How the media influeces society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How the media influeces society - Research Paper Example A possible way that can directly measure how exactly the media affect people is through an unethical experiment where the person is exposed to only media and not other sources of possible influence, such as family, religion, education, and other institutions. Despite constraints on determining causal relationships between mass media and social effects, several empirical attempts have been made to understand how media can influence society. Mass media affects society through providing a model for learning behaviors, setting agenda that can affect people’s prioritization of and response to social issues, and framing information that can impact how people understand and react to events and schemas. Mass media influences society by offering models for learning behaviors. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory can help explain how mass media shapes behaviors. Social Learning Theory states that people learn attitudes and behaviors by â€Å"observing and modeling† othe rs (â€Å"Social Learning Theory†). Learning is not the same as imitating because learning means that people are not only imitating something, but has absorbed the underlying knowledge and/or skills, as well as values and norms (when present). Mass media can then have positive or negative effects on people by shaping their attitudes and/or behaviors through the social modeling mechanism of learning. One of the most studied and controversial mass media effects is violence, specifically youth violence. Craig Anderson and colleagues surveyed a wide literature of media effects on violence. They stress that, based on their findings, numerous studies with different sampling, methods, and media genres prove that violence in mass media can increase the possibility of aggressive behaviors for the youth in the short-run and/or long run through different ways. Craig et al. state that observational learning can result to children learning â€Å"aggressive attitudes and behaviors† from mass media, such as â€Å"television and video games† (94). The studies of Bjorkqvist in 1985 on 5 to 6-year olds Finnish kids and Josephson in 1987 on 7 to 9-year old boys provide some evidence that, for their cross-sectional studies with control groups, those who â€Å"watched violent films† acted more violently against other children afterwards than those who did not watch violent films (qtd. in Craig et al. 85). Mass media can be argued as affecting these children by providing negative models of violent behaviors, which affected their actions too, at least in the short run. A longitudinal study from Eron et al. show that boys who watched violent TV shows since the age of 8 showed â€Å"more violent attitudes† later on in life (qtd. in Craig et al. 87). Mass media can have, based on this study, lasting effects on people’s behaviors too, provided that it is a prevalent and significant presence in a child’s life. These studies indicate that m ass media can affect society by teaching harmful models of behaviors. Not all mass media effects on society are negative, nevertheless, because mass media can be programmed to teach pro-social behaviors too, where it can affect society through modeling positive attitudes and behaviors for the youth. Many television and CD/DVD shows, for instance, are geared to teaching children positive social behaviors and new knowledge and skills. Dimitri A. Christakis et al. wanted to know if exposing children to TV shows that teach

Health Care Organization Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health Care Organization - Term Paper Example Human resources play a key role at all levels of health care provision, enhanced by proper decision making by health care organizations. In the light of the Johns Hopkins Medicine organization, human resources environment is evaluated and assessed in terms of the various factors that characterize that environment. Challenges of managing the human resources in the organization Managing human resources is often characterized by a number of identifiable challenges. These challenges are spread across all variables that define the operational functionality of human resources in an organization. Human resources management in the context of Johns Hopkins Medicine organization experiences challenges internally and externally, based on local and international trends in factors that affect human resources and the entire health care industry. The challenges herein are discussed below: New technology challenge The Johns Hopkins Medicine organization is one of the health care organizations that h ighly adopt changes in new and advanced technologies. The organization is committed to providing the domestic and international community with health services that utilize contemporary technologies in a bid to make the services effective and efficient. This is actually a positive effort for the organization, but its human resource management personnel face a significant challenge posed by this pursuit. This process promotes a shift from touch labor to knowledge work (Beardwell & Claydon, 2010). In other words, managing this change in the context of the workforce is a difficult task. Leadership development Leadership impacts on the organization at all levels. This is because organizational decisions are taken at all levels due to the required interdepartmental relationship. While Johns Hopkins Medicine organization is focused on becoming a world leading example in the health sector, little or no concentration is directed towards internal leadership of specific departments. On the sam e note, all the departments are required to work in harmony and observe the same goals and objectives. The conflicting pursuit challenges leadership development in the organization. Measurement of effectiveness Many health care organizations are focused on the result other than the process. Effectiveness measurement in these organizations is directed to the general company performance other than the individual contribution of each department in the organization. It is important to account for the effectiveness of the human resource department in the pursuit of the organizational goals. However, proper mechanisms to do so are lacking in many organizations. While such mechanisms may be in place in Johns Hopkins Medicine organization, the key variables that measure the effectiveness are lacking. Staffing It is the role of human resources management to undertake proper staffing in an organization. This is done through recruitment and management of available skilled labor, locally and in ternationally (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2011). Johns Hopkins Medicine is an ever advancing organization in terms of its operations and technology. As a result, the staffing of the organization needs to be diverse and dynamic over time in order to match these trends. Striking a balance between the advancement and the staffing process is