Human Mental States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Mental States - Essay Example At this point, I would support the position taken by Doctor 2 about the impossibility of determining whether a person has some mental states. This matter cannot be determined with absolute certainty. However, I still hold onto the view that determining mental states remains a complex issue and could only be subject to matters of observation. The patient has shown some remarkable strength of character including good memory. She also behaves in a manner that is perfectly logical and determinate. It is important to consider some of the factors that determine the existence of a soul outside the condition of an organic brain. This brings into perspective the question of the soul and body. I hold the view that the mind and body are not entirely connected. The mind is independent of the body. The soul relates to the body through some kind of a complex relationship that may not necessarily relate to the organic brain. On this note, it becomes necessary to inquire into the relationship between the immaterial soul and the body. Such an inquiry could also involve a study of the relationship between the mind and the body. A non-material soul could exist even in the absence of the non-organic brain. This is because there is no absolute evidence that links the non-material essences of existence to the material. The relationship could be more complex than the presumed correspondence between the mind and the body. On this matter, it becomes necessary to investigate the precise relationship between the mind and the body from the dimension of their points of contact.

Nursing as a Profession and its Impact on Society Essay

Nursing as a Profession and its Impact on Society - Essay Example The nursing profession has been assisted by the different domains and realms of the society because they have understood how nursing could provide a point of salvage and hope for the helpless and needy, suffering on a number of counts. The handicap factor is therefore assisted a great deal by these nurses who have made giant efforts to come out in the open and manifest their ethical selves time and again. Since nursing requires vigilance and competence, not everyone can qualify as a professional nurse in the first place. However the role of nursing within the society remains an important discussion all the same. Indeed there is no better way to serve humanity than to assume the role of a nurse. The society is benefited in more ways than one and this is documented in a number of different ways. This profession has given so much freedom to the nurses that now they can call it their respective careers. The Certified Nursing Assistant course at different hospitals has provided the studen ts of nursing with the skills that are very necessary to search for employment in the long term care facilities. Particular importance is laid on the fundamental principles related with nursing as well as development and the application of nursing skills in long term care facilities. ... take up nursing as a career since it is one of the most difficult jobs all over the world and the virtues that come along with are something to be written home about. Indeed nursing is a career that leaves quite a lot to speak about because this is something which goes a long way at developing relationships of people with one another and amongst the nurses as well. From the domains of the society, the profession of nursing is a very distinctive one. This is because nurses are being consistently monitored for their actions and what they bring to the healthcare regimes. They are also being told to remain attentive to their clients’ needs and requirements, and document hard work in entirety. The nursing premise is all the more important because it manifests hard work and commitment with the clients and showcases strength of character and maturity all this while. The nursing avenues receive a great deal of applause by the people for a host of reasons. This is because they do certa in things which no one else would be able to manifest at any given time. The role of the nursing profession has evolved over a period of time but its respect and dignity has not faded away one bit. This is the reason why many people would still like the nurses to attend to them when they are sick and to their family when they are unwell. This is an important aspect that has made the rounds of nearly all the societies in the world, in the past as well as even today (Johnstone, 1999). The role of the nurses within the society is being consistently monitored for a number of reasons, and mostly because they have to give their best time and again. There is absolutely no iota of weakness or failure that comes attached with their profession, and hence should be treated as such. The societal

Cadburys Business Strategy and Human Resources (HR)

