Cadbury Human Resources Management

Cadbury Human Resources Management Assess the fit of Cadburys approach to managing its human resources and its business strategies with reference to relevant models of SHRM. Cadburys approach to manage the human resource and business strategy in regards to the case study given can be categorized in two models: Resource based models and best fit models. According to the case study, it is assumed that resource based model was used prior to the acquisition of Adams and best fit approach were used after the acquisition done. Most traditional HRM approaches use organizational external factors to determine HR policy, resource based, instead focus on companys internal factors (e.g. strength) and develop further using the available resources. In Cadbury case, it can be seen that, using Managing for Value was launched in 1977 which focused on companys internal ability (employee understanding) to decide how the company could be more profitable. Managing for Value itself has been categorized in three parts: Accountable (individual responsibility), Adaptable (get adjust with recent trends) and Aggressive (result oriented and goal driven). And then, Result Focused is also implemented for the sake of employee development let the employee understands the business goals and the environment where Cadbury operates the business during training session. The outcome was about 90% of employees returned with a better understanding and values of Cadbury and was proud to be in a team. As such, resource based model was used based on companys abilities and resources to determine the appropriate strategic actions. Cadburys approach to resource based approach can be summarized in the following 5 steps: Cadburys is ranked 26th in FTSE and had a profit of 6% amounting  £1115 million and had appointed a HR manager in main board. But then the major weakness was to identify the potential employees and promote and motivate them to perform better. This strength-weakness analysis is used in very first step of resource based model against the competitors. Next, Cadbury identified that the employees skill must be analyzed to motivate each employee through some goals so that they can perform better (known as capability analysis). Employee motivation has been seen fruitful after the training session. The Cadbury assess their unique set of resources to stay ahead of competitors. To be a competitive leader, Cadbury brought the employees closer to the company by offering them share in 1974. Employees had invested their own money and for that reason each employee has a good reason to be motivated towards a common goal to perform better than yesterday. By offering the part of the company business, 90% of employee said they liked the share investment which has proven big returns for the company itself. This strategy fitted with the Cadburys then competitive step as no such company had offered this opportunity before. And then, to formulate the strategy into realty and to be a market leader, Cadbury took aggressive step toward acquisition of Trebor Bassett and Adams. This acquisition followed by a decentralized command of the company split into five regions which demands that Cadbury can no longer stick on old concept. As the business trends had changed, to be competitive and earn above-average returns after big acquisitions, HR has to play its roles. There came the Best-Fit model which derived from the business strategy. Cadburys step forward to best fit was hugely changed trough the acquisitions. The following are the valuation how best fit approaches fitted with Cadburys Human resource management. Recruitment and selection process had been adapted with extreme care. Both businesses had been given equal priority as both had two different cultures. Some employees had been shifted over the businesses on demand. Communications has played its role and made things easier. The managements of two different businesses had been asked what culture the company should adopt to be a market leader. This communication let the employee had their flexibility on job rather than having job imposed on them. Direct discussions with employees had been made and few standards of behaviors had been set. Cadbury identified that, rather than focusing on individual employee it could form a team for specific goals for a certain time and replace them for some other purpose at a later time. This strategy did make diversification among employees and known as Working Better Together in the case study. Cadbury introduced extensive training program with more than 50 online tools for employee to let employee work more collaboratively in a decentralized business structure. However, despite these steps, Cadbury wasnt able to bring out the best of the workforce. A more growing approach more likely a joint problem solving approach was necessary. As a result, Growing Our People had been initiated so let employee be involved in decision making process with responsibility. Employees went through side by side with managers in assessment process of companys various stages and gain their performance. Performance appraisal was essential at this stage. Cadbury had to assess what were the outcomes of the training, communication etc to determine the next possible steps towards the HRM (e.g. pay increase, promotion). It has found that, poor performed employees were not given fair chances and opportunities. Since Cadbury placed its first priority to stakeholders and only fifth priority to built reputation with staff, it took serious actions towards the poor performed employee; noted as Passion for People. Well performed employees had been give pay rise while low performed employees had been disqualified. AS a global business leader, it had no chance to retain poor performed employees. Conclusively, optimal employee commitment has been established. To let the HR strategies more employee friendly, HR professionals was appointed in every regional decision making board. Cadbury initiated sense the employee considerations in different cultures. Best fit model proved to bring success in Cadburys HR strategies up to date. While other elements have been considered over time as business grows, Cadbury is proven to be stable in human resource managements with more than 50,000 workforces globally and one of the top confectionary company around the world. Words Counted: 970 Using your own knowledge from unit 8 and the related information about managing effective change evaluate the organizations approach to change assessing its impact and the role played by SHRM techniques and processes. (20 marks) Cadbury went through many changes in the give case study. Taking consideration of strategic human resource management, Cadburys approach to assess the changes could be based on the following: Change in Employee Roles and Responsibility Cadbury went through many changes on employee roles and positioning during the case study; beginning with Andrew Gibson which didnt follow traditional HR guidelines. But since Andrews appointment was based on his aggressiveness towards the shareholders and make the company profitable, led the leadership to promote him than his seniors. Change in Strategies 5 different approaches throughout the case study had been flowed. Beginning with managing for value (increase employee understanding), result focused (employee must reach the