ford was bring back Taurus brand which was discontinues for no reason. Which helped to bring loyal customers back Explain the context that ford strategic goals provide for the design of its organization structure (Figurer : ford mo tor company structure) Ford's strategic goals were 1 . Ford is a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility to people around the world (Nelson & Quick, 201 3), 2.Ford anticipates consumer needs and delivering outstanding products and services that improves people's lives. Current ford culture would not help to achieve these targets. Inherently automobile industry is fairly club. According to Nelson & Quick (201 3), ââ¬Å"Ford was known for the feudal infighting about its executives, conflicts consumed time, energy and resources in counterproductive internecine warfareâ⬠(p. 349). In order to meet the challenge successfully, ford needs an outstanding team. Eventually Manually able to build the winning team.Nelson & Quick (2013) mentioned that ââ¬Å"Manually became a unifying figure who pulled the entire team together collectively'. Manually introduced large scale system integration in to ford learned from Boeing. Which was challen ging at first at ford. Ford had a linear structure shown above. This kind of system is ideal for manufacturing company. The problem was they didn't use the structure properly. Company culture, and structure wasn't that problem, problem was there are some recesses need to fine tune. Reason given for that was ford never felt a fresh blood so often.Manually had to fine tune corroded systems in general. He created united team, he created open door policy instead of competitive policy, he standardize manufacturing pants, etcâ⬠¦ By doing all the repairs for this old system, team was align for their new strategy to conquer the market. Would a network (or lattice) organization be a viable structural alternative for ford? Explain your answer (Figurer: Sample network organization) According to my knowledge, linear organization structure would be better Han network organizational structure for the manufacturing company.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Technology Factors in Virtual Teams Leading to Conflict - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2973 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Technology Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Technology Factors in Virtual Teams Leading to Conflict Thesis Statement and Introduction Virtual Teams (VTs) are group of individuals with a common goal that are separated geographically and communicate thru the use of technology (Pazos, 2012). Virtual teams open up a whole new world of possible reasons for conflicts and challenges to conflict resolution. Understanding the factors that lead to conflicts, the communication methods and the responsibility of Human Resources (HR) or the third party in conflict resolution is important to be able to develop effective understanding of conflict resolution in virtual teams. Background of Research The shift to flatter organizations, cost saving measures, globalization (Germain and McGuire, 2014), and the advancement of technology has led to the growth of the massive use of VTs. According to PeÃÆ'à ±arroja, Orengo, Zornoza, and HernÃÆ'à ¡ndez, (2013), as teams become more virtual there is an increasing negat ive effect of collaborative behaviours and team trust. Many researches have correlated that conflict affect the performance of VTs in terms of decreasing it (Ayoko, Konrad and Boyle, 2012; Pazos, 2012; Moreno, Navarro, Zornoza and Ripoll, 2009). As a result of the very fast growth of the VTs usage, these teams are treated are regular face-to-face teams in terms of management, this has caused numerous conflicts and an increased concentration on research on this topic (Shin, 2005). Dain et. al. (2012) argue that the essentials of team building are still there but globalization and technology are the new dimensions which is making it harder for managers. The three commonly discussed points in current researches on conflict resolution in virtual teams are trust, cultural diversity and communication medium or the technology responsible for establishing communication. Comparison of Different Theories It is highly likely that team members in a virtual team do not know each other. In this kind of situation it is possible that teams may not success if they do not trust each other, but the members are not aware of each otherà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s abilities and weakness living the members with no foundation to build trust. Germain and McGuire (2014) introduce the concept of swift trust. It is a short term trust that is built on the foundation of blind trust. Blind trust, as bad as it sounds, is an essential factor making virtual team work and avoid conflicts at the start of the project and get things goings. The second point is cultural diversity. Stahl, Maznevski, Voigt and Jonsen (2010) have stated that cultural diversity in teams is both an asset and liability. It is the ability of the team to manage cultural diversity is key in avoiding conflicts. This point shall only be lightly discussed on this paper as it fairly huge topic in itself. The third common point is the technology itself. As Drouin, Bourgault, and Gervais (2010) state that: à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âa number of studies showing that computer-mediated communication may be associated with an increase in intragroup conflict (p. 6).à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã Lyons, Priest, Wildman, Salas, and Carnegie (2009) add that it is due to the increased chances of misinterpretation. A great deal of papers on virtual teams talk about avoiding conflict but according to Pazos (2012) says that aside from commitment to goals, an active involvement in conflict resolution leads to a higher performance. Ayoko, Konrad and Boyle (2012) state that project. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âVTs managed their conflict using mediation, apology, explanations, positive reinforcement, and feedback seeking behaviors (p. 172).