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Motivation in the work place
Motivation in the work place
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Motivation in the work place
In any given workplace, it is of essence that persons working there are motivated so as to enhance productivity and overall performance. Bearing in mind that all people are different it too takes diverse means to keep them motivated and into their work. Depending on the nature of the organization and nature of work, different strategies can be adopted.
The use of external motivators is one strategy that can be applied to stir up employees’ morale. This is most applicable in cases where the workers lack self-motivation from within. This comes in the form of rewards and recognition for tasks well done. These makes the workers to feel important and hence perform their tasks better. An overuse of such may lead to decline in productivity among the workers (Benowitz, 2011).
Internal motivation comes in handy when the personnel have a touch of high self-motivation for what they do. In such a case, the workers need to know and see the importance of their effort in any task that they undertake. A say in the goals set also does go a long way to boost morale as it makes the worker feel appreciated by those in charge.
These are among many other ways of improving performance, which include incentives, implementing revised management programmes and evaluation of salaries depending on workers efforts and responsibilities. To deal with employees’ resistance to productivity, management can develop a rotational programme to shift employees from one department to another periodically to minimise boredom and disinterest in their work. Having an open-door policy can also open up employees to management hence address any issues that come up which can derail productivity if they are not handled promptly and carefully.
Under management philosophy, the creation of a favourable work climate and managements approach to motivation is core. This varies depending on the structure of the organization. In a case where specialization is applied, there’s more efficiency as tasks are defined. However, this is disadvantageous as it limits employees and hinders self-actualization. Another practice that can be taken up by management is behavioural approach, which deals with the way managers treat employees. Webstar (2011) notes treating employees as mature adult and giving additional responsibilities helps to boost morale. There’s also increased productivity when employees are treated positively as responsible adults.
Another motivational theory that can be put in place is the expectancy theory in which the motivation of an individual increases as long as there is a clear reflection of the effort exerted and the reward received. This is to mean that the reward should be worth the effort and the management might have to pay more in this case.
The expectancy theory is one that takes into consideration the rationality of the human brain as explained Reader (2011). According to Reader (2011) if one expects something for a task completed then one likely to take up a more challenging task as more is expected. This theory bears an element of subjectivity as the decision making process is hard to measure as it depends on one’s perception of what will come out of a certain action. The implication of this one is largely dissatisfaction when the workers expectations are not met, in this case, if reward given doesn’t appear worth the task.
The theory may practically bring in more expenses but has proved to be more popular in many companies (Webstar, 2010). The uniqueness of this theory is that it provides detailed steps that may improve a business and aid in its success. It encourages businesses to develop close associations between reward and behaviour, maintain consistency and involve employees in decision making processes. The overall impact is clearly positive for all parties, the management and employees.
In sum, the management in organisations usually aim at improve performance of their organisation. However, employees always reject these efforts knowingly or unknowingly. In this regard, using motivational approaches to motivate employees to improve their performance becomes mandatory. The management can apply various motivational theories such as expectancy theory, and behavioural approaches.
References
Webstar. A. (2012). How Various Motivational Strategies Affect Productivity in a Selected Workplace. Retrieved on 1 April 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/info_8019848_various-affect-productivity-selected-workplace.html
Benowitz, E. A. (2011). Cliffs Quick Review: Principles of Management. John Wiley & Sons
Reader. C. (2011). Expectancy Theory Compared to Other Motivational Theories. Retrieved on 1 April 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/info_8267709_expectancy-compared-other-motivation-theories.html
Montezuma Slough vs. Joice Island Slough
Montezuma Slough vs. Joice Island Slough
Joice Island Slough VS Montezuma SloughMarshes or Estuarine are found between open salt water of the bays and the uplands of cost. Marshes are usually protected from waves by natural sources, which helps create breeding place for species absolutely necessary for the prosperity of our food chain. Marshes can also be found by fresh water that drains into bay. Different PH levels and subtle and settled water waves make marshes different from lakes, rivers, and sea. Marsh water is usually basic due to the calcium carbonate levels.Suisun Marsh is one of the largest brackish water marshes on the west coast. The Marsh supports sensitive plant species such as the Suisun thistle, which is a Marsh endemic and found nowhere else in the world.