Cadburys Business Strategy and Human Resources (HR) 1.1 Access the fit of Cadburys approach to managing its human resources and its business strategies with reference to relevant models of SHRM. The approach in which Cadbury manage its human resources and its business strategies lies in the ability to identify the core competence of their people and use these resources with each individuals capability to create a competitive advantage for the Company to stay ahead among its competitors in the industry. Cadbury Schweppes employs more than 50,000 people and has manufacturing operations in more than 35 countries. It is the worlds third largest soft drinks company and holds either the top or second position in the market share of 24 of the worlds top 50 confectionery markets. This illustrates that this large Quaker company has its value in the market where it is important for HR to manage their employees performances, working culture and management in an efficient and positive way. Resource based model, the SHRM role becomes one of the creating systems and procedures that focus not on external relationships but on how staff and their abilities are used. The resource based model recognizes that many aspects of capability can be formally defined in skill terms and allows the integration of the intangible aspects of work alongside other more visible areas such as patents, trademarks and other intellectual. The core competencies include many things such as aspects change of the management, capability of staff, strategic development capability and speed of response. The RBV of the firm argues that a firms growth (Penrose, 1959) and competitive advantage (Wernerfelt, 1984) are function of the unique bundle of resources that it possess and deploys (Barney, 1991, 1997). Firms acquire critical human resources and then establish HR system to enhance the potential of these human resources that are most difficult to imitate (Paauwe and Boselie, 2002; Jackson et al., 2004) As the business has grown and acquired a wide range of non Cadbury originated businesses the strategy has been adapted to fit the worldwide competitive situation it finds itself in. Cadburys goal is to deliver its superior shareholder performance, just as simple as that Cadbury focused on its shareholders which ranked 26th in the FTSE and they achieved its goal in the year of 2004 by showing the turnover business from  £6,738 million to  £1,115 million for its underlying profit. The success of a best fit model depends on its ability to integrate into the strategic plans of the organization, provide horizontal or vertical integration or the key policy areas. How far organizational objectives will be met is also dependent on the level of fit between the business strategy and the environment at one level, HR strategy and business strategy at a second level and the internal coherence of the policy. Best fit allows organizations to determine whether a hard or a soft approach needs to be taken given the prevailing circumstance and the success of a best fit model depends on its ability to integrate into the strategic plans of the organisation and provide horizontal or vertical integration of the key policy areas. There is no one single perfect SHRM model to be applied in Cadburys and the Company needs to take into consideration the nature of business of the Company, the external environment of the industry and in this case the resource based view and best fit model is more suitable. 1.2 Using your knowledge from Unit 8 and the related information about managing effective change evaluate the organisations approach to change assessing its impact and the role played by SHRM techniques and processes? It is important for Cadbury to use its SHRM techniques and processes to manage effective change and evaluate the impact by helping the company in establishing or executing various strategies, provide alternative insights. HR requires people management skills but also in depth understanding of the current situation of the Company and provide value creating proposition accordingly. The HR departments strategies, policies and activities must support and align with the companys corporate and competitive strategies. The strategies of Cadbury for managing their peoples value is to aim to increase employee understanding on how company be profitable and make sure employees in the company is result oriented focused. Cadbury can carry out employees surveys and use the feedback obtained to make necessary future strategy planning. Any sort of feedback -negative or positive feedback makes huge impact in the company as HR can use this to address people management issues. Any discovery of dissatisfaction can be used to minimize existing conflict and personality or culture clash happened in the company. Furthermore, the top management formulates its strategy by supplying competitive intelligence that may be useful in the strategic planning process, supplying information regarding the companys internal human strengths and weakness by conducting employee survey, feedback regionally. By doing such, HR builds a persuasive case that show how the HR can implement several strategies that can be evaluated in a mea surable terms and contribute in creating value for the company. After the merger, there is another group of employees joining the Company with different age (gap) and technology skills which plays a huge part of their working responsibility daily no matter in operations or communications area thus, there will be an internal restructuring and consolidation of workforce to be carried out. With the given transition period after the merger, and the increasingly competitive market and the continuous evolution of technology together with the different generation who may have joined the Company (Gen Y and Gen Z or NetGen), therefore HR can be able to implement workplace training to address to skill gap between employees. These trainings must also be evaluated accordingly by doing a pre training evaluation of performance and post training evaluation. It is important to ensure that the focus of the evaluation is to analyse the performance of employees as well as providing information on how to manage the different categories of people and improve on their performance .A systematic training literature indicates which techniques might be the best for which behaviour in which situation. Changes in job as new technologies develop can have similar effects and more