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Monte Verde
Monte Verde
After long, often bitter debate, archeologists have finally come to a consensus that humans reached southern Chile 12,500 years ago. The date is more than 1,000 years before the previous benchmark for human habitation in the Americas, 11,200-year-old stone spear points first discovered in the 1930s near Clovis, N.M.
The Chilean site, known as Monte Verde, is on the sandy banks of a creek in wooded hills near the Pacific Ocean. Even former skeptics have joined in agreeing that its antiquity is now firmly established and that the bone and stone tools and other materials found there definitely mark the presence of a hunting-and-gathering people.
The new consensus regarding Monte Verde, described in interviews last week and formally announced Monday, thus represents the first major shift in more than 60 years in the confirmed chronology of human prehistory in what would much later be called, from the European perspective, the New World.
For American archeologists it is a liberating experience not unlike aviation’s breaking of the sound barrier; they have broken the Clovis barrier. Even moving back the date by as little as 1,300 years, archeologists said, would have profound implications on theories about when people first reached America, presumably from northeastern Asia by way of the Bering Strait, and how they migrated south more than 10,000 miles to occupy the length and breadth of two continents. It could mean that early people, ancestors of the Indians, first arrived in their new world at least 20,000 years before Columbus.
Evidence for the pre-Clovis settlement at Monte Verde was amassed and carefully analyzed over the last two decades by a team of American and Chilean archeologists, led by Dr. Tom D. Dillehay of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Remaining doubts were erased by Dillehay’s comprehensive research report, which has been circulated among experts and is to be published next month by the Smithsonian Institution. And last month, a group of archeologists, including some of Monte Verde’s staunchest critics, inspected the artifacts and visited the site, coming away thoroughly convinced.
In his report of the site visit, Dr. Alex W. Barker, chief curator of the Dallas Museum of Natural History, said: “While there were very strongly voiced disagreements about different points, it rapidly became clear that everyone was in fundamental agreement about the most important question of all. Monte Verde is real. It’s old. And it’s a whole new ball game.”
The archeologists made the site inspection under the auspices of the Dallas museum, where their conclusions were reported Monday, and with additional support by the National Geographic Society. The archeologists, all specialists in the early settlement of America, included Dr. C. Vance Haynes of the University of Arizona, Dr. James Adovasio of Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., Dr. David J. Meltzer of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Dr. Dena Dincauze of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Dr. Donald K. Grayson of the University of Washington in Seattle and Dr. Dennis Stanford of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Dincauze, who had expressed serious doubts about the site’s antiquity, said that Dillehay’s report made “a convincing case” that the remains of huts, fireplaces and tools showed human occupation by a pre-Clovis culture.
“I’m convinced it’s 100 percent solid,” Dr. Brian M. Fagan, an anthropologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said of the new assessment of Monte Verde. “It’s an extraordinary piece of research.”
Finally vindicated, Dillehay said, “Most archeologists had always thought there was a pre-Clovis culture out there somewhere, and I knew that if they would only come to the site and look at the setting and see the artifacts, they would agree that Monte Verde was pre-Clovis.”
Monte Verde, on the banks of Chinchihaupi Creek, is in the hills near the town of Puerto Montt, 500 miles south of Santiago. Dillehay and Dr. Mario Pino of the Southern University of Chile in Valdivia began excavations there in 1976. They found the remains of the ancient camp, even wood and other perishables that archeologists rarely find, remarkably well preserved by the water-saturated peat bog that covered the site, isolating the material from oxygen and thus decay.
As Dillehay reconstructed the prehistoric scene in his mind, a group of 20 to 30 people occupied Monte Verde for a year or so. They lived in shelters covered in animal hides. They gathered berries in the spring, chestnuts in the fall and also ate potatoes, mushrooms and marsh grasses. They hunted small game and also ancestors of the llama and sometimes went down to the Pacific, 30 miles away, for shellfish. They were hunters and gatherers living far from the presumed home of their remote ancestors, in northeastern Asia.