goal), working better together (work as a team), growing our people (provide training and workshops) and passion for people (retain the talents). It should be noted that the 5 approaches had been implemented in different times. Except the working better together which failed to identify potential workforce in a cultural mix, all other approaches was seen viable and brought positive impact to Cadbury. Talent Management Talent management is a common and natural home for HR particularly where it may also need to become part of a broader culture change program. Talent management has been developed along with the approach of Passion for People where well-performed employees had been offered promotion and pay-out. In the mean time, it was found that poor performed employees had not been dealt with fairly. Change in Culture After acquisition of Trebor Bassett and Adams, it was necessary to change internal culture to let employee mix with other culture and know each culture better. Culture tells how each business goes through with its own resources. Often acquitted business needed to adapt with existing business but in Cadbury, both new and old business had been told to build a new working culture to be a winning business which is known as working better together. Change in Training and Development Employee training plays the most innovative role in employee development. Business changes every day globally. New techniques and business policies are invented regularly. To let employees stay ahead with the latest business development, Cadbury had implemented various training facility over time. During the Result-focused it was seen 5 day training had been provided to understand the business goals. It has to be changed after acquisition of another business which had been implemented in Working Better Together to let the employee works together in a team despite of cultural differences. Change in Structures Before the acquisitions, Cadbury had a centralized business structure located in UK. Every decision was made in the head quarter and then made available to all sectors. After a large acquisitions and global business expansion, centralized business was not worthy. UK officers were not able to feel the cultural differentiation and its affect on Cadburys business in USA. To grow the business further Cadbury split the business to five different regions each having own standards and culture. And now, with more than 50,000 work forces from hundreds of different cultures put Cadbury ahead as one of the top confectionary around the globe. Words Counted: 520 From your knowledge of the course how does the HR function seem to be supporting the business strategy at Cadburys? In general how can HR best support an organization going through change? (10 marks) HR function to adopt the attraction, the development, grants or is the special value these individual retention and the deployment systems process which enlightens is achieved to the organization by the high potential. Before the integration new and existing high skills staff members, will absorb the management organization to enable each one and the organization goal understanding. Indeed, HR function integration and the alignment to other organization process is a crucial successful factor. The HR expert policy and the practice possible to create the value to the organization through the integration, the analysis, the survey and the appraisal human capital; Indeed the HR domain has develops richly. In view of the fact of Cadbury, may attract without doubt it, fosters the talent, retained the staff to rise the majority organization precedence finally to be surprised. Outside it may be in a wasting assets huge process attempts to seek for the organization and the staff needs the new person only then the even more way to solve the problem now, and integrates it the work innovation creativity. Despite the development of other were not aware of the benefits of a good bottom line has been embedded. Perceived in the development of a strong embedded inside the organizations, have a higher level of total shareholder return as seen in Cadbury case supports the philosophy of many top-performing corporations, both public and private, that effective HR functions is an inherent element of a high performance and successful business culture. The single most important factor in the successful development of other embedded active sponsor of senior management. The HR functions, more and more business press reports as a more strategic approach, which aims to ensure the organization of a series of events, winning the people they need to meet the challenges of the future skills as noted at the end of Cadbury case study. Respondents planned development of the organization, ask them the organization is hoping to achieve it. The top three responses, including succession planning, to attract, retain and develop the sustainability and future growth Managers should take the following key measures to ensure that HR can best support an organization going through change. Get the right people: Proper care, but must be taken to employ the people themselves. This will be useful to the organization to recruit young people and nurture them, and not substitute for other organizations to employ. Even though the board has a member from HR department, to employ the right people in Cadbury, HR strategies should be diversified and more decentralized. Promises must be kept: Any commitment to employee must be dealt with proper care and attention. Cadbury should bear in mind that, employees are asset to the organization; thus any promise given to then (e.g. promotion, pay, assessment, dividends) must be kept even if the expected profit outcome is not achieved. Healthy working environment: Rules of the organization must be flexible enough to provide them with the freedom to fulfill their part of the mandate, they like, as long as the task of implementation. Opportunities should be provided to employees to achieve their personal goals. Talent identification: Of course talents are the precious asset any organization be proud of. During the Cadbury case study it was seen that, after merge with Adams, Cadbury were unable to identify the potential talent even though their intention was good. Talents can be anyone in any field. One good way the HR policies in Cadbury can identify the talents is to reassign the employees in different position and let them be a part of every decision making process, if possible. It is no so easy to identify a talent unless they have given a chance. Rewards and Appraisal: Employee should be provided with proper appraisal and pay assessment based on performance. Low performed employee should be given extra care and opportunity to perform better. Continuous training: Employers must provide employees with continuous learning and closed areas of work opportunities, through the management development programs and distance learning programs. Adequate relax: Rest and Recreation (RR) is a common aspect ever big organization adhere in today business. Taking consideration of human psychology, rest and recreation can refresh employee mind and soul and let them think clearly with ideas. Even companies worldwide spent thousands to let their employee be fresh (e.g. annual trip, picnic, diner party etc) so that they can be more motivated and get the message that the company appreciates their