effective training programs can also affect other systems in the work organization. For example, when a employee in C adbury change his or her current position into new position as a result of a career change or promotion, they need to enter into training program. It is important for them to understand the effects of training experiences as part of the organisation. Merger and Acquisition in Cadbury Schweppes shows difference its difference before and after the merging with Schweppes (a.k.a Cadbury Schweppes) is that they managed to show the people how strong both the company and they are worth 4.2 billion after the merging with their new HR director, Andrew Gibson whom was promoted for Cadbury Schweppes for GB and Ireland to drive the company further as HR isnt usual. Managing for Value was invented in year 1977, which this is a programme that employees have to go through on a five-day training course that linked their work to those goals. Cadburys HR director Andrew Gibson practice the use of the 3As which include Accountable, Adaptable and Aggressive which in this context is about being results-focused and tenacious. Results-focused is certainly something every Cadbury Schweppes employee has to be according to Gibson. However, HR have to ask several question such as how has the programme able to show measurable result and overall impact for the Company and whether the programmes reflect on current issues or interest that applies to their work? The impact can be measured through designing a performance management system with quantifiable elements as the staffs key performance index (KPI). Different reward system (monetary and non monetary) can be designed to motivate the staffs further and retain the overachievers in the Company. Managing the people for their value added is extremely important for HR to consider in every level in the business such as their employees have the freedom to do what is right, bottom up their initiatives where staffs can recommend to management their ideas either locally or globally. With this merging, Cadbury had gained their competitive advantages and also in the same time improved and maximize the companys resources as the company went through a major reorganization, moving to a more decentralized way of operating business units within a new structure. In order to reinforce that message of value added for the people, Cadbury Schweppes has two share schemes, ShareSave that has been operating since 1974 and the companys share worth having for Cadburys employee. The impact can be accessed through analyzing the overall staff turnover of the Company and also conduct a staff satisfaction survey relating it to their performance results. Working Better Together is a framework designed by their HR director himself, Andrew Gibson is to encourage employees to undertake in order to work more collaboratively than they were used to a more decentralised business structure both company have different working culture after merged. Cadbury Schweppes have some tough managers who would usually only talk about hard nose financial results where they focus on behaviour and unlocking the potential of people at different levels of the business had really paid dividends. The impact can be measured by the overall team performance and the reduction in conflict or people issues. Passion for People was introduced for directors to look closely of their peoples managing performance and also their skills of enhancement. Adding to the impression that the people who work there with full satisfaction, Gibson reveals that the climate survey (staff attitude survey) where the employees said they understood the businesss purpose and values and its local priorities, were proud to work for the company and felt part of team. Cadbury is successful because their HR are able to unlock employees potential and they focused on their strength and implement the growth of people within the organisation. Both companies has different cultures and it is important for HR to develop a similar benefits in the company for the peoples consideration to get used to the culture of the business and the nature of the way may undertake change. The result of those implemented programme by HR of Cadbury, showed that training and communication among employees and management is important in order to get the ball rolling within the company and also the business regionally. 1.3 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 organisations going through change? HR function important in organisation to help them formally evaluate the effectiveness of the performances within the Company. HR seems to be supporting the Business Strategy in Cadbury by bringing in Bob Stack as the companys HR director whom has being so geared towards companys dividends such as bringing more shareholders and create a positive working environment among their employees. After the merging, Cadburys business indeed been through a huge amount of change as the acquisitions of confectioners Trebor Bassett and Adams which at $4.2 billion, the purchase of Adams in 2003 was the biggest acquisition Cadbury Schweppes has made. HR function is often linked between HR department and business such as developing people, bringing out talent, supporting the organisational strategy and being guideline to the people in the Company. System value like communication, training and development should be carry out in HR function too. The changing business environment could bring employees some uncertainty towards the organisations such work is becoming unsecure, the notion of organisational boundaries is sometimes less clear, employees long term relationships with organisations could stopped due