The evidence to support this picture is extensive. Excavations turned up wooden planks from some of the 12 huts that once stood in the camp, and logs with attached pieces of hide that probably insulated these shelters. Pieces of wooden poles and stakes were still tied with cords made of local grasses, a telling sign that ingenious humans had been there. “That’s something nature doesn’t do,” Barker said. “Tie overhand knots.”
Stone projectile points found there were carefully chipped on both sides, archeologists said. The people of Monte Verde also made digging sticks, grinding slabs and tools of bone and tusk. Some seeds and nuts were shifted out of the soil. A chunk of meat had managed to survive in the bog, remains of the hunters’ last kill; DNA analysis indicates the meat was from a mastodon. The site also yielded several human coprolites, ancient fecal material.
Nothing at Monte Verde was more evocative of its former inhabitants than a single footprint beside a hearth. A child had stood there by the fire 12,500 years ago and left a lasting impression in the soft clay.
Radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal from the fireplaces established the time of the encampment. The date of 12,500 years ago, said Meltzer, author of “Search for the First Americans,” published in 1993 by the Smithsonian Institution, “could fundamentally change the way we understand the peopling of the Americas.”
The research, in particular, shows people living as far south as Chile before it is clear that there existed an ice-free corridor through the vast North American glaciers by which people might have migrated south. In the depths of the most recent ice age, two vast ice sheets converged about 20,000 years ago over what is now Canada and the northern United States and apparently closed off human traffic there until sometime after 13,000 years ago. Either people migrated through a corridor between the ice sheets and spread remarkably fast to the southern end of America or they came by a different route, perhaps along the western coast, by foot and sometimes on small vessels. Otherwise they must have entered the Americas before 20,000 years ago.
Dr. Carol Mandryk, a Harvard University archeologist who has studied the American paleoenvironment, said the concept of an ice-free corridor as the migration route emerged in the 1930s, but her research shows that even after the ice sheets began to open a path, there was not enough vegetation there to support the large animals migrating people would have had to depend on for food.
“It’s very clear people couldn’t have used this corridor until after 13,000 years ago,” Mandryk said. “They came down the coast. I don’t understand why people see the coast as an odd way. The early people didn’t have to be interior big-game hunters, they could have been maritime adapted people.” No archeologists seriously considers the possibility that the first Americans came by sea and landed first in South America, a hypothesis made popular in the 1960s by the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. There is no evidence of people’s occupying Polynesia that long ago. All linguistic, genetic and geological evidence points to the Bering Strait as the point of entry, especially in the ice age, when lower sea levels created a wide land bridge there between Siberia and Alaska.
Although several other potential pre-Clovis sites have been reported, none has yet to satisfy all archeologists in the way Monte Verde has just done. But archeologists expected the verification of Monte Verde would hasten the search for even older places of early human occupation in the Americas.
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Monsters and Moral Imagination
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Monsters and Moral ImaginationOne cannot have a definite definition of monsters as many people depending on their culture and understanding have contradictory meanings of what they are. They can be referred to the mythical creatures with contemplative nature that are brought into reality through imagination, cultural and physiological cultural forces which made the traumatizing since the early eras. However, this is a bit different from the perception of the article “Monsters and Moral Imagination” by Stephen T. Asma a philosophy professor in Columbia College Chicago. The article was first published in 2009 in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The author argues that monsters are there for a purpose and they create fears that people experience without the capability of controlling the nature and world. In this paper, the genre talked about in the article is a narrative folktale, the audience being spoken to by the audience is the general public, and it played a significant role of explaining the meaning of monsters in the modern days and how they are experienced in reality.
Asma’s narrative in the article fits well in the folktale genre as it throughout involves monsters and the moral imaginations regarding their experiences. The folktale is a type of narrative which deals in particular with the culture and believes of the community regarding the existence of nature which is commonly narrated orally. In the essay, the author tries to explain the reality and prove that monsters are not just the imaginary extraordinary creatures bought through films fictions and traditional stories. Stephen T. Asma argues and brings to mind the instance of monsters existing today in consideration of the wild deeds that are done by the people around the globe. Monsters are the ones associated with enormous killing and destroying the peoples’ properties. For instance, considering the typical example of monsters which include Vampires, Zombies and Frankenstein were related to weird enthrallment, and no one in the society would like to be associated with them.