service and wished better service in coming days. Cadbury could definitely adapt this process. In case study it was seen that only training was provided for employee motivation. Cadbury shouldnt ignore that, if employees are not re-energized, they will not feel interest on any such training and workshop. Overall, HRD policies in Cadbury should be adhering to an on-going evaluation process. Well-performed employees must be given awards to be more competitive and poor performed employees should be given more spaces to work on with. Diversification is also important to ensure that gap of cultures; race and religion do not make an issue and jeopardize the organizations common goal. Words Counted: 850 Total Words Counted for Section A: 2,340 SECTION B (60 marks) Question 2 What is the value of organizations in creating a learning organization culture? How can organization work towards creating this culture through its HRD/HRM Strategies? (30 marks) Learning organizational culture is a growing trend in making more employee oriented organization. Many organizations, particularly large organizations are aware of the need to encourage learning and assume learning through work is a perfect fit (Billett, 2001). Small organization, however do not take much advantage of organizational learning due to limited organization scope and people diversity (Antonocopoulou, 2001). Recently small firms also started focus on learning in order to success over long term. Learning in the organization is a descriptive topic to conclude (Brown and McCartney, 2004). Due to different culture, organizational culture would differ asymmetrically, some organizations provide formal learning, and some adopt informal learning, some offers blended learning, some even offer e-learning (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). Whatever the policy is, the main aim remains same: to ensure the employee would be able to adapt a change as soon as it is implemented, than competitor to stay in focus (Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989). Culture is most famously defined as an integration of shared values and theories (Tharenou, 1997). Culture itself is a combination of internal organizational components like employee interactions, organizational functions and performance, employer attitude, organizational decision making process (Billett, 2001). These combinations defines the policies for a organization to solve normal problem as well the any unknown problems using new knowledge and scenarios are shared between multiple level employees; thus provides employee to address challenging and difficult situations (Antonocopoulou, 2001). This culture of learning organization is a continuous process of moving along with indefinite changes for a better learning environment (Maurer, Weiss, and Barbeite, 2003). Overall, the aim of a learning environment can be defined as the share of practical knowledge towards organization innovation, performance, growth (Booth, 1991). Continuing with the theme, this paper will address the valu e of learning organization culture, how organization can implement a learning environment and individual elements thats plays the role (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). Well trained employees play the first role in building of organizational learning culture (Parker, 2000). Many researchers identifies that putting employee in right place, giving time on right thing, utilize employee skills, introduce new learning method with fun is to implanted before expecting employee to do the right thing for the firm and the customer (Booth, 1991). Thus, in todays business, much concentration should be given to companys human capital strategy along with economic strategy and this has to as regularly as economic strategies are implemented to future performance (Antonocopoulou, 2001). Model of learning process is another factors included in organizational learning process (Tharenou, 1997). In traditional human resource management process, companies usually takes extensive training based learning programs which focus only on related content (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). Since business trend has been changed, so did human learning behavior and intention. Traditional learning process doesnt count how people learn and measures it success on how quickly the training is finished (Billett, 2001). Very often trainee employees dont learn much as expected and measured this policy a failure in terms of cost, mistakes and outcomes. Todays learning considers many aspects before design learning process (Booth, 1991). Employee can learn from home, learn as they work, learn in friendly consultation, learn through internet, share knowledge with worldwide employee unions etc (Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989). They not only tend to learn but also evaluate their learning with each oth er stay ahead. This creates a tendency to adopt as soon as there is any information out before anyone else (Brown and McCartney, 2004). Strategic Human Resource Development (SHRD) may put much focus on learning styles with four different approaches: Experiment Doing This learning approach provides a details outline of a clear picture of the job to be done within the given time. Examination is taken to check the learning accuracy and always provides feedback with questions answered. This learning process is a go-on process to run until the learning objectives are fulfilled (Antonocopoulou, 2001). The trainee people are able to choose their resources to get the job done and are keen to finish the job given (Frese and Fay, 2001). Observing Participating In this learning process, employee needs an overview of the process, and then follows a superior doing the job and then go with it ownself with a superior monitoring. Sometimes the trainee may learn for the mistakes that senior people does, take lesson from the mistakes, avoid repeated mistakes. Instant feedback is given during learning process (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). Inquiring Consulting The trainees will learn through inquiring and consulting mode to have all the information of the new ideas (why, how, when, where etc) (Wall and Wood, 2005). After understand the context of the task, employee will apply the new knowledge into their work and expect details feedback (Booth, 1991). Analyzing Patterning For an employee to learn in this way, a precise and details how-to-do guidelines must be presented in an organized and logical manner. These guidelines would be used in step by step process from start to end that is coherent to all (Eraut, 2004). To work towards creating the learning culture through HRD strategies, following points might be considered: Skill Gap Analysis Skill gap analysis used organization human resource management which critically assess the current skill of an individual, team or even an organization. Skill gap can be as simple as communication skill and can be as complex as complex decision making. Identifying skill gaps will help organization to design learning program which have significant impact on skill level and performance. Another major impact of skill gap analysis is, when the skill gap is address and monitored properly and a on-going learning culture is on the way, employee might be more engaged and motivated towards the goal which might fulfill the achievement of