to redeveloping access in between. The change process in organisational need to make sense for the management and employees which involve communication between people of more understanding the objective and how change can be achieved. The main areas under HR function are Recruitment and Selection, Training and Development, Industrial Relation / Employee Relation, Compensation and Benefit, Health and Safety. Under Recruitment and Selection stage, it show how effective will HR be in planning decision such as what are the recruitment planning, career planning, succession and workforce planning of staff where they will be given chance to expand their skills or ability within the Company freely. Staff selection should be integrated as the main key task for the organisation as a whole while HR department do the selection. Training and Development is also required whether it is foundation or introduction planning for new entry level staffs, professional development for executives, leadership and management training for managers and HOD in order for the people to improve and grow together with the Company. Industrial Relation / Employee Relation reflect on areas for employees assessment such as teamwork, mentoring, communication between people within an organisation. Compensation and Benefit stage is where the staffs need to know what are the equitable of themselves such as promotion, rewards, insurance, employees deduction of funds and etc. Lastly but not least, Health and Safety is being considered because the employees need to have sort of security during working hours in case if any accident might happen and the Company will have the responsibility to take care of it. In general, HR department is like a consultant of the Company where they assist people to solve their problems or difficulty working among colleagues, provide guidance, explaining or create ruling (SOP) in line with the labour laws and human rights to support organisation which is also called as HR Chain Management. Section B Question 2 What is the value to organisations in creating a learning organisational culture? How can organisations work towards creating this culture through its HRM/HRD Strategies? The value and the importance of an organization in creating a learning organisational culture is to encourage the interaction and friendship between the families in the company. Skills training programme and also advanced system that can simplify work yet promoting a happy workplace is the criteria that HRM/HRD (Human Resource Management / Human Resource Development) should consider in order to help staffs maintain a healthy balance between work and their personal life as we know we spent most of our time in workplace from 9am-6pm (average 8 hours per day). A company should be enriched by the staffs creativity, brilliant ideas and initiative in order to grow or move forward thus, taking care of their needs and potential has to discover and what matters is the quality of staffs work, results together with their passion that is always noted and rewarded by the company. Organisational culture can be reflected in person related objectives and bring in the cultural change or culture reinf orcement. For example, the HR department in an organisations will need to work closely with Corporate Culture department on how to bring their staffs together as one family such as setting up activities that are designed to build their characteristic and leadership skills by understanding their job more in various area. Culture is a set of shared meanings that influence or determine behaviour on how decision are taken care of, how rules are made, what and what information is being shared. All these elements can also prescribed by organisations in term of say their mission statements or in the informal ways, individuals and groups develop ways of thinking about working behaviour and these is an attitude that grows over time in response to organisational events. By creating a healthy culture, an HR must consider few things such as the structural control within the Company, co-ordination and job design can be influenced thoroughly thus standardisation of jobs or flexibility of job (free thinking), formalisation of communication channels and flows, division of labour between departments or teams, term and conditions and the degree of rules and also the ability to work beyond contract. The dimension of HRM in managing cultural behaviour according to strategic aspects will be discuss as follows:- What are the key to organisational relations (customer service)?, create initiatives for integrated strategic change, fast speed of making decisions, transformational leadership working to bring positive change, facilitation or prized management skills involving employee support and encouragement to employees. Teamwork and communication is always important in working culture especially it need to be handled through managing culture and being harmonised with overall business strategy objectives. Question 4 To what extent can performance management systems stand alone from an organisations overall approach to developing and managing people? How can organisations integrate the performance and developmental aspects of managing people? Use case examples to illustrate your answer. Performance Management Systems (PMS)., Bevan Thompson (1992) is a set of techniques and procedure on how to improve an organisation performance such as how to communicate the vision of an organisations objectives to the employees, providing departmental or business unit and individual performance targets that are drawn from the wider organisational objectives or a formal review process of how the objectives have