Dissolved oxygen, salinity levels, plant community composition, and the size of marsh, trophic gradient, all effect the biological makeup of marshes. In the Journal of Plankton Research, study conducted by Ward Appeltan in estuaries showed that “…factors such as salinity, temperature and oxygen in addition to biotic factors such as predation, competition, and food supply determines the population size of a marsh.” (Ward Appeltans, 2003). Moreover an experiment conducted, over the span of five years that sought the relationship between macrophytes , phytoplankton, and nutrient concentration, indicated that estuarine with high level of submerged macrophytes inhibit high concentrations of phytoplankton and nutrient concentration (Kyle D Zimmer, 2003). Meanwhile, another Journal of Plankton Research conducted an experiment that showed that within an estuarine, the presence of zooplankton concentration depends upon the depth of the water of an estuary (Gyung Soo Park, 2000). Sometimes the invertebrate species like small fish move to different places, as supported by Paterson experiment, because “… shallow estuarine may provide refugia for fishes vulnerable to predation.”(Paterson &Whitfield, 2000)
After analyzing all of these scientific journals, it was obvious that different amount of PH levels, dissolved oxygen levels, and tropic gradient in an estuary will yield a totally different habitats. Moreover, we related that different size of slough would have different biological makeup from each other due their difference. In our experiment we took samples of zooplanktons, chlorophyll, and water from a Montezuma Slough, medium slough, and Joice Island Slough to find out things that are common and different to their biological makeup.
This experiment was conducted at two different sites in Suisun marsh. Our first site, Montezuma slough, was located at Belden’s Landing. We collected samples here on fishing pier and boat dock. The second site was Joice Island Bridge, located less than two miles from the site. Here we collected samples when we were on the bridge and below it from Cutoff Slough.
On six October of 2004, we took our first samples from the bottom of the marsh. We used dredge to get the samples of macro zooplankton and benthic organisms. The dredge was used to collect samples from marsh bottom. The dredge was used at the fishing pier. The particular dredge we used was Petit Ponar dredge. The dredge was loaded with spring so that it could close just by few jerks of the rope, capturing the bottom soil sample, once lowered. As the dredge closed it trapped good amount of fine, thick, dark, murky silt from the marsh bottom. Markings, on the rope that was lowered down, helped us know the depth at which we took the sample. The dredge was also tied with another rope for safety reasons. We dredged our sample from two-meter depth of bottom of Montezuma slough. When we pulled up the dredge onto the pier it was opened and the sample of mud was dumped into a bucket that had 500-micron mesh bottom. After unneeded residue of pieces of glass, bottle, and bottle caps were removed from the dredge sample, the bucket was taken down to the boat dock to be rinsed. The mesh basket was rinsed when we lowered it into the slough water fourth of the way, and twisted it left to right until the water under the bucket got clear. This procedure took five to seven minutes.
We took two samples from Montezuma slough and one from Cutoff, Joice Island, and slough using the same procedure as described above. The sample collected from Montezuma was heavy fines and dark, while Cutoff sample was rocky and brown. The rocks at the bottom of Joice Island Slough gave us trouble getting a good dredge sample. After many attempts to get as much of the mud, we were successful to get one sample that was qualified to be used in the experiment. Once the sampled were rinsed at the dock, they were put inside a bottle along with formaldehyde and red dye for visibility and perseverance.
On the fishing pier a special contraption was used for collecting the chlorophyll levels, at surface and one meter deep, from the Montezuma Slough. A wine bottle was attached to the dredge with rope allowing the opening to be positioned at approximately one meter deep. Then a cork was inserted into the opening with a rope attached. The dredge was used to weigh down the wine bottle. After dropping the dredge into the water and letting it reach bottom the rope attached to the cork was pulled, by someone on the pier, so as to sample water from one meter deep. After letting the bottle fill it was removed from the slough and the water collected was poured into a 50mL graduated cylinder. The water from the cylinder was poured over a filter using the Schroeter Method of Chlorophyll Extracting with a Turner Flouorometer. This entire method was repeated at the same site to check for consistency in the chlorophyll levels at one meter deep. However, at the start the wine bottle was simply dropped into the slough and allowed to float until water flowed into the opening from the surface level. The same methods were applied while collecting chlorophyll from the Cutoff Slough; however, no samples were collected from the surface and only one sample was collected from approximately one meter deep.