The Vampires were classified as the undead group whose primary purpose was sucking blood and could use any means including affection as well as gifts among others to lure their favorite targets. On the other hand, Frankenstein monster was a supernatural creature created by mixing chemical and old parts of the deceased, and it had humanity even though people did not want to be associated with it at all. Considering the writer’s arguments there are many disturbing and traumatizing actions are done by the people in the name of avenging and gaining popularity among others which cause suffering are not different from the acts done by monsters. All the mentioned above regards peoples ways of thinking that is commonly based on the cultural beliefs making the article fall under folktale narrative.
The audience of the author’s speech is the general public. Throughout the narration, Asma does not base his argument on a particular group of the audience but advice the community in general. He elaborates well that the Frank stein’s monster story signifies the society’s intolerance and the perception that monsters are ridiculous thus failing to realize and positively utilize the monster’s kindness and humanity. The community also fails to think out of the bonds to relate the things viewed on the films and other monsters fictions with the happenings in today’s life. Many evils have been witnessed since the patriots Act and the market center terrorism. Many argue that is monsters are passed by time and were only beliefs and superstition. However, the author provokes many expanding the thinking capacity and changing the perspective on what are monsters. He states that monsters perceptions are encapsulations of the peoples’ feeling of defenselessness and it has spread like a lethal infection. It is not a must that monster is supernatural beings that are masculine and enormous in complexion, but they can also be ordinary individuals that are inhumane and do not value others life.
For instance, basing on Asma’s argument one can put into consideration the story of Shapiro and that of the Abdul Habib, Afghan headmaster, and teacher as essential examples. Shapiro and his friends were attacked by Daniel Silva who was well armed with a coffee. The armed man resulted in the commotion and most painful death of about seven people Shapiro being among them. Shapiro was in his activity to save others but coincidentally the armed man caught up with him and what followed was his extermination. Silva stated that he had done the assassination in the name of avenging her mother who was dead. On the other hand, the story of Habib begun when for armed men junked in his homestead and captured him. The tutor’s family gathered in a strategic place where they could all witness the killing of their father. These stories regard the whole community as all of them are victims of these digital monsters who tend to use advanced weapons to cause a massacre.
The primary purpose of the article is to invoke people’s thoughts and to challenge them on the moral lessons learned from the stories related to monsters. Asma suggests that a good monsters story is significant to a human being as it transmits moral truths to them by proving through examples depravity and dignity but not persuading. Life involves conquering the vulnerability and moving out of the fear to prevent being its captivity. Regarding Shapiro’s immense fear can be subjected to the community but the author uses it as an example of showing that monsters are not an only original thing. Human makes the world a terrific place to be as they use the education and intelligent acquire to cause suffering and accomplishing self-benefit deals. A good example is the case of Habib, he was a productive community member, but the Muslim religious extremists assassinated him because of teaching and being the head of a school that incorporated Muslim girls. It is ironical that the monsters are degrading the dignity of the community back drawing it to the old eras where female education was not put into consideration instead of adopting a digital way of living.
Asma does a recommendable work of convincing his audience to use logic, ethics, and emotion. It is through the mentioned principles that guide the path followed by the society regarding moral behaviors. Emotion, logic, and ethics work well together as logical thinking with determining one’s emotion while both of them facilitates ethical thinking. The article challenges people to improve in ethical issues and plays a relevant role in explaining the definition of monsters. The vulnerability is a common threat to the society that must be eradicated to enhance its development.
From the discussion above, Asma has well based his audience with the emerging and trending issues in the society. F5or instance, people only focus on the entertainment bit and still live in cultural beliefs that monsters do not exist. The author has given a precise illustration of today’s monsters and has in one or another way impacted the general public positively on the measure to be taken regarding moral imagination. The article is significant to the development of the society, and it is also convenient to the future generations.