been met. A fully integrated PMS (objective setting, review process and linked development and review system) provides the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the whole performances process in providing enhanced organisational performance. As case examples, AirAsia Bhd is a low cost carrier or budget airline in Southeast Asia and they still a growing airline for 8 years now but yet theyve started to implement the 360 degrees of performance appraisal among its employee so that the company can know well as well as provide its employees with unparalleled opportunities for career development and to achieve a multi-skilled workforce which a lot more other established company has not practise this 360 degrees appraisal program. The role of HR under PMS is to consult and formulate its schemes in consultation with line of managers and staff, monitor and evaluate PMS based on stakeholder use on what are the outcomes and process effectiveness, review organisational capability as a result of PMS and design policy action in HRD and recruitment. PMS distinguishing in an organisation is seen as a series of steps linked to an overall business strategy such setting objectives, on going review on the objectives, development of personal improvement plans, formal appraisal with feedback, a competence based organisational capability review and pay review for result oriented. In this world of business today, managing people could be tough and challenging especially in a huge organisations where there are employees from different countries, different culture and also the language barriers. The features that can make up PMS as a series of steps linked to an overall business strategy as follows: Figure 1: Features of a Performance Management System As illustrated in Figure 1:Features of a Performance Management System, a performance management system has six (6) distinguished features, namely: i) Objective setting this would be the area where long term objectives would be set for the employee and are normally stated in a formal Key Performance Indicator/Index (KPI) and is normally set by the immediate manager or by the management team. ii) Ongoing review of objectives this would be the area where KPIs are reviewed periodically either every 3 months or quarterly to ensure that the employee would be able to meet the said long term objectives. iii) The development of personal improvement plans linked to training and development this area is to ascertain the targeted development that the employees wish to go through and to allow personal development to takes place to help improve productivity of the employee. iv) Formal appraisal with feedback this area is to review the progress of the employee against personal skills development and personal experimentation in trying out new tutoring systems or skills. Also to ascertain the level of self improvement the employee had managed to gain throughout the period of the objective setting. v) Pay review this area would allow the management to see how best fit the employee would be rewarded for the effort that they had shown over the period of the appraisal. vi) A competence-based organisational capability review this area would be more to organisational strategies where the organisation would be able to place resources where they are more suitable to able productivity to be increased. Learning and Development objectives should also be measured in order to contributes to better productivity, improved job performance and eventually a high performance culture. LD objectives is bring employees in an organisation to link directly with the skills and core competence requirements of the business and help to achieve organisational development goals. All these include how the employees behaviour in term of the job is being carryout, positive teamwork attitude or communication among colleagues or customers. Thus, HR department is responsible to emphasize on quality behavioural factors of the people, differentiation of individual performance (resource based view), increase bottom line (profit/cost) prioritisation to be fed down to each employee and get to understand the importance of communicating with employees themselves that can align their behaviour and attitudes. The concern to improve individuals potential in their workplace is necessary for HR because the future of th e organisations will become more dependent on the people and their ability will effectively help the company grow stronger. Despite of providing external training, staffs within the organisation can often have swapping lesson where opportunities is opened for self directed learning experiences from different colleague, different field. As for conclusion, the organisational culture will be influenced by the decisions taken by PMS on matter such as the relationship the relationship of dependence or interdependence formed by managers and employees and how this influences change through the design and delivery of the scheme. References Irwing L.Goldstein K.Kevin Ford., Training in Organisations (Fourth Edition), 2002. Derek Torrington, Laura Hall Stephen Taylor., Human Resource Management. Strategic Management of Human Resources,. University of Sunderland BA (Honours) Business Management, Version 3.0, Unit 1 Definition and Purpose of SHRM., pp.13-22. Strategic Management of Human Resources,. University of Sunderland BA (Honours) Business Management, Version 3.0, Unit 8 Managing Change: Culture and Performance., pp. Managing Human Resource Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage www.emeraldinsight.com/reseachregister The Strategic Managing of Human Resources., John Leopold, Lynette Harris Tony Watson, 2004.