Water quality was conducted, using the YSI 85 water-quality probe, at the boat dock of Montezuma Slough and beneath the Joice Island Bridge at the Cutoff Slough. Three individual groups took separate measurements and recorded the data collected from the Montezuma Slough. The readings were taken at surface, one meter deep, and three meters deep.
Graph and result tables clearly show that Montezuma had higher dissolved oxygen percentage, percent saturation, conductivity, specific conductivity, and PH levels at almost every level of depth. Specific conductivity and conductivity is higher in Joice Island slough but only at two meter surface, while it also has higher temperature. On the other hand, chlorophyll concentration, as the result table and graphs show, in Joice Island slough was three times as much as it was found in medium size, Montezuma Slough, at one meter depth.
Montezuma had three times as much concentration of macro zooplankton present than Joice Island Slough had data shows that benthic organisms like Oligochaeta was found in enormous amount in Montezuma and Codylophora lacustris and Laonome sp were three times as much in Joice Island Slough compared to Montezuma. Only one Neanthes Limnicola, Native polychaeta specie, was found in both of the marshes. In addition, one Isopoda, Corbicula luminea (Bivalvia) and two Potamacorbula amurensis (Bivalvia) were found but only in Joice Island slough.
High concentration of dissolved oxygen, PH levels, percent saturation, specific conductivity, and conductivity are the reason why Montezuma slough has three times as much macrozooplankton, Hydrozoa, and Oligochaeta species compared to Joice Island slough. On the other hand in Joice Island slough, high surface to volume ration has caused three times as much chlorophyll concentration. This confirms our hypothesis that different slough sizes have different biological makeup.
We found out that water chemistry was directly proportionalto the number of macrozooplanktons. Our data matches Ward Appeltan’s research article as he said that high dissolved oxygen in marsh water attract animal species and causes them to be more successful. He also mentioned that In the Journal of Plankton Research, experiment conducted in estuaries showed that “ spatial shift of population of Eurytemora affins( Copepoda, Calanida) from brakish water towards lower salinities in the Schelde estuary coincided with an increase oxygen concentration in freshwater zone.(Ward Appeltans, 2003). Another experiment conducted by Gregory hood proved that “the amount of organic material in channel sediment scaled negatively with channel size as did the abundance of benthic sources deposits.” (Hood, Gregory W., 2002), which means that if the amount of chlorophyll is greater in a marsh then the size of the marsh will be smaller because the organic decay is produced by dead chlorophylls. This also proves and supports our data and hypothesis.
It is also logical that if chlorophyll only grows on the surface of marsh water it will be more in small marsh compared to big one because the surface area of medium size marsh has a lot of depth and volume but small size slough has higher surface area compared to its volume and depth. Moreover it’s very well-known that oxygen is absolutely necessary for the survival, and if it is more at one marsh than the other one the species would prefer and try to get into the one with high dissolved oxygen levels. Another reason why there are more macrozooplankton and their predators is that oxygen also provide refuge to those invertebrates that are connected to the food chain of macrozooplankton.
The numbers of macrozooplankton were great in Montezuma slough it caused Maeotias inexpectas, their predators, to be successful and prosper in greater amount, and low numbers of copepods in Joice Island slough, caused predetor, Maeotias, to be less similarly. However polchaeta were more in Joice Island Slough than Montezuma.
Marsh was smelly gathered up water to me before but after I found out that it can be so unique depending upon just its size was amazing. Not only does it show that it provides safe haven for native species and some other animal and plant species, it provides a fresh water source for the birds and humans during drought seasons, and acts a big shelter that keeps those species necessary for the food chain alive. If these marshes are destroyed than they will have a big impact on our chain of survival. In fact freshwater sloughs are so good that big projects are going to build artificial slough for the good of the environment.