skill gap, as a result makes the whole job easier and eventually benefits the company (Gherardi, 2000); (Malcolm, Hodkinson, and Colley, 2003). Catalyst for Change Introduction of new management skill, leadership style, monitoring and coaching the employees during any organizational change can channel the learning process inside HRD policies. It also might provide expert motivation, consulting skills as well as on-site learning. The aim should be incorporated to achieve said results, goals and objectives and establish sustainable innovative practices in the organization. In addition, the change will let employee committed to action and to be self dependant in terms of productivity (Fuller and Unwin, 2004); (Huselid, 1995). Competitive Advantage Of course, integrated learning process and continuous implementation will let managers keep making profits and sustain the company position over the competitors. Its been long considered as one of the fundamental factor of competitive advantage in companys strategic management. Learning culture through coordinated system change, with mechanisms available for individual and organizations to access and culture to develop long term organizational capacity is already a part of Strategic Human Resource Management. To stay competitive, creation, acquisition and integration of skill aimed for the development of human capital and capabilities might be included that influence organizational better performance (Crant, 2000); (Tight, 2000). Creation of a Learning Environment Learning environment can be viewed as the spaces where the learning will take place. Learning environment contains all necessary learning equipments, from class room to meeting board, from exam hall to discussion room. Learning environment usually plays its role to apply the knowledge instantly in different teams on different purpose and view the outcomes. Often whole organization can play a mock test to assess the validity of a resolution which can be defined in HRD policies. Learning environment arrangement can have impacts on employee learning, learning outcome and finally on Learning environment performance. The HRD policies in organization let employee learn as they go through everyday work by providing both informal and formal conversation, discussion etc (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000); (Wall and Wood, 2005). Words Counted: 1290 Question 4 To what extent can performance management systems stand alone from an organizations overall approach to developing and managing people? How can organizations integrate the performance and developmental aspects of managing people? Use case examples to illustrate your answer. (30 marks) Performance management involves training, team cooperation, dialogue, management style, attitude, shared vision, employee involvement, multi-capacity, incentives and rewards. It is used to maximize the employee performance in an organization (Neely and Bourne, 2000); (Williams, 2003). Performance Management System (PMS) provides performance reports on time and relevance to the organization helps to take swift decision. It also helps business to focus on achieving results to internal and external stakeholders (Blalock, 1999); (Bassioni, Price, and Hassan, 2004). Disadvantage of PMS are often are not designed to be well-informed about the nature and link of the processes Performance management system may not be consistent always. Today PMS may not be useful tomorrow. It has to update and change regularly (Papalexandris et al, 2005; (Meyer and Rowen, 1991); (Lawler, 2003). Several Performance Management System (PMS) are in use today like Balance Scorecard, Performance Prism etc (Kaplan and Norton, 2000); (Meyer and Rowen, 1991). Performance Management System is designed to clarify the purpose of assisting individual employee performance management and program-related training and development programs (Kaplan and Norton, 2000). Consistent with the main objective, performance management should be seen as a fully integrated system of personnel management. Personnel management, including work and business design, job descriptions, selection process, performance requirements of the induction, proof, training, effective supervision, performance feedback and suggestions (Bontis et al, 1999); (Bassioni, Price, and Hassan, 2004); (Halachmi, 2002). Traditional PMS mostly focused on theoretical and experience based approaches while modern PMS can be customized thoroughly based on organization needs. Modern business are not bound in one culture, they are fitted with hundreds of culture and environment which doesnt really rely on theoretical approaches but rather focus on business driven trends which can be updated and upgraded regularly (Neely and Bourne, 2000); (Nilsson and Kalid, 2002); (Williams, 2003); (Lawler, 2003). According to the case study given (of Cadbury), five framework analysis can explain how Cadbury integrated the PMS systems over time and what were the outcomes: Managing For Value Managing Value let employee work for companys value. Three main As has been initiated for maintain the company profitable. Accountable held individual responsible for the roles. Adaptable adjust as the business world changes and upgrade own skills and knowledge whenever available and applicable. Aggressive individual should be result and goal oriented and each goal must be achieved. However, this framework was based on older basis business style which doesnt suit with todays complex business needs (Kaplan and Norton, 2000); (Bassioni, Price, and Hassan, 2004); (Meyer and Rowen, 1991). Result Focused Result focused has brought the idea that the Cadbury holds a strong financial goals thus employee must be talented and strong too. Employees were sent to training that was linked with the goals achieved from managing for value. They were given a idea and context of business environment where Cadbury operates. This framework brought employee closer to invest inside the company. While own money is invested, every employee tends to work harder for the best of the company. Yet, this result focused approach was not enough when Cadbury went through acquisition of other companies (Bontis et al, 1999); (Nilsson and Kalid, 2002). Working Better Together This framework has been established bearing in mind that Cadburys global business. Cadbury found that employees should work collaboratively rather than individually. After the acquisition, different types of employee joined the company. There was a need to construct a framework where new comer will work with experienced as a team or group for certain purpose. This framework unfortunately didnt bring the expected outcomes due to failure of identify potential workforce and lack of motivation. Employees had been assigned to the working environment where they werent familiar with (Blalock, 1999); (Meyer and Rowen, 1991). Growing Our People This strategy is a small training program for managers to teach them how to identify and manage potential talent and ensure equal participation of every resource. Managers were set to motivate the employee about the company succession and let them make decision in certain cases. What this policy missed is deal with poor performed employee. The framework did mention to motivate every employee but didnt clearly identify how to influence poor performed employee, whether they will be left behind