Information power

Information power: People in the corporate sector or at high levels of the human service hierarchy may distort or withhold information for their own gains by enhancing their own expert power, thus becoming indispensable to the organisation (Yukl, 2002. p. 152).

This type of power in self-explanatory. A person can either use Information Power to gain power over others by withholding information, or increase their power by passing of information to the right people in the organization or fabricate / make up information to decrease other peoples power or credibility.

Information power can be use like Ecological Power to make one’s-self indispensable to an organization, by being the source of information that the organization needs. Like wise by distorting information to affect others in the organization can cause great stress to the people that this power is aimed at. So be aware that if you use information power to make some ones life difficult, you are using psychological terrorism and may cause great psychological harm. This includes relationships.

Meme

The concept of memes came from the idea that ideas such as; ways of cooking, catch phrases, fashions, scientific paragdimes, customs and ceremonies spread (Kamhi, 2004). The word meme originated from two main sources, firstly is sounds like meaning and gene and secondly a derivation of a Greek word mimeme (Kamhi, 2004). Memes are strong selfish ideas that survive for their ones sake whether or not the idea is factual or truthful or not (Kamhi, 2004). Memes are seen and understood by scholars as viral infections, with a life span of their own and treated as if a meme is a living entity, in the same sense as a company or corporation is seen as a living entity. Memes are also seen as following Darwinian theory in their survival, by repeating or duplication the meme has a stronger survival rate.

Memes and the media

We have talked about how Master Chef in the posting TV Copy Catting - Part 2has impacted on kitchen safety, and the growing incident rates in emergency departments at hospitals from kitchen accidents. And now that cooking shows with semi professional chefs demonstrating their skills on TV and the perceived ease of preparing a dish, the advancement cooking skills with the home viewers has become more popular.

Instead of looking for a one to one correlation with TV and home habits, I would like to look a bit further afield and include the current economical climate into the one of the causation of this survival of this new TV cooking meme. As the affordability of “fast food” is becoming less affordable for many people, people are now preparing more of their own food. Also just to make the meme a bit stronger, health and additives within fast food is building a stronger desire or excuse to prepare their own foods.

We can see on the TV sow A Current Affair (ACA) that now the producers have introduced a competition called Top Minichef for children aged 12 years and less. The competition is conducted via video entries. I commend this form of reward guided behaviour as it does place pride into ones own creation.

Likewise with the competitors of Master chef that were eliminated from the show are now going to schools and being guests at functions promoting cooking skills and having fun at the same time.

Thus I would like to conclude this posting to contrast the positive and negative affects of TV, by saying the TV is a double-edged sword, depending on how it is used it can have positive or negative affects on the comminute, or in some cases disastrous.

Individual Self-Concept

[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="I am what I am, and I am a Possum"][/caption]

As individuals, we are not born into a social void. Before a baby is born, a relationship is established between parent and baby, and upon the baby’s first breath the baby is subject to external sensory stimulus (Montagu, 1966. pp. 74-77; Marshall, 1998. p.293). Goode (1978. p. 9), describes babies as being born with instincts, but they are insufficient for self-survival. Instead, these instincts are used to enlist help from others in order to fulfill their needs to survive. Individuals depend upon the relationships with others for survival at all stages of life, all of which are based upon the relationship with the primary care giver in childhood (Montagu, 1966. pp. 74-81; Marshall, 1998. p.293). Bessant & Watts, (2002, pp. 165-166) argue that the relationships between adults and children differ in the modes of language and behaviour in comparison to adult-to-adult relationships, which distinguish age as an identity marker. As a child ages, other identity markers are established, such as dress and the style of music they listen to (Bessant & Watts, 2002. pp. 167-171).

As a child grows, Goode (1964. pp. 78-79) suggests that young people simulate the parent's political, theological and moral questions tastes in food, clothing and art are also matched, indicating the strength of culture on the family and the intergenerational transference of culture and tradition. Although there is disparity between parents and youth, often manifesting in conflict, this is seen as minimal in comparison with the amount the youth copy their parents (Goode, 1964. pp. 78-79). Thus we can see the identity markers follow from one generation to the next with proficiency.

Montagu (1966, p. 72) argues that from time in memorial, people have been living in groups to ensure survival. It is in these groups that a system of interpersonal behaviour had to be established in order that harmony may be the result. Thus a system of rules and regulations made to increase our survival for our deficits of instincts were devised. Goode (1978. p. 9) further suggests that these rules and regulations are deemed as culture or social norms, and are humanly constructed. In modern societies, culture is passed on to the next generation as if it were a mandate from God, and not a human construction or product (Goode 1978. p. 10). Behaviors and class structures in society, being part of culture (seen as set out by God), have set values that infer that we must live by them.

All constructions of our-selves are defined by language, this is extensively discussed by Marshall (1998. p.294) and further suggests that it is our primary form of communication. With symbolic guttural utterances also known as ‘symbolic interactionism for concrete and abstract constructs, and it is in this realm that we describe ourselves and the world around us. Marshall (1998. p.294) further argues that language, or the meanings that are implied by words, are governed by the cultural setting in which the individual resides. As words have constructed meaning, cultural values are given distinction by words. Thus identity is constructed by socially accepted and constructed words and concepts that describe values, customs, and behavioural norms.