à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã In their work the word mediation is being used interchangeably with conflict resolution. They also talk about that this kind of system must be available to the VTs. Shin (2005) introduces this concept through two distinct system fitted to the needs for both conflict resolution and mediation. He in troduces the Virtual Negotiation System (VNS) which most closely matches conflict resolution since it includes the five conflict styles (Competition, Avoidance, Compromise, Accommodation and Collaboration); and Virtual Mediation System (VMS) which is for mediation. In both of this systems the third party can also be geographically dispersed. Main discussion Trust is considered a big component on all relationships, whether it is personal relationship or a working relationship. It is built overtime that is based on a personà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s assessment of other personà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s behavior (Tseng and Yeh, 2013). In VTs this is not possible because often all or some of the members of the team are new. Considering Tuckmanà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s Group Development Stages (Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing), will always bring the groups back to the storming phase every time a new member is added. In fact Harvey, Novicevic, and Garrison (2004), add that it happens in VTs wi thin the time frame they are working not just when the teams are newly created for a new project. In the world of business, this means delays and in the view of conflict resolution more conflicts will occur. Earlier in this paper the concept of swift trust was pointed out. As a form a blind trust to get things going, but it also can fuel conflicts if each otherà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s expectations are not achieved. Since there is no factual basis on building trust, stereotyping and categorization can and is likely going to happen (Germain and McGuire, 2014). Thus, introducing a new avenue for conflicts. A point to be emphasized in this problem, caused by stereotyping and categorization, is that it may worsen conflicts or cause conflicts that are serious or cause permanent damage not just to the relationship but also the reputation of the persons involved. At the end of the day the problem of trust remains a problem whether it is going back to the storming phase every time just to develop trust or applying swift trust which causes new problems that ultimately end up in increased chances of conflict. The main reason that technology can cause misunderstanding is best explained by HoltbrÃÆ'à ¼gge, Schillo, Rogers and Friedmann (2011) as they state: à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âAs electronic media are only able to transmit para-verbal and non-verbal elements of messages to a very limited degree, the risk of misunderstandings and conflicts increases (p. 4).à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã In a simpler sense the words are being transmitted without the sub-contextual cues such as gestures that supplement during conversation without these, receivers of messages may not be able to tell the difference between a strong acceptance and a reluctant acceptance. During regular face-to-face discussion, a mere crossing of hands signals some sort of dissent which cannot be seen using a computer mediated communication, video conferencing may help but according to Moreno, Navarro, Zornoza and Ripoll (2009) litt le has been known about the benefits of videoconferencing in avoiding conflicts. Ayoko, Konrad and Boyle (2012) point that aside from the limitations of technology, conflicts can be aggravated due to communication delays caused by time zone differences or in message delivery problems. Native languages can also play a role in further fueling conflict. People with different native language communicating in English will use different ways to say the same things as they will subconsciously match it with the structure of the native language causing delivering a different meaning than intended. Hsu and Chou (2009) presents that introducing the communicative genres (patterns) can help solve this problem in their statement: à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âan integration of communication interface that incorporating needed genres for learners to fluently and transparently coordinate is suggested to develop as having individuals to collaborate virtually (p. 10).à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã Considering the state of the current speech recognition technologies which fails to simply translate what is said in to written words, this is a long way and it make take decades before a working prototype can be developed. As of the moment, nothing can prevent language from causing conflicts. An added point to look at is sub-accent with in countries (i.e. USA, India). Often in large countries (but not always, it is possible in small countries too) there are different accents and ways of speaking the same language which pushes this cause for conflict in to deeper grounds by adding another layer of complexity. Another problem with technology is its availability and accessibility. Availability is the resources that can be used in communication (i.e. device, internet access, etc.) while accessibility is being able to actually connect to the person, person may have all the resources but keeping them off or not answering the call would not allow any form of communication. This can fuel conflicts or during confli ct resolution can allow a great and easy escape for avoiders. This is further supported by Furumo (2009) in his/her research he finds out that deserter are more likely to use the avoidant conflict management style than any other in VTs. However, the research also finds the use of avoidant conflict management style is not as significantly high as expected. Interestingly, the research also points that trust is also a vital factor that in making a team member an avoider. Avoiders present a big challenge in VTs because just to convince them or get them to conflict resolution is hard. It is because that you cannot just approach the avoiders personally or send a person to them, since if it would have been possible then it will befit the very purpose of creating a VT or would be otherwise be expensive; and attempting to call the avoider will not yield any result for the reason that he/she will not answer or reply to any communication attempt. Additionally distinguishing a person who is rea lly an avoider from