etc (Papalexandris et al, 2005); (Bassioni, Price, and Hassan, 2004). Passion for People Passion for people is said to be the best suited with Cadbury which looks at the mechanics of managing performance. Before this policy is established, stakeholder has been given first priority whereas deal with staff is given fifth priority. On certain point both conflicted. Thus Cadbury decided to demolish the poor working performance for the sake of stakeholders which has been a bottleneck for a long time. Cadbury decided to go for the people who work with Cadbury, but not for Cadbury. Employees has been given freedom and choice to do what is right for the job and thus each job in Cadbury now is a role of enthusiasm (Neely and Bourne, 2000); (Nilsson and Kalid, 2002); (Meyer and Rowen, 1991); (Norreklit, 2000). Performance Management System (PMS) must implement 6 common features widely considered as the succession factors for such kind of system. They are: Objective Setting It appears that the main purpose of performance management systems, the focus of its strategic objectives, is not it have been a lot of people think that management and staff to assist in achieving other objectives of the system, namely, a comprehensive evaluation and the corresponding performance development and improvement of staff (Bassioni, Price and Hassan, 2004). In the performance management system aims at one of the reasons is the apparent conflict of strategic planning business development (Kaplan and Norton, 2000) (Neely and Bourne, 2000); (Bassioni, Price, and Hassan, 2004); (Lawler, 2003). Ongoing Review of Objectives Performance management system should be designed in a way that participants are well-informed about the objectives and link of the processes. PMS objectives should be closely related to the boundary of the working environment and it must ensure objectives are changed whenever company vision, mission and scope are changed (Papalexandris et al, 2005); (Meyer and Rowen, 1991); (Williams, 2003); (Halachmi, 2002). Development of Personal Improvement Personal improvement closely related with employee training about the PMS system is considered as the most important factors

Understand Sequence & Rate of Each Aspect of Development from 0-19 Years

1. 1 Explain the sequence & rate of each aspect of development that would normally be expected in children & young people from birth -19 years Development is what happens to every individual at every stage of his or her lives. Developing something means to learn different skills, physical aspects and involves gaining control of the body. For example, a baby will develop physically because it is still going to grow, which means the body will still be changing. Another example is if an older person is learning a new skill, like how to use a computer. That person’s computer skills are developing as he/she is learning a new skill and is gaining control over it physically and mentally. When you are developing, you are learning and growing into a better person than what you are now. You begin to understand more than what you already know. This means your body is changing and has to retain a lot more information every time you develop. Therefore, a developmental milestone is what the average child does at each stage of their development. It is a basic functional skill or age specific task that most children develop at a certain age range. When the baby is new born, for the first few years of the baby’s life, he or she visits a paediatrician for regular check-ups. The paediatrician checks how the baby is developing using milestones. Although there is a specific age for when the child is expected to meet each milestone, this is not always the case. Every child is unique and therefore each child develops and reaches its milestones at different ages. The level of age that a child should reach each milestone is just an average estimate. There could be a number of different reasons as to why a child is not reaching the milestones are the expected ages, some of these reasons could include: * Genetic factors – a child inheriting the parents genes, * Parent involvement – the amount of time the parents have for their children, to encourage their children’s development, * Health implications, * Environmental factors – the quality of the child’s home and area. Growth is different to development. Growth is being able to grow into a bigger person. The growth process not only involves a child’s height and weight, it also involves the growth of their teeth, when a child gains teeth, they then fall out and gain new teeth. For a teenager it involves starting puberty and for any person it involves the growth of hair and nails. All these different growth processes occur as the body matures. Although growth and development have different meanings, they are closely linked. They usually follow the same pattern, although sometimes this is not the case. For example, if there is something wrong with the child or they have a disability, this could be because they are still growing but not developing. There are different factors that could influence a child’s growth and some of these include: * Genetic factors – inheriting the parents genes * Environmental factors – e. g. living in cramped spaces could lead to poor growth. * Financial factors – e. g. the child’s parents may not be able to afford new shoes for their child, therefore if the child continues to wear the same small shoes, their feet will not grow properly. * Emotional factors – e. . if the child is emotionally stressed and upset, they may not eat very well or lack sleep, preventing them to grow. * Intellectual factors – e. g. the child not having the knowledge to know what is a healthy diet. Therefore, if the child eats a lot of junk food instead of fresh foods it could prevent a healthy growth. * Physical factors – e. g. having a problem or condition, which affects a child’s growth. Growth and development is very important, especially throughout a child’s childhood. This is because at these early stages of their lives, they develop and learn the most. It is important for a child to have the right foundation of growth and development in the early stages of their lives for them to increase their growth and development throughout the rest of their lives. Good development enables a child to increase their skills and knowledge, which will help them throughout their lives. For example, when they are looking for a job they will be equipped with a good development of knowledge and intellectual skills, which will result to a better job. Another example is if when a child attends school, they will be able to learn and develop quickly which will result to better grades. Good growth on the other hand, enables a child to have a healthy weight, height and an overall healthy body. Good growth also helps a child’s development. Physical growth and size Physical growth occurs from 0 to 18 years. This is from the time the baby is born to the time the baby matures. The child will grow according to the individual child and the different parts of its body; this also depends on the rate that the child will grow at throughout the years. The child may experience a ‘growth spurt’, which is when the body tends to grow at a much faster pace than the child’s usual growth rate. Parts of the body also grow quicker than other parts at different times. For example, usually