Canadian GDP :: essays research papers

The output or GDP of Canada has increased from 1995 to 1999. This means that more people became employed or productivity has risen. With the GDP on the rise, Canada is able to buy more because people will have more money from work. This would appreciate the dollar because Canadians need the U.S. dollar to purchase our goods. Demand, on the other hand, has somewhat stayed the same. There were periods when it was up and periods when it was down. When the demand for passenger cars was falling, Canadians were looking elsewhere to buy their cars. This factor would, most likely appreciate the dollar because, one again, the Canadians would need the U.S. dollar to buy our cars. When the demand was up, the opposite situation would happen. The unemployment rate for Canada fell, possible because of increased advertisement. When the unemployment of a country is low, output and productivity are raising. I stated before, as output rises, imports will also rise. This is due to the increase of money in the country. The dollar will appreciate relative to the Canadian dollar. Canada’s inflation has risen 7% in the last five years. As the price of Canada’s goods increase, the U.S. is looking elsewhere to buy its products. The supply of the U.S. dollar would decrease in Canada and the U.S. dollar would appreciate. In order to get an exact reading of the actions taken by Canada, we must look at their inflation compared to the U.S. I looked at http://www.stls.frb.org/fred/data/cpi/cpiaucsl, and I found that the U.S. had an 11% inflation rate. This means that product price of the U.S. has risen faster to that of Canada. This means that Canada was possible taking there business elsewhere, causing the dollar to depreciate. The interest rates of Canada are clearly on the downfall. Less people are putting their money into the investing sector. When the interest decreases, it is likely that Canada is putting their money into the U.S. This would appreciate the dollar because Canada would need the U.S. currency to invest in our country. Canada is running a constant trade surplus. We must also look at the current account balance of Canada. It decreased drastically from 1996 to 1997. This, most likely, means their imports were greater than their exports. You would be able to see this on their goods and service balance. I would assume that they do have a merchandise trade deficit because Canada is getting money from investing income.

Adjusting Accounting Entries Essay

I have been asked by my supervisor to mentor a new accounting clerk in my department, I am hoping that when I’m done mentoring this person that they will understand accounting better. I am also hoping that my supervisor will be proud of me, and continue asking me to mentor new people, and hopefully give me a raise or a promotion. To better understand accounting we need to know why adjusting entries are so important to a business. Adjusting journal entries are made at the end of each closing period to adjust the account balances. Most of the time, this is necessary in order to achieve a clean cut-off at the end of the accounting period, and to ensure the accounts are complete, and accurate. Current account balances may not represent correct balances, because some mistakes were identified in the posting of transactions, and/or the accounting records are not updated to reflect new transactions or amount changes in previous transactions. Examples would include amounts that were posted to the wrong accounts, and timing differences in recognizing revenues and expenses between the accrual and the cash basis of accounting. (Adjusting JE, 2010) Adjusting entries can be either temporary or permanent. If the entry is temporary at some point the adjusting entry will be reversed or another adjusting entry will be made to the account. See more: Is the Importance of being earnest a satirical play essay I will know explain the four types of adjusting entries ,as well as give an example of each entry from the manufacturing industry. Accrued revenues (also called accrued assets) are revenues already earned but not yet paid by the customer or posted to the general ledger. An example of accrued revenue would be for a custom ordered machine that has been shipped FOB shipping point on the day the accounts receivable module is closed and the approval to bill the customer has not been received by the billing clerk. An adjusting entry would be recorded to recognize the revenue in the correct period. This entry will reverse when the customer is appropriately invoiced. * Accrued Revenue 14,000 * Revenue 14,000 Unearned revenues (or deferred revenues) are revenues received in cash and recorded as liabilities prior to being earned. Unearned revenue is a liability to the entity until the revenue is earned. An example of unearned revenue would be if the customer paid a deposit for a custom ordered machine that has not been delivered, the deposit would be recorded as unearned revenue. This type of adjusting entry will be adjusted by another entry. * Revenue 14,000 * Deferred Revenue 14,000 Accrued expenses (also called accrued liabilities) are expenses already incurred but not yet paid or recorded. Examples of these types of adjusting entries could be for payroll that has been earned by employees on the last day of the period but not paid until the next payroll date. These types of entries generally reverse the next month. * Salaries Expense 89,000 * Salaries Payable 89,000 Prepaid expenses (or deferred expenses) are expenses paid in cash and recorded as assets prior to being used. The most common form of an adjusting entry for prepaid expense would be for the used portion of an insurance premium these types of adjusting entries are usually permanent. * Insurance Expense 1,000 * Prepaid Insurance 1,000 Other adjusting entries include depreciation of fixed assets, allowances for bad debts, and inventory adjustments. * Bad Debt Expense 50 * Allowance for Bad debt 50 (Adjusting EN, 2010) It is also wise to know how these entries are recorded in a computerized accounting system, since everything is now done by computers. At the end of each closing period, usually monthly, a thorough analysis of the trial balance is performed. This analysis include performance budget to actual and month to month to ensure all of the accounts are correctly stated. When an adjusting entry is identified, a journal entry input form is prepared. This form should be supported with source documents that justify the entry and reviewed and approved by the appropriate level of accounting management. Once the approval has been obtained, the journal entry is keyed into the general ledger system as either a standard or self-reversing journal entry. The journal entry is than posted to the general ledger. There is also ethical issues that can arise if these entries are not posted correctly, Adjusting journal entries are a good way for management to manipulate financial results by either accruing more revenue or expenses than appropriate, and for fraudsters to hide skimming, which is the misappropriation of cash. It is extremely important to understand that each adjusting journal entry must be fully supported and approved. If you have any questions about what I have explained to you please don’t hesitate to ask me anything, I am here to help you succeed in this business, and in this firm.