Motivation at Starbuck
Motivation at Starbuck
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Introduction
The breakthrough in technology over the decades is a good business boost for many firms. However, more efficiency and productivity are achieved with motivated workers. This study looks into Starbuck as a case study to unravel some of the underlying ideologies behind employee motivation in organizational success.
This study also analyses management techniques, theories and practices of motivation, and the basic management issues that may have heavy impacts to an organization. The knowledge of organizational behavior helps managers to understand employees, and thus adopts ways that can improve their efficiency and effectiveness, thereby helping a firm to adopt favorably to the changing business situations (Sanzotta, 2007). The paper discusses some of the motivational theories and practices as practiced at Starbucks and tries to answer the following possible questions;
What motivates the employees?
What are some of the psychological motivational theories that explain how they are motivated?
The current global business require more than leadership and team building to enhance great success through direction and control. It also needs the efficiency and effectiveness of employees through utilization of their intellectual prowess and commitment to the organizational goals and objectives. This is only possible if they take participatory roles in the organization.
Discussion
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, humanity is driven by the following needs where satisfaction of each needs level motivates another higher need: Psychological, which relates to survival basic needs, safety, social needs, esteem, and self-actualization. Herzberg’s factor is another motivational theory which relates to factors that increase or decrease worker’s satisfaction (Mcreynolds, 2012). Expectancy theory is also another motivational theory and concept which assumes that quality of employee’s efforts is influenced by the outcome they receive for their efforts. These theories and concepts together with their critics are discussed in this paper in order to fully understand the aspects of organizational behavior.
Understanding the changing behaviors of the employees facilitates better working relationships between managers and the employees. Starbuck is one of the retail coffee business models that do not only provide quality coffee to its worldwide customers, but also provide a suitable working environment for its employees. Its employee motivational strategies, customer satisfaction, and cooperation of teamwork make it become ranked among the rapidly growing companies in the world (Dessler, 2010). Just like Starbucks, it is paramount for organizations to realize that they can reap full benefits of efficiency and higher productivity if they involve their employees in the active and participatory roles in the organization. The company enhances active participation through training, freedom of opinion expression, equal treatment, and proper welfare measures as well as offering employees a listening ear to their complaints.
With globalization pace over the recent years, the intensity of competition among related and unrelated businesses necessitates different perspectives of strategies. Success is not only achieved though quality production of services and goods, but can also be achieved through team work and provision of favorable working atmosphere in the Starback’s pursuance of completion and high production (Christopher, 2007). In order to realize this, management needs to define goals clearly, organize working structures, and should motivate its employees. This calls for interpersonal, decisional, and informational roles in performing this management process in the case of managers. Managers should use their conceptual and technical skills to change the attributes of the organizational behavior to conversely change productivity and efficiency of the organization.
Motivation is one of the basic drivers of Starback’s capital and human efficiency in an organization. It blesses the organization with more than quality production, efficiency, and high productivity. It also enhances human compatibility, commitments, participation and responsibility. Motivated employees are like well-oiled machine that performs with increased momentum. The company’s behavior can be shaped by motivated employees since they have the biggest influence on the organization.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains that individual’s needs rises to higher levels as they move higher in the corporate hierarchy. However, irrespective of this fact, certain organizational cultures values social endeavors over psychological ones. Maslow advocates for critical understanding of the employees’ needs and conceptualize employees motivational factors in the management’s efforts to direct organization’s behavior. Hertzberg’s concept of hygiene and motivational factors suggest that, one, working conditions should be environmentally favorable (Simon, 2006). This attribute looks into the organizational policies, job status, security, salary, relationships as well as working condition. Two, it also job satisfaction elements like recognition, responsibility, achievements, growth, and self advancements.