a baby’s head is larger than the rest of the body when born. As the baby grows, the head becomes smaller in proportion to the rest of the body parts. Health professionals monitor babies’ growth using a chart called the ‘Centile Chart’. Midwives and health visitors usually measure and weigh babies and children and then plot the measurements on the centile chart. A centile chart is used to measure babies and children’s’ height and weight and compare it to the average height and weight. This is to check if they are growing at a normal rate. If they are not, then it could be because of health implications, which is then assessed by the GP. A centile chart is quite similar to the developmental milestones, as they both measure babies and children according to the average measurements. The height and weight of a child is usually recorded on two separate centile charts. There is also a separate centile chart for both boys and girls. This is because boys are usually taller and weigh more than girls, so the average height and weight will be different for both genders. The chart has three lines marked on it and they are known as the 98th centile, the 50th centile and the 2nd centile. For the 98th centile it would be labelled as ‘98’ and this will show the children who are taller or heavier than the average child. The 50th centile would be labelled as ‘50’ and this shows the average height and weight of the child. Therefore, the 2nd centile would be labelled as ‘2’ and this shows the children who are shorter or lighter than the average child. Only 3% of children are expected to be above or below the 98th or 2nd centile. Physical Development Physical development is when the child starts gaining control of their movements and learning skills, these are developed with age. Physical development is when the muscle strength increases in a child. They learn to sit up by themselves, and then they learn how to crawl and eventually how to walk. This is all to do with the physical development of a child’s muscles. However, physical development also includes the maturity of the central nervous system. This means that children are more tolerant to pain as they grow older, due to the toleration levels of their central nervous system. For example, if a child is dropped at 3 months old, the amount of pain inflicted on the child would be substantially high, where as if a child at 3 years was dropped the amount of pain inflicted would be noticeably lower due to the developmental progression of the nervous system. Physical development can be divided into three main categories, these are: * Fine motor skills * Gross motor skills * Sensory skills Gross Motor Skills Gross motor skills are the reflexes in a child’s body. This consists of using the larger muscles in the legs, arms, torso and feet to control their body and larger movements. When a baby is born their physical movements consist of unintentional movements known as reflexes. These reflexes help babies to survive, as they have no control over their bodies or their movements at first. Once the baby gains control over it’s body and movements, these reflexes go. This type of reflex is known as ‘primitive reflexes’. For example, anything placed in a baby’s mouth will automatically be assumed as a breast or teat. Therefore, the baby will automatically start sucking as they think they are getting fed. This is a primitive reflex, which disappears once the baby is 6 months old. Fine Motor Skills Fine motor skills is another reflex movement but involves grasping. To enable smaller movements and manipulation, this reflex involves using smaller muscles of the fingers, thumbs, toes, wrists, lips and tongue. For example, a baby will first start to curl their hands when born, therefore, if an object was placed in their hands, they would try to hold onto the object by curling their hands. This reflex disappears after 3 months. A ‘pincer’ grip is when a baby can hold an object between their thumb and index finger. Pincer grasp is usually developed at the age of 1. A child usually performs gross motors skills before they perform fine motor skills. This is because a baby finds it easier to develop their larger muscles before they develop their smaller muscles and movements. For example, a baby will learn to wave their legs and arms around first, before wiggling their fingers and toes. This is because gross motor skills involve controlling the body; the baby needs to know how to control the body before it can perform smaller movements and manipulations. Gross and fine motor skills are very similar however, as many activities depend on the co-ordination of both motor skills. For example, being able to pick up a ball that is placed on the floor – the child needs to be able to pick up the ball with its fingers (pincer gripping – fine motor skills) and move the ball off the floor with its arms (gross motor skills). Although they work together most of the time, there is a difference to what each skill performs. Gross motor skills are the larger muscle movements and fine motor skills are the smaller muscle movements. They are both reflexes but involve different parts of the body. For a baby to develop properly, he r she needs to develop both skills well, as one skill performed without the other would make it extremely hard for the baby to physically develop to its full potential. Sensory Development Sensory development consists of using our senses, which are sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. Senses are the physical processes of our nervous system. For example, breastfed babies can sense the smell of their mothers’ breast compared to other women’s breast. This shows that the baby can use its smell sense to distinguish different smells. Therefore, the baby is developing its sense of smell. This will develop as they grow older, for example, when the baby is 5 years old, their sense of smell would have fully developed to an adults level. Intellectual Development Intellectual development is the development of the mind. A child’s mind is very active from birth. As children develop their mind to think, learn reason and explain, their intellectual development progresses. For example, at 3 months old a baby likes to explore different textures, like on a play gym or an activity mat. By the time the child is 2 years old, they have developed different textures in their mind and are now able to match different textures. Children learn intellectually through different ways, some of them being: * Using their senses * Exploring * Imitating/role play * Curiosity * Experiments * Observing * Making mistakes * Playing There are some factors such as family history that can affect intellectual development. This is because a baby’s development can be affected by inheriting genes from its parents. The inheritance could be from a family’s history of late developers. Another factor that can affect a child’s intellectual development could be encouragement from the parents to help learn and develop their child’s mind. It could also be the environment that the child lives in; if the child’s environment is cramped, this could mean that there is not a lot of space for the child to play and do certain activities that would develop his or hers skills. This could also lead to financial factors, the parents of the child not having enough money to facilitate learning aids to help their child’s