Black Aesthetics Essay

Black Aesthetics The word â€Å"aesthetics† can be defined as a branch of philosophy that critically reflects on art, culture, and nature. It is a view, opinion, or an attitude toward what is considered offensive or acceptable. It is more scientifically defined as a critical judgment of the sensory emotional values that exude from the nature of beauty, art, and taste. Aesthetics as it pertains to the black community or simply â€Å"black aesthetics† refers to ideologies and perspectives of art that centers around back culture and life. Black aesthetics spawned from the Blacks Arts Movement of the 1960’s where blacks demonstrated that you didn’t have to assimilate into white American culture. The movement refers to a period of African American creativity beginning in the mid-1960’s and continuing through much of the 1970’s. It was a pivotal moment in African American literature. It inspired black people to establish their own publishing houses, magazines, journals and art institutions. It led to the creation of African American Studies programs within universities. It all precipitated from the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965. Linked both chronologically and ideologically with the Black Power Movement, The BAM recognized the idea of two cultural Americas: one black and one white. The BAM pressed for the creation of a distinctive Black Aesthetic in which black artists created for black audiences. The movement saw artistic production as the key to revising Black American’s perceptions of themselves, thus the Black Aesthetic was believed to be an integral component of the economic, political, and cultural empowerment of the Black community. The Black Arts Movement called for an explicit connection between art and politics. This movement created the most prevalent era in black art history by taking stereotypes and racism and turning it into artistic value. The concepts of Black Power, Nationalism, Community, and Performance all influenced the formation of this national movement, and it proliferated through community institutions, theatrical performance, literature, and music. One of the biggest problems that black Americans have been dealing with since being removed from our homeland is self-identification within western civilization. American culture was initially shaped by many European races and cultures coming together through shared ideals and values in which, has attributed to our diversity. However, other races did not always have a choice; all of the enslaved Africans were forced to assimilate. During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, many African nations were struggling for their independence from Europe. Their struggles correlate to the struggle of blacks in the United States during the same time period. Since the 1880’s, when European nations colonized Africa, Europe had almost complete control over the continent, but this changed during the 1950’s and 1960’s. By 1958, ten African countries had gained their independence, and sixteen more joined the list in 1960 alone. With these nations gaining heir independence, it demonstrated the ability of blacks to overpower their white oppressors. The Black Power and Black Arts Movement in the United States were the result of just that. Who are black people, what are black people, what is their relationship to America and the world? It must be repeated that the whole myth of â€Å"Negro citizenship,† perpetuated by the white elite, has confused the thinking of radical and progressive blacks and whites in this country. The broad masses of black people react to American society in the same manner as colonial peoples react to the West in Africa, and Latin America, and had the same relationship that of the colonized toward the colonizer. Too long have we allowed white people to interpret the importance and meaning of the cultural aspects of our society. We have allowed them to tell us what was good about our Afro-American music, art, and literature. How can a white person who is not part of the black psyche (except as the oppressor) interpret the meaning of the blues to us who are manifestations of the songs themselves? Black people concerning the contributions that we have made in shaping this country must make a thorough re-examination. If this re-examination and re-evaluation is not made, and black people are not given their proper due and respect, then the rivalries and contradictions are going to become more and more evident, more and more intense, until there is a national uproar.