Employees are motivated when they feel their efforts results into acceptable performance worth recognition and reward. According to expectancy theory, the quality of employees is directly related to outcome and therefore their efforts are influenced by those outcomes. Communication works better for this purpose through training, whereby they are informed of what they should do to get rewarded. To enhance further understanding, compatibility, and responsibility, fairness and equity is obligatory (Christopher, 2007). According to Equity theory employees are motivated when their compensation is fair in comparison to coworkers, and any otherwise situation will demoralize them.
Conclusion
As Starbuck’s do it, shaping and directing organization’s behavior is a direct effect of employee motivation and should be aimed at satisfying their needs, compensating them, and rewarding them. The insight got from the motivational theories, concepts and Starbuck’s case is instrumental in assessing the employee needs, both from psychological, social, and economical perspectives in the process of motivating them. With an organization’s objectives, goals and activities, the core important participant is the worker. Their efficiency and commitments are very crucial in the achievement of these attributes. Organizations are undergoing through revolutionary changes of making decisions, technological growth, competitive changes, and shifting demands to motivational aspects of management. One of the tasks of management is to manage individuals, groups, and processes in the process of achieving the set goals and objectives.
Starbuck’s employees can be seen as formal team as opposed to an informal team. Differentiate between formal and informal teams.
Formal teams are well-structured teams that have clear purpose for every member of the team. The presence of the manager (leader or supervisor) shows how distinctively roles are given. Every employee in this case has a participatory chance for the company. In Starbucks, equal treatment of employees makes them have a chance to participate in the growth and success of the company. Other than being referred to as ‘partners’, both managers and employees co-work at the basic level staff in the front line staff, an indication that employee freely socialize, work, respect and embrace team work.
As opposed to formal team, informal team on the other hand is a structure less team with no clear roles of each member of the team. The team may share a common purpose, but everybody in the team has a chance to take any opportunity that come by. It is formed on interpersonal relationships.
The employees of Starbucks retail shops clearly work together well as a team. List four characteristics of teams that have ‘gelled’ together.
The wish of every organization’s management is to have a spirited team that can help the organizations to achieve its goals and objectives, and by margin of success. Togetherness in the team always raises responsiveness of every member of the team and therefore works harder and smart. The following characteristics are portrayed by teams that have stuck together for the common purpose of ensuring the organizational goals are achieved:
Cooperative spirit
Members of the team have the right attitude of achieving a common goal. A successful teamwork, as witnessed in Starbuck’s employees , have a spirit of corporation, and the presence of strong and capable managers who keeps them on the same page, while at the same time minimizing instances of petty misunderstandings within the team.
Communication
Communication is a vital characteristic of a successful team for purposes of open issues and agendas of the organization. Starbuck has an open communication channel and listen to employees’ ideas, issues, suggestions as well as complaints. The company‘s policies and principles are communicated between all staff creating no limitation in employee’s opinions.
Commitments
A successful team is goal driven and committed to achieving the set goals and objectives. What defines teamwork is commitment to goals, with the togetherness in ideologies to complete the task. According to Starbucks, the free working relationship between the managers and employees is a perfect strategy that has enhanced commitments, since every employee feels part and parcel of the company.
Participation
The essentiality of every member of the team in enhancing success enables a task to be effectively performed since every member knows his or her work and sets out their efforts in the task. In Starbuck as the case study, the set tasks, principles, policies, and any other emerging issues of the organization and communicate them well to employees. In addition to that, every opinion of employees is taken into keen consideration, thereby proving active participation. More than that, at the tasks (activities) levels, the reduced bureaucratic gap between management and employees ensures active participation in the company’s activities for all.
References
Top of Form
Christopher, E. E. (2007). Behavioral Theory for Managers: Practical Interpretation of Basic Motivational Theories. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.
Dessler, G. (2010). Organization Theory: Integrating Structure and Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Mcreynolds, J. (2012). Motivational Theories & Psychology. Delhi: English Press.
Sanzotta, D. (2007). Motivational Theories & Applications for Managers. New York: AMACOM.
Simon, H. A. (2006). Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization (3d ed.). New York: Free Press.