development. Cognitive development Cognitive simply means thinking. Cognitive development is similar to intellectual development as it is the development of the mind, however it is the development of the mind through thinking and learning skills. This enables a child to understand the environment around them. The keys to successful cognitive development are: * Concepts – Children need to learn different concepts. The child has to see and experience things to develop a range of concepts. An adult providing activities, equipment and support can also develop these concepts. Problem solving skills – A child learns how to solve problems through trial and error, identifying there is a problem that needs solving, working out a solution and predicting what might happen. This is also linked to the child’s ability to reason. They begin to understand that their actions will produce results such as; pushing a button on a toy will produce a result by making a noise. * Creativity – this gives a child the ability to use their imagination to express their ideas. This can be done through painting pictures, making collages, dancing and making music, etc. Imagination – this is when a child sees things that do not exist or are not in front of them. Children imagine images in their head to play pretend games, make up stories or talk to an imaginary friend. This gives them comfort in knowing there is someone there with them. * Memory – a child storing and retrieving information, ideas and things that have happened to them, learn this mentally. They remember things that have happened to them in their brain for a short time or depending on the situation, this could be a long-term memory. Sometimes a little release of information can trigger off what they stored as memory in their head. * Object permanence – this describes the awareness of an object to a child. For example, if an object were no longer visible to a baby, they would think that the object no longer exists. Object permanence tries to develop the child’s mind to think that the object still exists although it is not visible to the eye. * Concentration – this is the ability of a child to spend time and pay attention to a task. The child develops the ability to stay focused on a task for longer as they develop, whereas at first, they would get distracted and lose concentration a lot quicker. A theorist called Piaget believes that the stages of cognitive development have an effect on how a child’s thinking is developed throughout their childhood. However, this theory was understood in the late 1980s and since then, children’s stages of cognitive development have increasingly changed due to the child’s age. Language development Language is how a person speaks and communicates with others, also known as verbal communication. Language development is how children express their needs and share information with others using language. A child’s language is developed depending on how much the child practices speaking. From birth a baby cannot speak, however they use other forms of language to share information. For example, they learn how to cry when they are hungry, this is using language and the baby has developed this skill by knowing that when he or she cries, they will be fed. Speaking through the mouth does not only develop language, it also involves other physical movements. E. g. face expressions, sign language, writing, etc. It can also involve non-verbal communication such as listening to voices, practising sounds and learning what different sounds mean. Language development can be divided into two stages: * Pre-linguistic * Linguistic The pre-linguistic stage occurs between birth and 12 months. At this stage, babies learn to understand what is being said to them and learn the rules of how to communicate. Although they cannot talk at this stage, they learn to communicate to gain attention by crying, smiling and using facial expressions; they may also point to what they want or nod their heads. The linguistic stage is when babies’ speech starts to develop. Now words can be used to label objects or to share information. The child first starts off with one-word speeches and then later on their language develops into complex sentences. Emotional Development Emotional development is how children understand what people are feeling and what they are feeling about themselves through the things they do. Children feel a lot of emotions including fear, excitement, affection, pride, jealousy, sadness and contentment. A child develops emotionally starting from birth. For example, when a baby is feeling lonely they will cry for attention and love. This is how babies express their emotions, through crying, laughing and facial expressions. When children grow older, they learn to control their emotions. This is another emotional development as they have learnt how to control their feelings, and their brain functions. This is learnt through the later stages of childhood. An example of this would be a child falling over and not wanting to concern others of his or her accident, therefore controlling his or her emotions. This in affect will not only control the child’s emotions, but the child has also developed that it will affect other people’s emotions and is trying to control that too. Emotional development can affect intellectual and social development. They learn how different emotions can affect others around them. The children learn to understand that being happy is healthier than being sad, as there is a less risk of the child becoming stressed or depressed. Emotional development can also affect social development by the child understanding that their emotions affect the relationship they have with others. For example, if they love their parents, the parents will care and love the child back. On the other hand, if a child was being rude and arrogant, other children would not want to socialize with him or her, leaving the child feeling emotionally lonely and upset. Children also learn different emotions through social experience. Social Development Socialising is the process of interacting with others. They begin to socialise at first with their primary carer, e. g. parents, carers, etc. The social skills developed from a child are through the child socialising with its primary carers. A baby’s social development follows a pattern, which is: * Interaction with their main carer – this include making eye contact, smiling, showing facial expressions and babbling. * Knowing that they are part of a family – they recognise who their family are through familiar faces that they see all the time. They understand who strangers are by not recognising the faces. * Mixing with other people in a group and co-operating – they start to follow instructions, copying and imitating actions, playing with other children and sharing toys or objects with others. Children are not born with social skills; they have to learn how to develop this through life experiences. Usually it is the primary carers that encourage socialisation between their child and others. They help them develop the skills of interacting with others. This is also helped by the physical, social, language and intellectual development, as they all play a big part on how children should socialise with others. These social skills are developed through time; depending on the age of the child, their actions will be different.