(Gregory W Hood, 2002 Relationships among nutrients, phytoplankton, macrophytes, and fish in prairie wetlands.), (Ward Appeltans et al, 2003 Zooplankton in the Schelde estuary (Belgium/The Netherlands). The distribution of Eurytemora affinis: effect of oxygen?), (Kyle D Zimmer Butler, Malcolm G., mark a. Hanson,, 2003 Relationships among nutreints, phytoplankton, macrophytes, and fish in prairie wetlands), (Gyung Soo Park, Marshal, Harold g. , 2000 Estuarine relationship between zooplankton community structure and trophic gradients), ( Paterson &Whitfield, 2000 Do Shallow-water Habitats Function Refugia for Juvinile Fishes?)
Bibliography:
Bibliography
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Marshal, Harold g., and Gyung s. Park. “Estuarine relationship between
zooplankton community structure and trophic gradients.” Journal of Plankton
Research (2000). 05 Nov. 2004
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2)
Appeltans, Ward , et al. “Zooplankton in the Schelde estuary (Belgium/The
Netherlands). The distribution of Eurytemora affinis: effect of oxygen?”
Journal of Plankton Research (2003). 05 Nov. 2004
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3)
Kantrudi, Harold a., and Robert E. Stewart. “Vegetation of Prairie Potholes,
North Dakota, in Relation to Quality of Water and Other Environmental Factors.”
Geological Survey Professional Paper 585-D (1972). 05 Nov. 2004
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4)
Butler, Malcolm G., mark a. Hanson, and Kyle D. Zimmer. “Relationships among
nutreints, phytoplankton, macrophytes, and fish in prairie wetlands .”
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (2003). 05 Nov. 2004
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5)
Hood, Gregory W. “Relationships among nutreints, phytoplankton, macrophytes,
and fish in prairie wetlands .” Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic
Sciences (2002). 05 Nov. 2004
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6)Paterson, A W., and A K. Whitfield. “Do Shallow-water Habitats Function Refugiafor Juvinile Fishes?” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (2000).
Montezuma Castle
Montezuma Castle
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This paper is about Montezuma castle, a monument about five miles north of Verde valley, Arizona.It is located on the fertile lands of cereals and cash crops like beans, corns, squash and cotton. It was also a reliable source of water from the well. The well is made from a limestone made many years ago. The cliff also acted as protection and security from hostile strangers hence the building fit the location.
The monument looks like a castle but just an ancient home made from cliffs. Montezuma has now become a prehistoric site and a museum. The museum is a five storey building with forty five rooms built at the base of the cliff which looks like a historical apartment, is a source of information on the ancient people.
It was originally made by the early Sina qua farmers. The farmers due to drought, later on abandoned the site and settled elsewhere. Montezuma has now become a prehistoric site and a museum. The museum is a source of information on the ancient people.
The area is managed by the national park service. Anybody visiting the park pays some fee for the visit. The sin aquas were great architects since they were able to build these high cliffs out of limestone. Due to the presence of the limestone, they also mined salt from the site apart from farming.
Apart from farming, the sin aqua was also great artisans who made the artifacts they used to make needles, grinding stones to grind corn. The facility though a historic site has no camping requirements but has parks consisting of hotels in the nearby camps in the Arizona.
From the look of the environment, it shows that the early inhabitants were very inventive-the artifacts and the defense wall and adaptive to this environment.The area is composed of wells and a some species of animals. The well, an important part of the monument is very unique and sited about eleven miles from the Montezuma castle. It comprises of ditch which was built many hundreds of years ago, sinaguan cliff houses and pueblo ruins.
Summers in the valley is usually hot and dry with alittle bit cold nights which mainly occurs during the months of May to September. During winter seasons, the valley is sometimes covered with snow with lower temperatures (14-45 degrees).
Another important feature in the monument is the hummingbird which is one of the many species of birds in the Arizona, the nest measures as the size of a walnut.
The place, from the description, looks very attractive for leisure. The natural scenes of the well and the parks motivate one to visit the monument and again. The presence of the hummingbirds and their nests also motivates one to the nature.
The work of these ancient people how creative these people were. The enormous building also shows that these people were great architectures and artists. The beautiful scenery of the cave and its surroundings also tells people of the culture of the ancient inhabitants. It also shows .It therefore mean that architecture started from the ancient period and has spread up to the present years.