The Swiss structural linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (cited in Marshall, 1998. p.294) suggests that it is by way of words, meanings and values that we define our-selves and the world around us, including our place in it being given meaning/made meaningful, through human constructs of labels such as “good” or “bad”. What is seen in one culture as virtuous (good) can be viewed as a crime (bad) in another (Bessant & Watts, 2002. p. 138). Practising within human services “labels can be shattering” for the parents of people suffering either a physical or mental ailment and should be investigated in-depth before a label is placed on a person (Groopman, 2007, p. 85). It is these labels that enable a person to create a self-fulfilling prophesy or an excuse for their behaviour. By fixing a label onto a person, that person is seen to be changed forever in the eyes of others (Groopman, 2007, p. 84).

Culture therefore, uses constructs such as Gender (male, female), Age classification (young, old), Ethnicity (birth place, place of residence), Physical stature (height, skin colour, hair colour, etc), Faith, Politics, Profession and Traits (Patience, masculine, feminine, etc) to define our identity. These identity markers, and attempts to demonstrate a pattern of cognition and feelings, that is neither exclusively internal nor external, but is a mixture of both (Bessant & Watts, 2002. p. 135). Montagu (1966. p.75) argues that self-identity is derived from meaningful relationships with others, by means of activities and a sharing of thoughts.

Just because I thought it is cool

Ecological Power

Power over the environment:

This form of power can be one of the most insidious, because everybody in an organization can play the ecological power game. Ecological power is used both for the thought and care of others, or for causing emotional harm to one specific person or group of people. The physical environment is where we all work, but it can impacts only some people, though when the environment is changed to unite workers it will impact every body in the organization. So let’s explore the Power of the ecological power.

Within an office the environment environmental power is used by a number of people and can be change so the aria is used not only for work but also for meetings or general conversation. We can say that this type of office is a friendly office. It is when the office become over friendly and turns into a social gathering, the office environment then becomes a hindrance to the operations of day to day running of the organization, that’s where ligament power needs to be used to get the office back to functionality again.

BUT what if the physical environment is changed to cause emotional stress for one or more people. Keeping in mind the motivations, if the person is failing in areas of their duties then that person may find that their office space may become a dumping ground for miscellaneous items. Coffee cups, files that need filing, even recent deliveries such as stationary supplies will end up on that person’s desk. This forces the person to either spend more time at their desk doing their job so it does not become the dumping ground or in the opposite direction forcing the person to go out of the office and do their job if that job is not an office intensive job.

Those that have the legitimate use of this power is principally the head of the organization or that department to get the most efficiency in conjunction with those that use the office.

Within the home environmental power can be used to enhance the relationship or erode it. When love is alive and doing well we think about the comforts of the other person and thus do things that would make you happy, imagining that the other person would also be happy. This could be in the fact that the house is cleaned and maintenance is prompt, the garden and lawn is kept. But when misinterpretation happens, then an error is compounded with unintentional emotional harm. Just think … if the one partner likes to have a nice sorted workshop and the other party and a messy arts room. That person that in neat cleans the art room, the art person may get irate over the efforts.

Power over the operations:

This type of power controls the operations of the daily running of the organization and the job duties of the workers or worker. The best way of explaining this power is in an example… In the cooking industry the chef has control over the kitchen environment and the duties of the individual workers. While talking to chefs, about people that worked under them some interesting descriptions of work practices arose.

When there is a person that does not a team player:- does not pull their weight, keep messing things up, or even just have a personality conflict, this power is evoked. There are laws protecting workers in Australia against unfair dismissal, thus the duties are changed for the worker to provoke the individual to quite, by giving them all the “bad” jobs. This occurs in all types of professions in different ways.

Another way is to use operations power is to making ones power felt with in the organization, by changing small details at a whim. This can include meeting times and dates, changing small details within the work place such when workers can go to lunch, changing shift times, or protocols within the pollicies and procedures.

Operations power is also used in ways to create opportunities for favored individuals, and by give them the best jobs. In the work place this type of power has a nick name … “Jobs for the boys”…

In the home operations power is far more emotional when it is used to harm or spite the partner. The passive aggressive use of operations power is used for emotional war faire. When chores are not done or requests are not fulfilled is common and causes relationship stress. When operations power is used in an active aggressive manner, things get interesting with some outrages imaginations working overtime. The most common form of changing the operations of the home is creating distrust through spending money irresponsibly, and cheating. But there was one situation I recall where one partner was upset with the other and placed the partners loved pet in the freezer.

Power over technology:

Having knowledge of new technology or technology in general wile other people in the work place have limited knowledge of that technology is a powerful power in this computer age. There is a potential of taking advantage of this power by refusing to pass on the knowledge and making ones self indispensable to the hierarchy. This also refers to systems knowledge, knowledge over filing systems, or procurement protocols again attempting to make one-self indispensable.

The down side of this power is that the one using this power creates a myth of expertise for themselves, thus promotion and other opportunities are handed on to others, because that person is too valuable in that position.

With in the home this power is respected at first, having technology culturally divided by gender. The female has the knowledge of white goods technology, ie. Washing machine, sewing machine, etc. and the male dealing with outside technology, ie. Lawn mower, car maintenance, etc. Both people in the relationship do their respective part in using their knowledge to keep the relationship stable. But when the relationship is in trouble the couple take advantage of the partner’s lack of knowledge in their technology, holding the power over them.