The Existence Of The Cold Weather - 853 Words

A long time ago, the village Salem became famous. Their neighbors had started to build extreme, exaggerated hysteria when a group of your girls were claimed to be possessed by bad spirits. It is said that when bad spirits come to our lives, it is because we do not have control over ourselves, and in those days, the villagers believed that bad spirits were the real devil. In the spring of 1692, there were a lot of accusations by villagers, claiming girls to be guilty of those suspicions. They believed that the devil could be free and they believed if they killed the accused, they could kill the bad spirit inside of them. Otherwise, many villages were scared because they had never seen those kinds of things before. However, the causes of that kind of thing could be strong belief in the occult, disputes, rivalries and personal differences, and a theory about the cold weather. Even though they have strong beliefs in the bible, there are new theories that explain what had actually happed. The religions and beliefs was extreme exaggeration because at the moment could be accused for something not guilty. In the village of Salem, Massachusetts current estranger success where the occult became to the light. Many people do not like the occult thing because they thought that if we are not with God we are not normal. At the moment puritan were the stronger kings of the religion because the made rules that anyone cannot exceed. Many people had to follow then because they were a smallShow MoreRelatedJack London s Build A Fire1321 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"inherited knowledge† in relation to the dog and man’s existence in the wild. The two are faced by the wrath of the cold weather conditions that cannot be assigned to a certain numerical value. His ignorance has emanated from the fact that he is not experienced in hunting and has gone on to the wild despite being warned. Furthermore, he can articulate what cold does to a human but pays no attention to the do g that cannot comprehend the weather and continues to freeze. This prior knowledge that isRead MoreAnalysis Of Jack Londons Short Story : To Build A Fire891 Words   |  4 PagesJack London’s short story, â€Å"To Build a Fire† follows a man through his short-lived journey through the Yukon as he attempts to reach camp. â€Å"The man† heads into the blistering cold not thinking much of the temperature. Eventually, the man must stop to build a fire to warm himself up and eat his lunch, but he does not stay as long as he should have. Without warning, the man falls into the water, now he must stop once more to make a fire or he will freeze to death. After making the fire, snow fallsRead MoreNaturalism In Jack Londons To Build A Fire1113 Words   |  5 Pagesto light a fire. 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The Story of a Black Woman Trying to Find her Inner Voice...

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about a black woman who tried to find her inner voice and the true self through three marriages. Her name is Jane Crawford. From age 16 to age 40, she spent days out to look for the perfect love that like the way she described a bee pollinating pear tree blossoms. She experiences no love rather than hard work during her first marriage with Logan; she finds the conflicts between power and conquest when she was married with Jody; she finally find the love she was looking for and also understand the relationships between love and independence at her third marriage with Tea Cake. After 24 years of gradual change, Jane grows into maturity, and is able to ask her soul to come out and see herself. The novel is fulfilled with the realistic dialect of the southern town in which Zora is widely known. The beautiful metaphorical and symbolic language sends out many positive thoughts. The story is a journey of a young girl who i s trying to have her own voice and her own identity. It does not only include unique writing style but also introduces people to the real black dialect and culture. The dialect is a hard read, but it gives people insight to the tough times black women went through when they were treated most unfairly. With imagery, symbolism, African American oral tradition, Hurston creates a literary masterpiece, but she does not receive the credit she deserves during her lifetime. Instead she receives manyShow MoreRelatedThe Continuous Injustice And Discrimination Have Served1667 Words   |  7 PagesThe continuous injustice and discrimination have served as a motivation for African Americans to create a voice for themselves. Although protests could be visualized as marches and sit-ins, they were not limited to these methods. African American writers made sure to create a space for themselves to protest and convince with their words and emotions put into their pieces.African American literature c omprises of the African American culture itself. Works that fall into this genre focus on the hardships