those who have poor connectivity would also present a challenge. Both of them will be showing the same signs for a certain time enough to cause undue conflict. These has also been pointed out earlier that any communication delay can increase the chances of conflict in this case carrying the assumption that the person is an avoider, even though the reality is he/she is having connectivity problems. Before this point technology has been treated as able to get things done but not so perfectly. Thomas and Bostrom (2010) also gave a look at two simple but important points that further pushes technology as a vital factor in causing conflict. Firstly, they point to adequacy of technology whether it is able to do the task or not. Technology not being able to or partially do the task will place the pressure on person working, forcing him/her to use the manual paper and pen techniques or do endless adjustment causing more stress, fatigue and time. This seems to be the p erfect environment to brew conflicts. And lastly the inadequacy of knowledge of using technology, this is another teeth-grinder. A great example of this is the mix of generational work force in the workplace today, there are lots of difference among the generation and one of which is technology literacy. Generally, millennials are defined as more tech savvy, followed by generation X which are considered as only tech literate and the baby boomers which have not grown to use technology and often prefer the same old ways. This presentation is enough to support the fact that this is another fertile ground for causing conflicts. In elaboration, millennials would love to do something on computers while Baby Boomers may not trust the output by this technology. Inadequacy of knowledge on technology does not just span in inter-generational situations but also it can still cause conflicts among the same generation. With so software systems today being so advanced that simple usage of those sy stem with ignorance can cause major problems or possible financial losses to the establishments. Another problem that can cause conflict is that fact that there is a wide variety of software available for a certain task and the stereotypical expectation that if someone knows how to do a certain thing would mean that person know a certain kind of software regardless of the possibility of it can also be done on other systems as well. These two facts combined plus the idea of personal preference or expectation is enough to cause scenarios like à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âI am doing it the right wayà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã or à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âYou are doing it wrongà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã , thus leading to a possible conflict. VNS (and VMS) is a great tool that uses technology in conflict resolution but upon further analyses the same problems can be identified with technology. Depending on the communication medium used, it still lacks the easily notable non-verbal cues that can be essentially used by the third part y to work most proficiently. It still does not solve the problem of the avoiders which are going to be able to avoid conflicts. Additionally, language problem still remains in VNS proposing a heavy challenge on conflict resolution. Another concept that has come around is Virtual Human Resources Development (VHRD). It is the development of team members to learn how to handle HR related problems, inclusive of which conflict resolution. Human Resource Development experts are becoming partners rather than experts in solving business problems (Germain and McGuire, 2014). Tong, Yang, and Teo (2013) extends this notion that all team aside from the needs IT-related training must be trained in conflict resolution. In whole of this paper, idea the technology failing to provide the full communication channel has been pointed out as a cause for conflict and or leading to other sub causes. But looking back, when there were no VTs, there were still conflicts. For convenience, this will be call ed natural conflict for this paragraph and conflict caused by the weakness of technology artificial conflict. Now the questions, comes How do you differentiate a natural and an artificial conflict? This is a great deal of concern because it will greatly affect the way conflict resolution would have to be conducted. An artificial conflict treated as a natural conflict will be attempted to be resolved in the wrong way. Again, this will introduce another avenue for a new and more complex conflict. The same thing will apply in the reverse situation, wherein the natural conflict will be treated as an artificial conflict. In this scenario, it can be said that it will not affect in a much harsher way than the latter but will still fail. Conclusion In this paper, various causes for conflicts were pointed out and as to why these causes are creating or fueling conflicts in VTs. Technology, trust, language were identified and analyzed as cause for conflict. Technology was identified as a cause for conflict due to its inherent weakness failing to provide a complete communication channel. Trust because there is no quick and easy way of establishing it. Language is another half of the communication problem in VTs because interpretations may fail to deliver the appropriate message. Additionally, the methods or systems that aim to respond to conflict were also put forth but it was later found that these methods or systems fall into the same trap or introduce problems that should not have occurred otherwise (i.e. stereotyping as a result of swift trust). And some systems have been visualized but are currently not possible to be built for now. Conflict resolution in VTs is a great concern to big and small establishments. At the moment it is still new and the whole world is still learning on how to tackle the problems associated with VTs. References Ayoko, O. B., Konrad, A. M., Boyle, M. V. (2012). Online work: Managing conflict and emotions for performance in vi rtual teams.European Management Journal,30, 156-174. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2011.10.001. Daim, T., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W., Bhatla, A. (2012). Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. 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