Writing Project #4 Brainstorm

      For writing project #4 I will be doing a power point.  I will be setting up a few slides for each discipline that I am going to be talking about in relationship to the psychological and mental effects of unemployment.  A power point will be more powerful in this situation than a brochure because there is a lot of information to cover.  There are so many different people and disciplines effected by unemployment.
      The power point format will allow me to use bigger headings to divide up the disciplines and people that are being effected.  The main focuses of the power point will be to give the audience a quick look at the major points of the unemployment problem.  I do not want to bore the audience with useless facts, but rather get straight to the point and keep their interest.

Annotated Bibliography

Komarovsky, Mira. The Unemployed Man and His Family. New York, NY: Octagon Books, 1971. 66-83.
      Komarovsky in this section talks about how the husbands of the families studied personality changed.  This chapter of the book is used to describe what it is exactly that the husbands are dealing with.  The pages show us the effects on the children and wives of the husbands who are unemployed. 
      In this chapter on the personality changes of unemployed husbands statistics are given about to what extent they are effected.  The most interesting statistic to me was about how much of an effect the women had on their husbands.  It was easy to see that when the women were instrumental in the attitudes of men the unemployment was not effecting them as much as the other husbands.

Kalil, Ariel. "Unemployment and job dsplacement: The impact on families and children." Ivey Business Journal. (2005): 1-5.
      To begin with Kalil shapes the economic situation of the mid 2000's.  He makes a point to let the reader know that the economic strain of unemployment is taking place.   The unemployment rate rose in the early 2000's and reached a high of over 6% in 2003.  This journal article also lets us know that some of those who lost their job were re employed while some others were left unemployed.
      The second part of the journal focuses on what happens once the person becomes unemployed how it effects the families and children.   One paragraph is focused on the negative effects to the family because of unemployment such as where the kids are going to school, housing, and food.  A little thought about side effect of unemployment is that you may not only have to move, but you will also have to move to a neighborhood that is not as safe as you would like.  The article also gives us statistics about how the unemployment effect is not the same on all races. 

Research Question 101

Topic: Labor agreement in the NFL& the potential of a lockout

Disciplinary Perspective(s): Economic (effect of a possible lockout on how money is spent not only by teams, but by fans as well), Social (what kind of effect would a season ending lockout have on fans?), Cultural (if football is taken away do people find a new sport?)

Research Question: What kind of effect would the NFL's labor dispute have on the economy of sports as well as the economy as a whole?  How would the fans be effected by this potential lockout and to what extent?

The Changing World of Sports Management

Just like every other occupational field, the world of Sports Management continues to evolve.  Some future issues with the Sports Management field focus on the current labor agreements in the National Football League.

Currently the NFL and the owners of the NFL teams are in the middle of labor disputes and the potential of a lockout is very possible for next year.  This would cost both the players and owners a considerable amount of money, but neither side seems willing to budge on the demands that they are looking for.  I think this would be a very interesting topic to research because millions of people tune in every Sunday and Monday to watch NFL football.  

I would also like to learn more about the actual demands of the Players Association as well as the NFL Owners.  The NFL is currently claiming that they need the players to be willing to play for less money than they are currently playing for.  Naturally the players are not excited at all about this, nor are they willing to compromise at the current point in time.  This is a topic that interests me very much, and directly relates to my future profession. 

Technology vs. Race: Is it a black and white issue?

The following is a response to "Technology versus African Americans" by Anthony Walton and "The Next University Drive-Thru U,: Higher Education for People Who Mean Business" by James Traub both of which are found in "The Changing World of Work"

Are African Americans lagging behind in the technological field?  Statistics presented by James Traub show us that the pursuit of technological degrees is not something that African Americans are interested in.  For example, the US population of African American people is over 13%, but the amount of African Americans pursuing technology based degrees is around 5%. 

Given the fact that I am not African American I can only speak based on what I have read from the article.  I see a key to the lagging behind of African Americans is the fact that they are not subjected to it as young children.  Many African American children grow up in poorer school systems and thus the opportunities are less. 

On another topic a Para-University is a University that is fully functioning with students and teachers and so on, but it is simply conducted all online.  As stated in the reading the people are not interested in the education itself, but rather what the education can get them.  There is no doubt that people are interested in online univiersities so that they can spend there days working a job and making money while getting an education in free time. 

There is no doubt that these universities are effecting schools that must be attended on site.  People do not have the time or the money to pick up and move their lives to a college especially when they are older.  At the age of 18 kids are looking to get away from home.  However, people that are looking into online Universities are more older than young.  There is a good chance that these people have jobs and are looking to further themselves, but don't have the time to spend all day on a campus.  These drive thru universities are perfect for our fast paced society. 

The Scientific writing of "High-Tech Stress"

Scientific writing is conducted much like academic writing, but has a very specific set up and relies on certain scientic principles.  Looking back on the readings of the semester it is easy to notice many pieces that contain scientific writing principles.  These pieces include Jeremy Rifkin's "High-Tech Stress", which is an obvious example as well as the "Scientific Management and Fordism" reading.

An easy way to identify a scientific piece of writing is that much like academic writing you must identify a thesis for the writing.  This is especially true when it comes to the social sciences.  Often the natural sciences do not focus on identifying a thesis as much as the social sciences do.  The social sciences also take looks at other pieces of literatue that speak on the topic at hand.  You notice in "Scientific Management and Fordism" that they look back to the way things once were before the "Fordist" way of thinking was presented.  This way of writing is used so that the reader can know what the writers opinions agree and disagree with.

Another intrical part of the writing is using statistics or survery information to give the reader facts.  In Rifkin's "High-Tech Stress" he talks about the specific number of people who are experiencing stress in the job force.  Rifkin cites exact numbers from job forces and the number of people who experienced health problems from the stress of work. 

Welcome to McDonalds may I take your order?

The following entry is a response to the article entitled "Scientific Management & Fordism" written by F.W. Taylor.

How long do you think a business would last if you walked up to the counter to place your order and the person said, "What's up? What do you want?"  In my opinion not very long.  When people go out they want to feel that they are valued and feel important to the people that are serving them.  That is why scripted talk is so very important.  Although it often seems boring and overused it is what we appreciate.

The scripted talk that Taylor talks about is what we know and expect as consumers and customers.  We would be lost as customers if there wasn't a certain amount of scripted talk.  Something as simple as "Can I take your order?" lets us as customers feel comfortable and know that the ball is in our court. 

Another reason scripted talk is so important as in situations such as fast food is because most of the people working do not have an invested interest in their job.  The scripted talk works best in jobs that have employees that are mainly there for money.  There is no reason for the people to show an interest in you and try and make your experience at their restaurant enjoyable if they aren't going to get anything out of it. 

The only negative that goes along with scripted talk  is that management is still in full control.  It is upsetting to see people performing jobs without simple freedoms such as what they can say, where they can go, and what they can do.  The only way that scripted talk can be completely eliminated is to find people who really enjoy the job that they are doing.  Also, to find people that want to see the company itself do better and to have an invested interest in the company.